How would you improve the team (without a trade)?

The Rockets need to feed Yao the ball more often, no excuses. If he can get into a rhythm then it opens up the game for the rest of the team. You've got the NBA leader in field goal percentage and he only been getting 4-6 shots lately? Thats ridiculous.

 

5. Give Nachbar some playing time
Let him get some garbage minutes and let him play when the whole team is struggling to make baskets. we hear about how well he shoots lets see it



I think this is the first game that we actually have had garbage minutes. We have never been blown out or blown anyone out until tonight. Give him real minutes. After all, we are not going to win the championship this year. Rice is hurt too(don't know how long).


BTW EVERYONE gets blown out now and then. It just might be healthy. Just look at what Atlanta did to the championship Rocket team after they won 15 straight. I don't like it, but it happens. Be patient.

 

I'd start by limiting KT's playing time if he insists on taking shots that are well outside of his range. I think his passing skills are below average for a small forward and his shot is lacking. It may be premature to write him off, but thus far the "experiment" with him at the 3 is going poorly.

During the absence of "Cat" I would have started Steve at the 2 and Moochie at the Point. I would then use a 3 guard rotation consisting of Mooch, Franchise, and Hawkins as Rudy has done. I might also consider throwing Maddox in for short spurts. (using the rookie in short spurts only).

Guard Rotation:
PG- Moochie, Francis, Maddox
SG- Steve, Hawkins

I would continue to emphasize Ming's involvement on the offensive end and encourage him to take more shots.

Lastly, I would start getting Nachbar into the roatation. Kenny is a HORRIBLE 3 man and i don't expect him to be able to make the transition to that small forward spot because of his poor passing and shooting skills. I hate to say it because i admire kenny's hustle and aggresiveness, but its becoming apparent that hes becoming the odd man out.

Rotation (While Cuttino and Rice are out)

PG- Moochie, Francis, Maddox
SG- Steve, Hawkins
SF- KT splitting time evenly with Nachbar or TMO
PF- MoT, Eddie
C- Ming, Cato

 

I'd give the players time to gel together as a team. Play Ming more, and possibly see what Boki can do.

But I'd wait to the end of the season before making any major decisions. A lot can happen between now and the playoffs, the main thing is to give the team time to be together. Get them to know each others game.

 

ok here it goes...

1. the offense only goes thru steve and yao. nobody else on the team should have the ball more than 3 seconds. we don't need KT bringing the ball up court or trying to take guys one on one. none of this crap where moochie holds the ball for 10 seconds and jacks up a shot. no more griffin hesitating for a few seconds before he shoots a midrange shot.

2. turn yao into a point-center. ok this is pretty revolutionary and yao is going to revolutionize the game like a young sabonis could have. its already pretty clear that yao in the post can run the offense like a field general. he either puts a move on his man or tosses out to an open teammate. now this concept only works if the rockets learn how to move without the ball and also start to take the open shots when they have them instead of holding the ball. they should be cutting to the basket...setting screens...looking for the quick pass or quick shot. i can see cat benefitting the most from this. cat loves to shoot and can hit the open jumper or even well defended jumper too. also with cat cutting to the basket i can see him getting a ton of foul shots and lay ups. this would also help work cat out of his iso game and start working him into a motion type game

3. get nachbar into the rotation more. who knows what was going on with him and rudy, but he finally got a few minutes. we need a guy like him who will be moving around and who can help break zones with his shot.

4. everyone needs to start moving without the ball and not standing around waiting for someone to do something. yao does it by setting picks but it seems like no one else does anything at times. i don't know why the players aren't doing this but it reminds me of rudy's old style of play when dream was around and everyone stood around the 3 point line waiting for dream to shoot or pass. we need more cutters and the player with the ball needs to be willing to shoot fast or pass fast.

ok well thats my thoughts

 

Objectives to improve team play for future :

# 1 - Dump it in.
# 2 - bench ballhogs. See it, sit it. Reward Savvy.
# 3 - get Griffin and Nachbar PT

Start -

Yao
Taylor
Rice
Cat
Steve

with

Cato
Griffin
Boki
Hawkins

No Mooch. no Tito. Steve 40 at 1, Cat 8. No KT. Tmo moves up if Rice moves down.

I'd really like to experiment with Yao and Cato on the floor together - Cato in the low post, Yao opposite on the high post. Still play dump it in, just different options. Cato is big enough to hammer down a pass from Yao with low post moves. On defense, I'd think Cato/Yao would allow us to pack it in effectively, Cato fronting and Yao with weakside help/shotblocking. Flank them with Cat and Steve and a hot hand, preferably a Boki that can slash and shoot, later. Hawkins or Tmo would work in that set on D pretty good.

 

Superior defender? The guy can't stop anybody with some bulk one on one. He gets pushed around the paint giving an easy two time after time. The blocks are nice and all but other than that, he's useless in the post. I do conceed that he's a good rebounder but he's definately not superior to Kenny.

 

The solution is so painfully obvious:

I haven't seen the past few Rocket games, but I got a hold of the Sacramento game.

Cut the rotation down. By 1 or 2. I am 99.5% sure this will improve our team dramatically. Oh, and you know who we're going to cut out right?


Obviously, we have to get rid of KT. We're only playing him so he doesn't whine. Look at opposing F's:

Webber 19
Wallace 21
Desmond Mason 19 points, on 9/16
Rashard Lewis 18 points on 7/15
Troy Murphy 12pts, 13 reb on 6/14 shooting
Jamison 15pts, 10reb, but on 4/15. (KT 4pts, 8reb, 5fouls)
Pippen 16pts, 6reb, 4asst
Rasheed Wallace, 16pts, 8reb, 5/11
Elton Brand (undersized PF, his specialty) 26pts, 15reb, 9/14

This is going backwards from our games...Go to boxscores to see more like this....

This is the "underrated D, great footwork, no one can body up like him, a 6'6 Bill Russell" defense we've been hearing about? Who exactly has he stopped?

If Tim Duncan hadn't said anything about his D 2 years ago, people would be knocking his D. He doesn't have the size, strength, or quickness to bother anyone defensively.

I've said it 1000 times. He's good for 4 games a year, against the Warriors where we can put him up against Jamison. That's it.


My reasoning behind wanting to trade KT:

He's not going to be in our long term plans. He doesn't do anything essential. If our PF's could split his minutes, they could get more comfortable in the game, and their shots would improve dramatically. Every PF has 2 PF's to worry about now. How's a guy supposed to think? I mean, competition is good, but 2 competitors is more than enough. When KT's not playing well, and still getting more minutes then the other 2, they're going to start worrying.


Cut KT out of the rotation. Trade him. Whatever. Then, when Mobley comes back, give Hawkins and Moochie MINIMAL minutes. This is what I'd like to see:

Cato(24)/Ming(24)
MoT(24)/Griffin(24)
Rice(28)/T-Mo(15)/Boki(5)
Mobley(38)/Hawkins(10)
Francis(38)/Moochie(10)


Our frontcourt rotation's minutes are controlled by matchups. When we need someone strong, Cato plays more, when Ming can dominate and the other C isn't too strong, powerful, we go with Ming. Same thinking for the PF spot. MoT can be a 3rd string C, and Cato can be a 3rd string PF, so the minutes are interchangeable. We go with matchups, and we have a good mix, good enough so that I'm confident we have a good matchup for every frontcourt in the league. Hawkins and Moochie get reduced, because we want to see more of Francis and Cat. They will have nights when they play mroe, and that's great. The mroe they play, the less we see Hawkins and Mooch. Those guys are energy guys for when we're in a glut. Our SF rotation isn't the best in the league, but if either of them have their shot going, they are all great. Rice and Boki, if they get it going, are deadly. If T-Mo has it going, then paired with his hustle,D, he'll help this team out big time.


Trade KT. Help this team. Trade him to the Lakers, help them shut the Kings up again. If we could somehow snatch Devean George from them, that would be great too. That would really shoot us up in the standings.


P.S. Great thread.

 

BTW,


for the KT vs. Griffin argument:


There's nothing Kt can do at th 3, than Griffin can't do. At the 4, KT is too small. Simply. Too small, too thin. Both of them will have their size used against them, but in 30 minutes, Griffin will have 2 blocks, and he'll keep the game flowing. KT can't block shots, and he kills the flow.


Plus, KT won't be here long term. Griffin is the future.

 

<ul>
<li>No more 3 guard lineups. That experiment is a complete failure with any 3 guards we currently have.</li>

<li>Bench KT. I have a prejudice against KT and it pentrates every part of his game. I've never seen someone pump fake a pass then throw the slowest, laziest pass in the same direction. TO everytime. He completely disrupts the flow of the game. He has no outside shot. He loses his man watching the ball. For every 1 good play he has, he commits 3 bad mistakes that are usually costly. He a negative on the court.</li>

<li>Less Griffen. More Mo. Griffen need to work on his jumpshot before he sees more time on the court. Or he needs to find other was to contribute. He blocks shots, but his D is bad. Like KT, he loses his man. And when his man is a pf under the basket - that's a costly mistake. Mo may not be a D wizard, but he brings more to the court than the other 2 options.</li>

<li>More passing to Ming. He needs to get more touches.</li>

<li>Hire some more personel coaches. I think we need some O coaches, some D coaches and a coach for every position. Sometimes our guys seem lost out there and I think if someone were watching every position all the time, the could correct the mistakes. This is a young team and it needs some micromanagement until it gets it's legs.</li>

</ul>

 

At the 5 and 4, I would play a 3 man rotation of Yao, Cato, and Taylor. I think all 3 complement each others games really well. Cato brings the defense and rebounding that the other 2 lack. Yao brings the great passing which will get Cato some easy dunks and Taylor some wide open jumpers. Taylor has the offensive game to compliment Cato’s defense and the great jumper to make the defense pay when they double Ming. Start Yao and Cato and have Taylor come off the bench.

As far as Eddie goes, I say just bench him. Rudy gave him the ball to run with and he dropped it. Play him sparingly for the rest of the season and hopefully next season Eddie will come prepared to play like a big man should.

At the 3 spot I would split the minutes evenly between Rice and Kenny with Rice starting. I would not have Kenny come into the game until Ming goes out. I think Rice compliments Ming’s game better. Plus, I don’t think Kenny is very effective unless he’s the main go to guy in the post and that’s not going to happen when Ming is in the game.

Finally, I know Rudy will never ever do this, but I would just ditch Moochie completely and rotate Hawkins, Mobley, and Francis at the 1 and 2 spots. Start Francis and Mobley. Hawkins comes in for Mobley. Then Mobley comes in for Francis and takes over the ball handling duties. I don’t think the team really needs a true point guard anyway, just someone who can dump the ball into Yao and hit the open shot. Cuttino can do that. And really, Moochie is just a shooting guard in a point guard’s body anyway.

 

i think they need to surround Yao with fundamental players. And Rockets hardly have any fundamental players. I see Glen Rice being fundamental and that's about it. Other players need to commit themselves to fundamental and not so much out of control style of basketball. I feel sorry for Francis wanting to take more shots and trying to get the team back into the game simply because he feels helpless cuz other players suck badddd (either turning over the ball or can't shoot). In the Kings game, when you see KT taking a deep outside shot which is out of his range, you know that is a dumb play, cuz he's more of a post up player and not an outside shooter. That's not fundamental. When you see Hawkins turning the ball over twice and losing any team mometum, you know coach should bench him right there.

If the team don't have a chemistry going on, i think Rudy T needs to change the lineup around once again. Of course it wouln't help with Mobley out. Let's see if the team can improve when he comes back.

 

I would take control of the team. I would bench any player who did not run the plays I called. I would play only the players who were outstanding in practice. I want more fire, more intensity. I would major on DEFENSE. Teach it. Practice it. Learn it. Do it. Take pride in it. I would have this team taking EXTRA HOURS of shooting practice. Ming would touch the ball everytime down the floor. I would bench any guard who "walks" the ball up the court or "overdribbles." "Jacking up" of stupid shots is a one way ticket to the bench. Work for the good shot; work for the high percentage shot. I want players who scratch, bite, scrap, fight for position, play tough, look like they care, players who give it up for the team, play with emotion but under control. Hours of passing drills. Fundamentals. Fundamentals. Fundamentals. No favorites. No superstars. No mercy for the enemy. TEAM.

 

Start Taylor with Ming, Francis, Mobely, & Rice. Let these guys play together on the court about 65-70% of the time (foul-trouble allowing). Let a second squad of Norris, Nachbar, T-Mo, Eddie, & Cato play together about 30-35% of the time. I agree with many other posters....Kenny just is not working this year. I don't know, but he sure seems awful selfish this year and the team chemistry with him on the court is not that good. In short, two squads...let them gel.

Second point, I really like our zone defense. I would like to see a little more of it. Also, a little more pressure up court after made baskets. Teams that play tough defense win games.

 

1. No 3-guard line-up in the end of 4th quarter. Period. It's 4 on 5 on the defensive end, and hurts our poor rebounding even more on offense.
2. Cato and Ming together sounds good right now. Also add Mo into the frontcourt with them. I know Mo would have some trouble defending 3s on the perimeter, but on offense it works out for us much better. He works with the flow much better, actually passes to Yao, and has more than one move.
3. KT off the bench NOW. His offense is more based on isolation than ANYONE including Cuttino. He's a black hole, once the ball comes to him it hardly ever doesn't result in a shot. Unless he's on the block he's pretty useless. Especially if a defender isn't stupid enough to bite on the jab step. You know he can't hit a jumper very consistently, so back off and KT's done. All KT got is that jab and drive, and the spin move hook shot. That's it...
4.Give Ming 10-15 shots a game. Figure out some ways to get him the ball other than the same old play sticking him on the left side. It has been working well, but I would like to see some high-post type stuff, and just more variety.
5. What the hell happened to the motion offense. I did see an improvement in ball movement against Seattle, but they need to keep it up.

 

In summary, here is what "we" generally agree upon:

1. MO T starts
2. More Yao Ming touches and floor commandering
3. Less KT, whether through trade or minutes
4. More Boki
5. Limit Rice minutes to keep fresh

Now, this is the general consensus from 30 or so "hardcore" fans who follow the game pretty deeply. I know we do not have the credentials to coach, but if you look at it, this all makes good basketball sense and someone in the organization should take notice. I am certain there are some really good basketball minds in this thread and certainly, there is some truth and reality to all this.....

 

I suspect the team will be better when Cat comes back for these reasons:

• With Cat out, Mooch has had extended minutes which caused Francis to guard more 2-guards. Since Stevie the 2G expends so much energy on defense, he doesn't have the legs to hit his normal jump shot. (Note his shots hitting front rim.) Cat will help relieve Steve of some defensive duties.
• No one on the team has been hitting jumpers, allowing opposing defenses to put four in the box. When Francis isn't hitting jumpers, he tries to force a score by driving. Very difficult to score on a 1 on 4 scenario. When Cat comes back, he'll space the floor better.
• Steve is sore all over and needs a really good body massage. Cat gives great massages.

So when Cat comes back, everyone will start praising him. But the real reason for the success will be Stevie the pg's improved performance.

Right Yao?