From watching KT the last couple of games, it seems that, for some reason, KT has been getting the ball out at the elbow, or even often out just shy of the 3pt line.. this is not his strength, having to face up and juke, fake, lunge, twitch, twitter, and then maybe finally pass, or jack up a shot, or try to spin around his man, and likely as not get the ball swatted away when he puts it on the floor. That KT, I am not a fan of. The KT I am a fan of is the KT from last year, who was getting the ball down low, with his back to the basket, where his superior footwork and speed (compared to most other 4's) would allow his strengths to help the team. Even if he is playing minutes at the 3, there is still nothing wrong with posting him up down low, instead of giving it to him up high where he has to try to create his own shot from the outside-in. He is an inside-out player, and opponents are going to be counting their blessings every time the Rockets use him as an outside-in threat (ie none at all). And right now it's very clear that he is a frustrated unhappy player. He's not happy about his minutes, his contract, or the way he is being used in the offense. Something tells me it'll get worse before it gets better. My prominent gut tells me that it's now 50-50 as to who on this team is going to be the first to start complaining publicly and causing trouble in the clubhouse: Rice or KT. And gee whiz, now that I think of it, remember all that BS all summer long about how Rice was coming in the best shape of his career, and how he was 'tearing up' some mythical summer league? Now don't get me totally wrong - I think Rice is probably our most deadly 3pt shooter, but the other guys either 1) have lost confidence in his ability to hit the shot, or 2) they are just not looking his way for some other, undisclosed reason. My guess is option 2 . I suspect neither Cat nor SF appreciate Rice calling them out in the media, telling them they need to pass more. *sigh* Where, or where, is Air Bull when we need him??
My take. Mo T is the best offensive option at the 4 easily. KT is needed at the three for now and should be left out of the PF discussion except for limited minutes references. He still plays like he did as a PF on offense, but he is definately guarding a SF usually on offense. Griffin is becoming the best overall option at the 4. I would like to see Griffin at the 5 with Mo T at the 4 sometimes. Mo T and Griffin in my opinion don't fit as forwards together.
I have REALLY grown fond of KT this season. I like the guy a lot and I view him as a very valuable contributor for the team. That having been said, I get the sense that defenses have started to figure him out. That step-fake-step-fake-step-fake, attempt to drive, spin, wild hook shot isn't working. Part of the problem is that his thumb is still sore so his outside shot isn't falling meaning they just back off and dare him to shoot. But, I see KT as a guy who could be a very good defender and rebounder with the ability to occassionally be an offensive threat. I just get the sense that KT feels like he needs touches like he got last season when everyone was injured and that shouldn't happen. If you have other more reliable offensive threats, KT's plays get pushed further down the option chart as it should be. Ultimately, it won't matter. Eventually, Griffin, who combines many of the best qualities of both KT and Taylor, will take over and the other two (most likely one of the two) will be relegated to playing behind him. But, that may not be before next season. Griffin is still a work in progress.
Against Portland it seemed that KT received a lot of his passes down low in the post. Against both Phoenix and LAL I thought he received a lot of his passes in the high post. I don't know if that made a difference in his offensive game of not but he was certainly a better offensive option against Portland.
KT is <b>NOT</b> the glue of the team guys, come on now...as a matter of fact, I strongly feel we will play better without him.... he just doesn't blend in well with the rest of the team...he has to have the ball on O or else he won't be effective...Griff's defense is alot more valuable to the team's than Kenny's IMO. Griff is a great helpout guy...a great shot blocker who always supports his teamates does translate to a great defender in my mind...
Don't bet on everyone saying that they like Rice after a good game. I thought the Rice deal was stupid from the start. Unfortunately Rudy fell in love with Rice and that still hasn't changed. Rice does not deserve the minutes he is getting. Nachbar should have those minutes so that he can learn the system.
Well who is going to get rebounds and play man to man defense in the post? Appearently not Griffin, at least not yet.
Thats the argument for continuing to give KT mins even though it is really hurting the offensive flow. Here is something to consider.... The minutes are already starting to spread thin with Taylor returning and Yao starting to gain mins. Also, Cato is about to return this week thus the mins will really spread thin. In past years it would be easy to say "Well Cato should be the odd man out". However, the guy has been a monster on the glass thus far grabbing 11 RPG in 28 MPG and has been a force inside on defense. I cant believe Im giving Cato props, but he is doing well. Also, Cato does not command many shots and really just gets his few scores off weakside/putback type stuff. I honestly feel a huge part of the reason that Mobley and to a certain extent Francis (against Suns) have seem much less production over the last two games is that the spacing has become really awkward with KT moving up to FT line extended. The spacing would be a whole lot better with Mo on the left block and Yao or Cato weakside with a perimeter shooter in addition to Francis and Mobley. The left block is no longer open for KT as Yao and Mo have been slowly getting more and more touches there. This whole Mo-KT playing together may have worked if Mo continued to be a face up threat like before, but Mo has really developed his back to the basket power game. One other point.... It will also be interesting to see how Mo handles other PFs in the post defensively. I always thought his position defense was average the last full season he played. People calling him a defensive patsy was always exaggerated imo. I am interested to see how his defense shows up as he continues to get more time on the floor. The guy's game has toughened up a whole lot as he powers to the basket in the post so it will be interesting to see if he is a better defensive force as well due to this added toughness/aggressiveness.
MManal, Understand that I was suggesting that lineup versus one with MoT and Griffin together, and *only* from a discussion which one delivers more offense. The idea is to get Maurice a mismatch. When Maurice and Kenny are in together, one of them is going to get a mismatch. Kenny can destroy small forwards by backing them in, but Griffin, so far, has allowed the opposition to cover Kenny with a power forward. Last night, Maurice went off on Fox. Fox cannot prevent Maurice from backing him in. Against PFs who can stand their ground, I expect to see Maurice take a different entry and turn to face his man. In those situations, Kenny will be guarded by a small forward, and he can take the low post plays. As for my favorite lineup with Maurice: I don't know what that is, yet. in short, Griffin is the real tweener on this team, right now. If we want to get opposing teams with real power forwards to mismatch on Maurice or Kenny, don't expect those PFs to guard Eddie. KT and Mo playing together will create more mismatches than matching them with Eddie. I think the BBS has a big tendency to assume Eddie can cause a mismatch, much less take advantage of one.
The three baskets he made last night were from him receiving a pass while cutting to the basket, or to put it another way, moving without the ball. That's what the motion offense is all about, and it's going to help all of our guys once we can run it smoothly for a whole game. Both the Lakers and Suns would send a second defender over if they thought Kenny was going to drive, that's one thing that is causing him problems, the other teams are playing tougher defense against him now which he has to adjust to. At the same time it's going to open up a player somewhere when they double him. All our frontcourt players have strengths and all of them are going to contribute and help the team win. It may be Kenny using his quickness to drive and grabbing boards, Eddie blocking shots, Mo giving us a quick 10 points when we need it, Rice hitting open threes, Cato blocking shots and grabbing rebounds, Hawk shutting down a player, or Yao doing a little of it all. I think they should all be on the team and should be used when the situation calls for it. This season is going to show us how they all fit in together and give them time to gel. It's going to be a beautiful thing once everything starts clicking.
I said KT is the glue of the 3 power forwards, not the glue of the team. Eddie is not strong enough for PFs, and Maurice cannot guard SFs and hates playing Center. KT fills in the gaps....hence, he's the glue.
HP, Fully agree on that point. Teams have been guarding Eddie with SFs thus KT has been forced to go up against PFs. I agree that Mo T and KT together on the floor will guarantee one of them a matchup against a SF. Problem is, that I dont think trying to play for this mismatch is good for the Rockets in terms of spacing. If you noticed, KT looked awkward on the perimeter yesterday and against Phoenix while Mo T dominated in the post. This awkwardness has really hurt spacing and ball movment thus resulting in Mobley not getting the shots off the ball he was before and the offensive flow bogging down. Also, I dont think Mo's strategy even against PFs will be to face up on the perimeter. The guy showed in the preseason and has continued to show an ability/desire to go to left block and draw a double. Against Phoenix, he had no problem doing this against Stoudamire and Guggliotta. There are very few PFs if any that will be able to guard Mo one on one in the post. Mo's game has improved a LOT.
what do you have against Maurice facing up?? I think he, Webber and Glen Robinson are the best at it. Sure, true low post scoring is more likely to force doubles, but I can't really say right now that Maurice in the block against PFs is any better than Kenny in the block against SFs. I'm also not worried about Mobley getting in the flow, and I can't really accept that anything Kenny has done has caused Mobley getting out of synch (if that is even the right way to talk about it). albeit his annoying turnovers, Kenny does all the little things, and seems fine (to me) being a garbage collector in stretches, while turning his efforts to D and rebounding The thing about Maurice, and this is typical for the BBS to overread limited looks to express their personal backseat coaching preferences, is that Maurice has succeeded against arguably the two worst frontline in the West. I cannot say he has become a better low post player than the Maurice of past, based on those two games. Kenny shredded Troy Murphy with low post moves...but we find no one saying his low post has improved. I don't know what it is about Kenny that I love so much. It starts with the fact Rudy loves him, and then you try to see why Rudy loves him. There are these intangibles (he plays near perfect positional defense, and he has eyepopping dishes in traffic) and an attitude where I have more confidence in Kenny steadily improving with PT over any other player (excluding Yao for obvious reasons). Kenny hates to fail...he has that air about him. Kenny is facing zones that he didn't see last year. He'll adjust, or he'll learn to wait for his mismatches and give in other ways. I don't see where some people are predicting him to start complaining. I don't see that personality at all, and I doubt Rudy does, because I can't imagine Rudy giving him this many minutes if he had an attitude.
HP, What would you suggest then as the reason that Mobley and to a certain extent Francis are not getting the same looks they did in the offense early on over the last 2 games? Mobley was 5-9 against the Suns and clearly did not get enough looks considering how well he was shooting at the beginning, and against the Lakers he was not getting the ball in the right places to get high pct looks. In the first six games or so, Mobley was getting scores coming off screens and in the offensive flow. I honestly believe that with proper looks in proper position, Mobley can be a very efficient scorer ie 47% from the field. He was worked way too hard on his game to be out of the flow on offense. The offense was slowly starting to show signs of coming around, but the last two games, the flow was totally gone. I honestly believe this is due to KT not being able to get the ball on the left block anymore b/c Yao and Mo are emerging as threats there. Did you not think it looked awkward as hell when KT kept getting the ball FT line extended, and the defense kept baiting him to shoot while he held it? I have grown very fond of what KT has been doing in terms of work ethic, determination etc. but somehow I am just not seeing the fit on offense with the emergence of Yao and Mo. I understand your theory of drawing the SF post matchup but is it worth it to kill the offensive flow? The Rockets were shooting something like 37% from the field last night until Yao came in and started to dominate.
MManal, it is a good question to ask why the defense has been able to disrupt our flow in stretches. one simple explanation is that we just are not good enough to maintain flow (or hit our open shots...*sigh*) with solid consistency, especially when trying to morph this offense. In otherwords, the league's zones simply are ahead of the league-wide new offenses. I wasn't really addressing the team flow thing, however. I was just saying that Mobley doesn't need much help; he can get hot from anywhere. His 3pter seems to be failing him early, lately. One thing I've seen in Mobley is that he is learning to stop shooting late in the game if he hasn't had a good game shooting up till then. In the 4-12 and the 4-13 games, he pretty much stopped shooting by mid-4th. I do have one theory about Francis, though. You have to expect some teams are going to take the ball out of his hands, where it is less our offense as it is the defense dictating things. imo, the big question as we move forward this month and next is not Yao, not Maurice, not Mobley or Kenny...the big question is can Francis and the team provide an answer to defenses that are constructed to take the midrange shot and the drive away from Steve.
Really good posts, HP and MManal. I haven't had the opportunity to watch as many games of the Rockets this year since I was traveling out of town. (League Pass withdrawals!). But even though last night there were not as many iso's as what I have seen in the past. But as every thing in Rocket Town, we live by the 3 and die by the 3. Everything is focused from the low block, obviously except for the high screen and rolls. It was a battle of position, who could get to the left low block first. Even though the iso was gone, it still reminded me of the Barkley/Willis low block wars. I have to agree with HP on the KT stuff. KT, for only being 6’7” he plays with a bunch of heart and is quite well rounded. Both Mo and KT can at will get their shot off and create separation, I think KT has to be a little more creative because of his size, since Mo has 3 inches on him. But if you look at the 3 players that play PF for us, KT is the best rounded. You know Mo is gonna give you the O, but he couldn’t guard my daughter. EG, is the best defender of the bunch has really good range, but isn’t at proficient as the other 2 yet. KT shoots a few 3’s, more 2 years ago than he does now, but still has more moves than at U-Haul.
