Tonight at Compaq Center (KNWS TV-51; SportsRadio 610 (English); KYST 920 AM (Spanish)) the Rockets will entertain a Portland Trail Blazers squad that comes to town on the second end of a back-to-back after losing last night in Dallas. In player news, Maurice Taylor returns to the lineup tonight after sitting out the season's first five games on a league suspension. Jason Collier will receive his first start of the season at center in place of Kelvin Cato, who will miss tonight's contest due to a death in the family
This is very bad news I hope that the everything is alright with Cato, I also hope that he does not become depressed and go down in the heaps. Hopefully everything will be alright for him.
That would work, or we could give Yao Ming his first start, Dang I dont wanna see "baby fat" lose this game for us! Well I suppose we will get to Yao Ming play alittle more tonight, most likey a career high in minutes, hopely he will have it in Points, rebounds, blocks, and assists as well!
Sorry to hear about the death in Cato's family. But regarding the starting spot, I think the Rockets should give Yao Ming the start and then if problems occur slide Griffin over to the 5 or bring Taylor in at the 5. The start might be worth a shot for Ming to see what he could do in a starting role. Chris
In this video interview during the Rockets morning shootaround: Rudy mentions he will try a front-court line-up of Mo, Kenny, and Eddie sometime during the game as well. Says he will start Jason because of his familiarity. Will give Yao some minutes also. But Mo will come off the bench and that will probably be the middle of the first quarter and that is when Jason will hit the pine, and they will go with Mo, Kenny, and Eddie for a bit? http://www.nba.com/rockets/# Video of Rudy T on tonight's game...
If you are so inclined: say a prayer for the Cato family. In such times, basketball is put in perspective; it is a pastime, hardly as important as we sometimes make it.
Sorry CATO. I hope Jason plays the best he can and then some. He really could do ok if he came to play and us his height to his advantage. Remember we did get on good game out of him against the Lakers. Maybe just maybe Jason will step up tonight.
How can your number 1 pick, number 1 pick in the entire draft, player who is suppossed to revolutionize his position both (A) not get the start and (B) not even be the first person to replace the person getting the start, when the starting player at his positon goes down? IMO, it's ridiculous. I find it hard to believe that Yao has yet to grasp Rudy's oh-so complicated system. Would someone let the kid play...ever? My condolences to Cato.
I want the Rox to win tonight just as much as anybody, but starting Collier over Yao really doesn't increase our odds any. I agree that Yao needs to start. God bless Cato and family.
And how many starts did Kwame Brown get last season? I believe the fine quartet of players known as Popeye Jones, Jahidi White, Christian Laettner and Brendon Haywood played in front of the 'number one pick in the entier draft'. Would someone let that kid play...ever? Oh wait - they have, and he's doing well Looks like they knew what they were doing - maybe Rudy does as well?
Just give his minutes to Griffin, bump ming up to 16-18 mins, Give Griffin's PF minutes to Taylor and Kenny, Let Kenny and Rice split time at 3 ( or even Nachbar. Nachbar didn't look too bad against Indy, at least he scored a basket for gods sake) and play Collier in front of the water cooler handing out towels. The benefits of having a deep team = No Collier.
In two of Kwame's first four games he played (he missed a few due to injury I believe) he started and played at least 30 minutes twice - for reference, he only got one start the rest of the year. Over his first five games, he was averaging 21 mpg. He continued to average this many minutes until somehwere around the 8th game, at which point his minutes go down to 7, 12, 6. Why? Because they said to themselves...maybe we should actually see if he can play before we decide that he can't? Even then, I like Kwame's numbers this year and can possibly see him getting better. But Brown had one of the worst rookie years for a number one pick in the draft in the whole history of the NBA. As is, Kwame is simply averaging a large number of minutes more per game. His defense has significantly improved, but his FG% is more or less the same (slight improvement, but still nothing special for a PF) and his rebounds per minute is essentially the same. And I should find it comforting that Yao is following that route?
Not having Ming start, but giving him more minutes when Cato is out takes pressure off of him. Considering the immense pressure already on him (both internally and externally), it's really the best thing for him. Not having him start when Cato is out, AND not raising his minutes significantly is a sure admission of non-confidence in your number one pick. I doubt that could do him any good. I'm going to reserve judgment until after the game.
It not Mings offensive game that is a problem because the Rocks don't really need his offense as long as he can finish a dunk or layup. Ming needs to improve his defense so scrubs don't go around him or shoot over him. He is not very aggressive on the defensive end. I don't care if he gets into foul trouble, just block some shots and contain his man.
