Umm, ok. Assists per 48 minutes among PFs. He's square in the middle of the pack. He's ahead of a guy who has a similar role to him (scorer off the bench) in Antawn Jamison, former teammate Kenny Thomas. Juwan Howard is a couple notches ahead of him. It should be noted that Amare Stoudemire (not on the list due to failing too qualify) averaged the same assists (1.4) in about 9 more MPG. Mo is what he is. There is a dearth of big men in the league, especially ones who can score. Mo is an offensive-minded big man. That is an undeniable asset off the bench. He stretches the defense, scores in bunches at a high percentage and draws charges. He's a borderline starter and is overpaid, but I think he's exactly what you want coming off the bench. The fact that he's the only guy left from the pre-Yao era should tell you something about what management thinks of his ability to fill his role, and that's not just because of his contract. Find a better argument than "assists per 48 minutes".
thumbs, I like your and Sane's posts, but I gotta disagree. Taylor won't beat out Howard for the starting role. Hell, he couldn't beat Kelvin freakin' Cato! Why on earth anyone thinks he'll beat out a guy who has better career numbers, when he couldn't beat out a converted center with hands of stone, is just beyond me. And I like Taylor. He could very well play much better this season, but he might have an even harder time collecting minutes. He really needs to be traded to an Eastern team, where he might have a chance to shine... as much as he ever will.
The fact that Orlando wanted Cato and his over bloated contract and not Taylor and his overbloated contracted is what should tell you something. Do you really think that the Rockets wanted to keep a worse version of Juwan Howard on this team. What's the point of that?
Taylor should start but even if he's utilized as a spark off the bench I'm still confident he'll be the one finishing the games. To me it's really quite funny how everyone just assumes Howard will walk in and be handed the starting position. Well perhaps since Taylor is a better offensive player, he'll be better able to take advantage of the other team's 2nd line. I do think Taylor starting could workout, as for team scoring, as long as we have either Tmac, Yao or Taylor on the floor we should be alright. So the starting position is actually going to be fought out right? If anyone would happen to know this. I seriously think Taylor will come back improved this season, I remember he came back with the hook, and he came back with the turn around this year so I beleive he'll do the same year. He also started to exhibit a greater tendency to bang inside, well at least offensively.
Normally I tend to agree with your opinions, but come on. This can't be true. While FAs this season have been overpaid, it's only due to the MLE and caps at $5 mil. If you have $9 mil of cap room, there are certainly better ways to spend it than give most of it to Taylor for 3 years,provided your name isn't Chris Mullin. Compared to what the likes of Nash, Richardson, and Boozer got on the market, Taylor should definitely not demand almost twice the MLE.
you didn't read my post , or you chose to ignore it. NOt everyone is supposed to pass the ball to yao you know. It's sad but i'm getting annoyed with these YOF. How many games have you watched?
I think Howard gets the starting nod bc of what he'll bring to the lineup, which is more of a spot-up shooter. When Yao and T-Mac are out of the game is when we'll need a solid post-up presence, and that's when we'll need Mo more. When I think Juwon Howard, I don't think post-up. I could be wrong.
You're right about Howard, he's more of a face up player, at best he has a lilttle hook shot but doesn't have Taylor's low post game. Howard's shot is so hitched but hey it goes in I guess.
My TMc trade source told me about Mo and his working, and was super positive. I was wondering recently if he has continued, because if he has then I am much more positive about the Rox 4 than in years. Go, Mo -- earn your keep!
I predict Mo Taylor will be one of the most effective and valuable bench player in the league. Almost all the league teams would love to have a MoT on the bench (even if they would not be thrilled with his salary, but that is a different debate). If we get Deke I think Mo gets about 22 MPG. If we don't get Deke or another vet center, probably around last season's average of 28MPG. I'll bet anyone MoT, if healthy, averages over 20MPG next year. If we don't get Deke or have any injuries on the front line he would get mid to high 20s MPG.
You guys act like Taylor is a Spring Chicken. The guy has been in the league 6 years and wll be 28 when this season starts. He is who he is. A good scorer off the bench. He's not going to improve his rebounding or defense. And if he isn't scoring, he is a liability. Period. There is no, "if he improves ..." argment. He is beyond that stage in his career.
the thing is that he's shown he can rebound in traffic. I've seen him do it a couple of times. He's freaking shown you he can draw offensive fouls. It's not like we are suggesting something that we pulled out of thin air, he's shown he could do it, however less times he's done it (my grammar ****ing sucks balls, sorry).
Cato provided help for Yao around the Rim. But how many times did he get into early foul trouble and leave us stranded? How else was Steve supposed to get his guaranteed couple of assists without the alley-oop to Cato? I'm not so sure Mo, Steve and Cat were ever on the same page while on the court together. There was not enough ball for all three of them when you don't have ball movement. Taylor knew that Steve and Cat had to have their touches and it sucked that he would have to take it upon himself to do something with them running the offense. We were always talking about Yao being to passive and how he didn’t take enough shots. Hopefully that changes now with those 2 gone. I would have much rather had Mo creating his own shot than Cat and Steve making a dash for the lane in a zone defense with the clock running out. He didn't get enough touches when they were all on the court and it made more sense to bring his offense out when they needed a pick me up throughout the game. This year we should be a different ball club running different types of plays with T Mac in town. I’m just backing up Mo. This does not mean that I don’t want Howard to have a great year and help us win.
ahah i think i hit a nerve. Actually I'm following the ROCKETS now because of yao. I never said everyone here is wrong. where do you get that idea? i KNOW taylor has flaws and that's why i say leave him on the bench. yeah i said that noone consistently score off the bench more than Mo. I think the point is that he has to take shots inorder to score. So are you saying lets give piatkowski or griffin or wilks or someone the amount of shots taylor got? Are you going to expect the type of efficiency taylor had? Man, i really don't like hating on people, and i really don't like arguing like this, especially online but jeez when you post and you just blabber, expect poeple to flame you. I'm done with you daNasty; you can have your reply like i have mine and we'll end it at that.
Good p.m., Deckard. You may be forgetting that JVG wanted Cato in there for the muscle and rebounding....hence, the preference for Cato over MoT. Now, consider that Howard is 30 pounds lighter than MoT, has roughly the same type of game and has no experience in JVG's system. That, to me, puts him on the faster track over Howard. pgabriel: Do you really think that the Rockets wanted to keep a worse version of Juwan Howard on this team. What's the point of that? Remember, it wasn't that Orlando did not want Taylor. They wanted a center, namely Cato. Acquiring Taylor would have continued their overload at PF, especially with the #1 draft pick coming in at that position.
Lets not get carried away here. MoT is not going to win a starting job over JuHow. Howard actually rebounds, scores and is a good player to compliment the Rox. MoT is fine as the man off the bench, which he does well at. But, the whole reason, everyone is so entirely disappointed in him and gets down on him, is the fact that we signed him to such a huge contract. And, he's not starter material for a championship contender. If we had him cheaper, everyone would point out the positives in his game. Unfortunately thats not the case, so until the pro-MoT people realize we would be much better getting his bloated contract out of the way sooner than later, we are going to run around in circles.
