It's too bad that KT can't see that the Rockets did the best they could for him. I'm glad that Kenny is doing well. However, I think some of the rebounding is because of all of the bricks that AI throws up and the attention he gathers on his drives to the basket. Heck, I bet Cato would average 13 rbg playing in Philly.
The title is "Sixer has much to prove against Rockets." But you mange to turn it into " Chron: Kenny Thomas a Rocket hater." Okay...
Haven't you been paying attention: Dada is our new ZRB, ever since ZRB went soft on us. Tremendous highs when we win and abject lows when we lose... except without the highs. (No offense ZRB, you're much more pleasant to hear from nowadays.) I like Posey just fine, but I think our playoff position would be a lot more solid right now if we had kept Thomas and dealt him if the offseason. I can understand he'd be upset at the rejection, especially when he was our best power forward, but the Rockets did him a favor by trading him early instead of having him wait to the offseason to see where he might go next. Now, Philly has his Bird Rights and an interest in keeping him. The Rox put him in a great position for his future. If it were me, I'd have forgiven them the part about trying to get rid of me.
Wasn't given a chance? How many teams passed over him before the Rockets took at #22 in the 1999 draft? Who (as a rookie) played the 5th most minutes for the 99-00 Rockets? Who played the second most minutes and took the 3rd most FGA's for the 01-02 Rockets ? Gimme a break...the EC team that wanted him plays him a grand total of .1 mpg less than th Rockets. If you want to argue that Thomas has a better upside than Griffin or Taylor and the Rockets misses it, fine...but do not say he was not given a chance. It's a business decision..get over it.
I'm tired of people saying we are better for the trade. KT was our best PF and he was a better SF than Posey. Some of ya'll say we were going to lose KT anyway because he wanted too much money. And Posey doesn't want too much money. Some argue that KT wasn't the answer at PF in the West. And EG and MoT is? So how are we better again? The trade a mistake because we would have been a lock for the playoffs if KT was still with us and now we are not and our long term possibilies don't look any brighter with Posey.
How many of you don't see this comment by Kenny, ""But I'm happy. The whole transition thing is behind me." He seems over it, now, and he seems like he knows Rudy tried to put him in a good position. He just took it hard and felt like his efforts didn't matter, which is understandable considering he was the best PF and best SF on the team at the time...which is further apparent that the team still continues having problems with flow and getting the ball to Yao, but now we have an inconsistent defense to boot, which wasn't a problem earlier in the season. Juan, I agree with your take. And it is obvious Rudy went out of his way to find Kenny a good spot...I mean, we could have screwed him by trading him straight up for Posey, had we not given a damn about him...it's not like Denver really needed Mark Bryant, and they could renounce Kenny if they had worries of cap issues trying to land Kidd or Duncan. Rice seems to understand Kenny's feelings, and I'm sure Cato does, too. One thing that you seem to be saying counter to Kenny's comments is the Bird rights don't seem to be an issue to him. He seems fine with MCE money and just wants the best situation (longterm) for himself ... some players just want the money, but he seems to consider being a part of winning to be a factor, too. He seems like he wants to play for a team with a purpose. Now, let's hope he presses too hard tonight and has a turnover fest. hehe. NOT TONIGHT! GO ROCKETS!!
Kenny has been doing awesome. Why is that?!? COACHING. He cried. But now he is very lucky to be on a good team. All we have is Eddie Griffin and Mo Taylor...and Moochie Norris...and Bostjan Nachbar...and Larry Smith. Eddie can't guard Kenny. Posey can't guard him. I just hope we win somehow. We need a win.
The point that he wasn't given a chance is that he was clearly beating Griffin in practice and that didn't matter...Feigen has said it before and he said it again in that article. What is so hard to understand about that, GATER? The coaches did not start the player who clearly won the position in practice. They went with potential instead. And that's called, "not given a chance" to win a position on the court. There are other ways to bring along Eddie. He could have been brought up as a Kirilenko type SF until he beefed up, for one. The starter position hasn't helped, and it seems to have hurt his confidence at times. Jermaine O'Neal didn't need artificial minutes to become a stud today, and we wouldn't have had a problem like Portland did with , Grant and Wallace making O'Neal flee. We could have just tried to trade Kenny this summer, and barring that, used the MCE to replace him. We could have just given Eddie his minutes in his 3rd and 4th years, instead...once he earned them. Musselman is forcing Dunleavy to earn his minutes. The notion that players lose potential when they don't get minutes is just a theory, imo. Stroking Eddie's fragile confidence is wearing thin on me.
I'm still a Kenny Fan i don't get to see much philly B-ball I saw him as Chuckie Brown 2.0 MoT and EG have done nothing to show they are better than him Hell EG seems to have gone backwards since the trade MoT has moments. . . .but overall I like the way KT BROUGHT IT every night I remember people b****ing about him Jacking three what did he do . . he stopped. . . . what are we b****ing about now???? EG JACKING UP 3s Kt has better fundamental Defense EG is the better shot blocker MoT . .. well he his the combo how height and width but does not use it well Offense MoT outside shot but KT's was coming along nicely . . and EG when was the last time he took a shot inside the 3 line but further out than 10 ft? Kt is best driving to basket and beating his man MoT is better with his back to the basket . . .[KT did not do much of that] On Offense . . .EG is BY FAR the worse of the three [I'm tired of hearing about POTENTION . . . .there is only DO and NOT DO!] Why b**** about the playoffs? Be happy with what we have in EG . . . WE HAVE POTENTIAL??? If we so happy to get players and keep players with potential why not be happy with the fact that we POTENTIAL CHAMPIONS instead of ACTUALLY PLAYOFF TEAMS!! Rocket River Kenny Thomas Fan Club
You are leaving out one thing, the trade also filled a need. No matter how much you like MoT, he is not a small forward. The real problem is MoT, he can't play the 4 consistenly, because he will get eaten up by the better ones, and he definitly can't play the three, too slow. E.G. was a guy they mortgaged their future on, and KT just got caught up in a numbers game. MoT has to play, because of contract, Eddie's a player you feel is the future, Kenny just didn't fit, sometimes it happens and that's tough. But the fact that the Rockets filled a need squashes all other arguments. Even if Rice could be counted on to start (and we know he can't be) who is else was going to play the three. I liked Kenny, still do, but this was a great trade for everyone.
Actually, Mo Taylor is a fairly good defender. Only if a taller player shoots over him, then he can't do anything about it. I think you are right. Kenny Thomas was the best out of the three. God. Eddie Griffin. He should be benched. But Mo Taylor won't be doing a better job against Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett and Amare Stoudemire and Elton Brand and Dirk Nowitzki. But maybe, Kenny Thomas will be asking for a lot of money in the offseason... He has certainly done well with the 76ers. If Larry Brown was the Rockets coach, I think Mo Taylor and Eddie Griffin might be better than they are now... And yes. It was a good trade because we got James Posey. I kinda miss Kenny, but we need Posey. Even though he's not awesome, I wouldn't want Terence Morris as a backup. And then we would have three power forwards who are all splitting time. And that is not a pleasant situation. I think Eddie should be traded along with some other Rockets to get a good power forward.
I am expecting a big game from MO. He will prove him that the Roickets made the right decision and it's going to be an intersting game cause both Thomas and Taylor have similar moves and that's posting up, Mo is better than that category but he needs to rebound the ball much much better, even mochiee is a better rebounder than Mo, but Mo will just abuse Kenny down low.
pgabriel, Regarding the "fill a need" at the 3: Larry Brown is proving that Kenny can play the 3 and 4. And Posey is proving that a defensive 3 was not going to help our defense at the expense of losing our best defensive/rebounding 4. Further, our team flow has gotten no better since getting rid of that "blackhole" PF of ours......only Francis and Mobley can improve that, and that is pretty much exactly what Smith/Rudy, Maurice and Rice say. There were many ways to fill the perceived 3 problem while buying time for Nachbar to develop. 1. Trade Kenny in the summer 2. Trade Griffin in the summer 3. Trade MoT in the summer 4. Release Kenny and use the MCE to replace him (likely landing Posey) 5. move Griffin to the 3 like Kirilenko until he develops into a 4 6. move Kenny to the 3 as a power 3 like Larry Brown has and starting MoT at the 4 as a Van Horn type, with Eddie backing up both of them or TMo getting into the mix. my *only* beef with the trade was that is was too risky based on it being too soon. Griffin and MoT had not proven anything at that point, and we were winning games on defense at the time.
I agree, the Rockets could have shown more paitience, but I still think it was a good trade. We would have lost Kenny for nothing waiting till the summer.
KT did help us on the defense end, but at times, he was a liability on the offensive end. I still remember him thinking he was an outside shooter. He was shooting something like 20% from the outside, but that did not stop him. He would brick up shots from out there every game. He also picked up bad habits from our other selfish players: Francis, Cat, Moochie, etc.. and when all 4 were on the floor, at the same time, it got really ugly with ball movement. I think Larry Brown, and his new teammates, have help KT transform into a team player (or he is playing for a contract). It was obvious that Rudy & Co, had no control of him, and I am glad that he found a good home.
HP, I have only seen a few quarters of a Sixer game, but why do you see KT different on that team. Does it have anything to do with Larry Brown not running a bunch of ISO plays? or perhaps because Iverson & Snow are better at setting up their teammates? or that Larry Brown is a better coach? or that KT is trying to change his image of being selfish (see rest of Rockets), and is playing for a that new contract?
I disagree. He's a restricted free agent. Even if we lost him, the MCE is there to replace free agents lost. Posey could have been had as an MCE in the Summer. It is also elementary to SnT Kenny for rookies or 1-2 yr players on teams with cap room or necessary trade exceptions. and equally, we could have traded Griffin and Mobley for Odom this summer with no fear of a gaping hole at PF. Trading Griffin for a 2 or 3 was always an option! Now it is not really an option without creating a depth problem at the 4.
QUOTE]Originally posted by heypartner The point that he wasn't given a chance is that he was clearly beating Griffin in practice and that didn't matter...Feigen has said it before and he said it again in that article. What is so hard to understand about that, GATER? The coaches did not start the player who clearly won the position in practice. They went with potential instead. And that's called, "not given a chance" to win a position on the court.0[/QUOTE] hp - As you already know, I was "over" the trade before it happened ...but First, I read the article twice. Where did Feigen say Thomas was beating out Griffin in practice? When was the last time a Rocket player got rewarded for not putting out in practice? It is my understanding that under Rudy, practice is where you earn your PT. PT without a good practice is not what I have understood from my readings here at CC. Is this not true? Secondly, I want to know this...if PHI wanted him and they are using him at both PF & SF, then why is his PT almost identical to the PT on the Rockets? Larry Brown not rewarding him for practice hustle either? Potential probably was part of the deal but not entirely. By your own admission, KT is a "10-8" player. Griffin for all of his youthful inconstency is a 8.7-6-1.5. Not a big difference IMO. And Griffin is a lot cheaper. Like you, I'd like to see more productivity out of EG, but my patience level has set to next February.
