Rudy seems to pick things up a lot slower than others.... like putting Francis and Ming back into the rotation only when the opponent lead is getting way too big.... back to the defense thing.... what u said might be true.... but think about those time when they fall behind in the 4th, the intensity picks up and they are able to slow down the opponent's offense and in turns, score themselves...... doesn't that tell u something? I still believe they are capable of playing some tough defense
I'm thinking of a change, also. How about changing the head coach! Other than possibly individual skills, have Francis and Cat become better team players under Rudy? Is Yao really improving due to Rudy's excellent coaching? Or is he improving due to his own skill level and figuring things out for himself. Is Eddie growing as a player because of Rudy? How about Collier and Langhi? Langhi is starting to contribute for Phoenix because they have been giving him a few but consistent minutes since the beginning of the year. Rudy was too busy using Walt and Bull to cruise to those fantastic records the last couple of years to even give minimal time to someone to develop. Is Nachbar really developing this year, or is this a wasted year for someone who will contribute somewhere, sometime? Will small forward always be a trash position on the Rockets?
The people who think Cato should start don't understand his limitations at all. If nothing else, he's a bad partner for Yao, since Yao seems to like to play near the basket... the best partner for him is a soft shooting 4 who doesn't mind jump shots. That's Mo. Cato needs to play in the paint. A Ben Wallace-type might work, that coudl clean up a ton of misses. But despite Cato's rebounding ability, he doesn't get as many put-backs as he should, and isnt' quick enough to stay with the more fluid 4's. Moreover, do any of you remember what Cato was like starting? He sucked. He hasn't changed all that much this year. He just looks much better in a limited role. Need him for a few minutes to rebound, play D, and block a few shots? Great! Best back-up C in the league. Want him to play 30 minutes again? At a position that he's not really natural in? He'll be beyond horrible.
Starting lineup: Yao Taylor Rice Posey Francis Middle lineup: Cato Griffin Hawkins? Boki? TMo? Francis Mobley (yes, Mobley at PG) If Francis gets tired, needs a couple minutes off: Cato Griffin Hawkins? Boki? TMo? Mobley Moochie End the half/game lineup: Yao Taylor Rice Mobley Francis
IMHO who cares who starts, as long as the majority of the minutes go to the more productive player. And there is where I see the problem with Rudy T's substitution patterns. This is especially evident when: 1) He subs out at predictable time points in the game, regardless of how well the player has been playing up to that point. I am a firm believer of going to the hot hand, so it really annoys me to no end, when Ming will have hit his last 5 shots and then gets yanked for Cato just because it's that time. Likewise, we see this sometimes, when Steve is heating up and his time to rest arrives, so he's yanked for the little dribbler. 2) He actually brings in "a complete second unit". Okay, so I'm not aware of any new rules or regulations that insists that there have to be points where none of your starting line-up is on the floor. It is absolutely mindboggling why, barring foul trouble, there should ever be a point where the line-up doesn't include either Steve Francis or Yao Ming. You do not have to sub out the point guard and the center at the same time! Also, at least one of Cuttino Mobley or Mo Taylor should be in the game at all times also, so that we will always have at least one star (Ming or Francis) and at least one offensive weapon (Taylor or Mobley) at any given point in the game. Please, no more line-ups like Cato, Griffin, Posey, Hawkin, and Norris!
No Sh*t Sherlock... Hell, I can say that.... Actions speak louder than words: Franchise CAT Boki MoT Yao This has got to be better than what we have been doing lately...I just think Boki has to play...
Gawd, Rudy does worry about some ridiculous things. First off, I was so thrilled when we drafted Eddie. If we hadn't drafted Yao, maybe Eddie would have improved a little this year; I don't know. But Yao is not expendable. And I don't see anything in particular from Eddie that makes me think we need to worry about hurting his pride. He can't dribble, can't pass, misses his defensive assignments, can barely shoot.... He isn't ready. Let him come off the bench. We already know he can't handle the pressure; he said so. Start Mo. Who cares about bench firepower when the team gets behind by 20 and makes the g.damn Wizards look like the Kings? OK, Mo can't rebound. But Rudy insists on (I remember reading about this) letting Francis-the-great-rebounding-guard have his way and get the boards (and may I add, thus helping screw up potential fast-breaks); so why not pay attention to what Mo CAN DO rather than what he can't? Mo can put it on the floor, he can pass, and most of all, he can shoot. Start Mo. Rice is erratic, but Posey has really fallen apart lately. His air-ball misses of late are astounding. He started out OK. What's happened? Steve, Cat, Rice, Mo, Yao.
Mo and Yao seem to have good chemistry together. Mo and Yao seem to anticipate each other passing better than other players on the team.
Rox, EXACTLY !!! Most teams play their starters for more then 35 minutes, the bench is only there to hold serve for the starters to come back. Rudy, put the best 5 players in the game as starters !!! DD
Are the guards redeemable? Would they respond smarter to different coaching? You can't fire the whole team (shame about that, tho), but the braintrust can be changed out. What is Van Gundy's cell number?
ROXTXIA, OK, if we're relegated to the fact that Mo starting or getting the lion's share of the PF minutes equals less rebounds, etc., wouldn't it make sense to start Posey (who is a strong rebounder when he's not parked behind the 3pt line) as well? Posey's dirty work, when he's playing well, is a good counter to Mo's offense. Good post, BTW.
1) You can not win without defense. Taylor, Rice, Boki, Yao are our slow and under avg defender. (Yes, Yao too, he is long and blocks some shots but his mobility/ defense is under avg) You can not have more than 2 of these guys on the floor at the same time for long. The opp will kill us. 2) You can not win without offense. Cato, Posey, Griffin, Hawk, Morris, Moochie have avg offensive skill. If you have 3 of them in, you will need major firepower from the other 2. My wish is to have Hawk starts for Mobley and Rice for Posey. (replace an off/def pair with another off/def pair. Use Mobley as firepower off the bench). Realistically, Rudy probably will only put Rice in. Taylor together with Yao for certain stretches where we need offense and have a slow down, grind out inside game is ok. Start Taylor with Yao puts too much pressure on defense and rebounding early.
Detriot is a big time pretender. I am still upset we lost to them at home. The biggest change I want to see is that of ATTITUDE. Smart one-for-all~all-for-one basketball.
NEWS FLASH! Rudy goes against all his instincts and changes the starting backcourt to the following: PG - Mobley SG - Francis Then decides to change out our center position from: C - Ming to C - Yao Wow!! now Rudy is making some agressive decisions!
I think some of you guys are stuck in the pre-rule change past. Since the changes, Mo and Rice aren't nearly the liabilities they used to be on defense. With the help the new rules allow, they're still below average but it's not a disaster. Plus, aside from shot blocking, tell me how Eddie's better on D right now than Mo. Mo's been subbed in on several occasions to stop the bleeding when Eddie couldn't handle his assignment. Right now, they're subpar but equal on man-to-man D. If anyone's got the edge, man-to-man, right now it's Mo. Add in the fact that Eddie's offense has gotten worse, not better, and Mo's offense has gotten better, not worse. As for Rice, I don't know why we don't post him up a little more. Smarts alone make him one of our best post up players right now. With a starting lineup of Steve, Cat, Rice, Taylor, Yao, who does the other team double off of? Right now they're leaving Eddie to clang shots off the front of the iron and doubling like crazy. When it's not him, they're leaving Posey. The above lineup, which most people projected would be our starting lineup by the break, takes that away from them. And with the zone, Rice and Mo are serviceable on D. And though Mo's rebounds haven't picked up, I like his energy on the boards. He's a lot more aggressive than he's been in the past.
In which case we see a line-up of: PG - Steve SG - Cat SF - Rice PF - Cato C - Yao We don't need anything out of our PF position except defense and rebounding, Cato does both. Cato can back up Yao if he is having a poor shooting night by tipping in a few of his misses, and we can have Mooch, Posey, Tmo, Griffin, and Mo come out from the bench. That bench would be one of the most athletic second units in the league, and should be able to keep up the tempo vs. some of the the other team's second unit. Then again, if we started winning again, none of this would even matter.
There are only 3 possible moves Rudy will make: 1. Move Mo to the starting spot. 2. Move Rice to the starting spot. 3. Move Hawkins to the starting spot. That's it. Mobley gets 40 minutes a game. He won't get benched. Nachbar, Tmo, Tito and Cato will definitely not start. Basically, we're shifting around our srubs, nothing dramatic will happen.
You could be right about Posey. But he has steadily deteriorated this season. I don't know....his shot just looks so....painful. I mean, doesn't even draw rim. It's like he autographed the ball and is throwing it to someone in the third row behind the basket. ("You take it." "I don't want it. You take it." "No, hold onto it. Maybe we can get Yao to sign it after the game.")
