Enduring this last season would be totally worth it, if.....

Amen, max.

 

Well said.

I too echo your sentiments.

DaDakota

 

Definitely. But can you guys really see Francis becoming a force as dominant as, say, Webber or Kobe or anything like that?

Right now, he needs to focus on decision making, while perfecting the "matador" defense.

 

Patience. Jordan learned how to make his teammates better. Stevie will too; especially if he's locked up longterm. Not saying the criticism isn't valid, especially since Francis is the PG, but still, I think when we have the right personnel, a little more experience and a lot more stability, Francis along with the other players will figure out what works.

 

Who was the most dominating PG in NBA history?

Magic?

 

Magic or Oscar Robertson. Oscar never had any superstar teammates til he was old and traded to Milwaukee from Cincinnati, though, IIRC. Oscar was the prototypical big point guard. Not even Magic could match Oscar's almost triple double average for his first five seasons in the league. SF is going for the triple double with points, rebounds and turnovers, but hopefully he'll improve.

 

I'm sorry, I'm not sure if we really have the personnel right now to be a contender. In my opinion, we still have one or two starting positions to fill and two or three spots to fill on the bench. The Rockets were just about the shallowest team in the league this season, and noone on the bench consistently helped. If Taylor was healthy, the only productive player we would have had coming off the bench would have been Kenny. That's pretty bad. The stat that Feigen pointed out in the article really opened my eyes to the fact the Rockets need a near complete overhaul of their bench. The stat: "Not one Rockets bench player shot better than 40% from the field." That's just not going to cut it.

 

let's see if we can find the reason for being the shallowest team in the league. i guess first we'd have to rule out our third string playing major minutes, hmm, well i have no idea.

 

I think it has more to do with how coachable he is.

 

It might not happen until we get a different coach.

Rudy's lax style works fine with veterans, who don't need a kick in the pants.

However, with our current roster, a guy who goes nuts like Bobby Knight would be a better fit for this team of individuals.

Knight would immediately force the Rockets to respect his authority, and as a result would do the little things that are necessary to win.

The players do not feel threatened by Rudy. After watching 100s of games this year on League Pass, I don't think there was a coach in the NBA who didn't get through to his players like Rudy. I am basing this on how many times per game Rudy seemed to have a look of disbelief when the Rockets failed to put any effort to defense, and would take bad/quick shots on offense.

Basically, the players are taking advantage of having an easy boss.

As long as we have Rudy, the players themselves must realize that a full commitment to effort and defense is mandatory to winning.

Speaking of MJ...

MJ did not mature until he HAD to respect Phil Jackson. When Collins was MJ's coach, MJ was a very selfish player who didn't buy into the team concept, nor did he focus much on his defense. MJ basically walked all over Collins. If you ever read the book, The Jordan Rules, you would know what I mean.

Once Phil came, MJ's defense and willingness to give up the ball, suddenly came. Phil somehow (maybe his buddhist ways?) is able to command the respect of his players.

I think this situation is somewhat comparable to Francis, although I hope Rudy is the coach when/if Francis sees the light.