http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6648195.html Adelman dissatisfied with defense By JONATHAN FEIGEN On the floor Well into their usual late-afternoon scrimmage sessions, the Rockets repeatedly had to stop the clock and go to class. Dissatisfied with the defense, coach Rick Adelman repeatedly returned the team to the drills he would rather not need as often to make sure the emphasis on defense does not decrease with the increased pace of the offense. “We did a lot of drill work,” Adelman said. “Sometimes you lose your concentration doing that. We had to cover a lot of things defensively. We've been kind of letting them run up and down. You get a lot of attrition going defensively. Today, we kind of backed off to cover things we need to do and try to maintain our integrity on the defensive end.” One-on-one Joey Dorsey's forgettable rookie season is behind him, but he has not put two of the things he liked least — his rookie hazing and his trouble with plantar fasciitis — out of his mind. From the start of his rookie season, Dorsey balked at the extra duties that fall to rookies. That would seem over, but the Rockets traditionally consider second-year players to be rookies until the first regular-season game of their second season. With Dorsey, the wait could be longer. “They said since I didn't play any games last year, I got to play 10 games to not be a rookie,” Dorsey said. “I told them they're crazy if they think that's going to go down.” Of greater concern than Dorsey's willingness to fetch basketballs or deliver practice gear to hotel rooms is his ability to overcome the nagging foot condition that gave him so much trouble last season. He was pain-free this summer and was a regular at the Toyota Center workouts. He said he has been sore through the first days of camp. “My foot is still bothering me a little bit, but it's OK,” Dorsey said. “That's the only thing that is bothering me. My foot tends to not bother me and then it comes back. If I can stay healthy, I can be a big contributor to this team. “I've been trying to improve on staying healthy and running the floor like I did at Memphis.” Free throws Rockets will have no additional rules for players and staff on social networks, other than the NBA's rules issued Wednesday, a policy that allowed Kyle Lowry to post a Twitter update from the cold tub in the training room Thursday … Longtime NBA center Paul Mokeski, who had a stint with the Rockets, attended practice Thursday. A former assistant with the Mavs and Bobcats, Mokeski will be an assistant with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets' NBA Development League affiliate. BY THE NUMBERS With Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady out, the average age of players in Rockets training camp is 26.7 years old, with an average of 2.1 years of NBA experience.
Of course the coach is dissatisfied when our number one options on defense are two undersized power forwards, one with no real NBA experience. That's no dissing to Hayes and Dorsey but realistically they are most important low post defenders, can't rely on Scola and Landry too much without Yao.
That's the reason why Brooks and Lowry can drive all they want in practices...our midget Centers can't do anything defensively...can AB and Lowry still be effective in actual games against those natural biggie Centers waiting underneath the paint?
We're going to have big problems playing consistently against teams that have legitimate scoring centers. While we have great perimeter defense, with no Yao blocking the middle to block and alter shots, it's going to be a lot harder to stop penetration. I think, for this reason, Pops is going to take the last roster spot just for his size alone.
Dorsey would be the player that I would remove from the team. His nagging foot condition just comes back when he gets on the court? Too bad for him. It always seems to be something with Dorsey. And, yeah, he's running his mouth about the Rookie stuff instead of having fun w/it. Dorsey just seems a little cursed, a little selfish, a little undersized, a little inexperienced. I know he's got talent, but I am leaning to keeping Pops & Conoroy and cutting Dorsey (if we can't move Cook).
Morey did say on his twitter that Dorsey was leading the team in rebounds during scrimmages. I want to see how improved he is in preseason games.
His foot problems are likely to give him trouble off and on during the season. Another big potential problem.
Why does it seem like every time we hear about Dorsey they talk about his days at Memphis. That was college! A lot of players do well in college and never make it to the NBA. If he can be a Rodman type or even similar to Dwight Howard defensively (we know his offense won't) then I would take it but I'm wondering if he will ever get there.
I don't like giving rookies duties,they need support. I do agree with you,Joey does sound temperamental and immature,he needs to wisen up.
I have my doubts he'll ever be the defensive player we hoped for. There used to be a lot of Ben Wallace comparisons, because of his body type, athleticism, and ineptitude on offense. But one thing about Ben Wallace that people often gloss over -- he very rarely fouled. Huge, huge difference there between Wallace and Dorsey. At best, Dorsey might be a Danny Fortson type. Fortson was a good rebounder and all-around tough guy, but his crazy-high foul rate and inability to regulate his physicality prevented him from being a strong defender. I see the same thing happening with Dorsey, if he ever advances to rotation player.
I always found it funny that a huge part of the comparison between the two (made by Dorsey fans) was that he sucks on offense just like Ben Wallace! Forget the fact that he isn't half as smart or tenacious on defense as Wallace was. It looks more and more like Dorsey is, in fact, Ray Lewis with a basketball. I think that comparison is most accurate since neither guy belongs in the NBA. Of course, Ray has the other career to fall back. The Dorsey pick makes me think that maybe Morey was bored on the day of the draft and let CD make the pick just for old time's sake.
Dorsey needs to suck it up and get over the "hazing" and worry about trying to become a competent professional basketball player. His priorities are screwed up.
Yeah, still waiting for RLWAB to emerge. Bring it on Dorsey. And average NBA experience of 2.1 years is amazing - got to be the lowest in the NBA?? Hopefully we are pleasently surprised when the season starts - with expectations as low as they have been in many years,it might just be a really fun season.
Never followed Big Ben before he blew up in Detroit. So he wasn't fouling much either back in his rookie and sophmore years?
Anyway, I think Adelman will be dissatisfied with the defense the entire season. People forget the years between Hakeem's last days with the Rockets and getting Yao(and Cato to a lesser extent). No inside presence = career games for opposing guards.
His rookie year he hardly played, but his foul rate of 4.9 PF per 36-minute is not a lot for a 1st-year player at that position. By his second year, when he actually became a rotation player, his foul rate was already below average for Cs. Impressive for a guy who's primary job was to rebound and defend.
