Every stinking play is a clear out iso. For different players. Its truely pathetic to watch. Defensively this team is pathetic. Mobley still can't finish for crap. NO way he deserves a huge payday. I have yet to see a play run for Steve that isn't a clear out iso. All these iso's are leading to no board action. Ive seen clipper teams with more continuity, and better offensive and defensive sets.
i don't see much either. In fact, since about the All Star break. Francis used to run many plays starting with a dribble entry to the wing, then several plays coming from weak-side. I'm seeing little of this anymore. I don't know if it Francis choosing not to do the plays, or if it is a personnel issue with Dream back and Thomas taking a larger role. I am very disappointed we seem to have abandoned the wing plays (i don't mean iso) or are not adjusting to defenses gearing up to not allow Francis to start plays from the wing. (Which is what Minnesota first did.)
Pathetic...Truely pathetic. When you clear out Moochie Norris for a wing iso, you truely are grabbing for anything. God, 5 more years of this garbage? My grandmother could call better offensive sets.
DS--if you haven't given up on this ugly game, yet, keep an eye on the defense against us. I'm seeing some zoning of any Francis movement to the wing. Looks like words getting out in the league how to prevent Francis from setting up plays on the wing. The ISO is also miserable whenever Pig and Bullard are playing. It is futile to even use that play without 2of3 Cato/Rogers/Thomas in. The Lakers are zoning the ISO as well by dropping down the defender who is guarding the guy next to the ISO player. It is almost like we will have to restart everything, since teams have seen our tapes now and are coming with more creative d. Now, we find who loves this team and will watch the remainder of the season, and who really just wants to watch March Madness and baseball...and wait for the lottery. Clutch...maybe it is time again for the weekly lottery update. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited February 27, 2000).]
Its time to clear house. Im seeing some weak, weak ass attempts at picks. If they are doubling Francis, why not set some double picks? Why not some modified wing plays? Why not some pick and rolls, or some back door plays? No one is getting to the hoop at all. Its "stand outside the 3 point line and watch Mobley or Francis" Ill call it the "Modified Rudy." Don't have the post up presence anymore, just clear out a whole side, and set everyone up around the 3 point line. Forget the fact that Mobley, Francis, and Kenny are bad shooters, just heave away baby. Forget any shot of grabbing a board. So tell me how when the Rox are down by 20 going into the second, a small weak defensive team of: Norris Drew Mobley Bullard Miller Is going to get you back into the game? Assuming Rudy is trying to win games, and not secretly tanking. heypartner...I haven't given up yet, but I still don't agree with the "Rudy is a great coach" belief.
So tell me how when the Rox are down by 20 going into the second, a small weak defensive team of: Norris Drew Mobley Bullard Miller Is going to get you back into the game? After one quarter, they were down 18. I'd say the group you mentioned did a better job than the starters. Francis hasn't scored a point in the last 6 quarters. I'm starting to second-guess my thoughts on him being a possible best-player-in-the-league candidate.
So I assume if Kevin Garnett played for the Rox and struggled for a quarter, youd advocate him sitting for Dennis Scott? The way I see it is that its the Coaches Job to get good looks for his players. And there isn't anything being coached out there today besides heaving up 20 footers while everyone else stands at the arc.
oh many Cuttin-nO!s do we have room for on this team. ugh. Thomas playing the ISO play now. DS-those options you mentioned...we did that in Jan up until the All-Star break. No more though. ugh....Just when Dream got back and Francis won the Weekly honors and we had 7 in row to wake up the league. Now the league won't give Francis the same freedon and Dream is just lost sometimes and gets in the way of some of those Jan plays. DS: If Rudy and Francis don't rise to this challenge, and get some of that Jan play-calling back in, I'll be right there with you and a Rudy-basher once again. I'm going to give the kid a homegame-stretch or two to practice and focus on beating these zones, before I have a relapse to my Rudy-bashing years.
If the post up game is like "picking a scab", then this ISO game is like creating a scab with a tootpick. Where is my draft analysis!!!
Ahhh the mentioning of the Phil Jackson Scab quote (in disrespecting Rudy's offensive inginuity.)... No its more like stabbing yourself to death with a toothpick. At least with the Dump it down offense, there was a Center or Power Foward underneath to corral boards. Someone tell me how is it that Carlos Rogers is the only Rox player this game to be hitting even close to 50 percent of his shots but only has 7 mins logged. He also has 6 boards in those 7 mins. Cripes. Play your best players.
"So I assume if Kevin Garnett played for the Rox and struggled for a quarter, youd advocate him sitting for Dennis Scott?" If Kevin Garnett hadn't scored a point in 5 quarters, then yes, I'd probably even take my chances with Pete Chilcutt instead.
Dreamshake: I here your complaints and agree totally with them, however, Francis has obviously hit the rookie wall. We are seeing the true mobley (no D, ill-advised outside shots and in general hogging the ball). Bullard (if he aint hitting the three, he aint worth jack) Wiz (how many teams has he been with) Pig ("I'm signed for the rest of the year") Anderson (too damn scared to shoot) and Dream (fading fast, very fast)get a majority of the playing time. There is NO team chemistry here. My advice for the rockets (wishful thinking that they would actually read this) would be to keep francis, rogers,KT,cato(hard to trade with that contract) and anderson. The rest should be traded or cut. Rudy is a great coach, he just doesnt have much to work with.
Give it a break, guys. There's no shame in being a rebuilding team and losing to the best club in the NBA by 16, on the road. I'm proud that Mobley was able to lead us back to a respectable margin against the Laker scrub unit. I see the heart you guys were talking about in him not giving up. Don't blame Rudy. How are they supposed to get Stevie open looks when a 6'6, long armed Scottie Pippen is chasing him down? It's a period of growth, and Franchise will learn to get his looks. We just need to go into this offseason with the intention of getting some inside help. Teams do not respect our frontcourt whatsoever, and we need some good big guys to take the pressure off the perimeter.
Does this team have a single offensive set? all of their sets offend me. ba-dam-dum but seriously folks... we're getting one hell of a draft pick.
Lettucenoggin' Good point about Kobe shadowing Steve. Steve has nothing to be ashamed of. I watched the Lakers play against Iverson and their defense completely shut Iverson down for the entire second half. I think it's more the team defense they are playing against Iverson and Francis than just Kobe doing a great job. After all, the last time these 2 teams hooked up, Francis ate Kobe alive for something like 11 points in the first quarter. ------------------ <this space for rent>
Newsflash: You don't score more just for having a more complex offense. All rockets sets for the past 10 or so years have been extremely basic. Does anybody remember how horible Hakeem was making decisions circa 1991? Think back to all those games where Hakeem would try to turn into the double team, or he would get passes picked off by the same defender 5 times in a row. But, by keeping the same basic set Hakeem was able to develop a gameplan for what to do when he got the ball. He always knew where the double team was coming from, where the open passes would be, and exactly where he was shooting from. In its prime it had the beautiful clockwork precision of an antique clock. In otherwords, give good players the ball in a position where they know their options and can act without having to think. Other examples include the ubiquitious Utah pick and roll, or Phil Jackson's triangle, which is basicaly pass and pick away. What then becomes important is whether Francis will learn not to get flustered when he sees a bigger and quicker defender, or if Mobley will learn that dribling in place for 20 seconds and chucking up a jumper is not a high % shot. Adding some neato-cool playbook, in my opinion would only serve to muddle things up. OR: if you prefer, an analogy which I am so proud to have thought of; Watch the Food Network - the chefs always seem to emphasize the quality of the components, not number of ingredients. No matter what pfoofy stuff you put in your pizza, if you use under-ripe tomatos or old, smelly cheese, it won't taste good. [This message has been edited by Ottomaton (edited February 27, 2000).]
You play around your personnel. The Rockets don't have the personnel to fit a high-voltage jump-shooting intricate offense. We have a set-shooting offense. The strength of our team is the Francis and Mobley penetration. Those are the only two guys on this team who can create shots for themselves and for others. Let them take their man off the dribble, and either finish at the rim, or dish out to chumps Bullard, Walt for open set-shots. That is our offense. You guys are calling for guys running off of mad-picks, but we don't have those players. We don't have a guy who can race his man through intricate tangles of picks for 10 seconds of the shot-clock and then catch-shoot, on the move. That's Michael Dickerson or Ray Allen. We have set-shooters who can't shoot unless they are in stationary position.
