I think the lack of team work is a combination of many things. (1) Francis' lack of passing skill as a PG. (If he had been a SG, he wouldn't have been criticized so much on this.) (2) Rudy's lack of discipline. He is just too nice to the players to enforce what he wants done on the court. And I think he is giving way to many excuses for the players for their failures. (3) The players lack of movement without the ball. This point together with (1) is a vicious cycle. Francis can make good passes only when the other guys are moving well w/o the ball. But if they don't expect to get the ball from Francis, they won't move. I have said it elsewhere. The failure of the 5-man offense is the failure of 5 men, not just one guy. But if we can get Ming to play point center, we really don't need a true point guard. We can have both Francis and Mobley as excellent scoring guards. One of them can bring the ball upcourt. Then give it to Ming as their designated passer to direct the offense from the high post. Also, I agree with those who say that Francis and Mobley want to win more than their own individual stardom. And they are still learning. It is premature to judge them just yet. Rudy needs to convince them, though. It's his job.
I think its funny that Francis has almost had a all time high tonight in points and there going to lose. Francis is great though. Im sorry to disrespect you guys but you are just posting on here and looking for somehting to bit*ch about. These last 2 seasons they havent had good people around them like they do now. And as you see them get better you will have the COACH of the team tell Francis to pass more. Which is exactly why Francis has shot more then a typical point guard, because the COACH has told him to do so. Because he is the COACH. Because it was the most logical thing to do, because he is the best player. You guys may have been posting longer but I have played basketball and watched the Rockets for a lot of years. Im sorry but whoever thinks you should trade Francis is IGNORANT.
I've been in denial to some degree about the ball control from our guards. But after watching this game, I am terribly dissappointed that there was not an effort to get the team involved. Especially down the wire where you know there's no coming back. Steve and Cat shot every bucket down the last 3 minute stretch.
And I ask again... who would you rather have shooting the ball, Cato, moochie, Juaquin... or maybe Griff, yeah have Griff shoot it since he was having such and excellent shooting night, right. The problem is not Steve and Cat. The problem is our Coach and his gutless coaching style. Why was there no attempt to run his new 5-man offense, what happened to all of the movement we were supposed to see. Nothing, no movement, after all that talk he went right back to the ISO crap. I don't care about lack of personel, kill the ISO and have the guts to at least try something different Rudy. And what's the deal with his substitution patterns. Hawkins gets more minutes than Nachbar, whats the deal with that?
O-Dawg, I concur that Rudy needs a good dose of HARD NOSEDNESS !! SF played a great offensive game, he played like the 2 guard that he is...... Cat played a good 2 guard as well...... Moochie...well, he played like a backup...which he is.... Griffin played awful... Cato looked good... The team looked out of sync and the guards did not pass the ball well at all...several times they were on the break and if they pass the ball they get a dunk..instead they take it in one on one. If this is how the Rockets expect to play this year, then it will be a VERY VERY long year. DD
The reason point guards used to have to distribute the ball is beacuse few of the other players could handle or could create their own shots. Fifteen years ago, it was unheard of to find forwards or even shooting guards that could bring up the ball and consistently create for themselves and others. So the point guard had to do it. Today, all five players can handle. Most players can create and make thier own shots. So it's not as important to have a pure playmaking point guard. In fact look at the starting point guards from the playoff teams in the West last year: Bibby Fisher Nash Stockton Billups Parker Stoudemire Payton Only two of them would you consider "playmakers" - Stockton and Parker. The rest of them are scoring point guards. Look at the latest teams to win the championship. When was the last time a team won the championship with a pure point guard that ran the offense? Lakers? Nope. Bulls? Nope. Rockets? Nope Pistons? Nope The last pure point guard to win a championship was Magic. And that was a long time ago. Isaiah and Dumars just fine doing the bulk of the scoring because the rest of the team did their jobs. So it's the team and the players you have not a certain philosophy that wins.
