You know, there are a few people who like Lanky, and seemingly many more who don't. The guy hit 8 of 9 shots last night in one of the few real chances he has gotten to play. When will he hit 8 of 9 again? I'll bet not in the next game or the next or the next. Did he help the team win last night? Oh, who cares? We've got so many wins this year, let's make sure everyone knows what a dog Langhi is. Rudy and CD were absolutely out of their minds when they traded for him. He has no skills. I've got a question. In our offense, who isn't the endpoint of flow in the offense. If anyone receives a pass on the Rockets, don't they look for a shot? Oh, I have seen the guards pick up their dribble a few times and pass to someone so they can get the ball back. Yep, Langhi is the endpoint of the flow. He ruins the offense. You know, I have seen TMO receive a pass and then pass in turn to someone else, but I really have the feeling that it is because of lack of confidence in his shot. Forget about the 8 for 9 shooting. One thing I've noticed about Langhi is how much he hustles back on defense. He plays pretty good man defense, also. Mason got off some awesome shots against him, but Lanky was playing good defense. Calvin mentioned how you don't shut people down in the NBA, you try to contain them. He said Langhi played him as good as possible and he still hit the shot. Against the Jazz last week, he took 0 shots in 13 minutes. He must have really been the endpoint of the flow in that game. What a ballhog. Everyone on the Rockets knows if they get a pass, they can just pass it on and know they will get it back. Huh? Right!
Langhi is a ball hog, he hampers the movement of our offense?What movement?He's one of the only guys who runs around on the court without the ball!I guess if he starts taking the same IDIOTIC shots and makes them like Mobely, you'll find another reason to hate him then too.Give me a break Crispee, Langhi doesn't have the knowledge of basketball?Oh and our dribbling, shot forcing, bad passing, no D playing guards have all the knowledge of basketball you treasure.Those guys are used to being primadonnas and Langhi is used to the bench.Rudy is to blame for not throwing him out there earlier.He's to blame for this inept offense and for letting the Houston Rockets become just another playground basketball team in a league that is sinking because of the fact.
I swear, you armchair coaches will always complain if a coach does not give your man exactly the minutes you think. But in the end, you cannot deny Rudy's results with all those rookies. He did it right. He had them all prepared to play, and he got them all their chance, some sooner than you wanted, some later...but he never filled their spot with a Carlos Rogers or TMass (80 game hamstring pull my ass) or some other cheap veteran free agent. Rudy PLAYED his rookies and developed the team with them in mind. This is not an argument of did the rookie start. This is about Rudy giving young players their shot, within reason to their potential. Doesn't matter how he got is first shot. Rudy had him ready to run the show, and gave him major minutes on a Championship team way before anyone had any clue he was that good. You are ignoring the fact they could have signed a cheap ass veteran. They didn't. They went with the rookie who wasn't ready. He got everything he deserved. Rudy is not stupid. He got into 34 games at 13mpg 1st year and 72 games and 18mpg second year. Dude got his chance, and Rudy had him as ready as we can expect. You cannot deny Mobley was brought along faster than many a coach in this league ever would have thought of. Again you are dismissing the fact that Rudy could have signed a cheap vet. He didn't. He went with Cuttino and rebuilt the offense around him. Cuttino is a major case for how Rudy gives players chances when others might not have... come on...this board was yelling to reduce Cuttino's minutes his 2nd year. What does starting have to do with it? We are talking about giving players chances...not being a stupid coach. Kenny started playing in January and eventually stole Carlos Rogers minutes. He played a lot of minutes, once he started playing. It takes longer to get PFs into the action. Kenny is another classic example of Rudy And this reminds me...Othella Harrington was brought along perfectly, too. But to the point that the veterans seemed to be complaining. I mean Barkley said that in SI and Dream damn sure left because Rudy handed the franchise to Francis. He got that time very early. The BBS yelled about it. Had it not been for the injury, the BBS would have had Rudy's head for playing the rookie too much. This is another classic example to refute any claim that Rudy doesn't play rookies or develop them and give them their chance. admit it. sheesh. Fine. The philosophy of Rudy is to get the rookies ready in practice and camp and tell them they will get their shot. Who cares how they got in? Dude beat out Langhi. It is fine to say that you would rather have started Griffin day one. But it is insulting to Rudy to say he was not going to give Griffin his chance. Griffin was going to get in. The fact Terence got in before Griffin did shows me that Rudy had special handling of Griffin, where he wanted to make sure he put him into situations where he was guaranteed to succeed. You can argue he should throw him in the deep to sink or swim, but Griffin was damn sure going to get his chance. And I showed over and over to verse that there was a direct statistical coorelation between Griffin making more that one shot and his minutes. Dude got 20 mpg several times. Y'all just wanted him to take over Kenny's role. And you know what. You all were wrong about that. Rudy was right giving more minute to Kenny Kenny is way better now because of how Rudy developed him, and Griffin is just fine!!!! As for Oscar...the fact he even MADE the team shows us again that Rudy would rather develop new players than sign cheap vets.
crispee -- I find it hilarious that you consider what the Rockets do out there on the court to be an 'offense'. Even more amazing than that is the notion that Langhi somehow makes it function worse.
TheFreak, I'm somewhat making fun of the notion that Langhi is suited for the Kings, or blaming our offense for Langhi's predicament. I'm not really talking about our offense. dave feitl, blah blah blah blah blah I love this blaming Rudy and the offense for Langhi not beating out Terence. Oh, let's blame Mobley while we are at it. this is soo funny; I can't stop it.... This is what makes these last 9 games worth it...to see how many ways we can finish the season by hating on Mobley and Rudy while we wait for Langhi to have one good game where the opposing coach made a wisecrack about his team not defending Langhi at all. You guys honestly believe Langhi is not a ballhog, "give me the ball in my spots." It is OK to admit that, because shooters can help offensive flow. But the dude doesn't understand flow...anymore than Mobley and Francis...you can see it. He doesn't look like he understands where his positioning is at all. That's my problem with him. I don't see how he could cut it in a more complicated offense. Langhi hit open shots yesterday. Great! Until I see him make his beloved dribble moves without being stripped like Shandon once the NBA starts paying attention to him, I will not be impressed. Just don't tell me it is the offenses fault or Rudy's, like Rudy held him back. Langhi is perfect for this system, if he was just good enough.
crispee -- you keep saying that Morris beat out Langhi. Do you not think that playing time or lack thereof isn't always a result of beating or being beat out by someone? Did Cato beat out Willis? Heck, did Collier beat out Willis? Did Glen Rice beat out anyone, or was he automatically awarded the job? Did Mo beat out KT his first year? Before you say that Langhi and Morris are both young players, only one of them was traded for a first-round pick. There are other reasons that explain playing time that don't have anything to do with someone earning it in practice.
sorry. I don't buy it. There were many games with no Rice or Walt...and no Langhi. What happened? The only politics that works with me is the doghouse for whining for the ball the way he got it at Vandy. Not because Rudy held back a player or Francis demanded that Langhi get no minutes, because he wants to have a threesome with TMo and Mobley. Hell, all the players last year gave him kudos in the papers for trying hard in practice and gave him that dunk at the end of the game that infuriated that one coach. They seem to like him. If Morris got more minutes, it is because he does what the coaches ask, because they want to give him minutes with the playmakers, and because they want him to develop a shot. Morris is clearly a smarter player than Langhi, and Langhi's shooting just hasn't given him the minutes. Coaches can see fear in player's eyes. Morris's shot might suck, but he is calm out there and does seem to understand the flow of the game better. From what I've seen, Morris gets the minutes based on potential and play. I can't believe this thread is not a Morris versus Langhi thread, rather it is blame Rudy and Mobley...unbelievable. you gotta love it.
I disagree with almost everything crispee said in this thread except that the triangle offense is not a motion offense. I agree with DaDakota et al. that Langhi cannot really have hampered the offense since he hardly ever played. Let's be happy that he had a nice game. I would like it if he got a few more chances to show whether he has enough game to deserve a new contract or not. Who knows, perhaps they will keep him around for a year and he won't mind...not likely, but I would like it.
Hey Crispee, you are the one that turns every thread into a hate Mobley thread. You are unbelieveable. You also act like you know Rudy's mind all the time. I doubt even he knows it. Oh, by the way, did you miss that play last night where Langhi got the ball out by the arc as usual and took his man all the way to the hole? Must have missed that one, or you would have been impressed.
Oh man, when did I mention Mobley in this thread versus others. Be fair. Look at this thread. When I got into it it was all about the system and Rudy holding back Langhi....that is soooooo frreaking funny. I said he couldn't make the Kings or understand their motion, and DaDakota starts mentioning Mobley, and then Dave Feitl unleashes on Mobley ... go read that. Don't you see that Mobley a'hating is so pervasive people explode at an opportunity to do it. Yeah, I say Langhi is a ballhog, unintelligent type of playing, so that means "well crispee, what about Mobley." good grief. Moe, did you actually read other people's comments, or just mine. btw: your last comment about Rudy not knowing his own thoughts made me laugh. But, be fair again, everyone hear seems to be reading Rudy's mind too, about him screwing Langhi and withholding him. Come on!!!!!!!! They did. Be fair. Oh, I saw them all. Very impressed, except for the fact he wasn't guarded. I have to reserve judgement until I see NBA defenses guard someone. He exposes the ball on his dribble. Watch it. It is not going to work in the long run. Langhi is just not very good.
Onething that you have failed to notice Crispee, is that in each of those cases Rudy had a VETERAN laden team....not so with this one. DaDakota
so you are agreeing that Rudy developed rookies on veteran laden teams. you still think there is a conspiracy against Langhi, or are you willing to compromise by at least saying he put himself in the doghouse with his "play me or trade me"-esque comments. There is no conspiracy. If Langhi played, half this board would be screaming for TMo to play. And ZRB and I would be left screaming if they both played at the same time.
Crispee is right Langhi early in the season made statements to the media saying he was not injured that the rockets made him go on the Ir and that he was ready. Play me or trade me attitude so Rudy sat his butt down. #1 rule in the Nba you never display your pleasure or talk about personal team issues to the MEDIA . For awhile even his teammates were cold to him for comments he made. langhi has not played much do to his mouth and his lack of ball handling skills. Watch Langhi closely when he rebounds a ball that has a high bounce off the rim. His legs spread apart and his hands just can't hold anything much less a ball.
crispee, you are missing the point. People are not bashing Rudy's system(and Cat and Steve) to prop Langhi, they are proping Langhi to bash Rudy's system (and Cat and Steve). It's always nice to put a new spin on the same old complaints. It keep them fresh. I'm just a little suprised nobody found a way to blame Cato for Langhi's lack of progress.
Crispee, I am totally in agreement that the politics have hurt him. I agree that what he said put him in Rudy's dog house, doesn't that contradict your he got beat out theory? DaDakota
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/1339963 Gosh Rudy, do you think that maybe playing him earlier would have helped his confidence sooner? DaDakota
Sometimes, it takes a few years for a college player to develop into a solid NBA player. I watched Langhi play in SLC in the summer and thought he looked good. If I recall Gary Payton took a few years to develop into a great PG. I'd give Langhi another season to evaluated his abilities, and see if he would be a good bench player. It would be great if he would come off the bench and score a couple of three points to spark a run. One more year and if he's still not contributing say goodbye!!!
Thanks for the compromise, I think. Doesn't your agreement that he created the politics himself contradict your "Rudy only plays veterans" theory. What I was hoping you'd say was that, "Yeah, he probably screwed it for himself; it isn't Rudy's or the offense's fault. He could have been playing much earlier this year had he not whined." Now that we have a compromise that Langhi acted like an idiot and non of this is Rudy's fault (he has always liked the kid), watch his dribble tonight. His problem is going to be his tendency to expose the ball. If he can avoid that and still get the shot off with confidence, I could like him for some second quarter minutes. His other big problem is he spreads his legs way too far. Did he do this at Vandy? His defense is atrocious because his legs are spread too far and largely flat footed, preventing him from reacting. He needs to keeps his feet within his frame and get on the balls of his toes. You cannot move laterally when started with your legs spread super wide like a dork. And his catch and shoot shot just seems eradict because of his footing...but that's just a guess. On the plus side, I think I'm seeing good timing on rebounds. However, it's pretty premature to conclude that.
