1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

ClutchCity.Net Summer Pro League Report : Game 2 - Rockets 79, Raptors 86

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Dr of Dunk, Jul 12, 2003.

Tags:
Page 1 of 4
  1. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 1999
    Messages:
    45,280
    Likes Received:
    31,321
    Houston Rockets 79
    Toronto Raptors 86

    Leading Scorers for the Rockets :

    Demarco Johnson : 17
    Malick Badiane : 11
    Bostjan Nachbar : 10
    Jason Miskiri : 10

    The box score to the game will probably be up at www.proexposure.com so check there if you actually want in-depth stats. :)

    This game was closer than the final score would indicate. One thing is rather apparent from watching all the first 2 games : we don't have the talent some of these other teams do. I doubt any new faces from this summer league team will be on the roster for us unless we have something bad happen during the summer. Badiane may make it, but from what CD's been saying, he's 1-2 year away, so...

    Let's start again with the only people anybody other than relatives may care about :

    They're freezing you out, Malick!!

    Well, I type that chuckling. There were several plays where Malick had posted up the defender, but for whatever reason we decided not to get the ball to him. He definitely wasn't featured much in this game. Most of his shots early on came from garbage baskets (at least 2 or 3 of them did anyway). Badiane didn't start the game, and as a matter of fact, didn't even play the first quarter. He continued to display his non-stop hustle. There was one play after a turnover where he out-sprinted everyone down the court to get in position for an easy dunk. Unfortunately, the play was called dead because of a foul. I didn't get to see much of anything new from Badiane in this game. For the second straight game, I was sitting next to Rocketsfan34, and one thing we both were noticing was, whoever said this guy has no offense is off their rocker. He has a good touch from the FT line, he has a good 15 foot jumper, he has a jump hook, and he has a fake/spin move in the post.

    That's the good stuff. Now for the bad. If Badiane has to ever guard Chris Bosh one on one again, he'll be destroyed. There's no way he could stay with Bosh. But then maybe that's why Bosh was drafted so high. Malick was juked and faked out of his underwear on 2 or 3 plays by Bosh. Bosh almost slammed 2 or 3 highlight reel dunks over Badiane and his teammates on a couple of other plays, too. By the end of the game, Badiane was getting help in the form of a double-team before Bosh could do any further damage. I'm not sure what Bosh's final point total was, but believe me, it could have been higher had he been featured.

    My feelings on Badiane after the 2nd game? He's raw, but not Olajuwon raw. His defense is good, but he isn't intimidating people like a Mutombo. He's very similar Mutombo in that if he has to move laterally, he can be beat by quicker PF's. He's rather awkward at times when he has to move laterally. Like I said, Bosh was the one exposing him, so it's not like he was letting some absolute stiff do this to him. I still think the guy has game. Is he better than Mo Tay? No. Is he better than Eddie Griffin? Probably not at this point. He's more aggressive than Griffin, though.

    Everything but the basket...

    That's what I kept saying when I saw Boki miss a shot. I'm not sure what he ended up with shooting, but here are a few things I'm noticing about Boki :

    1) His shot is there, but seems to be short no matter what the shot is. You know the guy can shoot, just by watching him shoot, but the shots just aren't going in.

    2) Boki's defense needs some work. He got lit up (for the most part) by Lamond Murray today. Murray was often left open or was draining shots over Boki for the better part of the game.

    3) Boki's not afraid to mix it up inside and get physical. He hit the floor hard a couple of times today defending and going after rebounds. Lamond even threw an elbow to his jaw that went un-noticed by the refs.

    4) Boki has handles. He's 6'9" or 6'10" and can legitimately bring the ball up the court a la Lamar Odom. I have more faith in him bringing the ball up the court than Moochie Norris. OK, am I exaggerating there? I don't know, but I know when Boki brings the ball up, we have more than 8 seconds left on the clock before the play kicks off. ;) I also saw some really sweet and explosive moves into the paint where he summarily blew the layup. :rolleyes: Hopefully the shot will come around because everything else is there... uh... well, ok, the defense isn't exactly there, either.

    5) Boki seems to have some problems getting his shot off against players similar in height. He got his shot blocked a couple of times because of this. When this happens, he usually tries to dribble and free himself and ends up fumbling the ball or just outright turning it over.

    6) He's a pretty good passer off the dribble. He made an electrifying pass in which he drove into the lane and wrapped a pass around his defender to a Rocket waiting behind the defender which resulted in a basket.

    Those other guys...

    Tito Maddox never shoots. I swear he's all pass and no shot. He's the opposite of everything people often b**** about Steve and Cuttino. Someone must have talked to him during halftime because in the 2nd half, he decided to shoot the ball. Of course, that had mixed results. Tito's not ready to lead a team, and if it wasn't apparent to the Rockets last year, it sure as hell better be this year.

    Demarco Johnson led the scoring today. I have no idea who he is, and in about a month, you won't need to know either. But props to Demarco anyway for his 15 minutes of fame.

    Jason Miskiri displayed a decent jumpshot again, and also, once again, seemed to run the offense better than Tito did.

    Juaquin Hawkins hit a few open jumpers when the defense sagged off of him. It's always good to see a Rocket hit an open jumper when the defense is collapsing inside. It sure would help during the season. Once again, I have to give my vote to Hawkins making this team. Puhleez don't let him go!

    Other tidbits...

    Kareem Abdul Jabbar showed up and sat near CD and Jeff van Gundy. I told rocketsfan34 that I think we just signed a new assistant coach. Of course, I was kidding. He was probably just there to watch the Lakers play the Clippers which was the next game.

    Unlike the last game, the Rockets did not employ any trapping or pressing defense.

    Some pics from the Lakers and Raptors games:

    I had to compress some of these and I suck at picture-taking, so don't blame me if they don't look great... :)


    The Rockets huddle with Patrick Ewing manning the middle
    Player intros with Tito, Bostjan, and Demarco waiting for the rest of the starters
    Another Rockets huddle with the assistant coaches. JVG's shiny orb is on the bottom right.
    CD and JVG sitting with their backs to me and Keith Jones walking by.
    Patrick Ewing talking to Tito 1-on-1
    Badiane and Boki warming up with others (upper right corner has a Rockets fan... who is it?)
    Malike Badiane warming up with Boki jogging by behind him

    ---------------------------

    Let's try not starting a bunch of threads for the same thing. In other words, one for the box score, one for opinions, one for Malick's play in the game, etc.
     
    #1 Dr of Dunk, Jul 12, 2003
  2. neXXes

    neXXes Member

    Joined:
    May 30, 2001
    Messages:
    464
    Likes Received:
    0
    Who's Demarco Johnson?
     
    #2 neXXes, Jul 12, 2003
  3. Achebe

    Achebe Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 1999
    Messages:
    6,237
    Likes Received:
    2
    A 42% improvement! If he keeps this up, in game 6 BOKI will score 57 points!
     
    #3 Achebe, Jul 12, 2003
  4. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 1999
    Messages:
    62,615
    Likes Received:
    56,405
    oh, to continue my talk with achebe that you closed

    ummmm. if you aren't able to play, why would you get more attention that Jiri Welsh, Tayshaun Prince, or Kareem Rush

    and, which of those players is older or has more pro ball experience than Boki.

    Achebe, you are not helping me get over this depression waiting for DoDs recap.

    oooh, oooh, I found a 2nd yr 1st round pick who had a worse game than Nachbar. Chris Jefferies.

    yah!!!

    er' actually, that depresses me more.
     
    #4 heypartner, Jul 12, 2003
  5. ron413

    ron413 Contributing Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2002
    Messages:
    3,913
    Likes Received:
    102
    We only play 5 Summer League games Achebe. What about in game 5?
     
    #5 ron413, Jul 12, 2003
  6. Achebe

    Achebe Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 1999
    Messages:
    6,237
    Likes Received:
    2
    40 points Ron! Whoohoo!

    Or, the counterargument goes, we had a responsibility to give minutes to people other than BOKI last year. He was held back (listen to Calvin). TMo/Eddie/Rice all had higher priority than BOKI. Calvin suggested that it wasn't due to skill.

    Is this misleading? How many minutes did BOKI get in euroball? It was my impression that he played more than Tsiasdf, but not much more.
     
    #6 Achebe, Jul 12, 2003
  7. SmeggySmeg

    SmeggySmeg Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 1999
    Messages:
    14,875
    Likes Received:
    119
    if your statement is true then i should be a coach in the NBA, professional sports here in australia have extensive training plans for guys that aren't getting game time in the big leagues, i would be soooo surprised if that isn't the case in the NBA, he would have workout everyday if not twice a day on some days, if the assumption was he wasn't going to ever play much then he should have been working under a extremely thorough and extensive training plan on top of what the rest of the team is doing. so he does team training and hoot arounds etc, but he should have been doing individual basketball, weights, fitness, agility sessions everyday, in the anticipation that he be ready to compete this year. I am blown away either way, they either screwed the pick and picked a dud or they did no work with him last year.
     
    #7 SmeggySmeg, Jul 12, 2003
  8. SmeggySmeg

    SmeggySmeg Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 1999
    Messages:
    14,875
    Likes Received:
    119
    Does the actual recap get its own thread too ;)


    LOL
     
    #8 SmeggySmeg, Jul 12, 2003
  9. ron413

    ron413 Contributing Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2002
    Messages:
    3,913
    Likes Received:
    102
    Smeggy, I am blown away by all the hatorade going around. Two summer league games and you make this comment. Even you (during the Smeggy Smeg World Tour) would not put up big numbers in all those pick-up games if you had Tito Maddux running the point for your team + a bunch of players trying to make a name for themselves in the NBA at all cost.

    I think things are looking good in all honesty, its not like he had months of training under Van Gundy's system and this is what he has shown. He arrived in Houston like a week and a half at most before the Summer League games began...
     
    #9 ron413, Jul 12, 2003
  10. Achebe

    Achebe Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 1999
    Messages:
    6,237
    Likes Received:
    2
    remember heyp/rudy's defense of last year... "no time to practice. we can never practice".

    Who would BOKI practice with then? A chair? boylen's to high on the totem pole. A video button presser? It's not the same thing. besides, I'm sure he's working out all of the time (well, he was 'injured' for much of the year). Would they make official practice time for BOKI outside of normal team practice before they officially established he would never play last year? When do you decide a player isn't going to play ever? I'm so confused. Your team never practices... do your 9-12(+3) players keep different schedules... I would hope so.... but this team according to M. Lawrence didn't scout friggin' opposing players. Who knows when they actually worked on anything. Maybe they meant to send him back to the in depth attention of Hyundai and never told him.
     
    #10 Achebe, Jul 12, 2003
  11. SmeggySmeg

    SmeggySmeg Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 1999
    Messages:
    14,875
    Likes Received:
    119
    ron - i am mr positive i am most definitely not calling him a bust, that wasn't what i meant to say, in my mind that is clearly the least likely of the two options, the lack of work training and game time is very disturbing though.
     
    #11 SmeggySmeg, Jul 12, 2003
  12. SmeggySmeg

    SmeggySmeg Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 1999
    Messages:
    14,875
    Likes Received:
    119
    why the uck would each player not have individual schedules in addition to team stuff, they are professional sports players coached by full time coaches, how much golf do you want them playing. what is the confusion???? the team has a shoot around or whatever the hell they do then Boki does an individual work out or maybe he does an individual session in conjunction with another player and a coach which can obviously build on 1 on 0 offensive moves and defensive techniques into 1 on 1.

    i don't why and how you could decide he doesn't play all year, very strange and unacceptable, watched the Tskita play for Denver a few times, he looked completely lost and out of depth, but damn he got to play and hoepfully will be better for it this year. The speed, strength, athletic ability must be so differnet between here and europe must be masssive and really there is only one way to get over them (as a player who has moved out grades as an adult i know this well) and that is too play, get used to the pace etc and adjust and find out if you can cut it. I love rudy as much as the best of them, but why earth he couldn't find some minutes for him here and there is very disappointing. when i visited he wasn't even on the end of the bench, what is that about???
     
    #12 SmeggySmeg, Jul 12, 2003
  13. Achebe

    Achebe Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 1999
    Messages:
    6,237
    Likes Received:
    2
    Oh, you misunderstand. They're a bunch of babies coddled by a union. That's why Malick is so rad... he's got 18 siblings to take care of. He'll go to your right to work state or scab all over the place and uck you out of a job.

    why did doc rocket say that BOKI didn't play last year?? "for reasons I don't agree with" or something to that effect? Did I dream this? was this a kt thing? I think it was BOKI related.
     
    #13 Achebe, Jul 12, 2003
  14. The Real Shady

    The Real Shady Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2000
    Messages:
    17,170
    Likes Received:
    3,967
    Didn't Rudy say the reason Boki was't getting any minutes was due to the veteran players in front of him and his lack of experience. Maybe Doc doesn't agree with this reason but thinks the reason he didn't get any minutes was because he just isn't very good.

    Man, I had my hopes up pretty high on Boki and so far he's letting me down. Does anyone know what Boki's shooting % was for this game?
     
    #14 The Real Shady, Jul 12, 2003
  15. Achebe

    Achebe Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 1999
    Messages:
    6,237
    Likes Received:
    2
    Thanks DoD. It sounds like the shots just aren't falling for BOKI, but that he's a great talent. The shots will fall again for him one day, so no sweat. heypartner and his crew just need to quit smoking w/ ZRB and crash. Those kids are getting neernrnnvvvous.

    ps, good to hear that Malick has the offense. Strange that the articles praised where you find faults and vice'a' versa.
     
    #15 Achebe, Jul 12, 2003
  16. BobFinn*

    BobFinn* Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2000
    Messages:
    11,438
    Likes Received:
    6
    Hmmmm, that sounds awfully familiar... where have I heard that before? Somebody help me out here.
     
    #16 BobFinn*, Jul 12, 2003
  17. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 1999
    Messages:
    62,615
    Likes Received:
    56,405
    good news. But don't speak so godlike here, like CD and all the scouts are "off their rocker." The workout at rockets.com shows him missing nearly all unguarded jumpers while practicing a PnR.

    check it out at rockets.com. Dude misses nearly all his 10'ers.
     
    #17 heypartner, Jul 12, 2003
  18. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 1999
    Messages:
    62,615
    Likes Received:
    56,405
    You mind quantifying this. Badiane can't guard Bosh, but he is more polished than a 19yr Akeem who showed amazing defense in the NCAA tourny as a freshman. You saying Bosh would have destroyed Akeem?

    Or are you talking about Badiane's free throws, versus Akeem?
     
    #18 heypartner, Jul 12, 2003
  19. Achebe

    Achebe Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 1999
    Messages:
    6,237
    Likes Received:
    2
    I thought he shot 3 of 7 in that video, right heyp? So he hit 43% of the open jumpers that he shot.
     
    #19 Achebe, Jul 12, 2003
  20. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 1999
    Messages:
    45,280
    Likes Received:
    31,321
    One thing I've always noticed about articles is that they just echo what some other article or source said. Anyway, I've only seen these guys really play 2 games against sub-par competition, so it's not as if I know any better.

    Malick's got a lot of learning to do, and I don't think he's up to NBA standards quite yet, but it's not as if he's that far off from being a good bench player. He's no superstar or starter yet, though.
     
    #20 Dr of Dunk, Jul 12, 2003
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 1 of 4

Share This Page

Toggle Width
Style
ClutchFans Original

  • About ClutchFans

    Since 1996, ClutchFans has been loud and proud covering the Houston Rockets, helping set an industry standard for team fan sites. The forums have been a home for Houston sports fans as well as basketball fanatics around the globe.

  • Rockets Content

  • Support ClutchFans!

    If you find that ClutchFans is a valuable resource for you, please consider becoming a Supporting Member. Supporting Members can upload photos and attachments directly to their posts, customize their user title and more. Gold Supporters see zero ads!


    Upgrade Now