been gone for a while, but... damnit it good to be back @ cc.net! this team is the exact team i preached about wanting since last year. we have gotten rid of one-dimensional players such as shandn andersn and sean "6th-man-of-the-year-4-the-opposing-team" clsn. everyone on this team has the ability to score. everyone on this team has the ability to go inside or out. everyone on this team can run (thank GAWD no pig miller!) as for defense, we have the team to play a sonicesque scrambling pressure (not trapping, mind you) defense. and that's exactly what i've seen from steve and cat - high pressure defense. we'll get burned occasionally, but we have cato (who has been outstanding so far), griff (who is going to be our franchise in the future), and tmo (who was a steal, imo) to help guard the paint. re: griff... is it just me, or does EG have some serious KG-esque tendencies? dude's stroke (from a technical standpoint) is smoother than KG's. dude's range is equal, if not better, than KG's. and dude's defensive intensity is equal to KG's. the only thing i hope is that he doesn't develop the offensive mentality of KG. KG does not know when to take over a game offensively. he doesn't know when to say f*ck 20 points, 9 boards, and 8 assists...give me 35 points, 6 boards, and 2 assists! those that say EG doesn't possess offensive skills are seriously deluded. he is displaying AT 19 YEARS OLD more ability offensively than KG did. more than sheed did, too, IMO. sheed @ 19 was a dunker and a average shooter. EG is a confident shooter and has exceptional defensive instincts. if we can retain steve (which i believe will be a considerable task), we can challenge for the title in 2 years. gotta believe, baby....
he suffered a sudden, unforseen death when his fearless leader gained a year+ of time served and 7000+ posts in the course of a few short months. the captain jumped off the ship! i'm not going down with it!!!
What's up Verse EG does look very talented not only on D, but on offense, too. But I think the guards need to do a better job of getting him shots. He doesn't seem to demand the ball too much and in the few games I've seen him play as a Rocket, he gets lost for long stretches w/o even touching the ball once on offense. At this point he doesn't seem to be able to do much off the dribble or create for others. But he is a very good finisher and could probably effectively post up opposing defenders <235lbs.
If Griffin comes into his own in the next three years and the rockets don't have any extended injury time, the rockets will be be unstoppable. No team has ever had the offensive capabilities the rockets will have since I've watched basketball closely. I started watching basketball more closely the year Chaney was fired and Rudy was made the interim coach. Before that, I played too much baseball, basketball, football, chess to catch more than a game or two a month. Francis, Mobley, Rice, and Griffin are all capable of going off on any given night. Moochie is a good pure PG, but is forced to the bench by that Francis guy. Mo on the bench...if he doesn't win sixth man of the year next year, it will be because Griffin does or Kobe was traded for Robinson and Duncan. Morris, once he gets his shot to be consistent, will be a threat in both full and half court sets. Griffin will be guarded mano a mano. I don't think malone can do it. I don't think Duncan can either away from the basket. Garnett vs griffin will be an epoch battle in the coming years...too bad the backcourt isn't going to let the game be close.
IMO, steve francis will leave the rockets to go to DC. jordan will be leaving and going back into management, steve could wear his/jordan's old number, and he'd be close to home. what more could he want? i hate to say it, but i think he's gone to DC when the contract's up. that said... if that unfortune event occurs, we'll be left with cat @ the 2, tmo at the 3, and eddie @ the 4 to build around. that's pretty damn good. in fact, it's eerily similar to the t-wolves of yesteryear (KG, marbury, and googs). the differences, as i see them, as that the t-wolves lacked: a) another big man and b) a back court mate for stephon. we would have mooch @ the 1, and cato as the other big man. pg: mooch sg: cat sf: morris pf: griff c: cato throw in a good bench, and that's still a helluva squad...one ***************** this is why i am so glad we have assembled the team that we currently have. no singular part is paramount. all are replaceable parts. we are building a serious basketball machine in houston, and i am glad to be a fan of it.
The only thing keeping Wink from signing a MAX deal to stay in Houston is whether or not we make the playoffs the next 2 seasons. Otherwise, IMHO there is no way he parts w/ Mobley.
DaDakota, You aren't still clinging to not having lost after Rice and TMo clearly passed Langhi. And is Griffin really a 4 without Rice or Mo's injury. Welcome to the loser's side. Ah man! That was against my wishes. Will got confused and Clutch concurred. They decreed clemency for everyone. We all got changed to aliases complete with posting history of our main IDs. The idea is to keep the our posting history consistent or sumpin....which was kinda the opposite to the whole point of what we were betting. btw: did we lose or what?? Looks like Langhi is sucking it up still, and TMo has passed him. Thats Griffin, Rice and TMo...sheesh!
Eddie is going to be a superstar. With Wink and Cat, this team is exciting. What will be Eddie's nickname?????
As long as this team is moderately successful, we'll be signing Steve to the max. He's got Cuttino, Moochie, and now Tmo as his buds on the team, and he'll be in the same situation as Webber: he won't find this combination of talent + a max contract anywere else in the league. In addition, Steve won't be afraid of Shaq like Webber is. The X-factor, as usual, is Cato. If he plays well and turns into a decent center, you can bank on Steve staying. If he turns back into a suckhole and our frontcourt looks doomed for the next 4 years, I'd be worried.
verse, i dont think steve leaves when his deal is up, francis will be a rocket for life, we have a crazy amount of talent and he loves the area(he played juco ball at san jacinto jc), plus hes openly stated hed sign a lifetime deal if he could plus he wont leave mobes, mo and eddie not a chance
Great post, verse. It will take time, but if Cato, Griffin, and Morris continue to mature, a roster of: PF Griffin/Taylor SF Morris C Cato SG Mobley/Torres PG Francis/Norris could be damn near unstoppable, capable of scoring in the 100's and applying suffocating defense. Patience. It won't happen this year, but Rudy T has begun peicing together a juggernaut.
Eddie looked real good the other night, but do we need another jumpshooting big man? I wish he would give us something down low, or he could turn out to be like Bob Horry. A 6'10 three point shooter. I hope he doesn't let his strength hinder him from going to the basket or posting up. Is it me or did I see some of those sorry iso's against Det?
