The Rockets have only had one real pure traditional point guard in the history of the franchise. With all due respect to Steve, Sleepy, Kenny, Allen Level and Sam I Am the only true point guard the Rockets have ever had was John Lucas. Unfortunately John Lucas could not stay clean long enough to ever really help our team. Watching the two games against San Antonio told confirmed all I needed to know about the Rockets offense. The Rockets offense is one of the most undisciplined offenses in the NBA if not the most undisciplined. The turnovers are the first indicator in my opinion. And while we don’t see the over dribbling that we have seen the last couple of years we are now seeing more over passing and just as much bad passing to go along with continued poor decision making. To borrow a line from Bill Parcels when he was talking about Quincy Carter today, “I’m not mad at the player I’m just mad at what the player is doing.” That is how I feel about Steve. Another saying is that, “You Are What You Are” and I just don’t think Steve is an NBA caliber point guard. That’s not to say that Steve is not a quality NBA player because I think he is an all star caliber guard, just not a point guard. We have seen Steve repeatedly make the same mistakes for over 4 years now and he still makes what looks like Rookie decisions. So if we have never truly had a pure point guard then how is it that we have been to 4 NBA championships and won 2? Well I have a theory about what kind of offenses it takes to win championships in the NBA. 1. You need to have a dominant personality that is a beast in the low post like Shaq, Dream, Duncan, Kareem, Moses etc…etc… who will flat out chew the ass of his team mates when they go away from the post . You have to have someone that will demand double and triple teams in the paint and allow his team mates to get easy perimeter shots. Some teams that fit this mold would the be the Rockets of both Hakeem and Moses, The Lakers of Wilt Chaimberlain and Shaq, The Knicks of Patrick Ewing. 2. You need a very disciplined offense such as the Bulls of the 90’s. I don’t mean that you need an offensive juggernaut like the Showtime Lakers but just one that does not make bad decisions and makes good passes and protects the ball. The Bulls of the 90’s, the Celtics of the 80’s. 3. You need a pure point guard that understands the game and knows how to run a fast break and get the ball to his team mates in the best possible position at the right times. He knows how to protect the ball and knows the perfect time to pass the ball and to whom. The Showtime Lakers and the Nets with Jason Kidd. The Rockets teams have traditionally had the first offensive system. Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone and Hakeem Olajuwan were very dominating personalities when they stepped on the court. No player challenged the fact that it was their team and there was never any controversy on who was the number one option. Compared to those three everyone else was a role player with the exception of the year we went to the finals with Ralph and Hakeem and of course Ralph was too happy to let Hakeem assume the lead role. Those teams had very defined personalities and everyone new their place. Fast forward to today. The Rockets arguably have as much or more talent than any of those teams. The Rockets have an all star center, an all guard, lots of people that are good to great one on one scorers. This team can rebound and play defense as well. So what is the problem. The Rockets do not fit into any of the three offensive systems described above. Steve Francis - The best thing we can say about our point guard has nothing to do with point guard play at all. Steve rebounds well and can sure take the Rock to the basket but he makes very poor decisions on the offensive end, he does not handle the rock particularly well for a point guard, he turns the ball over way too much and he is a mediocre to poor passer. Yao Ming - He might be the most talented center in the game but he is just too damn docile. He seldom demands the ball and when he gets looked over in the post during times that he is open he just walks back down the court as if nothing wrong happened. Can you imagine the ass chewing one of our guards would have gotten had he passed over a wide open Dream? Not by the coach but by Dream. Has anyone ever seen the tirade that Kevin Garnett throws when one of his team mates does not pass him the ball when he is open in the post? I saw him chew on Sam Cassell earlier this year for that very offense. We desperately need some of this from Yao Ming. Don’t be afraid to chew a team mates ass out when he does not make the pass into the post or when he makes a bad pass. Yao Ming is also a very good passer but sometimes he over passes for no apparent reason when he has a guy that is 6 to 8 inches shorter than him trying to single cover him five feet from the basket. Now I’m all for sharing the rock but damn man get that killer instinct, when you smell blood go for the kill yourself don’t pass it back for a shot that is a 50/50 proposition at best. The rest of the team is not with out blame and that includes JVG. Sloppy passes, poor decision making when the defenses start playing hard. I honestly believe that role players need a strong player of a safety valve that they know they can turn to when things get tough. They need to know that someone on that floor is a man and is capable of forcing his will on the game regardless of the circumstances. Steve is not that man and we know it because we have watched as teams have been able to completely make him look lost and confused when they apply the pressure. Yao Ming has not been that man either at least not as of yet. Personally I wish JVG would chew some major ass and make very vocal demands even during the game. Every time Yao Ming passes out of the post when he is one on one against someone a ½ of a foot shorter than him or more then he should get his ass chewed out. Every time he takes the ball up soft for an easy lay up that gets blocked when he should have slammed it JVG should call a time out so he can spend some time doing nothing but chewing his ass out and reminding him that he has an obligation to play the way the Rockets want him to play. I know that is all easier said then done. So what’s the solution? I don’t know for sure but I think JVG is trying to turn the Rockets into the 2rd type of system which IMO is just fine if it can be done. I tend to be skeptical though. I have always heard that good passing and good decision making is contagious. Likewise I believe that poor passing and poor decision making is also contagious and as long as Steve, Moochie and Cat are the primary decision makers on the court the lack of offensive discipline will never go away. IMO there are two possible solutions 1. JVG needs simplify the offense by turning the offense back into a dump it in offense and removing the half court decision making from the hands of our guards. He needs to force Yao Ming to step up and become the leader of this team of give him enough rope to fail. From watching Yao Ming against Rasho the last two games I have no idea if he could fulfill this role but I would dedicate a large portion of the season finding out…even if it cost us a play-off spot.. 2. This is the one I would like to see happen….find a way to bring in a true point guard, preferably Jason Kidd. I would even trade Steve to get Jason Kidd in Houston. I know that Kidd has been in the league a decade but imagine Yao Ming getting the passes on time and in position. If good passing and good decision making is truly contagious then imagine the effect Kidd would have on the rest of the team. How many games could we have won if we could have only executed a couple of fast breaks correctly. How many games could we have won if we cut down our turn-overs. How many turnovers has Steve caused by passing the ball to some one else that was out of position that was not credited to Steve? How many of those would not happen if Jason Kidd is here. I don’t know if the Nets would consider a deal for Kidd but if we could get him imagine the long term impact he could have on our players even after he was gone. OK there are my thoughts. McBeth must be sitting somewhere smiling real big at the size of this post.
Several excellent points in this post. I agree with the part about good passing being contagious. Jason Kidd has had that effect on the Nets and had it on the Suns as well. The flipside of this is also true, when the alleged leader on the floor is very indecisive and makes terrible reads, that spreads to the rest of the team as well. I agree also that JVG is trying to develop a discipline oriented offense where the ball moves, and the team becomes efficient in the halfcourt. The ingredients of a championship team start with great defense and being efficient in the halfcourt. Averaging over 100 PPG and having a fastbreak that rivals Showtime is absolutely not necessary in this era. Being able to get some easy baskets in transition helps but you dont want that to become "run and gun" at the expense of the halfcourt game. The ideal statistical splits for this team would be playing the type of defense they are right now #1 in FG% against while giving up 84-85 PPG coupled with an adequate offense that scores 93-95 PPG. Ofcourse when you try to play a low possession game (oppoents only average 77-78 shots per game against Rockets) you have to be efficient in your offense and not have excessive turnovers. The question then is do the Rockets have the personnel to play the disciplined offensive game which it appears JVG wants. My feeling is no. Several of the players do fit this type of offense, but the two floor leaders Steve and Moochie simply do not.
It looks like Steve is Quincy Carter now and Yao is a tentative running back who doesn't hit the hole fast enough. Steve needs to relinquish the role of QB and become a wide receiver. Rockets need someone who can pass. Rockets may not be able to get Troy Aikman, but I'd like to see if they can at least get Brad Johnson.
I don't agree that we have more talent than we did in Hakeem's years. Hakeem was the best player in the league by far at his position. That in itself is worth a lot more than an all star guard who is not necessarily very effective at his position (point), or an all star center who is still just learning the NBA game. The supporting players might be better now, but Hakeem's sheer dominance made his Rockets teams more talented than the current group (IMO).
I agree that Hakeem was more talented than any Rocket that we have today but that is not the point. Hakeem is more talented than any player in the NBA today IMO but that is not my point either. When I say that the Rockets have more talent I am simpy saying that we have a larger number of talented players on the current team than we did then.
I am still puzzled at the fact that they bring in Patrick to show Yao moves that didn't work against DREAM. "Wait a minute, Mr. Ewing... I saw clutch city, and double clutch... and Dream..." - Yao translated through Colin Pine
The common denominator, if there is one, is that with the exception of the bad boy Pistons for two years, for the past 20-25 years, the winning team had the best player in the league, or co-best player (i.e. Bird-Magic, Shaq-Duncan). It doesn't have to be center (i.e. Jordan was a shooting guard, Magic a point, Bird a SF), just the most dominant. Someone to step up at crunch time in the playoffs and take the game-winning shot, when the game is on the line, or make the key block or steal. This is why the Kings couldn't beat the Lakers two years ago - they didn't have that kind of player on their roster. The had a roster full of good regular season players that were scared to shoot at crunch time. If we are not going to follow the Piston's rare model to a championship, then our only realistic hope is if Yao becomes that "most dominant" player in the next few years. It is obviously not going to be Francis, who is probably near his peak at skill level.
Hakeem >> Yao Thorpe > Cato Horry > JJ Maxwell = Mobley Kenny = Francis You can argue that Francis is more "talented". But he is not a better point guard than Kenny.
I agree with most point, and like to add one fact. In order to dump the ball in, you have to spread the floor and punish the defense if they collapse. Obviously you can't have Cato on the floor when you're playing aginst KG, Webber, Dirk, Sheed, and Gasol. Let's face it, Rockets just don't have enough talent to be elite. Loss of Eddie is much deeper problem. Cato and Taylor are not adequate starters.
I'll say! If there's one thing this team has really missed, it's the flattest jacked-up 3-pointers to ever disgrace the NBA. Eddie Griffin was a bust folks, can we please give it up? Nevertheless, I agree with your larger point, ckfol. Cato's picked up the shotblocking slack, but his offense is a big hole. Mo T's assist numbers are like, um, kinda low, too, but he can get hot now and again offensively. Occassionaly that keeps us in games, but ain't nobody really sweatin' the guy. Our biggest problems are still moving the ball around, moving without the ball, and MAKING SHOTS. The Rockets have GOT to be working, thinking and stressing over these things, 'cause every r****d and his mute momma on the board can tell from the two and a half games he's seen this year that all three areas are pa-FREAKIN'-thetic. Will this squad EVER overcome them? It sucks, 'cause we've seen games where they did great for 3 quarters and we've seen some where they couldn't do squat for 9 quarters. Turning on a Rockets game is always a journey into mystery! We HAVE seen improvement by Steve on D, a bit of improvement from Yao across the board, some decent work by Cat. Dribblemania is gone for the most part. They have improved. But there's still SO MUCH to work on. SO MUCH. I wish I could somehow fix it for them, but I can't. I guess they'll just have to keep trying.
crash - GREAT post... the focus seems to be on a championship, though, which always requires following (1). I think most people would be okay with the goal of being an *enjoyable* team to watch that grows together and gets a shot at a championship, a la the Sacramento Kings, which is (2). The team looks so bad right now and soooooo boring to watch that (3) seems like the answer. It's not.
A good post crash and some great ideas and analysis. I said this in other threads so excuse me for repeating. In the first quarter of game against the T-wolves the Rox were playing the kind of disciplined offense you're calling for with the exception that they weren't throwing it to Yao. It was only when they started to fall behind the T-wolves did they revert to the ugly iso and jump shooting ball we've seen too often. I think trading for Kidd would be incredible because not only would Kidd bring good passing but leadership. Kidd is the type of player who makes those around him play better. So far none of the Rox seem to be doing that. Considering the talent on the Rox team the opposite seems true in that the current mix plays under their potential.
Yes I agree...I guess we just have to be patient and hopefully they will get better and develop more chemistry. I don't really like Jason Kidd that much but I would trade Francis for him. Maybe he will demand a trade... Kerry Kittles and Kenyon Martin would be nice too. Or Marko Jaric and Elton Brand. I would like to keep Francis and Yao...and I don't think they will be traded anyways. But we need to play better!!! Yao should demand for the ball and just play...no more humbleness..
