Kidrock8: I'd rather watch my armpit hair grow than waiting Rudy to get the players together.Rudy is too much of a player's coach to enforce consistent defense. Just emphasizing defense isn't enough, sometimes a coach's got to jump on players' back. Rudy is never known for that. A better chance is that Yao and Griffin leads by example through playing tremendous defense. Then hopefully, that kind of attitude rubs in other players. Steve Francis: I agree with you on Cat being the odd man out, had Griffin and Yao turn out to be the real deals. I am all for shipping out that lazy bum Cato, but obviously Cato has no trade value as of now. Cat can be added into a package to get Cato outta here. If that's the case, I'll be more than happy to say bye bye to Cat and Cato, in return for a solid starting 2 and backup C. Anything to get that malcontent out of sight! Criscokid: The idea of running the offense through Yao, making Francis and Griffin to be the beneficiaries is quite interesting. The way I see it, let Yao creates shots for other two prime scorers is quite smart. Yao's got natural advantage in his height and unusual agility at 7-5. Let him run the high pick and roll, utilize his natural advantage to create shots off mismatches is more effiecient, as it saves Steve and Eddie's effort to beat their defenders with speed, power or moves. The only catch is if Cat is willing to step down as the third or fourth scoring option, or a spark plug only when needed, but that can be sovled with Yao's big knuckles on his backhead. In general, among the feedbacks I like the most is to keep the top 3 players and build around them. Most likely being Francis, Grffin and Yao hypothetically. That way the Rockets has two others to fall back on if one man's down. Also, more flexibilty to adapt to different opponents. Moreover, We'll have one of the toughest starting lineup with strong O and D, as well as balanced attack from inside and outside. The game is won by big man. Frankly, I am more excited to have the Francis, Giffin and Yao trio than Francis, Mobley and Yao/Griffin. I am definitely looking forward to the emergence of our new three-head monster!
Blah Blah Blah Blah! All a bunch of Bull! If Eddie, Ming, Boki, all become max players then that means they have turned into all star players and are playing great ball. Rudy would be thrilled and Les would pay because we would be contenders and the new arena would be full every night. Salary cap or no salary cap does not matter. Hell there is no guarantee that the luxury tax will even kick in next year or the year after. For that matter the league has been discussing with the players association the possibility of dropping the luxury tax if the union will extend the current agreement. To say that Rudy hopes Boki does not turn into a max player is just ludicrous! I think Boki is the exact reason that CD and Rudy are not pushing hard for Rashard. Lewis may be the better player now but Rudy may think Boki will eventually become an all around better player. If we had not addressed our small forward position during the draft then I think Rudy and CD would be pushing hard for Rashard.
I agree that talent can never be too much. Yet from a different angle, I can also say that it really depends. Talent alone is not trouble. The problem is, with talent there always comes with egos and ambitions. That thing called shots are precious resources which every star player needs to shine. When there's too many stars and not enough shots to go around, some selfish players who's not good enough to the leader won't be happy. I heard Barkley said MJ didn't want him on the Bulls when a chance presented itself. Maybe MJ thought the Bulls were sure to win the rings without more talent? I don't think so, I guess MJ doesn't want to share his shots, spotlight and leadership with Charles. The same thing goes around in every team. Why is that Hakeem, Charles and Clyde failed to do much on the same team? I'd say one of the factors is the conflicts of egos. I don't know about Yao and Griffin, and jury is still out on Mobley and Francis, but over talent and lack of team spirit can happen to the Rockets one day. Some posters are already suggesting Francis doesn't want Yao onbaord to this very day. Maybe it's too early to discuss these things, oh well, it's not like there's much things to do in off season either.
im down for mobley to go. all he does is shoot has no sense of defence or even cares to play defence. night in night out he scores. we have enough scores on the team and not enough defenders. hopefully ming will come through and resolve the problem along with EG we might be set to go but as m uch as i respect mobleys game i dont think he fits right in with the rockets plans. trading him for rashard or even KG would do wonders for the rockets and put them immediately atop the west conf with the lakers and kings. thats francis' thing right? he wants to win now? well getting KG or shard will def put us into position. all the problem with too many stars. well we dont have too many stars...only francis is an all star thats it. no one else...yet....maybe in a few years we will see ming and EG up there but not any time soon....hopefully the rockets will make the right decsion!! GO ROCKETS!!!
The Lakers had 3 stars, Magic, Kareem and Worthy; 1 semi-star in Byron Scott; and a role player PF on their starting lineup. The Celtics had 3 stars, Bird, McHale and Parish on the front court and two very good starting guards. These two teams dominated the NBA in the 80s. Many of you's comments are right on: the problem is not too much talent but too much ego. Star players can play together if they put team winning first, money second, and personal limelight third. Let's project the future starting lineup: Fracis, Mobley, Nachbar, Griffin, Yao. Of these 5, Yao probably will have the smallest ego. (OK, all I'm doing is just a projection of what we know about these guys NOW. There's no guarantee their attitude won't change.) He will gladly pass the ball and will not complain about not having enough shots. He's indicated that he's not after money either (not surprising if you have to give away 50% you make ). Griffin seems to be pretty easy-going too. From the low-key way he reacted to the "snubbing" of rookie all-star ballot, he doesn't seems to need a lot of limelight to patch his ego. Nachbar is saying all the right things. Assuming he meant what he said, he is happy "just to be a Rocket." No problem there. Mobley is a ball hog? Maybe. But he's the best shooter on the team right now. I don't think he's a selfish player (that's just my opinion; I could be wrong). I think he will gladly trade wins with shots. In any case, we know that he is perfectly content to be Francis' sidekick (much like Pippen was to MJ. . . Arrg! Bad example!) Francis is actually the key. All the others are willing to let him be the team leader -- if he is willing to be the team player. So Steve, this IS your franchise. Don't ruin it.
All you people that keep saying that Mobley doesn't play defense are just plain ignorant. Either you don't watch the games or you don't watch Cat on defense. He is the best on the ball defender on the team. He is the shooting guard. He shoots, he scores and he plays defense. He does not distribute the ball. It would be nice if he did, but that would be icing on the cake. The things he is supposed to do, he does well. He is not the point guard. We have another guy that's supposed to be doing that.
