Yes I see a pattern Mr. Mensa Member. Jordan, McGrady and Bryant all averaged over 5 assists a game last year and Carter averaged 4. That means they ARE required to distribute the ball AND they obviously show a willingness to do so. You DID NOT state that this is not Cuttino's primary role. Obviously, its not his primary role. Duh. Here is what you ACTUALLY said: Any player on the team is called upon to distribute when necessary. Its called "Playing like a Team". Look it up some time. Im sure youll be fascinated with its definition. Oh and for the record, I said Steve has shown MORE of a willingness to pass than Cuttino has. Willingness is a relative term in the end.
You know Horns...your hurting your own case with those numbers. Those three guys are big time scorers, lightyears ahead of Mobley (Yes LIGHTyears) and still manage to average at least twice as many assists than Mobley's career 2.5 mark. You can throw Kobe in there too who outstide of his first two seasons where he only started 7 games is averaging about 5 assists per game for a career. How about the consumate ball hog in Allen Iverson averages near 6 assists per game for a career. Everyone should be clear on this...Mobley is NOT a passer, has never been one, even when he was our starting P.G. and does NOT look to involve anyone other than Steve Francis in the offense. Note: This is not senseless Mobley bashing.
When or if he does it, we'll see. So far, he hasn't done it in a regular season game with this set of players, and it is just the preseason. They need to improve, but if you think a veteran player (going into his fourth season) shows the same intensity, desire, and focus to limit the turnovers in a preseason game compared to a regular season game, you're wrong. Also, I'll share a secret that some people seem not to realize. When you are playing with a team that has big men passers, assists are much harder for the guards to come by. Take a look at the Kings. Mike Bibby averaged almost 10 assists per game with the Grizzlies, and only 5 with the Kings... do you really think he became that much more selfish? Nope. It's just that in that system, the point guard isn't solely responsible for distributing the ball. As the season progresses, it should be the same way here. Yao will get his touches in both the low post and high post, and will get to use his size to see over the defense. Steve will be doing more off the ball, and won't have to handle the ball as much as he has the next two seasons. When we aren't getting enough team assists, that is the time to complain. However, if the team assists are fine, but Steve's not getting eight per game, I hope you guys aren't jumping down his throat for playing selfish.
I'm only concerned when we have a team 9 assists, which 3 come from our starting superstar PG and he takes 21 shots in a loss, even if it is "only a preseason game" against Philly. I'm not saying it's time to sound the alarm, but it could easily become an issue.
Our starting superstar PG was playing more of a "2" style game last night by design. If you can have Twin Towers (we really should come up with a different name for that) then why can't you have Twin Two's. Both Mobley and Steve can play a dual blended 1/2 type game at the same time. It's no different than making Yao Ming a point center.
The Houston Skyline The Inside Stuff The Houston Block Exchange Brothers in Swat Rejection Connection My god those were lame. Hopefully someone else can do better.
$2 is more than $0, but what the hell does $2 get you. Bottom line Francis' willingness to pass the ball is not at a level that will make this team successful. His assist total was doubled by his backup center last night who played half the minutes. To hell with all the damn comparisons, Steve's play at the PG position is not good enough to make this team a very big success. His play speaks for itself. Hell, if I were the GM I would make Cat the 6th mand or trade him. I think he is a valuable pice to a puzzle but not a primary piece to a championship team. Francis is not a very good PG and I only hope (after a max dollars contract) he one day develops into a god SG.
40 minutes on "10-10-220" Maybe that's the plan. Rudy said he would be trying new "O" when Yao Ming arrived. Perhaps the dump it down low, pass it out, and "chuck n duck" is back?
my theory is not that it's preseaon, it's because we added a brand new bigman with skills steve has never played with before. he's used to kelvin cato. there has never been a well run quarter with ming playing. he doesn't know the sets yet and rudy has made it very very simple, hence the iso's. take a look at the first quarter last night or steve's first two 10 and 9 assist games. it looked like a very different offense.
Mobley does not pass the ball because is the most capable scorer on this team. It is very similar to what Jordan was like before he won his 6 rings. Jordan forced alot of shots like Mobley and only starting passing once he was surrounded by competent teamates.
Mobley will have to pass the ball this year. With more zone defenses, passing is at a premium. This motion offense will be very effective once the guys get used to it. This is a dynasty in the making. Once our guys get used to having an 8-foot stud at center, they'll flourish.
I doubt you really believe that. Yao is too damn big and too talented to be the distributor to Francis and Mobley who can create their own shots. Like BigM said, its likely "Rudy has made it very very simple, hence the iso's", which I totally understand the simple aspect, but despite the fact that this was only Yao's second game we can't dumb down the offense to the point where we regress back to iso-ball. Yao is used to a team game, which we all know the Rockets don't always play. He needs to become acclimated to the offense as a whole, as does the rest of the team. IMO the best way to approach this is to jump right into the 5 man offense since Yao is new to the system and is going to be an integral piece of the offense. Yao needs to be involved quickly and that is not going to happen running iso's.
I agree that Rudy has way simplified the "O" when Yao was in. He said something to effect that they were going run post plays and such at first. I did see the double 2 stuff going on. Cat was even bringing the ball up court with Steve in the game. I saw them do that with Cat at SA too.
Our whole team had 9 assists. There's reason to worry. I don't know what it is with Cuttino. I was really expecting him to improve in the passing department this season. I really really did. Honestly, if Mobley continues his style of play, he might be the weakest link in the starting line up next year. Oh, one more thing. This "Shooting Guard has to score" and "PG has to pass" and "PF has to be a bruiser" stuff ALL went down the drain like 5 years ago. I think it was nullified when this 7-footer started passing like a PG, blocking and rebounding like a C, scoring like a SG, and jumping/running like a SF. BUT, I defnitey expect a MAXIMUM of 2.99 TO's a game for Francis. Yao Ming's TO's concern me. I know he hasn't been here long, but it was the same story in the World Championships and the Asian Games.
PG/SG 1-2, it's all semantics and ultimately meaningless. There's no big book of protocol you have to adhere to Look at Ron Harper, in theory, he was called the Bulls and Lakers "point guard" by default as Jordan and Kobe were the shooting guards. This is pretty bizarre considering he was a scoring small forward for the Cavs and Clippers during his prime. He didn't really get many assists, he shared ballhandling duties with Jordan and Pippen, and mostly stood around on offense and took jumpers. For any other team, he would undoubtedly be considered a shooting guard. But the bulls and lakers prospered, even when going against the textbook point guard, Stockton. So Steve doesn't necessarily have to turn into a 10 assist man to be successful.
All I have to say is "Enough Preseason Complaints!!!" One game, one game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Francis is going to have some bad games this year, it's not uncommon. Oh yeah, he had 6 steals, so he pretty much canceled his TO's out.
