As sad as it was just like the previous summer, the Rockets were the only team that wanted Taylor. If not for the Rockets, I think he would have been playing for the execption or a Moochie Norris type contract.
Jeff, you bring up very good points. I totally agree. I also want to add that while I REALLY love Kenny's play and his energy on the court, when everyone is healthy I just don't see a place for him in the line up. If you have Ming and Cato and the center spots and Taylor and Griffin at the PF spots then where does Kenny play? I just don't see him spending a lot of time at the SF position because of his lateral quickness is just not enough to guard the quicker SFs. Furthermore I think it is important to give Griffin an ample amount of playing time to continue his growth. The only way to get better is to play and the log jam of PFs with the three of them is just too much. I don't want to stunt Griffin's growth as a PF for this team by splitting up the PF minutes between 3 players. It just does not make sense to do that. Griffin is the future at the PF for us so we have to do whatever we can to make sure he continues to grow. Again, let me restate that I really love Kenny Thomas and his play on the court. It is obvious he gets the most out of his abilities and has worked hard on his game. Did anyone ever think that late in the game the Rockets would dump the ball down to Kenny and ask him to make a clutch basket? That was the case late in the year as he was the only low post player. And he delivered a number of times! But again, with that said, we already have money invested in Griffin and Taylor at the 4 spot so I think since Thomas is the easiest player to move from the team, that we should explore our options to see if we can package #15 and Kenny to see if we can get a quality SF. Rice is on his last legs and I feel TMo will only be a decent backup SF so we should be on the lookout for someone to fill in at that starting SF spot. Chris
Agree totally with deuce, Eddie is the future and as much as we all love KT's hustle it just isn't worth stunting his growth. Bottom line is we can't move Mo's contract, EG is the future, so KT is the odd man out. Another point I would like to make is that I believe KT probably would rather be traded than get 10-20 min a night, this is his contract year, so we would also be doing what is best for KT.imo
C - Ming, Cato, Collier* PF - KT*, Griffen, MoT Sf - Rice #15, Tmo* Sg - Mobley, Torres* Pg - Francis*, Moochie * - only one not locked up for at least 2 more years. Ming and #15 should be locked up for at least 3 years Francis, Torres and KT should be taken care of by the summer's end. Tmo and Collier next summer or just let them go. other than TIME TO GEL . . . what else can we add? That is 13 players. We have a 12 man roster. Which means we have a 3rd strong at at least 2 positions KT imo is better than MoT and WILL BE BETTER I think he can play SF as good as the old injured Rice or Tmo Keeping Mo . . just because we paid him . .is adding insult to injury [see Cato] Rocket River
Except that he started there for about 15 games in 00/01 (when both Cato and Hakeem were out), and played there a lot when the Rockets went to small ball.
If I remember correctly, Mo wouldn't even talk to any other team before the Rockets talked to him first. That's why you didn't hear about any other team trying to sign him... he loved this team so much that he wouldn't even listen to offers at the peak of the free agency period.
On defense, I totally agree with anyone about Steve improving his on the ball defense. However, at TIMES I get really excited about Cuttino's defensive abilities. I've watched a few tapes and noticed the Cuttino does alot of helping out defense at TIMES which results in him blocking a shot or forcing a bad shot. His arms appear to be long for his hieght which also enables him to intercept lobs and reach in and poke away a dribble. You usually see this after he misses a shot that he was upset at himself for missing. As soon as the shot is boarded, he runs to the player and gets the steal. Yes, I understand that he needs to do this on a consistant basis. But in my eye, he just needs a fire lit under him to get his intensity going the whole game on the defensive end. A guy I'd love to have back on the team for this is Charles Barkley. Not for his Basketball skills, but for the locker room. He would really light a fire under these guys and it would change everything on defense. That's if they would listen to Chuck in the first place...
I remember seeing KT on Shaq at one point what was that about Rocket River and he was not *sshorrible
R. River- That was a game MoT, Cato ,and Hakeem were out. And you're a little mistaken if you thought KT wasn't terrible against Shaq- http://www.clutchcity.net/game.cfm?gameID=122 Shaq had 41 points 11 rebounds, and 0 turnovers on 17-23 shooting....in 31 minutes. He also went 7-18 from the free throw line. 11 misses-he could've scored 50 on us in just 31 minutes.
I believe that rebounding has alot to do with desire. You have to WANT to rebound. Why did Barkley seem to always get rebounds over guys who were almost a foot taller than him...because he wanted that ball more than anybody else. MoT has a body which should be clearing a path to the basket like Godzilla ripping through Tokyo for the hundredth time(man....they made alot of those monster movies). I like MoT and I think he is a good player. I did not mean to portray him as a lazy bum ( see Cato). I was merely refering to his desire to rebound that seems to be nonexistant. BTW - wasn't it his achilles that he hurt and not his knee?
