is it a good or bad article'separating reputation from reality'written by Feigen ?

it is a bad article.


Separating reputation from reality
By JOHNATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

New Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy is well into his pledge to watch every possession of every Rockets game last season. Remember, he said he even "missed the misery."

As admirable as his celebrated work ethic is, his tape work is unnecessary. The study will separate the frustrations from the facts, the reputations from reality. Having already seen every possession of every game, we offer just what Van Gundy will find.

Reputation: Steve Francis is no point guard.

Reality: No one else, this side of Jason Kidd, is. Francis will never be a traditional quarterback, but he is closer than many thought he would be. Kidd and John Stockton combined are still one championship shy of shoot-first Tony Parker. In short, Francis is all the playmaker the Rockets need. His six assists per game last season are not bad for a point guard averaging 20-plus on a poor-shooting, low-possession team.

If anything, the tapes show how many open shots the Rockets missed. The problem was that Francis would grow frustrated and try to do too much when the shooters did not shoot straight. That is fixable, and he will mature out of habit for unnecessary turnovers. Where he needs the work is on every play, on-the-ball, point guard defense. The days of wandering and jumping picks are over.

Reputation: Francis and Cuttino Mobley must learn to make Yao Ming the offensive priority.

Reality: They already know that. Yao is still learning it. When Yao plays with energy, he is as wonderful as the Rockets' Rookie of the Year campaign would have you believe. But in the second half of the season, he struggled with the rookie wall. By the last month, he was a zombie.

As much as Kenyon Martin battled Tim Duncan for low-post position in the NBA Finals, every team fought Yao. By the last four to six weeks, he could not fight back. In the middle of the season, the Rockets got around that by having Yao cut, or "dive," to the basket. But late in the season, he was so tired, players on the bench were screaming, "Dive, Yao, dive," almost as if shouting, "Run, Forrest, run."

Next season, Yao will be able to move all the time and key much more of the offense.

Reputation: The Rockets "iso" too much.

Reality: Actually, the Rockets did not iso enough. OK, that might not be quite true. But a case could be made that Rudy Tomjanovich overreacted and removed too much of the isolation plays from his game plan.

The Rockets seem to iso so much because they run so little. If they use 17 isos in a game with 82 possessions, it looks much more stagnant than the Mavericks' 25 iso plays in games with 100 possessions. Don Nelson has been an iso guy since calling plays for Sidney Moncrief and Paul Pressey in Milwaukee or Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway in Golden State. But because his teams run, the iso plays don't stand out as much. The Rockets also have a tendency to dribble the lettering off the ball when they do iso, making those 17 plays stand out even more.

Even Larry Brown, who has always preached the antithesis of isolation basketball, ran more iso with Allen Iverson and the 76ers. The Rockets were the poster children of the evils of the iso before the rule changes. They since have become a pick-and-roll team (though some consider pick-and-roll a version of an iso). Executed well, the pick and roll is still the toughest play to defend.

Reputation: Eddie Griffin should post up more.

Reality: That would be nice someday. But for now, he's so bad at it that the priority needs to be getting Griffin to become a cut-to-the-basket weapon the way Marcus Camby was for Van Gundy in the 1999 playoffs. Griffin finally started to move without the ball in the last few weeks of the season. Add that, and something off the dribble, and he'll be a solid fourth option.

Reputation: The Rockets are a young, high-flying, up-tempo team.

Reality: The roster is young, too young. But that includes a bunch of kids who don't play. Most of the rotation is experienced enough. They are far from high speed. They are a slow-down team that did not take care of the ball well enough to score so little on the break.

The Rockets were not far off last season. But they give away too many possessions on both ends to be consistent. Making the Rockets disciplined and professional every day, every game, every possession will likely become Van Gundy's Job One.

But first, he might go ahead and watch all those tapes.


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you sould care if you are a true rocket fan .

 

I do have something to say. but all i want to say is that FEIGEN should be fired right now. i feel shamed for him to write like this.
i feel shamed for houston which there is a sportwriter like Feigen.
he hided his real opinion in his report, which he knew it was not to be accepted and he dare not to talk about it publicly.

 

is there someone afraid of facing this poll? tell me why?