IF you are going to use logic like that then you would also have to agree that with a healthy MoT , we won 45 games....without him we only won 28. MoT always got off to a quick start and the team benefited greatly from that. Besides defense, getting off to a slow start and always fighting our way back into games was the biggest reason we lost so many close games last year. By all accounts MoT is tearing up Westside and is poised for a big year.... I certainly hope so.
I hope so too, but Dennis, I know you are smarter than to really think that yourself about the 45 vs 28. Mo's had little to do with that had a lot more to do with the fact there was a good post presence keeping the D from immediately collapsing when Cat or Steve drove b/c they could dish. If you add Mo's stats from '00-01 to this team last year and take out EG' or KT's they would have had the same wins or fewer when you think of the D KT played. He did a nice job on guys like Malone last year. Also, there is not a team in the league that was more effected by the zone rules. Now why they did not use the zone themelves to their advatage on the defensive end I was due to not so good coaching decisions. Agreed?
Of course I understand that but comparing KT's stats with MoT's is just as counterporductive as comparing the teams records when either was the starter. What post preseance are you talking about? If you are refering to Haleem , well he missed a few games as well and routinely getting eaten alive by the Ostertags of the world before a late season surge. MoT averaged more points than Hakeem. Teaching and practicing the zone defense requires a very important thing...personnel. The Rocket had players that were playing minutes that they had no business playing and had trouble keeping a consistant lineup as well. It is very hard to play effective zone when your players do not know where to go and what to do. I can agree that some of it may have been a problem coaching it but to lay it all on Rudy is not a correct evaluation.
Very true on both accounts, but if you remember back to that season, when Dream was in even when he was not that effective, they (for some odd reason) would leave a man on him. That is what I mean by "presence" and that is what we have to hope Yao can do this year. Moochie.... maybe not that he has "no business playing," but we had better see two things this year: a) reduced Moochie minutes b) Moochie's rear on the bench in the final 7 minutes I think he will make an effort to implement a zone D, the important thing is to have the guards prevent penetration as it seems Ming has been a little foul prone. The most important strategy change has to be fast breaks & passing/ball movement on offense. The lack of it last year is what killed our offense.
Agreed, but a lot of that had to do with the lack of an effective 3, but the lineup of Cat, Francis & Moochie was still used a little too often, and I doubt (AND TRULY HOPE) that its not used this year. Fast breaks has a lot to do with D, but its true that Steve did not always push the bal up quickly (ie Nash). I think it will be a little different this yr.
Toner/HoustonTX, you may not know but talking to yourself and answering yourself is a sign of mental instability.
lol... I work at the same company as the trouble maker and did not realize he had logged in on my computer. Once I submitted the reply I saw that. Tried to play it off but it didn't work. need to disable the cookies if the TROLL is going to use my comp. Trust me, he is typically more controversial in his comments and is known to push more buttons than I!
