This Rice sucks stuff is just like EG sucked and CAT sucked and Yao Ming looks like a bust. It'll take 1 game of him going off and the board will be singing praises just like folks are for Yao Ming today.
The only thing is that I don't think Rice has played a single good game in a Rockets uniform, and he doesn't have youth as an excuse. Yes, it would make me very happy if he started hitting shots, but let's face it, he has sucked as a Rocket up to this point.
Kenny is a GREAT player. He has a great first step. He blows by most power forwards like they have cement shoes on. I think he'll be the odd man out at forward, though...
The difference is that you have been waiting for Rice to go off for over a year now and it still has not happened. Rice's problem is his knees not his skill. Unfortunately the reason does not matter. Rice is old (37?) with bad knees. Take it from someone else that is about the same age with tendentious in his knees...they are not going to get any better as the year goes on.
I'm talking about soft on the offensive end...Defensively I agree that he is a very good rebounder for his size. BUT on the offensive he plays very soft...He can't finish in traffic, he doesn't take it strong to the hole. After he makes the initial spin move, he has nowhere else to go but to lay it up softly because has no sense of what's going on around him...he does have nice touch around the rim, but only if he's by himself....ONLY...
The beauty of it is that we have the talent pool that allows us to wait for a Glen Rice, a more organized EG and a ready to contribute Boki.
MoT is a valuable player, but he is not a Small Forward and he can't play center much either. Plus he can't rebound. Maurice is a great 6th man off the bench. He is perfect for it. Ideal. Griffin must learn to play power forward. That is the longterm goal. Kenny HAS played every front court position this year. He was guarding Walker a lot. He was guarding Sabonis in the 4th quarter. He covered Grant Hill and McGrady in preseason, well. He is rebounding. He is passing. He and MoT actually run the same plays...face up your defender on the wing or out front. His offense is inconsistent right now like Griffin. But he shot 48% last year, so?? Right now, the versatility of Kenny is a glue for the frontline. Rice is offering little right now (except locerroom leadership), so I don't see how we can do without Kenny, and I don't see how Maurice can play small forward, and I don't really want to delay Griffin learning to defend strength in the middle. Oh, and another thing. Kenny had that block of Sabonis right with Griffin (according to Eddie). Maurice never would have got that. Maurice's offense is good for us and needed, but he is a one-dimensional player, and we need defense and rebounding. Maurice is our instant offense. Kenny is the glue.
Not that I ever doubted Jeff for a second, but it's all becoming more and more clear that maybe just maybe Mo was indeed abusing KT in those summer scrimmages.
pfft! If Maurice was "absolutely demolishing" Kenny in the first week of July, he wouldn't have come into camp talking about his tough summer losing weight and tweaking his achillis scar tissue and sitting out preseason games, and Mo would be a superstar. And surely there is no way Maurice stops Kenny from driving by him in July. Guys, Mo is told to do one thing and one thing only....score! Comparing his offense to Kenny's offense is ignoring what Mo can't do, and never has done in his whole career. We need him to abuse mismatches just like he did last night. Fox is not as strong as Kenny, and Mo proved that. That was a gimmick defense the Lakers had to field, and Mo made them pay for it. That said, this game does not settle the issue of Mo going at real power forwards in tight games in the 4th, or defending them. Mo is not the complete answer, and neither is EG or KT. But since we don't have a stud PF, I'm damn sure glad we have the verstality in having all three. These three PFs complement each other, and it would take a special trade for me to break it up right now.
Good post, heypartner. I'm in 100% agreement with you. Mo & Yao look to be a fantastic offensive tandem, they already seem to have a really nice chemistry, and will serve the team best by coming off the bench. They shouldn't start because Mo doesn't rebound, and Yao is too green, especially on defense. Just relish in the knowledge that this team really has some fantastic depth, and once they really start running the offense with efficiency....WOW! P.S. Is it me, or does it seem that the Rockets are running 2 different offenses: a Flex-like passing offense with the starters, and the good ol' high-low, inside-out when Mo and Yao come in? For all the 'Chicken Littles' on the board, think about that for a minute. We're talking about a young team with little chemistry trying to incorporate 2 completely different styles. Something to think about.
I don't think it's time for us to be kenny-bashing yet. He's had 2 bad games, but so what? Kenny's lost weight, aggressive on offense, crashing the boards, and is still our best one-on-one defender in the post. Yea, he makes some boneheaded, frustrating plays on offense and doesn't pass enough, but that's a prerequisite to being on this Rocket team. Overall, he's doing a solid job at the 3, giving us points, hustle, and defense while the other 3's on the team (Rice, TMo, and Boki) are contributing very little.
Kenny needs to be resigned. I'm convinced that this has become a distraction for him and made him feel uncomfortable. He has developed the Clipper syndrome and in his mind is playing for a contract. Kenny can create so many mismatches at the 3, and that's where he needs to get most of his PT. Once Griff can consistently get his post moves going, there will be no stopping him (I just hope he gets those going really soon), and MoT showed last night why we signed him. All three of these guys deserve time, but I think Kenny can slide over to the three the easiest. When Cato is back I see no reason why K9 should have to play any more time at the 4 or 5.
I'm not meaning to bash Kenny. I just think that on offense, the Rockets have stronger, more well-rounded attack with a lineup of Ming/Cato, Griffin, and Taylor, than with Ming/Cato, Griffin, and Thomas. I really think that would be a much stronger offensive unit. I understand the defensive liability, but it's really just speculation to say it would be a total disaster. The point of my post was that I wanted to see that line up in reality and see what happens. I'm especially interested in it, because chances are that Taylor and Griffin will be back next year, and it's not so clear with Kenny. Who knows, maybe the offensive benefits would be greater than the defensive weaknesses. I'm just suggesting that it's something that should at least be tried.
DCKid, So, who plays SF in those lineup? You are not addressing the issue that Rudy does not want Griffin guarded SFs Griffin and MoT probably will not start together. They could easily get some minutes together, and Griffin could slide to SF, but that is not Rudy's longterm plan. All minutes that Griffin plays SF are minutes not developing his PF defense and offense. btw: the best offensive lineup, imo, is Yao, MoT and Kenny....not Griffin. Live... I definitely think there are 2 offenses. An old one with Cato (and trying to get more movement), and a new one with Yao that both Yao and Francis are growing into. The main issue right now is Rudy considers defense more important....hence, why Kenny is getting more minutes over Rice, and why Hawkins is getting Nachbar's minutes. Am I making this up?? Isn't that what is going on concerning minutes....we need defense and rebounding, and even in Kenny's two worst offensive games, he led the team in rebounding both games. In fact, Kenny has led the team the last 3 games, right?
I don't like KT much, but I don't know if I would call 3-7 with 10 rebounds a bad game for a bench player.
The reason I like Griffin over Kenny on offense is because of his three-point shooting. He just may be the best 3 point shooter on the team right now. Sure, I would like him to start developing post moves, but if he contines shooting around 45% from behind the arc, it's kind of hard to tell him to stop shooting. With our offense, I think it's imperative we have good spacing, and one way to get good spacing is by having guys who can drain it from long distance. This will be especially true when Yao becomes good enough to require double teams and can kick the ball out for open looks. This is why I think Griffin gives the Rockets offense more dimensions. Kenny just seems redundant when we already have Mobley and Steve in the game. He's just another isolation player. On offense, I would think Griffin would play more of a three who could post up on smaller guys. On defense, it's debatable. I would obviously like to find some way Griffin could still get in the paint to alter/block some shots. As far as Rudy's plan for Eddie, I don't know. Maybe like all good coaches he would make adjustments if he thinks it would help the team win. All I know is that right now Eddie shoots better from behind-the-arc than he does inside of it, so why ruin a good thing?
DCKid, Kenny is not redundant to Mobley/Francis. He can score in the low post and blow some mismatches away with speed OR power. His play calls are identical to Maurice. They both turn and hold the ball and study the defense and wait for doubles. It is the same play, just that Maurice shoots the face-up jumper with more success. There are a lot of people (me included) who do not like Griffin shooting that many 3s. He has to learn to make his open midrange Js, which he is not doing. imo, he does not give us more dimensions. We do not need another outside shooter. We have Francis and Mobley who can both shoot 40% 3s; why do we need a 3rd one besides Rice. Further, Mo can nail the 18-20'er, so Griffin is even more redundant on outside shooting....that's why I think Kenny is the better offensive tandem with Maurice, because Kenny forces a better mismatch for Maurice, or vice versa. Griffin is too easily defended when he goes out to the perimeter. He does little to help Maurcie get a better mismatch. When Kenny and Maurice are on the court with Yao (which we haven't seen yet), one of Maurice or Kenny will have to be guarded by a small forward, like Fox had to guard Maurice. There are few if any SFs who can cover either one of those guys...there are many SFs who can guard Griffin. <i>On offense, I would think Griffin would play more of a three who could post up on smaller </i> As for that statement, watch the games for who is guarding Griffin. Griffin rarely gets guarded by PFs. He is currently facing many SFs, and we don't see him posting up that much, yet.
This may just be one school of thought, but you should start the game with your best offensive presence. Hitting the scoreboard fast and early is very important. The best offensive lineup IMO is Francis, Cat, KT, MoT, and Ming. Then, you sub in defensive players like Hawkins, Cato and EG who holds off the opposition. Rotation of relief players like Rice, Mooch, Boki and Collier as needed. The dark horse is Tmo. When he gets back, we'll see if he brings the great offense he had in preseason or if he'll also be a role player.
One thing that absolutely impressed me last night was the number of consecutive trips down the floor that one of our guards actually passed into the post to Mo Taylor or Ming. While I never liked to admit it, I always had a nagging suspicion that neither Francis nor Mobley would be willing to give the ball up on that many possessions, even if it WAS obvious that the post game was working. I have to give Francis/Mobley/Moochie credit for that, and Rudy as well since I have to assume he was telling them to do so. In that past I have questioned Rudy's ability to control these players because it seems like, in the past at least, they have been pretty much doing whatever the hell they feel like on the floor. This is a sign of tremendous maturity for our guards.
HP, I agree with you on the value of KT's rebounding and defense, but I am not seeing how you think he's a good fit with Mo Taylor in the offense. Ever since Taylor's minutes have increased (basically last two games - Pho and LAL) he has been getting a lot of catches on the left block. Mo has not been facing up much at all the last two games, its been a simple catch with his back to the basket and back his man down finishing with either a hook shot to the right or a spin to the baseline. When Mo and KT are on the floor together it seems like KT's catches are free throw line extended where he turns and faces the defense and holds the ball for about 5 seconds as they bait him to shoot. Opposing teams are playing off KT and baiting him to shoot as he is throwing up bricks from the perimeter. Against GSW and Portland, KT was getting a lot more going to the basket but as Mo's role on offense has increased, KT's opportunities to spin to the hoop have dropped big time. I dont advocate starting Mo and Eddie together, but I do think in order for this offense to get going, a SF that can play off the other guys and shoot from the perimeter consistently is necessary. Whether that be Rice (unlikely) or the development of Nachbar or T-Mo. Its pretty alarming that when Yao has a 14-15 stretch over two games; the Rockets still only shoot 44% from the field over that period of time.
