Are Terence Morris and Kenny Thomas the missing ingredients?

crash5179 · Nov 1, 2002

I say they are. Particularly in this offense with 3 rookies and only two legit scoring threats when MoT, Rice, KT and TMo all injured.

Steve does not trust rookies, not last year and apparently not this year. Last year he was hesitant to ever pass to Eddie or TMo and this year he looks hesitant to pass to Boki or Yao. Maybe that will change but I doubt it.

During the pre-season the stats indicate that Steve was willing to pass to both TMo and KT while both rewarded Steve by making shots and earning him assists. We know KT can score and if TMo stays true to his pre-season form then he can score also so with either player on the court, that gives us an extra true scoring option that the defense has to account for besides Steve or Cat.

Besides the extra scoring both players have extended time playing with Steve and Cat Both players seemed to know when to cut to the basket and when to pass the ball and how to find the cutters. Someone who saw the Memphis and San Antonio pre-season games can confirm that since I didn’t see those games. Add the fact that KT and TMo are two of our three best defensive players and I think that their loss is bigger than we might care to acknowledge.

With Steve, Cat, Moochie, Eddie and Cato starting we have a total of 2 legit scoring options. Eddie has not been a good option all pre-season. Cato even if he avgs 60% shooting a game is not an option since he can not score outside of 5 feet. Moochie has always been streaky. With no proven scoring threats to bring off of the bench (Yao, Boki, Hawk and Collier = 3 rookies and no scoring threats) every team will concentrate on Steve and Cat.

One of 2 things are going to have to happen in my opinion:

1. Steve is going to have to trust the Rookies and they are going to have to reward his trust by nailing shots and not making mistakes on offense.
2. KT, TMo, MoT and Rice are all going to have to get healthy and back onto the active roster and become a part of the rotation.

Steve and Cat both have a history of freezing out the rookies so I don’t really believe option one will happen. The best scenario for the team would be for a combination of one and two. Either Kenny Thomas or Terence Morris or both needs to be in the starting rotation and contributing like they were before they got injured. Bring a healthy Glen Rice and Mo Taylor off of the bench and all of a sudden we are deep in scorers and the 5-man offense will look like a 5-man offense once again.

RocksMillenium · Nov 1, 2002

I don't think Cat and Francis freeze out the rookies so much as the rookies are still learning where they need to be on the floor. I see Francis and Mobley helping guys like Hawkins and Ming with this, but there's only so much you can do in the flow of the game. The difference between T-Mo getting the ball this year and last year is experience. T-Mo knows where he needs to be to get the ball and how to get there. The rookies we have don't know that yet. I think people confuse reluctance with freezing somebody out. If there's a guy out there and he doesn't know what he's supposed to do, do you pass him the ball? You can't do that because it equals a turnover. The backcourt can bark out all the commands they want and tell guys where to go, but if those guys still don't understand or freeze, then it's up to the coaches in practice to get the guys in line with everybody else.

crash5179 · Nov 1, 2002

Originally posted by RocksMillenium
I don't think Cat and Francis freeze out the rookies so much as the rookies are still learning where they need to be on the floor. I see Francis and Mobley helping guys like Hawkins and Ming with this, but there's only so much you can do in the flow of the game. The difference between T-Mo getting the ball this year and last year is experience. T-Mo knows where he needs to be to get the ball and how to get there. The rookies we have don't know that yet. I think people confuse reluctance with freezing somebody out. If there's a guy out there and he doesn't know what he's supposed to do, do you pass him the ball? You can't do that because it equals a turnover. The backcourt can bark out all the commands they want and tell guys where to go, but if those guys still don't understand or freeze, then it's up to the coaches in practice to get the guys in line with everybody else.
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I don't completely buy that. I accept the reluctance a veteran my have in a rookie for the reasons you give but if a guy is standing wide open for a 18 footer and you have two guys smothering you then you pass the ball to that person. Give him a chance to hit the open J.

IMO the whole point of the 5-man offense is to create good scoring oppertunities. If we are going to ignore them because we are afraid that player is going to make a mistake then I say either don't play that player until he is ready or just go back to the clear outs.

BigM · Nov 1, 2002

certainly they're missed alot. not just for the defensive intensity and hustle but their comfort with francis. when tmo was rolling in those first 2 games steve found him time and again for the easy jumper. it's obvious that he has a comfort in passing it to guys he's played with. he hits rice, cat, mot, kt all in stride. even in the indiana game, he didn't shy away from eddie until he bricked his last 10 in a row. i don't see it as a specific freeze out on rookies just to guys whom he hasn't had the experience of working with. that's one of the blemishes in his pg skills but also something that get's fixed with practice time. it has nothing to do with selfishness. it's no conincidence that a cato, eddie/mo t, kt/tmo, cat, steve lineup looked so good, they know each other.

crash5179 · Nov 1, 2002

Originally posted by BigM
i don't see it as a specific freeze out on rookies just to guys whom he hasn't had the experience of working with. that's one of the blemishes in his pg skills but also something that get's fixed with practice time. it has nothing to do with selfishness. it's no conincidence that a cato, eddie/mo t, kt/tmo, cat, steve lineup looked so good, they know each other.
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Please don't misunderstand me. I don't think Steve is a selfish player. I have never thought that. But for what ever reason he has never been good at passing the rock to rookies even if they are wide open.

I really don't want my quote about Steve freezing out the rookies (which may be a little harsh) to overshadow the main theme of this thread. And that is that with all of the complaining about the 5-man offense it will get a lot better when the correct personel are back on the court together.

ricerocket · Nov 1, 2002

I think they are very important in the rotation. But I equally think the same of Rice and MT. Each brings a different style and look and should keep teams off guard.

don grahamleone · Nov 1, 2002

If you are talking about our performance against Indiana, then I say yes, Kenny would have made the difference if healthy.

zzhiggins · Nov 1, 2002

Originally posted by ricerocket
I think they are very important in the rotation. But I equally think the same of Rice and MT. Each brings a different style and look and should keep teams off guard.
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Thats true, with the exception of Yao Ming ,,this the same team as last year if MoT and Rice arent here,,,,basically.... We need a big contribution from MoT and if Glen ever gets to 100% we will be very deep.

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Are Terence Morris and Kenny Thomas the missing ingredients?

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