I have to be pro-MoT for now. While he has yet to realize his "potential" he showed while he was in LA, he does have a very good low post game (probably the only one besides Yao). I loved his little short hook shots. I don't remember the games but there was a stretch when he came off the bench and just abused the other team by scoring 3 or 4 times in a row with that hook shot. Now, granted that didn't happen every time, but I think he could be a good offensive punch especially off the bench. He can create his own shot unlike Griffin. Also, please remember that last year he came back from a devastating injury and had inconsistent PT. If JVG can establish a good role for him (maybe off the bench so as someone else pointed out he would not be guarding all those deadly PFs in the West), I think MoT can and should improve....now for defense...I dunno. It is troubling how he can't seem to get a rebound. This year will be a very telling year for both our power forwards.
That is nice you "love" Taylors hook shot and you think highly of Taylor's ability to create his own shot; however, what really matters is that his shot goes through the net. Unfortunatly for Mr. Taylor, his 1.02 points per shot, which is 9th best on the team, out put says one of two things or both 1) His shooting percentage sucks 2) He does not get to the line. Either case, he hurts the team more then helps. So although you might "love" Taylors shot, it is at the expense of the team winning.
x- points per shot is perhaps the most meaningless statistic ever. I'll take a FT line extended jumper for 2 over a out of control to the bucket that gets bailed out with 2 FTs anyday. Mo's FG% rose sharply as the season progressed, due to the fact he wasn't able to stay in shape coming off a season ending injury. Fact is, he's over 46% for his career, and shot 49% his first year as a Rocket, and considering he shoots a good deal of midrange jumpers, that is good. Mo may be a lot of things, but inefficient offensively he is not. I think Mo's defense takes a worse rap than it should. He's not a stopper by any means, but most people are only looking at his rebounds. He's a poor rebounder, no doubt (and if you're talking about "winning", the Rockets are an upper echelon rebounding team even with Mo's poor rebounding. It's not hurting them). But, I don't think his defense is a liability. It's not stellar, or an asset, but he's a pretty average defender and makes decent use of his size and athleticism. I fully agree with BGM on the heart comment. He's a guy, who when we get to the playoffs and we find ourselves in an offensive drought, he can string together 3-4 FGs down the stretch. What we need is for Eddie to step up, and allow Mo to become that dynamic 6th man.
Mo Taylor post defense sucks just as bad as griffin. I watched 225lbs Garnett post up Taylor like he was 160. Defensively, both are poor, but Griffin has the "p" to become a very good defender where as Taylor doesn't even have that going for him. Offensively Taylor is much better than Griffin and I doubt that Griffin will become the offensive player Taylor is.
NIKEstrad, ---- <B><I>NIKEstrad said: points per shot is perhaps the most meaningless statistic ever. I'll take a FT line extended jumper for 2 over a out of control to the bucket that gets bailed out with 2 FTs anyday.</I></B> You are kidding right? Points per shot is probably the most important statistic in calculating the efficiency of a player offensively/ You said, <I>"I'll take a FT line extended jumper for 2 over a out of control to the bucket that gets bailed out with 2 FTs anyday"</I> By what reasoning and in what world is 2 points from a jumper worth more than 2 points from the free throw line. In fact, 2 points from the free throw line is superior because you are putting your opponent into foul trouble. So your argument does not make sense at all. ---- <B><I>NIKEstrad said: Mo's FG% rose sharply as the season progressed, due to the fact he wasn't able to stay in shape coming off a season ending injury. Fact is, he's over 46% for his career, and shot 49% his first year as a Rocket, and considering he shoots a good deal of midrange jumpers, that is good. Mo may be a lot of things, but inefficient offensively he is not.</I></B> Where do I start? To make this short, FG% is one of the most misleading statistics because you are not accounting for trips to the free throw line and fouls that are accumulated against the opponents. Talk about a meaningless statistic! FG percentage has to be the greatest statistical fallacy of all time. As for Taylor shooting a good deal of midrange jumpers. Is that what a power forward should be doing? --- <B><I>NIKEstrad said: I think Mo's defense takes a worse rap than it should. He's not a stopper by any means, but most people are only looking at his rebounds. He's a poor rebounder, no doubt (and if you're talking about "winning", the Rockets are an upper echelon rebounding team even with Mo's poor rebounding. It's not hurting them). But, I don't think his defense is a liability. It's not stellar, or an asset, but he's a pretty average defender and makes decent use of his size and athleticism. I fully agree with BGM on the heart comment. He's a guy, who when we get to the playoffs and we find ourselves in an offensive drought, he can string together 3-4 FGs down the stretch.</I></B> Are you make an excuse for Taylor's lack of rebounding by suggesting it's okay because our team rebounds okay without him? Are you nuts? What if Taylor was a better rebounder? How good would we be then on the boards? --- <B><I>NIKEstrad said: What we need is for Eddie to step up, and allow Mo to become that dynamic 6th man. </I></B> Yes, it would be nice if Eddie improved and became a better player; however, isn't Taylor the one who has the large contract and is the seasoned player? Why are you putting more pressure on a young player in Eddie with a small contract when you should really be placing the blame on Taylor and his inflated contract? Conclusion: You might think Taylor is a lot of things, but a good player Taylor is not. But, feel free to keep on thinking Taylor is a superior player.
Mo is one of the biggest underachievers in the league. There may be one or two power forwards with as much offensive skill and as soft of a shooting touch as Mo, but that's it. He really has perfect size too. It's just a shame he's such a wuss.
kidrock, Do you like any of the Rockets? I notice you seem to take a lot of joy in posting Anti-Taylor posts, I'm curious as to who you like on this team...if anyone...
I know that's right!I wish he play like Malik Rose with strong defensive hold on the other end of the court with no fear of getting elbow or bruished up. Offense, yes. Defense, not much there!
None of the players, I like personally. I love the team, but hate the players, if that means much. Yao would be the closest thing to me liking a player, but I won't totally respect him until he plays with more aggression. I used to hate Mobley with a passion, however I am gaining more respect for him as he started to shoot less, and play more defense in the 2nd half of the year. I also don't totally hate Cato. If you ignore the fact that he makes 7 mill/year, and realize he's just a backup center, then you can see that he's actually an asset. Here are the reasons why I hate each player: Francis- I think he worries too much about personal accolades and being a flashy player. I would gladly "sacrafice" his highlight-reel dunks for more effort on defense. As well as learning to make his teammates better. He only really makes Cato better. Superstar PGs should be able to make every player on their team better. Hopefully it was just Rudy's molasses offense that prevented Francis from being a great PG. Moochie- No explanation really needed. He comes into the game and singlehandedly plays horrible offense and defense. I can't think of a worse player in the NBA who plays as many minutes as he does. I think we get outscored by 10-15 points every game that he's in for those 10-15 mins. Rice- I don't really hate him. He doesn't do much other than shoot open 3s, but that is something we need. I would like to see him play more/better defense. Mo- Needs to care about staying in shape in the offseason. No reason why he shouldn't be more than 255-260 lbs. He's been called a selfish underachieving loser for his entire career. If he had any pride, then he would take it as a challenge to become a better player. Moreover, he was able to fool the Rockets into signing him into such a ridiculous contract. EG- Probably the player I dislike the most. I'm not really sure what he is actually GOOD at, other than blocking 2 shots a game. He's an average rebounder. Way below average offensive player. Doesn't play too much interior defense. If he doesn't improve next year, then I give up fully on him. I only give up 99% of him thus far... If the Rockets ever play up to the level that they are capable of, then my opinion on every player will be turned 180 degrees. I am just sick and tired of the selfish and lackadaisical play of my team. What makes me more upset is that I felt like they got Rudy fired. I can't remember how many times in the last 4 seasons that Rudy had a "what the hell was that?" look on his face whenever Mobley, Francis, or Norris would do something idiotic, obviously going against whatever Rudy was emphasizing. To me, it seemed like the players went out of their way to ignore Rudy, for the sake of massaging their own inflated ego. There's nothing I hate more than disobedient young players who haven't won anything. In this case, winning cures everything. I would have no reason to dislike Francis or whoever, if they play to the level that they should. Until that time comes, then every underachieving player on the Rockets is fair game to criticism.
First, I don't doubt that he didn't have a great or even good year. I am also not defending his big contract or that he doesn't play defense. However, you have to understand that he improved A LOT towards the end of the season when the team was just going downhill. It might not show up in the stat lines for the WHOLE SEASON, but I do distinctly remember a few games where the opposing announcers (on NBA League Pass) were just baffled that MoT was scoring at will against the other teams. Many of these games were in March when we should have been making our big push (see below). When Mo got minutes and touches, he scored. To answer by stats, you said that his FG% sucks. Well guess what the whole team wasn't great. I hate to look at just the season't stats because of the reasons I mentioned, but if you take FG% guess where MoT ends up. S Francis 43.5% C Mobley 43.4% Mo Taylor 43.2% K. Thomas (pre-trade) 43.2% G. Rice 42.9% E. Griffin 40% Avg FG% team: 43.3% I would say just by looking at that MoT has about the same FG% as Francis, Mobley, and Rice and MUCH better than Griffin plus he creates most of his shots unlike Griffin. Fine, Cato has a great FG% but he can not create his own shot - most are dunks and alley oops for Cato. This also takes into consideration the whole season and I already pointed out that he did not play well for most of the first part of the season. Yes, I know you can argue that Francis, Mobley, Rice and gosh forbid Griffin also took more 3PT attempts, but if you take just 2PT FG% into consideration he is still better than Griffin (43.3 vs 42.6) the other PF on our team. My reason for supporting him for now is due to the following: 1. He came off a major surgery last year - mulligan 2. His playing time was very inconsistent especially early in the season before KT trade (JVG will hopefully have some kind of set rotation - maybe not at first but I hope by before ASG at the latest) 3. When he did get his touches, he did score (unlike many Rockets in the second half of the season) in bunches - yes, he had awful awful games, but he did put together a few good games in the end. Look in March (when we should have made our huge push) - he put together several nice games against Port, LAC, LAL, SAS, SAC - not pushovers there and he got MINUTES then. 4. Really only legitimate low-post scorer other than Yao - he has great post moves and touch around the basket (just not on defense) My reason for skepticism: 1. No defense especially no rebounds - hoping that JVG can instill something into him that the laid-back Rudy T did not 2. Can he be consistent for the whole season 3. As with 2 will he be in shape Those are major concerns, but he does provide a scoring punch. If all you do is look at the whole season's stats and say this or that, you might miss certain points that I was trying to raise. Basically, he played well down the stretch after finally getting comfortable. I would like to see how he plays under JVG, who should help his defensive intensity and will probably establish a more inside-outside game, before I call him an utter waste - of course I am not ruling out that this might be possible as well. Sorry for the long reply, but just wanted to get my points out there. Of course I expect many people to disagree with this as MoT is obviously not a popular player, but hey these are just my opinion from observing a lot of Rockets game on League Pass last season.
Mo is fine. His stats this past year are misleading because it wasnt till about the allstar game when he started to get the feel in his game back. So what he's not that good at defense or rebounding. He wasnt brought to the Rockets for that. He never has and never well be good that aspect of the game. Good coaches uses players to their strengths. Rudy handled him well in the 2nd half. He came off the bench and played the most in the 4th period. When he was in the game, the offense went thru him. Don't just give him away to get rid of his contract. Low post scoring is hard to come by. Oh, I'm waiting to see Eddie's defense, other then a block every once in a while, I havent seen it.
He's a POWER FORWARD. He is at least supposed to rebound, and that's what the team needs. Mobley is a really good one on one scorer, but that's not what the team needs from the two. At least Mobley seems like he's trying to take less shots. The question is will Mo try to rebound more??
that's not his game. It's like asking Yao to bring the ball up the court and start the offense. Instead of trying to make someone they're not, just need to find players or a rotation that compliments one another. That's the reason why he was paired with Cato most of the time. Mo can be a 10-12 pts scorer off the bench who can command a double team. The problem is, the Rockets need a banger to play the other 20-25 mins at the 4.
Here, Here! Elton Brand is our man. Pair up Elton Brand with Yao Ming and our front line with Posey looks pretty darn good! Brand would be an absolute pefect compliment to Yao Ming giving us inside muscle and rebounding plus someone that can create their own shot and be a 3 star on our team.
I don't post much, and there is a reason for that. If something needs to be said there has always been a poster that has sooner or later posted what I was thinking. There are allot of reasons to like Mo T's game, for example, he has got one of the best mid range jump shots in the game. But I never really liked Mo T's game. I think his deficiencies significantly out way his contributions. He plays POWER forward. And a power forward has certain responsibilities. 1.) A power forward is supposed to rebound. Something he does not do. Going back to his clipper days and preclipper days, he never really rebounded the ball. In addition to that, he really does not put allot of effort into rebounding the ball. On the Offensive end, his lack of offensive rebounds means he gets fewer put backs and lay-ups. On the defensive end, the team has to work twice as hard and has fewer fast break points. I can't even remember how many times Otis grab the ball and just chunk it down court for a fast break leading to an easy lay up or dunk. The guards were always ready to run back and put up a shot. I remember our guards back then being critisized for taking shots before the team could set up a play. Something this team never gets criticized for. Instead they get critisized for running down the clock. 2.) He has a really poor shooting percentage. There are several reasons for this. One reason is he doesn’t rebound the ball. Fewer offensive rebounds means he doesn’t get as many lay-ups or put backs resulting fewer high percentage shots. On the defensive end, it also hurts the team when he doesn’t get his share of defensive rebounds. It team gets fewer fast break opportunities resulting in an overall lower shooting percentage for the team. No one would consider Otis a selfish player, even though he averaged close to 20 points a game with us. He had a very high shooting percentage, and he would easily get 6, 8, and 10 points or more a game with dunks, lay-ups and 5 foot jump shots. 2 points are two point weather or not it was a dunk or sweet mid range that Mo T likes to shoot. 3.) His poor defensive effort. In the West, you HAVE to play defense or you will get slaughtered. There are two many good power forwards in the west. Duncan, Rsheed/Randolph, Malone, Brand, Amare, Nowitzki, Webber, and Garnet. Even if made the playoffs, we would have gotten slaughtered. Great players, always step-up up there game for the playoffs, and with all the good Power forwards in the west, even if we made the playoffs, Mo T's lack of defense and rebounding would have shown up even more. TO make the playoffs, and be successful in the playoffs, you have to play defense, and close out close games. Something this team does not do well. Mo T needs to play defense and rebound just give this team an opportunity to be able to beat the better teams on a consistent basis. If he doesn't, you can expect the other teams power forward to go off, which just makes it a little bit harder for everyone else on this team to win. Plus I think his lack of desire to play defense is just a little bit selfish. When you evaluate a player, you have to see how that person will affect the team. It is great that Mo T has a great mid range jump shoot, but it really doesn’t make a whole out of difference unless he can rebound and play defense. Being able to shoot the mid range jump shot is only an asset if Mo T can REBOUND and play defense. My personal opinion is that a Power Forward that can rebound and play solid defense will pay more dividends than Mo T and his jump shot.
