Not being familiar with the Rockets, what is the projected Rocket lineup, or better yet who are the small forwards that TRock is competing with and their relative worth?? The Rockets now have many displaced NEW fans here in the Washington/ Frederick, Md area. Thanks, FREDTERP ------------------
Fredterp, The Rockets new lineup should be something like this: Francis Mobley Griffin Taylor Olajuwon or Free Agent Morris should come off the bench with guys such as Moochie Norris and Kenny Thomas to give us a very nice lift when the starters have to rest. Morris won't be starting anytime soon, as we just picked up Eddie Griffin in the draft, but down the line a scenario could arise that we shift Eddie to PF and Morris to SF, if he proves he's worth a starting spot. He'll be battling with Walt Williams and Dan Langhi for minutes at the backup SF spot, but he should win out there. I wouldn't be surprised to see Walt traded this summer, as he is a bit redundant now, and Dan Langhi hasn't shown much so far in his time here. ------------------ The Mo Taylor Fan Site "Basketball players win basketball games. Athletes win track meets."-- Shane Battier Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more! Cat's Mock Draft
Taylor's one of my favorite Rockets. Offensively, he's the total package. He has excellent dribbling skills for a guy 6'9 260, and crossed up quite a few of the West's all world power forwards this year. His strength is in his shooting-- he has power forward size, but he is money out to 20 feet. He also has a nice hook inside, but the Rockets don't utilize that much. His strengths offensively are shooting the ball and creating his own shot off the dribble, which is very rare for a power forward. Defensively, he's a solid defender. Not great, but not poor either. He has the size to bang, and can hold his own in the post against the better PF's around. His one weakness is in rebounding, where he has averaged around 6-7 boards per game his entire career, and that's low for a power forward. He gives 110% out on the court, and often times on rebounds just doesn't seem to be able to get that lucky bounce, or is a second late on his jump. Anyway, it's not a significant problem, as he is great in team chemistry, players and fans love him, and he works very hard. In fact, now that we have Griffin and Morris, I'd prefer us to resign Mo and get a couple of defensive role players than to get Webber. I'm afraid if you add Webber to Francis, Cat, and Eddie you won't have enough balls to go around. If Morris pans out the way hes capable of, you may see him out there in the 4th quarter of some games next year with Francis, Mobley, Griffin, and Taylor. Most teams don't have a legit center anyway, and the zone will help shut down some of the big players inside, so Morris may get some time out there with our top 4 guys, and then shift Eddie or Mo to center. Starters really don't concern me as much as who is out there in the 4th quarter. Our top 4 guys should always be out there, and Morris may sometimes too. He'll be battling with Moochie Norris, Kenny Thomas, and Hakeem or whatever center we get for that time. Probably will depend on matchups. ------------------ The Mo Taylor Fan Site "Basketball players win basketball games. Athletes win track meets."-- Shane Battier Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more! Cat's Mock Draft
Coudn't have sait it any better myself fredterp. The Rockets have a huge east coast fan base now and I am the newest member. ------------------ Steve Francos, Walt Williams, and now Terence Morris. Consider me on the bandwagon baby!
Cat, again thanks for the information for your new fan base, as DC Clone states. I will be rooting for the Rockets and maybe our Washington Wizards, but definitely Houston. The next agenda will be to see when the Rockets visit DC????FREDTERP ------------------
Is Morris quick enough to play the 2 guard? If he is then I think he would be a good choice for backup shooting guard. Especially when facing taller shooting guards like Kobe Bryant and Tracy Mcgrady. Morris could be the defensive stopper the way Shandon was.
NewJack, I think I may have read somewhere that Terence might or could play #2, but I doubt it. I did read where the Rockets see him at #3 and some #4. FREDTERP ------------------
FREDTERP, posters in other threads have asserted that T-Rock has a spotty 3, and pointed to his shooting 29% from the 3 this past year. What's your take (again) on Terence Morris' shot? ------------------
Relativist, good question. Terence plain out lost his confidence in his outside shot while he excelled in all other areas in his final senior year. There were times that he would start out missing early shots and also hesistating to shoot. The offense revolved around Lonny Baxter and Juan Dixon who rarely passed to the open man. Maryland rarely used the inside pass/to outside pass to set up the outside shot that Duke and others sucessfully executed. After a while, Terence on occasion would stop trying to get open. With Steve Francis and Houston, I can see a more confident TRock. Basketball will become fun again for him, not that he didn't enjoy a final four, BUT THERE WON'T BE THE PRESSURE that snowballed last year. Terence was a team player on a team that operated on a lot of one-on-one play. In a nutshell, he lost his confidence. He sees Houston as a new beginning and knows that he has to prove himself to earn a spot. I really believe he will excell at Houston especially being reunited with SteveFrancis! Steve Francis is a good example of a player who played better after playing in college. Steve Francis excelled at Houston playing PG after playing the shooting guard at Maryland. A big mistake for Francis while at Maryland, for Steve should have been playing PG at Maryland. Francis thrives with the ball in his hands. Instead Maryland had a player at PG who could not penetrate and was not a threat to score when Francis played at Maryland. In my opinion, it turned out to be Maryland's big downfall at NCAA tourney time. At the time it would have gotten Juan Dixon into the starting lineup when Maryland desperately needed more shooting in the NCAA tourney. FREDTERP ------------------ [This message has been edited by Fredterp (edited July 03, 2001).]
Another link, concerning #34 draft choices: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sports/display.cfm?storyid=14063 ------------------
