Exactly. Our offense sucks right now as it is. To trade away one of our better shooters would be suicidal. Yeah we would be good defensively, but whats to prevent other teams from absolutely collapsing down on Ming and clogging up the lanes for Steve.
I love cat but if it makes the team better and Francis gives the O.K. then im cool with it. in the long run i think cat will be better off too. assuming that player is brand it would remind me of the horry cassel and barkley trade.. Both players were my favoirtes but it made the team better. thats the important thing
RocketFan007 - thanks for passing this along. I wish I had seen this part of the show. I'd be interested to know if Aldridge was reporting that Cuttino Mobley is in fact on the trading block (he in fact said "the Rockets are listening to offers"?), or if he was just responding as part of this game when Cuttino Mobley's name was mentioned. Does anyone know who Cuttino Mobley's agent is?
I don't think Francis would be a better fit at the 2. He is better at the PG spot but he just needs to learn how to distribute the ball. I notice ... and its pretty obvious, that Rudy is hoping to make Francis pass the ball out on the first half, then let him take over the second half... I don't think thats a good idea. But trading Mobley away would be a question.. because our offense does suck and trading Mobley away would make it.. well... suckier? or pretty sorry... i dont know if thats a word but we sure seem to play pretty bad (not just bad...but fugly) when our offense isn't clicking.
Clutch, no problem. I'm not for sure on Aldridge's exact quote, but I know he at least implied that he was available. If you want to see the segment, I'm sure ESPN will air it on the midnight Sportscenter.
I have the same questions as Clutch. Does Aldridge know something, or is it like a "It seems he's not part of the core anymore" type of thing. If it doesn't matter where Francis plays, it matters who the other player in the backcourt is. I'd rather have that player being a PG than a SG. I don't want to trade Cat alone. His contract is too valuable for us NOT to package it with on of our bad contracts (Mooch or MoT). Moving Cato and Mobley together would be crazy. Those guys are both starters on almost any team they go to, and we could get really good players by packaging each with another. I'd hate to see Posey playing SG for us. Hell, I'm against him starting. I love his game, but it's a mistake to have an offensively extremely inconsistent player such as Posey in the starting line up. I don't mind him beign our 6th man, getting the same minutes backing up the 2 and 3. If we move Mobley, we better get a starting 1 or 2 in the deal. On a side note: It can't be good for us as a TEAM when a player of ours is mentioned on ESPN as being on the block. I hope Mobley comes out against the Lakers ablazin'. (Trade deadline before Lake Show, right?)
cato and cat for brand and Q?? it makes sense for the clippers candyman is most likely gone. catos is the replacement. i belive Q is a FA too there for he is most likely gone. rockets clearly get better with brand and Q. OF course we gotta sign these guys too or else we got jacked. clippers get a nice contract player and cat now they have 2 players locked up. we just got to find a backup center now it might hurt us at first but it will be great couple year in a few years. IF they want cat and eddie forget them.
Is this what you're talking about? http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=3144 Peter (Houston): Do you think that the Rockets would (or should) trade Mobley? They already have one guard (Francis) that requires a lot of touches in the game, and they have a good center that they can move the ball through in the half court. Would it be good for them to trade Mobley for a good spot up shooter or another big forward? David Aldridge: If they didn't like Eddie Griffin so much, I would agree with you. But the Rockets think Griffin is going to be a big-time player at both ends of the court. I wouldn't move Cat for just a spot-up guy. They should be able to get someone like that (like a Piatkowski, for instance) in the summer with their mid-level exception.
No, Hottodie, this was on the Sportscenter that aired at 10 tonight. That chat took place almost a week ago.
After seeing the segment a second time, Aldridge says that he hears that the Rockets wouldn't mind dumping some of his salary. That just doesn't make since to me since Cuttino is signed to what we all call a "bargain" contract. Maybe he doesn't know anything after all.
OK - I caught it. It looked like Aldridge was just giving his opinion when the name was thrown at him. But why was Mobley's name thrown out there if the only other players that were being mentioned were known to be on the block. Aldridge said he did not think the Rockets would trade him and that he felt they still needed Mobley's offense. He complimented the "1-2 punch of Francis and Mobley". What he said that was significant was, "But you do hear that [the Rockets] wouldn't mind getting some of that salary off their books." - but he could have been referring to Taylor/Cato - as in the Rockets want to unload salary. Besides, the team wouldn't dump Mobley for salary reasons. He's relatively cheap. Still interesting that Mobley's name was mentioned at all.
When you play Posey at the 2 it would not be as a traditional 2, Francis already fills that role, Posey would be a defensive minded 2 who gets his points on the break and in a support role. With Francis dominating the shots in the back court and Ming doing the same in the front court, you really don't need another offensive player at the 2 guard. DD
If Francis are Yao are as dominating as Kobe and Shaq, I would agree with you. But they are not. So we are gonna need that third scorer when the defense keys on our main 2 guys. And Posey is not that type of 3rd scorer. He can't create his own shot. He can't even hit an open shot consistently.
I damn near almost jumped on the trade Cat bandwagon but them I came to me senses and remembered that the real culprit at fault for the latest Rocket woes has been the coaching - they have to have better game plans. Cuttino is cheap talent, Rudy and his staff have to find a way to make things work. They obviously need to go inside more, and that is that. We can't be blaming Cat for that, even though it would be the easy way out to say that a trade would fix everything. Whoever is playing the two, if we don't go inside, we are wasting our most valuable commodity.
If Rice comes back fully healthy, and we don't make a trade, I too believe we should switch lineups to this: Ming MoT Rice Posey Francis Bench: Cato, Griffin, Mobley It's over, go with the 8-man rotation and make the push to keep our playoff spot. Rice and MoT are decent/good entry passers, and Rice can spread the floor if he hits a couple of 3pters. Mobley can come off the bench and lead a very strong 2nd unit with Cato and Griffin. Thoughts about this?
