Disclaimer: Based on the sheer volume of posts/threads, I'm sure that some, if not all, of these thoughts have been previously expressed. Having watched most of the playoff games, I think I agree with Heypartner now (gasp). I think Duece said something to this effect. We need surgical changes, not massive overhaul. 1. Our offense: the key to improvement is Yao Ming. We get better if Yao gets better. He is the only player that will really make his teammates better. Our offense, no matter the style we play, will go as far as Yao can take it. It's up to the coaches to maximize our performance, but it's really about Yao becoming dominant, ala Duncan. Why do we play iso ball? Because we don't have a consistent inside presence. It's fashionable to compare Francis/Mobley to the talent of Bibby/Jackson or Nash/Van Excel. However, what makes the other guards so effective are two tiny little people named NOVITSKI and WEBBER. Yao must become the presence. If Yao improves, it takes the pressure off Mobley and Francis and keeps them from having to make decisions. Yao will make the decisions. I am still in favor of bringing in a Kenny Andersen on the cheap (which is not necessarily optimal, but a realistic move). In short, there's no getting around this. If Yao doen'st become an elite player, we might make it to the playoffs, but we'll never make it to the 2nd round. We'll be no better than Phoenix was. You can probably quit reading this post now because this is the key point. 2. Cuttino Mobley: this is hard to say, but Cuttino just needs to be forced into the 6th man role until we get a no-brainer offer that we truly can't refuse (like Brand). "Cuttino, either come of the bench or play for the Clippers." As much as we like to think that we're chock full of talent, we aren't. Cuttino shouldn't be made to change his stripes, so give him full license to score when Yao's out of the game. Cuttino is legitimate playoff caliber talent. 3. Coaching: Rudy has to rise to the occasion. He needs to bench Mobley and Francis when appropriate, ala Popovich when Parker was playing with his head in his ass. Rudy may have the best chance of gettting us to a first round exit, which I will take right now. Where do I sign? 4. Defense. the 2nd best reason to keep Mobley is defense. He is way above average. We need a bonafide starter at the PF spot. Rice and Griffin are the logical assets to move to get a legit PF. Maybe we sign and trade for PJ Brown or someone of his ilk. If we have decent production at that spot, it will take pressure off the others. Taylor is fine off the bench. Griffin is a huge problem. a PJ brown won't just hover around the 3 pt line. he'd get 10 pts a night just off rebounds and passes from Yao from the post. And he, unlike Eddie, can hit a 15 footer with consistency and play defense.
Watching playoff teams is a good way to assess the Rockets future. What do they have that we dont? You hit on our weaknesses, but I dont think we are so far away on the skill side. We are just short on veteran leadership. For those who wanted to compare Yao to Duncan..its clear that Yao is potentially that good...but its going to be awhile before hes in the same class.
What, in particular, did you see in the playoffs that makes you think we are oh-so-close with the present cast? I like PJ Brown too. I also want a Lamar Odom and Alvin Williams. I'm not so confident that we're "all good!" with just PJ and Cat on the bench. Are you starting Moochie? I don't think Cat or Grif really fit with Steve and Yao long term. You need to cash in Rice's deal. And I don't think Taylor and Cato should stay when we can exchange their big contracts for hard hat worker bees that fit our needs at 1, 3, and 4. Please elaborate.
I've not post in a while, just been reading but to think about the whole situtation. The Rox are not that far off. Just some minor adjustments are needed. Dallas and S A are in the finals, with both comming from the mid-west div. is a thought itself. That means that the Rox's are in a div. that's on the up and up. The Rox's just need 1 missing piece to be there. Everyone knows that if we where in the East, we would have been in the playoffs. The Rox's only need a veteran point guard, move SF to the off guard. Let Mobley come off the bench for instant offense. Some of you can remember that he was up for the 6th man one time! Trade Moochie, T-Moe for that point guard, line up vet. point guard/ (filler) or Brown SF/ Mobley/ hawkins Posey/Rice/ Boki Moe T/ Giff Yao/ Cato We don't need a point to be a scorer, but have to have a shot if needed. Maybe send Rudy up stairs, and hire Clemons from the Lakers to Coach.
As far as I'm concerned, the ONLY untouchables on this Team are Yao, Francis and Cato!!! That's right, Cato!! Regardless of how much Cato may have had to "back-up to get his paycheck" before last year, he is now a force and our 3rd or 4th best asset. (I would actually put him behind Cat as far as importance to our team, but Cat's emminently less critical to the long-term success of the Rockets than a strong, defensive minded back-up center). If you don't agree with me, just look at what most teams have starting at the 5 (which Cato could do for about 70% of NBA teams), and how big the drop-off is when they go the bench. If we don't get another 7 ft / 3pt shooting specialist (ala Bullard), then we MUST KEEP CATO for defensive purposes. (Although it would be nice to pick up Bullard clone and keep Cato as well...)
Bring Cat off the bench to lead the 2nd squad is the way to go. Otherwise even Yao improves, we would be like 89 Bulls, always getting beat by Pistons in the 2nd quarter, then never coming back at the second half. Of course, i assume MoT would be starting. He can fit himself in the offense flow while Cat apparently prefer ISO games.
Right now Cat is our 3rd best player by a mile. We don't have a low draft pick, can only offer the MCE, and Boki hasn't looked near ready to start thus JP (our 4th best player and potentially equal all-around SG as Cat) has a wide open spot at the 3. Thus it is very unlikely Cat will go to the bench. He will either be traded or play the 2--not because he wouldn't agree to it, but because there is almost no chance we can have 2 guards better than him w/o trading him.
I don't know if we are oh-so-close. Never said that. My point is that Yao is the key to our future. His development will determine how close we get in the next 5 years. I'm not starting Moochie. Realistically, I'd like to get a strictly average pg that doesn't do anything spectacular or stupid. Alvin Williams comes to mind. If we could get PJ brown, I'd ship off Griffin, Rice or Cato for Williams. (I don't know whether any of this would work under the cap). If not, I would like to see us get Jon Barry or Jimmy Jackson under the MCE. I'd prefer more of a point guard tho. I think we'll wind up signing kenny andersen, which hurts defensively, but would help the brainpower at the point. We would have Yao, Brown and Taylor in the paint. I'm down on Griffin and would trade him just to dump moochie's contract. I think Rice will be dealt (either preseason or during the year) b/c of his attractive contract and b/c we will create room for Nachbar. I'd like our guards to be three of the folloing: Francis, Williams, Mobley, Jackson, Barry and maybe Redd. Posey and Boki are fine to fill out the SF spot. Brown/Taylor would make an excellent tandem Yao/Cato would also be fine. But all of this is academic. Our future depends on Yao's development.
Here's the way to look at it. What if we kept the same team and plugged in Duncan or Webber? Everyone would be better. Period. Posey would get more opportunities to slash to the bucket. francis and mobley could get open lanes to attack. I don't know if our supporting cast is as talented as Sacremento. But let's look at this comparison, taking out Yao and Duncan: parker - Francis bowen - mobley jackson - posey robinson - griffin ginobli - ???? Ferry - Rice Rose - Taylor Willis - Cato We don't have an answer for ginobli, but we have a legit answer at all other positions. Duncan just flat out makes that team go.
I agree with you about the current situation. I was just saying we cannot just go out and look for 5 guys playing well together. We have to think about the 2nd quarter also. MoT should be starting but Rudy put him on the bench, because nobody else could score. I think we can trade Eddie or MoT for a good 2 guard or 1 guard to play along Steve. And let Cat do whatever he wants in the second quarter.
