thanks for the reports, so what is the problem???? is the progression of talent issue true????or is all of that scouting info wrong???
From what I understand, an assistant coach (or two or three) are/were big fans of Terence Morris and had Rudy's ear on it all year. They felt he was playing time away from being a very good one, and it just pushed Boki down (Rice/Morris then Rice/Posey/Morris). He pretty much always was listed above Nachbar, and I think that showed in the playing time. How true that is I don't know - but it's what people say. They also say he does extremely well in practice and is a terrific leaper. Everyone knows he can shoot lights out - that's no fluke. I watched him play at training camp last year and while he had ups and downs, I was really impressed with how well he shot the ball and ran the floor. Whether he struggled all year though with the offense, competition, defense, etc. I don't know -- he really was treated like a garbage player, so it makes one wonder. Obviously with an entirely different coaching staff evaluating and calling the shots, we'll find out soon enough.
Thanks. Problem is, I do think that, overall, were we to have no Posey, Morris is probably a better fir as a starter than Boki, in terms of what they add. Without Posey we need perim defenders, and ball handlers, not scorers. That said, with Posey starting, or even if Morris were starting, I see Boki really being screwed by the lack of pt. At the very least he could develop into a situational scorer, especially as a shooter, and garner 15-20 mins game. I agree that there are really only two ways to look at this: He was a vast dissapointment, or it was possibly the most extreme example of Rudy's penchant for grounding rookies if he can. One of the very 1st things I ever wrote in here was a complaint about the way Rudy handles rookies unless he's forced to play them by injuroes, etc...and that never changed; All coahces are veteran friendly, and it makes perfect sense...but on a young team trying to develop, Rudy's arch conservatism with younger players had me tearing my hair out at times...JVG, sadly, has never rwally shown himself to be all that different in that regard, but we can hope.
Thanks, Clutch. Would you say the assistant coach/T-Mo situation was the same thing Doc alluded to in his post about Boki? Also, is/will Doc still be associated with the Rockets? We haven't heard from him since Rudy stepped down.
And Francis probably told Mooch, Cat, and anyone else that would listen to him to give the ball to "his boy" from Maryland. Just like Franchise convinced Rockets staff to give up a first round pick for him in the 2nd round...
thanks for the update clutch... i sure hope he gets some serious pt this season, i would rather him try and fail rather then never get the chance... t-mo at his best can be a quality role player... boki at his best (from all that we've heard) could wind up being a star...
Wow, I allways assumed Boki really sucked, otherwise the below average Terrence Morris wouldn't be getting playing time. Good to see I was wrong. From the few minutes he played, at least he attacked the basket aggressively.
Ok, let me get this straight. Rudy has played Tim Breaux, Eldridge Recasner, Randy Livingston, Matt Maloney and CBA scrub of the week but would not play Nachbar. Why? Terrence Morris? Fine. But even then Rudy couldve still found some time for Nachbar. In my opinion, the staff didn't think Nachbar was very good. Otherwise, they would have given him an opportunity. Rudy has tried a bunch of crazy lineups in the past to find the "right fit" on the floor. If he was decent, Rudy wouldve played him. Im hoping that: 1. Nachbar was just lost in the shuffle or 2. Even if he did suck, he will work hard to improve his game and a new staff will find ways to utilize him this year.
RIET, there's another possibility- chemistry with other players wasn't good. Look how hard it was to incorporate Yao into the offense, I imagine Boki would have been even more lost out there. And good coaches can be wrong. Look what happened when Carlisle finally started playnig his rookies.
Actually, I think that was determined even prior to his 70 min, as far back as the Rocky Mountain Review he was having trouble playing D any better than the Matador D that Franchise has perfected.
Actually, we should ask Grega. But, it was my understanding that: 1. Boki's hernia injury was more difficult to overcome than he and the team expected. As a result, he missed the summer league, missed pertty much all of training camp, got pretty far out of shape and, as a result, it took him a long time to re-gain his physical abilities. As most in the league know, European players are almost never in the physical condition needed to play in the NBA when they arrive in America. It takes at least a good full year of conditioning to reach that level and Boki's training was set back by nearly six months. 2. His defensive skills were very limited. Apparently, his lateral quickness and foot speed was exceedingly low. The Rockets were afraid he would get really burned defensively because he was so slow. The problem is that he has good speed up and down the floor but not much quickness. Everything that he struggled with last year can and should be improved. He was working out hard last year and presumably is this summer. He did tons of drills during the season last year designed to improve his quickness, especially laterally. There is no reason to believe he won't be a rotation player this season, but the Rockets honestly felt like they did not want to throw him in the mix last season after his injury and with his defensive deficiencies. Personally, with his shooting touch, I found it to be one thing I honestly questioned the coaching staff on. This was a team with no shooters and the one thing Boki can do is shoot the rock. Hopefully, we'll see that this season.
Trying to play D is how he injured it. It was a move that he had never made before in his baskeball career. ...and worse than a groin, he got a hernia trying to play D
This is the key. TMo brings more to the table than Glen Rice and it doesn't sound like Boki is ready for prime time. Hopefully this all means what I've been wanting all year....more PT for TMo.
What does TMo bring to the table? He can't shoot well, he doesn't have dribbling or prenetration skills, I didn't see any good passing from him. I didn't see him run the floor much. He has size, and he can play some D, but that's about it.
This needs to be revisited from one of those draft evaluations: If Doc Rockets Tito evaluation is true, man those Chicago point guards must have sucked!
To sit a player for a whole freaking season then develop him the next season so that there would not be a stoppage in talent progression??? Dude, I hope you were joking...
AlexVP, right on... The Rockets should have given him a chance to succeed or fail. You gotta throw the guy out there! The Rockets drafted a guy in the first round... they owed to him and themeselves to find out what he could do. The fact that he was drafted at age 21 (almost 22) from a European pro team and not as a high school pup makes it that much more curious why he didn't play. Even if he was, by reputation, a bad defender, they should have gotten him in there in spurts, protected him with a zone defense if necessary, whatever, but he should have played more... no ifs, ands, buts about it... I agree with Mr. Clutch too... I don't see what T-Mo brings to the table. I never understood why Rudy liked him so much. He was a potential lottery pick as a soph at UM, and improved little to none his last 2 years. His shot is inconsistent with average range (seen a couple air balls from him and some horrible looking 3pt shots) and he's not overly athletic, judging by the way he moves. Not very fluid... Backup on a mediocre team at best, which is what the Rockets where last year.
