Compared to last year...

We will win on tuesday (if Francis plays).

 

I agree with ZRB...The Rockets are supposed to be a better, younger, more upbeat team from last year...but I don't see it. Any1 know what happened to Francis (at the end of the 3rd quarter)? I saw him drive to the hoop and pass out to Mooch for a three, then he went running towards the bench during the game? The Rockets had only 4 players back on defense on the Clippers next possession. Next time down, Rudy called a timeout. I don't know if I zoned out Calvin and Bill, but I didn't hear anything about what happened to Stevie.

 

Let's see. We lost Olajuwon, Taylor, Bullard, and Anderson. We added Willis, Rice, Griffin (who hasn't played), and Morris (who hasn't played). Did you really think we'd be that much better?

It also doesn't help that Francis & Mobley played all summer, and not surprisingly, now have tendinitis/nagging injury issues.

 

Well, I wouldn't say they're worse than last year but they are having a more difficult time. With injuries, scheduling, and blatantly incompetent officials it will take a lot to get through these problems. Of course at .500 it would seem to be like the Rockets are falling apart after such a great opening. For what has happened so far though, there is really no need to call out the players and call off the season. You have to remember, there are a lot of games left, give this new lineup a chance to gel.

 

From the ESPN recap:

Houston's leading scorer Steve Francis, who missed the previous game because of a sore left foot, fell on a drive to the basket and struck his head against teammate Kevin Willis' left knee with 3:51 left in the third quarter.

Francis returned briefly, but left for good with 18 seconds left in the period.

 

Our early 5-1 record was a HOUSE OF CARDS. Barely won those games against cupcake teams...and at home for the most part.

We got major problems at the center spot at SF. I'm a patient person but Rice simply doesn't have it any more. Unless he is lighting it up offensively (which he is not) the rest of his game is so weak, I'd rather see Walt in there and Rice off the bench. And we got something like 4 points and 5 rebounds from the center spot against the Kandiman...gimme a break.

Cato needs to be benched, I don't care what we're paying him. A mistake is a mistake. Start Willis and let Griffin play major minutes at the 4 and 5 spots. And Mooch needs to be limited to 2 dribbles per possesion-he freakin' drives me nuts.

MOST OF ALL, we are not mentally tough. We simply don't come to play every nite and don't know how to grind over an 82 game schedule. Rudy needs to shake up this team and look in the mirror re. our woeful, predictable offensive strategies and his inability to motivate the troops.

And finally, Francis must set the tone, lead, and shoot 35 times a game if necessary (witness Iverson). This is NOT FUN and I don't see any improvement unless some changes are made. And, no, I don't feel better yet

 

Perhaps, just maybe the quality of the rockets front court is important

 

It looks like Rice may be getting his stroke back afterall.

I agree with Shanna's assessment. Lets look at what we have gained and what we have lost from last season.

We replaced Olajuwon with Willis, which at most is a net gain of 0.

We replaced Anderson with Rice, and so far (excluding the Clippers game), we haven't gotten much from Rice. If he starts shooting the way he did against the Clippers, then we would have gotten a good trade-off (and maybe a win or two more as well?) but as it stands now, there isnt much net gain for the rox. Then we lost Bullard who was always money for us, and Rice has yet to replace him yet.

And finally we replaced Taylor with Griffin, which <i>might</i> be the only net gain that we have so far. Griffin is light years ahead of Mo in shotblockin and rebounding, but Taylor is far ahead of Griffin in terms of offense and experience as well. It seemed like we would need the defense over offense, but as this season has progressed, it has become painfully obvious that we need some more O.

I'm not even gonna mention Tmo b/c he has barely seen the court as well.

Plus, factor in the adjustment that everyone needs to get used to everyone else (ie Francis and Rice), and then factor in the rookie inexperience that is bound to show up when Griffin plays (and he will play a lot ), and you don't really have much of a better team at all.

It's funny how that 1 Rockets commercial always comes up and basically says that the rockets barely missed the playoffs last year, but this year they are better b/c of Glen Rice and Eddie Griffin. That would definately be true if we had kept the same team, but we haven't. Olajuwon was a big part of our push last year and he is gone (and at least he could catch passes). Taylor was also a big part and now we have replaced him with a rookie in Griffin. Ahh I just can't wait till this team is TOTALLY healthy and clicking and I can't wait till Griffin seriously begins realizing his potential. That is when this team willl be very dangerous.

 

Maybe it has to do with facing a much tougher schedule? We didn't have any games with the Hornets, Bulls, etc. like we did last year. We'll be better, the schedule is just difficult right now. Anybody who objectively looked at our first month schedule said it would be this way before the season began.

 

Bingo. These 2 short paragraphs say it all.

Rice didn't really "get off" against the Clips. He got some postups over a smaller Maggette and then Odom came in and that was the end of that. He went back to the arc.

 

Losing Olajuwan and gaining Willis is a loss. Willis will never bring us to the brink of the playoffs like Olajuwan did. He will never be a big shotblocker like Olajuwan was and we needed. Most of all, Willis will never bring the type of urgency to team in a slump like Olajuwan did.

Please don't compare. If you do, compare the parts where Olajuwan didn't have injuries.

 

Now maybe people will start calling me troll or talking about my mom's because i see what others don't. The Rockets don't play hard all the time. Its hard enough to win in the west , but when you come out because you won 45 games last yr doesn't mean ****. We didn't really improve our team short term, but everyone was saying how steve and cat would get better b/c they were older and the other teams good players would stand pat was crazy. I'm not conjuring up any rumore to bring back the players we lost, but I was definitely hoping to bring back Hakeem back for 2 yrs even at the cost of Taylor ,Anderson, Norris, and Bullard. Yes he may not have it everynight, but it seems like everytime i check the scores ,he has 8-10 pts,6-9 rebs and a couple of blocks, but thats besides the point.

The point is that teams in the west are strong where we are weakest which is the 3 and 4 spots. Glen Rice and Walt Williams slow our team up much more than Hakeem ever did. Plus you knew that if in a bind, you could throw the ball down low and he could score for you,but anyways. The bottom line is that this team isn't talented enough to just show up and beat teams in the west. The thing about the west is except for Memphis, every team over here is a decent team with a couple of stars. This Rocket team struggled against the powderpuffs and everyone thought it was a matter of hitting shots, but the poor play especially on offense is deep like Tampa Bay in the NFL. They have explosive talent , but the system restricts the points the teams should get.

Those problems are highlighted by constant walking and shooting long shots. The current offensive set which is solely based on penetration then kick only works if penetration is thorough and the kick is only good when majority of the shots are falling. The problem is when those shots don't fall, you wind up shooting 40% from the field and wind up scraping even against weak teams. Next time you watch the Rockets, watch and see how many times they get a rebound and everyone runs up the court, not walk. Most times its Francis and Mobley, but how do you justify a 2 man break. Even then, they teand to get the ball take a couple of dribbles up the sideline and call a play. Its just not going to cut it in the west. Call me whatever, but this team doesn't bring it and the coaches over coach.

 

I think it's pretty sad when people here talk about a 'lack of effort' on the part of the Rockets.

It's called bad offensive execution, not coming out lackadaisical/insert hackneyed sports cliche.

12-9; That was the their record last season right before they fell apart during a stretch of games at home, losing to the Nuggets,Warriors, and others; Your point about them being better at this point last season is weak.

I'm more interested in what our record will be at the halfway mark, not this early in the season. I'm concerned, but not to the extent some of you crybabies are.

22-25; That was their record at the all-star break last year, and imo, is a more apropos barometer of how far they've progressed.

 

I think we are better than last year and are just in a little slump. Once Rice gets his shot off, Cat plays better, and Wink's foot's all better we will be one of the top teams in the West.

 

Good point you got there. With the exception of those losses coming from Seattle, Denver, and the Clips, we lost to some pretty damn good teams. I would probably wait till December to see our forcast for the year. But then again, they did blow up after the allstar break, but unfortunatly, so did LA.

If it make you feel better, look at Utah, Miami, NY, Phoenix, Charlotte, Portland, have either the same or worse record than the Rocks. That should kinda calm some people down.

 

tacoma park legend makes a great point. Besides, let's not forget that most of these guys are still trying to figure out their teammates first names. It'll take some time to get some chemistry going and for everyone to feel comfortable. Anyone who thought the beginning of this season wouldn't be a bumby ride was fooling his/herself. It'll smooth out the longer they play together. Like tacoma park legend said, the halfway point will be a better time to rate this team than in november.

 

I think this team was dealt two huge blows in the offseason. Losing Dream is a much bigger blow than most want to admit, even at his age he is still a presence in the middle that the rockets currently don't have. I'll take dream right now for 60 regular season game over what we have right now. Also losing Taylor was a major blow as well.

 

Let's don't beat Rockets MGT for not having Hakeem Olajuwon- I will always respect him, but we tried to re - sign him without breaking the bank - we've been thru all this before. This is an improving team, but we were not prepared to lose Maurice Taylor like we did. He is a cipher- at age 24 to 25 he is an unknown quantity. What if his rebounding had improved by 3 to 4 rebounds per game- up to 9 or 10. He was already an effective offensive threat. Rudy and CD made a brilliant move getting Willis. I think Rudy believed Rice was a big improvement offensively. I have been a Glen Rice hater because of the contract value, but have now feel a little better about him.

Now we have Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley having health problems this early-few teams in the NBA have dealt with so many problems. I hope the management does not panic and blow the team up. It would be mistake. We have talent, and we have good coaching-we just need stability.