Okay first things first, our backcourt desperately needs to play 3 to 5 minutes less a game. We could continue them playing at their current pace but what happens then is effectively a overall shortening and decreasing in quality of their careers. Secondly Eddie Griffin should get 20 minutes a game consistently. Thirdly we're not gonna get the title this year but we can be consistently good and should slip into the playoffs if injuries aren't too bad (please don't let Stevie be hurt in fact let this be a healing heat in his foot curing him forever of any plantar fasciatis). Spreading the floor is important. Having a bunch of screens and cuts could only help. Spending less time dribbling or holding the ball while staring into the undeveloped play off in the distance might be nice. Setting up a post-up or two for Rice to get his blood flowing early on would be good. Getting Torres into the game more at Moochie's expense would be the call I'd make. As for TMo well I think he has a future but it's gonna take a bit of time on the floor. So how does that happen? We could trade Walt at the peak of his streak this year to Washington(hey he's from there and the name fits)for Brendan Haywood or Etan Thomas and that famous player Future Considerations ooorrrr not. I don't know. Dan Langhi well he looks like a guy who needs to get confidence yes but also gain 25 pounds of muscle and be an adequete 4 with an outside shot ala Van Horn. Anyway I think Cato might begin to play better sometime soon (OH GOD PLEASE!). Griffin will take off and soon we won't be so uptight about all this stuff.
Just a few stats that are a bit problematic: Steve's assists are dropping - 5.8 per game so far this season, as opposed to 6.5 last season. He is #19 in the league right now in APG; IMO he ought to be top 12 at least. The Rox are #28 in the league in APG - they are clearly not moving/sharing the ball. They're also #28 in the league in steals. That might signal a general lack of effort. Or brains (positioning). Or nothing... They are #18 in FG% (#21 in 3pt%). If they're not going to share the ball, then they've at least got to get the damn thing in the hole.
I agree Treeman-- In the Portland game the Rockets effectively moved the ball, spreading the floor, made the Blazers play defense, and controlled the game. In the Clippers game I saw many mistakes while trying to move the ball around, granted the Clippers are much more athletic than the Blazers. Positive ball movement contributed to Walt's game. Moving the ball around made Mobely's game more spontaneaous, and less predictable. Also, I agree with earlier post that Steve and Cuttino need to play less minutes. Eddie Griffin - "the example" needs more minutes. I think Griffin already may be a better player than Keith Van Horn- (i.e Dirk Nowitzki light), but is playing more minutes with Jason Kidd feeding him. We definitely have that much and more capability with Francis to feed Griffin. Jason Kidd is one of my favorite players- I think the best pure point guard in the league-with Francis at or near the same level. I'm thinking Torres and Morris need more playing time- they will not be a step down from Williams and Rice.... Don't give up yet-Go Rockets!!!!
I agree. I'd weight it more towards the PG, though. imo, the offense is going through a rather surprising change this year. We are adding more and more to the pnr. But Francis is facing defenses he hasn't seen before. I was worried about this, expecting more defenses to throw different looks at him, and it is quickly becoming my conclusion that he is having trouble seeing all the defenses and instinctively doing what the coaches have designed. It seems like when in doubt against defenses overplaying him (trapping him or clogging the lane), Francis will try to create on his own, or otherwise hang onto the ball...maybe just for 3-5 seconds longer, then pass...but...that makes it harder for other play-makers to do much. Read this article from Jonathan Feigan. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/1146137 Now in there, what Rudy is talking about is the lack of right decisions. When he says, "We're used to these plays," that has to include our #1 play, the pick n roll for Francis. Now, I don't mind anyone including Mobley in this at 50% blame, because he has that reputation. But face it, we are starting more sets with Francis than Mobley this year; it is noticeable that Mobley is more conscious of passing this year; there is a noticeable reduction in the dreaded guard ISOs; and Rudy's quote has to be including our #1 set, the Francis pnr. My conclusion is that our PG is being hit with a more difficult role this year. He is having trouble. Rudy is patient...I am, too. We must continue to play this way where Francis starts the majority of the sets. I don't want to demand change by saying, "why not more pnr's for Mobley." I'd like to have discussions about our point guard and what he isn't spotting. You know, it isn't that bad to point out mistakes by the point guard and still want to have him start each set. He is the key. Right now, he is having some problems running the team and offense consistently, imo.
Hmm....Rudy is now saying what we are saying. I guess the coaches DO have a plan, can we now move on and quit apologizing for our team playing STUPID basketball. DaDakota
Well Dak, nice post and looks liek you get your wish, Steve is out and Mobes might be too!!! grrrrrrr
Smeg, No one want them out....I just want them to play smarter. Heck, I love their guts, just not their basketball brains. I also realize that it took Jordan about 7 years to trust his teamates, and Hakeem about 8 or 9, I was just hoping that a PG would do it sooner. DaDakota
Who thinks we'd be a better team with Kidd at the point rather than Francis? i don't care about contracts or age or off-the-court activities. Would we be better as a team this year? With these scoring options: Glen Rice, Cuttino Mobley, Walt Williams, Eddie Griffin, KT. I think so. That's not to say I'd rather have kid, because Francis will improve. To me, this is completely normal. I have no expectations for even the best pf point guards to be running their offense perfectly in their first 3 years. Tinsley will take till his 4th year to become a consistent scorer. I'd love to play with 2 Point guards, not with Steve at the point. A Steve Francis and Gary Payton backcourt would be magnifcent. Just like when GP plays SG alongside Jason Kidd in the All-Star game (used to). We have to be patient, and put less pressure on the Francis. Our frontcourt is one of the worst in the league, There's NO arguing with it. Bulls: Miller (C) Oakley (PF) Eddie Robinson (SF) Replace anyone of those guys with anyone of ours in the same position and we're automatically a better team. But if we had everything made perfectly, then we wouldn't be TRYING to get into the playoffs. Another thing: Argument of backcourt vs. frontcourt: The backcourt includes 2 players, while the frontcourt includes 3 players. There HAS to be a 3rd player for us to succeed. Rice hasn't emerged, but I think with Eddie Griffin we'll emerge.
The weird thing is, I didn't notice Francis having this problem nearly as much in the preseason. It seems we've hit that wall that usually comes in the February/March time where defenses have figured how to slow down Francis and Mobley, and just need to fight through it. crispee-On the iso: It's almost as if it's completely eliminated. The only time we ever go to it is when they have a severe mismatch, like Jud Buechler or Eric Piatkowski on Mobley.
Dak, with the induced injuries, if our front line was anything but useless then the also wouldn't have to have to play so hard. shoot me down know but maybe Steve is cut out for the court smarts and passing decision making as required for playing PG that we all want him to be!! But hell who knows when he has some decent passing options then will know if Steve and a lesser degree Mobes can make the correct decisions. Would love them to play smarter, but they have to have better scoring option than themselves available, some of this is Ruddy's offense but most is the other players on the floor. Specifically on Pick n Rolls, i always say the dribbler should come off the pick looking to score themselves first (jump shot and drive in the lane) and then if the defense stops that then hit the screener rolling or flaring or if worst comes to worst hit one of the other players on the floor, so if the are doubling the dribbler then the screener needs spilt the defenders and roll to the basket and Steve must make that pass. The time has come to throw Eddie into the deep and let him sink or swim!!!! Nike, If the Defense has already adjusted then maybe Rudy needs to coach some and implement some different options and ways of scoring and adjust to the defensive adjustments. Crispee, Do you want the Iso back, Phoenix seem to be running alot of successful Isos!!!!! Smeg
I think the philosophy is bad. Nothing is in order or spontaneous, everything is so scrpired and predicated on what the d does as opposed to making the d react to you. I thought we were in bad shape once the jackson deal fell through and Rice came over via trade. Our main problems are teams speed and quickness and the use of both. Francis and Mobley are as quicka as they come, but who else in the starting linup can fill the lane with them? In addition to that, they just don't have the constant push up the floor for some reason. This team has had like 8 fast break points the last 4 games total. Someone please tell me how many good half court players the Rockets have? People are quick to point to the Isiah led Pistons because of the guard play, but we wish we had a 3rd scorer like Aguirre or Dantley. Those two guys would post up and score or get fouled constantly in the post. We have no one on a consistent basis that can get a good shot down the court most of the time. Which brings me to this, the Rockets have good small players while other teams have good big players. No, I'm not just basing that on size alone, I just look at the facts. When I talk about big, I mean 6'6 and up. A player that can post up, take someone off the dribble and always get a good shot. When you look at where other teams get shots and where we get shots, you know why we're scoring in the 90's. Its just hard to win in the west when you are relying on 23ft shots almost everytime down the floor when others can just dump the ball in to the post or mid post and get a high % shot. I hate to told you i said so, but when the rox were barely winning against avg teams, everyone says they were going to get the offens going no one saw the flawed offense. We will definitely get better, but the coaching staff needs to emphasize pushing the ball up and if the team comes out sluggish, press a little bit to pick up the tempo. Thats just my suggestion.
This one's for Tacoma Park Legend: Tacoma, Pardon me if somebody has already said this, but play calling is done on the court by the players unless there is a time-out, a play drawn up by Rudy, et al, and executed by the players. By and large its the the point guard's responsibility to call the game-something Francis doesn't do that well. Look at his assist: turnover, assist/game, and point totals, and you can see that he's a 2 guard in denial. I love Francis at the point. But screw drafting a Forward, because we needed a head strong and prototypical point guard. I'm rocking the boat here and who cares: we could have urged Francis to play the two, or tought him to play the point guard (pass 1st, shoot 2nd- -that's a joke, he-he), or traded Mobley if Francis will go to the two/keep Mobley if Francis commits himself to better ball handing and passing. Our guards score a lot, but pass to eachother exclusively too much and play too similarly. Great teams have roles that alter only when needed. Right now Francis runs the offense but plays the two whether anybody will agree with me on that point or not. I've been saying it for years now-Vancouver had Francis' number about his best position. True, the point is the hardest position to learn, but Francis has had three years to show himself. If he wants big bucks, he needs to reinvent himself (point guard) or be himself (two-guard). Mobley is who he is-a two guard, and Francis is in denial. So we need Francis to work harder, or something more difficult to do: trade one of our dynamic duo. p.s. Before you guys go nuts on me, does anybody see my point? P1st, S2nd.
I see your point...I was really against the rockets letting go of Damon Jones. I was hoping he would be able to play the point sometimes and allow Steve to be the 2 guard without giving up alot on the defensive end. I'm not saying that Mooch is terrible or Damon Jones could of been the answer but I would of liked to see the Rockets have a pg that took a different apprach to the playing the point than Steve. Just to be able to mix it up if you had too. We seriously do need to start passing more.
I just don't buy it. Francis is fully capable of going off for either 35 points or 12 assists. This guy has the skills and instinct to pass 1st and shoot 2nd, he's just not doing it. He can be either a PG or a SG on any given night, I'm just not sure he's learned how to choose which he'll be on any given night. Think back: what were we doing most of last year? b****ing about how Steve needed to take control of games. We were concerned about how he'd pass to clueless teammates instead of taking the clutch shot. Now we're concerned that he's not passing... The team as a whole isn't passing. That's the problem. We don't have 5 team players out on the court - 5 guys who trust each other. Pick any lineup you want, that 5-guy circle of trust doesn't exist yet on this team. Maybe the fact that we've got a different team this year than last has something to do with that? I dunno, but I remember that we had an awful first half season last year (awful to us), and we blamed it on the fact that the team needed to gel... Maybe we're going to see these problems until we stay with a team. No more player movements unless it's an obvious and immediate benefit. Francis is probably annoyed and confused that some members of his team appear to be playing in a half-assed and lackadaisical manner, and that's affecting his decision-making. I get the feeling that there are a couple of people he isn't sure he wants to pass to... His talent, ability, and motivation are not suspect - we all know he's tops in all of those aspects. It's psychological. Unless he's got chronic migraines, of course...
Treeman, I agree with you fully; if there's any difference in our position it's semantical. But Francis forces things with low percentage passes (from the back court and through two or three frontcourt defenders), passes in the air (looks got but fashion over function), etc. I would rather have a point guard that consistently puts up 18-20ppg and gets about 8 dimes a game, with better than a 1.75/1 assist:turnover ratio. That last stat is f'ing terrible for a point guard, IMHO. If Francis took better care of the ball and spread the butter on the bread more evenly, you'd see players emerge. We do have a different team this year. We are more dynamic than we have been, and deeper. God I wish that we could have signed a good old veteran point guard like Hardaway to play 2nd or 3rd PG. Francis could learn from guys that understand how to score and pass.
We actually WOULD be better. Atleats it'd get Rice and Walt more involved and would have open looks at teh basket, rather thanrushed shots just before the shot clock. Cato would also have more dunks, thus making him happy
Pass 1st: I don't really even see Steve as the problem. I think he's probably frustrated that he's having to learn to play with a different set of guys than he's used to, after all the 'gelling' they went through last year. That's at least part of it. I think he's fully capable of being a 20 point / 8 assist guy on a nightly basis (if not better), but he's not going to get those 8 assists until he's comfortable with passing it to teammates. Cuttino? No problem there. Rice? Why would Steve want to pass it to him right now? KT? Sure, if he's open and in the paint. Cato? Please... Until these guys can put it in the hole, why should he pass? Their shooting %s have been horrible, and it's not just poor ball movement. They're missing open shots, layups, and dunks like there are two tomorrows. It took half a season to 'gel' - learn how to work together - last season. Thanks to an active offseason which saw a major roster upheaval we're looking at the same situation, I think. I would say, however, that if Rice got his shooting touch back we might be able to speed up that process. I still think Rice will be more critical in our playoff hopes this season than EG, although I would give Eddie more minutes at C than Cato at this point. I'm probably in a minority on that...
