These 2 have gotten ridiculously carried away with this. I've seen several plays the first 3 games where the alley oop is simply not there and Francis or Cuttino foolishly throw it up there anyway and the defender who is sitting on the play will tip the ball and the result is usually a turnover. These 2 have to realize the oop is not there EVERY time you penetrate. This is why people say the Rockets backcourt has such a low bball IQ. Another thing is that if Ming continues to improve, he should become at worst option #2 on this team. It's time for the most selfish player in the NBA, Cuttino ISO Mobley to defer to a superior offensive option and realize he's no star. When you can have a 7'6" guy with a lot of post moves as an option or an undersized ballhog 2 who loves to shoot off balance fadeaways with guys draped all over him, the choice is pretty damn easy. This team has a lot of potential if they bench Mobley. The guy just kills the offensive flow with his unbelievably bad decision making and selfish play.
Concentrate on the positives. I saw at least 7 blown assists for Francis tonight. That would have been 12 for the Franchise. Go Rockets!!
I totally disagree with you. The alley hoop is always going to be there and they are not nearly as proficient at it as they need to be. So I say they should continue trying until it is close to perfected. In reviewing the Denver game, I saw many opportunities for AH's to Ming, Collier and EG. It is part of what is contantly going to be available from the offense we are running. So give it time.
I don't see why everyone keeps calling Mobley selfish. Until KT returns to form and Mo is back, Stevie and Cat are the only players we have that can score with any kind of proficiency. When we need a basket, he's the one I want with the ball in his hands. He's our best scorer. It's his job. Or maybe we should run a play for Jason Collier or Kelvin Cato. Yeah right. Until we get the kind of personell where everyone's a legitimate threat, Mobley has no choice but to do most of the shooting.
I have just reviewed the first 3/4 of the first quarter of the Raptors game, frame by frame, for all our our offensive possessions. I can safely say that the current imbalance in the scoring between the frontcourt and the backcourt is going to change. In our set plays when Ming does not have the ball, I saw many options revealing themselves that we did not go to. These were options that would put the ball in Ming hands going to the basket with the defense behing him. There will be many more alley hoops. In addition to Ming's passing ability there is also his setting of picks. Hawk had a great baseline drive set up by Ming's pick. Then there was the pass to EG cutting that caused them to foul him. No those have not made ESPN yet but it was an absolute beauty.
One play that really made me mad was when the raptors put light pressure as we tried to bring the ball up the court. Cat had the ball dribbling toward the timeline, but 2 defenders went to stop him. Instead of passing to a wide open Steve on the other side of the court, he decides to just run right over the defenders, who takes the charge. Just one of many dumb plays.
yes, as a 2 guard mobley's supposed to shoot. but damn, that doesn't mean he can't pass to the wing man when he's double-teamed. there probably have been at least 10-12 instances in the past 3 games where he'd dribble into the defense and shoot a fadeaway when he could have easily passed to a teammate who was standing wide open b/c the guy's defender came to help. sure it's great if he shoots 10-20 for 50% but what if 5 of those missed shots were taken when he was open? he more likely would have made them. it's just not good for our hearts when during half of his shots we're saying, "No, no, no!!! Yes!" like the Charles Barkley three.
There is definately a trend with Mobley with regards to how teams play him defensively. Any time he drives to the hoop, defenses collapse on him with 2, sometimes 3 players. You can tell that defenses dont respect his passing one bit. Granted, he makes alot of those shots, but he could make things so much easier on himself if he looked for the open man a little bit more.
I remember that play. I saw Francis wide open and expected Cat to pass. I had my eye on Francis and when I looked back at Mobley, I saw him push down a defender and get the foul. I love Cat's skill and I think he is VERY good, but he's been disappointing me with some of his decisions. I would say most of his missed shots yestersay were just bad shots, not just missed shots. Still, he does makes some of those bad shots. Hope he could change a little bit.
It's an alley oop not an alley hoop. The announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers who recently passed away was the man that gave the play it's name. Gotta remember him right!
Cato=bum, With the way Cato has been playin recently, you just might have to change your moniker if he keeps it up.
the alley-oop play rarely doesn't work out. why not take advantage of some of the athleticism on this team and bring it out? i like it every now and then.
If nothing else, nba.com shows all the good alley-oops in the game highlights. There was one where it looked like a poor Francis shot and Cuttino go the jam.
Cato=Bum, I don't totally disagree with you. I amen what you said about the low bball IQ. Francis and Mobley doing the alley hoops successfully is at an alarmingly low rate. Let's do play simple. Making the highlight reels doesn't make your team a playoff contender. IMO Cat is currently a much more better offensive option than Yao is. Yes, Yao did show some Dreamsque moves in the first half of the Raptors game, but more often he got the ball stripped out of his hands. I agree Mobley tends to be a ball-hog and should pass more, but to say that he is a worse offensive option than Yao is is just not valid. Not now. I agree that Yao should get more chances so as to gain some on-court experience, though.
