Agreed on MoT not fitting. But what is better: Yao shooting 50% FG%, getting 20 rpg between the 5 and 4 spots and hitting 3-4 3-pointers a game. Or Yao shooting 60% FG%, getting 17 rpg between the 5 and 4 spots and hitting 6-7 3-pointers a game. Howard averaged 7.2 rpg last season. We could get a 10 rpg guy but that guy probably is a poor outside shooter which means they can double down on Yao everytime with no repercussions. As such, Yao's effectiveness goes down and our 3-point shooters are not as open. Ideally, you want a PF that can hit 3's and pull down rebounds. But if you had to chose one, a shooter opens up the offense and makes the entire team more efficient. 1995 Rockets won a championship with Chucky Brown, Pete Chilcutt and Robert Horry manning the PF spot ...none of which are strong rebounders or defenders. (Horry played great in the clutch but as a whole, his stats are weak).
Bwhahhah that is what i was thining... Haven't posted anything since joining in 03 and now you bust out with I always liked Mo Taylor hahahah
I agree. Battier is our primary 4 and will be very effective in spoting up at the 3 line (Novak may get spot duty as well). Howard is a good jump shooter inside of 19 ft and has the girth to play most PFs and Cs. Hayes is a heck of rebounder and hustle player. Our PF spot is no where near our weakest spot, we have some good alternatives. I do not see Mo Taylor providing anything different that what we have, EVEN if JVG and he got along, and EVEN if he came in determined, which are slim to no chance for both possibilities.
Vote No on MoT! Just because we brought back Moochie for a spell, doesn't mean we're in "Invite Passed Inflated Contracts" mode. Make some logical sense with ur FA choices, please. Next thing I'm going to see mid-way through the season is a thread titled "Put a uni on Charlie Ward!" I'm not having stuff like that on my BBS.
I wouldn't consider Mo T a shooter, especially from 3. We will get more defense, more boards, and a very good 3 point shooter in Battier than Howard and MoT would give us together. We need Howard off the floor now. I don't want to replace him with a player that is even worse than he is defensively.
Mo Taylor is completely washed up. The curse of guaranteed money strikes again. I doubt he ever gets in shape again in his life.
...but then you get no defense in a big contract. I think I'd rather give up a few boards for all the other things Battier does better. Now if they want to trade him to us for Howard and Head/Synder/VSpan or picks, I would find a way to get Murphy in there.
He has a lower FG% than Juwan and shoots 32% behind the arc. I don't seem him as our savior either. He's definately a better rebounder, however. Is Murphy even up for grabs? If not, why are we talking about him?
Huum, based on the criteria of looking for a guy to rebound, defend and had 3 range, I can't quite find a perfect match. The Dirk fellow isn't a great defender and the KG fellow is poor at the 3 pointer. The Marion fellow is kind of small. Hey this Brand fellow fits--he even shot 33% last year from the arc (1/3)
Yup, I don't think you'll find both. So you gotta pick. Knowing we (hopefully) have the most dominant center in the game, is it more important to A.) get a good defender + rebounder or B.) get a guy that can space the floor better for the most dominant center in the game. Knowing that Yao can defend and rebound well himself, I'll go with the guy that makes Yao's life easier on offense. btw, MoT is neither a good outside shooter or a good rebounder. If he comes cheap and is willing to ride the pine and we can't find anybody better, I'm fine with bring back MoT in case Juwan gets hurt.
I wouldn't oppose bringing back Taylor. He's at least talented in some way. I'd sign him, if we could cut Bowen
Considering JVG benched Mo Taylor for months before trading him, I'd say there's somewhere close to zero chance of him coming back to Houston.
Neither one are better rebounders than Juwan last season plus both are older than Juwan, IIRC. I don't see how they are obvious upgrades to Juwan. Next.
I don't completely buy these statements. A lot of it has to do with where you position the PF. There were many times where the opposing PF came to double Yao, who easily passed to Stro or Hayes for a dunk/layup. Even if teams do double off the PF, someone else has to cover our PF at the basket, and then rotate from there. It's not like having a non-shooting PF lets them double with absolutely no repercussions. Howard, on the other hand, can't even finish at the basket. He usually just drifts out to around the free throw line, where he's left open, and takes the ugly, mid-range shot. Opposing teams are perfectly content to let him take this shot, and we keep going to it, thinking that we're clever, when in reality, he's not even that great from mid-range. I, personally, do not want rely on the inconsistent outside shot of an otherwise terrible player. Get a bruiser, or a 3 point shooter to play at the PF. Either one is much better than Howard.
I'm still not buying the hype about Rockets need a PF that is a lights out 3 point shooter. I think our potential weakness will be interior defense and rebounding with the current crop of finesse, soft, over-aged, or outsized frontline players we have on the roster right now. We have addressed the long-range shooting needs with the additions of Battier, VSpan, Snyder, Novak, and others. If MoT is a player being proposed to be added to the roster, I just think that would be a huge mistake as he wouldn't fill any role on this team. If having a PF that is a long range shooter and can space the floor is mutually exclusive to a dominant defending/rebounding/general thuggery than I would rather we get the latter. When we had our 1st Championship team, Hakeem didn't have to worry about spacing because we had legit long-range shooters at the point guard (KSmith & Cassell), shooting guard (Maxwell & Elie), small forward (Horry) spots fill those roles. But thank God we had Otis Thorpe to help clean the glass and defend the likes of KMalone, Shawn Kemp, Horace Grant and other powerful PFs. But unlike Hakeem, Yao is not quite the rebounder or interior defender that the Dream was, so a thuggery kind of Power Forward more of the OT mold is much more critical IMHO than having a finesse 3 point bomber at that position and seeing what we already have and don't have on the current roster.
I'm not saying Howard is our best option at PF. I'm just saying the names proposed aren't obvious upgrades over Juwan. If something falls in our laps, we should definately pull the trigger. But the key is ...it needs to be an upgrade. If it isn't, your just starting over getting a PF to learn JVG's system and it may not work out in the end (see Stro and Eddie). As it stands, having Howard isn't a complete disaster. Would we like to do better? Yes. Will we be able to do better? Probably not. Between Howard, Battier, Novak and Hayes will allow us to be respectable considering we have Yao and TMac also on the court.
Kurt Thomas is not a obvious major upgrade over Juwan. Kurt Thomas can hit the open jumper all night long, block shots, rebound, play tough hard nosed defense and he's the same age as Juwan. You can't even compare the two players, I would take Kurt Thomas on this team any day of week over Juwan.
