Believe, you are right about Mobley needing to improve his passing game. I think for this team to be real contenders Mobley needs to come off the bench ala Sam Cassell.
Passing as a team is what we will do this coming year; there's evidence of that due to the motion offense. But, regarding Mobley...well, as a shooting guard the ONE thing that I want him to do is HIT HIS SHOTS. There's no reason that he should be shooting 43% from the field. At least 45%, like Francis. Mobley should be getting better not staying the same.
Hey what ever happened to... "You have to BELIEVE!!!!!" I thought that was your creedo? Where's the optomism?
somebody deploy optimism to salt lake, they have too much optomism. Incidentally, where's the OUR LIVES FRIGGIN' ROCK thread because COACH IS MAKING LIFE INTERESTING. heyp, I got that blurb too, where KT said it was nothing new... but if we had to take last year as a delay... WHOA, with the guys back, +Yao +Boki, WHOA. Ball's going to be entertaining. If Rudy pulls this off, he's coach of the year. Easily.
Ummm Francis actually shoots WORSE from the field then Mobley, as The Cat has pointed out, he shoots about 41% from the field. So if you want him to hit his shots, you better want Francis to hit his shots since he actually has the ball the majority of the time. And Mobley went from scoring 10 ppg to 22 ppg how is that staying the same!?
I knew there was some kind of psychotic problems leading to all those headaches... Do they have theropy for this kind of thing? Achebe - We don't need you're stinking bad attitude!
Jeez Horsey why did you have to make fun of me before I edited my post! Off to the glue factory with ya!
Stack had this issue last year. Jordan had issues passing the ball also. Players go through this stage where they are stuck on some pretty pathetic teams and the only option is them. But Stack and MJ matured and started passing and they have won more because of it. Give Cat a year to get acclimated with teamates that are competent to make a shot and you'll see he's a good guy that passes.
Yes, I saw last year. But DON'T COUNT LAST YEAR. If you remember Francis wasn't playing all the time and had that headache problem... He missed too many games. Look at Steve's first TWO years (44.5, and 45.1).
Mobley played the first part of last year on two sprained ankles, which would affect your shot more than a headache. In Mobley's last 45 games, where he was 100% healthy, he shot over 45% from the field.
Thanks for stooping to a new low, TC. Sheez, now we're quantifying sprained ankles and migraines. Well, he had the flu, and an aneurism... but the other guy's mother passed away while shooting him in the third metacarpal; I think the %ages are just too great... my guy is obviously the better man
With a name like the Cat, of course you will defend the real "Cat." Regarding his last 45 games...that's good news. Remember, I want him to do good. There was talk about Mobley becoming a unselfish player by passing more. But, I don't care about that. What I do care about is that Mobley plays w/in the offense, hits more shots, and plays defense. I really don't care if Mobley learns how to pass like the 2nd coming of Magic Johnson. That's not his role as a shooting guard. But, playing w/in the offense this year will be important. He could become a great player like Gary Payton. He was able to shoot 47-50 percent for a few years. Gary always hovered a least above 45% (except for one year). Gary had four seasons over 47%. And that's from a 6'4" guard just like Mobley. And yes. I know that Gary played PG and the Cat plays SG. But still. We all know that Gary was both a play maker and a scorer. I hope that Mobley could do the same some day. Balance. And we all know about Gary's defense! One of the best ever! Gary was know as "The Glove." Maybe Mobley could be know as "The Claw!"
I've played basketball with both headaches and hurt ankles, and I've had worse problems shooting on a bad ankle. Yeah, they're both bad. But, so are Francis and Mobley in several things (turnovers, etc.). However, some of Mobley's critics ignore the fact that Francis may be as bad or worse in that area. That's all I was trying to say. On a side note, why don't you just put me on ignore. I'd like to try and post in the Rockets forum without a personal criticism from you every couple of days.
Mobley does shoot kinda low, but I think you have to figure out what the breakdown is. What is he shooting inside the arc and outside of it? Shooting anything above .333 outside the arc is equivalent to shooting 50% inside (you average one point a shot). When taking this his 3-pt mark of .395 into account, Mobley's .438 shooting jumps to .495 adjusted, much higher then francis's .451 adjusted. Also, free throw shooting has to be taken into account. Someone like Iverson who shoots like 40% is still a very effective scorer because he gets to the FT line so often (which is a very high percentage shot). If you shot 85% from the line (which does mobley shoot, i think he was the best on the team right?), then 72% of the time you get two points, 26% one point, and 2% you get none. The average points for two foul shots is (80% shooter): .72 X 2 + .26 X 1 = 1.7 points per trip to the free throw line. that's the equivalent of shooting 85% from inside the arc, and 57% outside of it!!! No wonder players like Iverson are so valuable! By getting to the free throw line, they become such great scorers. Mobley goes to the line about 4 times per game last year. Certainly, this is mobleys strength and what makes him so hard to guard...that if you foul him, you're going to give up 1.7 pts, where as if you play him lose, you're going to give up a jumper resulting in .495 * 2 = .99 pts per game. That's not too shabby for the young guy. He's a scorer...why should he pass the rock? Let the man shoot or better yet...drive and get fouled!!! This is why the international game is so different, because there are less fouls called and therefore there is a greater premium on players that can hit the jumpers. Defenses are constructed to limit penetration and give up the open shot. Remember, how would you defend mobley...give him the 1 pt per shot from a jumper, or let him penetrate taking a shot near the hope or worse, risk fouling him and giving up the 1.7 pts? I hope that clears things up for you band-wagon fans. What we should rag on Mobley for is his horrible defense...not his superb scoring abilities.
Just want to be fair to Francis, not only he suffered from migraine headaches, which is no normal headaches, but also he's torn apart by plantar facitis(sp?). and bad shoulders.
By the way, just so you know the difference... I misspoke when I said headache. I meant migraine ... Headache = irritating, annoying, tension ... take an aspirin Migraine = Bed ridden, all light hurts, all sound hurts, vomiting, go to hospital...
NewYorker, Do the same calculations on Gary Payton. The drive/foul vs. the openshot/loose defend, should be more balanced.
