Well I'll take Boylen's word for it, since I haven't personally charted the games. I'd like to see his #s for all our players. 60% is very good. Most of that is based on Cuttino's excellent ability to get to the hoop. But the fact that he's so good at doing what he does best makes my point even more valid. He should never take crazy, wild 3 point shots when he's so much better at running those ISOs of his and using his speed to create. Or is 30% from long distance another meaningless stat? I did make the maturity argument in my post, HeyP. Look again. I think I made other cogent arguments as well: to me one's effectiveness as a shooting guard can in part be measured by his shooting percentage. And the statistic backs up my personal observation, from watching the games, that he at times takes poor shots. And I can live with that (so did Maxwell, heck so does Iverson, the guard who Mobley reminds me of). But what a player he will be when and if he stops. A little more D wouldn't hurt, either. ------------------ "Thirty-seven?" -Randall, Clerks www.clutchtown.com [This message has been edited by SamCassell (edited January 08, 2001).]
HeyP, I've brought up the issue of transition before on this BBS, and I think you responded to it as well. It was some time ago. I agree with your points regarding the lack of transition. I believe back at the time I brought up the subject, you indicated that the outlet passes or the rebounding was lacking. I was saying then and I still say now that I have never seen fast breaks run on the wings except in high school and college. I believe you responded on that as well. I agree with you that Francis wants to run on the wing for the dunk, but he doesn't seem to realize that if he pushes the ball down the middle and passes to the wing early enough, he will probably get the ball back for his highlight dunk. The key is delivering the ball early enough to the guy on the wing. I'm puzzled as to why any player in the NBA doesn't know this unless he is simply being selfish. ------------------
gr8-1...I think it probably did...lol. So maybe we should say 59% instead. Arnel...wow. I'll have to go back and read your earlier stuff. I ignore Mobley trade talk and don't bother reading it, so I didn't see your response. Sorry for stereotyping you. You sound pretty objective about Mobley. Since75, yeah I remember that. Somebody thought I said rebounding was the problem, but I said the recipient of the outlet pass was the problem. That is the next question I'd like Feigan to ask Rudy and Francis: "Why aren't we pushing the fastbreak like we planned to back in Oct 99." Man, I'd give up playoff positioning to force the fastbreak, because I believe in Francis so much going up the middle. He may fail at it early. But he has to try it....ugh!! [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited January 09, 2001).]
My my my, it's humorous to see these rocketphiles get so wound up about my previous post. You'd think I'd said something sacriligious. (Maybe to some I did). My whole point was that at least Stve looks to involve everyone. The only time I see the Cat pass is when his shot or path to the basket is cut-off. Hell if this is gonna be the way to play, then just send him down on offense by himself and have everyone else stay on the defensive side. At least that way we'd limit the opposition to 0 fast break points. I just don't like to see iso after iso every play. What team has won anything with that kind of mentality? Even Jordan looked to involve Pippen and Grant. (It's a sad day when I have to say something about Jordan. Yuck) I think Cat can be a great weapon, but he's not good enough to play 1 on 5 like he thinks he can. ------------------
Uh, we won the championship in '94 featuring the Hakeem ISO and 4 spread out on the arc. In Jordan's 3rd season, tell me who he was trying to get involved. I know what you're saying about the ISO, and I agree. I just think you expressing impatience. I see subtle changes everygame designed to get us away from ISO. For instance, Mobley is running the 24 High as much as his 2 Shakes ISO now. 24 High should improve with Collier. It takes time for a team to get a shooting guard like Mobley running complicated plays. Until then, his only passes available are pretty much exactly what was available to Barkley and Hakeem. He is not the PG. He is not asked to do what Francis and Moochie are supposed to do. Show some patience. I don't want this much ISO either. But it is very easy to run. And the team runs it pretty effectively.
Heypartner, you can't even begin to compare Cat to Dream or Jordan. If you were able to put them on the same level, this topic would've never been posted because we'd be 27-6 and we'd all be too full of Rockets Kool-Aid. I fear people think I'm a Cat basher (although at one point I did have the book 101 uses for a dead cat). I'm not at all. I just want Cat to be a part of a system. I don't think he or Francis is good enough to win just on their talents. I'd like to see a team game were the offense is diversified. Maybe I'm directing my frustration at the wrong person and we should look at the lack of a good game plan. The iso stuff only works for superstars. As far as the Bulls 3rd championship, who hit the biggest shot? It was Paxson who received a pass from Jordan. And in 94, we had a much better perimeter team that Dream passed too. ------------------
The transition game is pretty disappointing. I wonder what are stats are in points-from-turnovers? It feels like we always get a good steal, nice path to the basket, and somehow decide to go with an impossible layup, throw the ball away with a bad pass, etc. This is especially weird/disappointing when transition was the whole point of having the players we have. The last season and a half have truly shown me that speed has very, very little to do with good transition. Just smarts. I remember last season when the Spurs would go with their ancient second unit with Porter and Elie in the backcourt. They would beat the living crap out of us in transition. They weren't fast, they were making the right decisions. And of course, there's the Jazz. Stockton and Horny certainly weren't amazing athletes, but they never had problems starting/finishing a fast break. Is Mobley a better shooting guard than Francis is at point? Practically a trick question- after all, what do you think the point should be doing? A lot of people have very different ideas about a point guard's role. And Steve is a very, very unusual point guard. Particularly his scoring and rebounding ability set him apart. Does his inability with running the break really ruin his overall PG performance? Alright, I'll say this. Right now, at this point in this season, Mobley is a better SG than Steve is a PG*. But that's a big-ass asterisk. Mobley's role is just plain easier, and his role matches his abilities perfectly (kudos to Rudy). Steve has more to learn, more to do, and is disappointing just because of his absolutely mind-boggling potential. Steve Francis will be the better player. But it's going to take time. Longer wait, bigger reward. HP- a question for you. With this particular problem, running the fast break, why haven't you even once blamed the coaching staff? You don't in general, but I want to corner you on this particular subject- aren't they responsible at all for this? [This message has been edited by Nolen (edited January 09, 2001).]
HP, I'm sure that you know that our ISO with Hakeem during the championship years was completely different than our current ISOs. Not only is Mobley not even close to as reliable as Hakeem was, but the opportunities that were created by the Hakeem ISO generated some better offense than what is generated by the Cat ISO. Anyways, back the transition subject...I agree that the Rockets need to push the ball more and I also agree that Francis is partly responsible. We need him to have the ball in his hands pushing it up the court. However, I think more of the blame should be on the coaching staff. Has anyone else here ever played organized ball? I seem to remember running tons of 3 on 2 fast break drills. We would simulate a miss, rebound, outlet pass, and then the break. I know it's a pretty elementary drill, but I think it would help out our transition game a lot. A lot of people think of fast breaks as totoally improv, and a lot of times they are. However, practicing them pays off greatly. Watching our fast breaks, I think it's painfully obvious that we don't practice it that much. Then again, maybe we do practice it a lot and our players just don't execute it in the game. In any case, it is something that the coaching staff needs to keep addressing until it gets better. ------------------ [This message has been edited by croutons (edited January 09, 2001).]
tron I said Jordan's 3rd year, not his 3rd championship. ugh! Where is my comparison? I was just answering your question about title teams, and dismissing your claim that Jordan got his team involved early in his career. Jordan had to learn how to do that, too. And I will tell you, Cuttino would be VERY scary if he had Jordan's leaping ability. I understand your sentiments about diversity. It is tough, and takes time to develop. Rudy is rolling it out. If you have a tape of the Detroit game, look at that 1st quarter...woohoo. crouton Get off it. I was just answering Tron's question. I was making no comparisons. Fact is, we ran ISO to Dream, many people in Houston hated it, and we won! I made no comparisons! [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited January 09, 2001).]
Crouton and Nolen, My understanding is that we run a hell of a lot of transition drills in practice. I don't think lack of practice is it. The reason I don't blame the coaching staff here is because practice does not really get you ready to run transition at the NBA. I explained this in an earlier thread: You must get reps in game situations to improve. Barkley would help us; he demanded we force transition. Transition is the responsibility of the floor coach...the PG. The coaches can't do too much if the PG fails to force the repetitions. If I were to blame the coaches, all I could say is make Francis stop running the wing. Of course, I'm assuming that Francis is making that decision by himself. If in fact, the coaches are saying anyone can run the wing, then I'd blame them. You need consistency, especially when one player is clearly the most talented dribbler. That consistency can only come from the primary dribbler leading the charge. Get him the ball in the middle. Being the first down the court helps, but it is not necessary. There you go Nolen. I can't bring myself to blame the coaches, because I just don't have the facts. Really, the only fact we have is that we are not running transition as much as Rudy says he wants us to.
