if steve will play 2 guard next year, who should we bring in as our point?

kenny anderson. He is tall and has learned to be a playmaker. Was always a gifted point guard, but showed last year in Boston that he could quietly get the job done very well. He is also tall enough to allow steve to continue his matador defense against other teams point guards while he play's d against the opposing teams two.

 

Is it my understanding that the Chinese government wont show Clippers games because of the Wang ZhiZhi situation? If this is true, like I think it is, do you guys think the Rockets would trade for ZhiZhi, who is a SCRUB? Absolutely not! The Rockets wouldnt jeopardize their relationship with China to get Scrub ZhiZhi.

 

Good point j. I am not really unhappy with the ball in Francis's hands. End of the game, he is the one who I want to handle the ball. He can make the three, drive for the foul, or pass to the open man. SF is not selfish, he often passes - even for game winning shots. (a few games ago he passed to Mobley for a clunker three, and near the end of last year I remeber him passing off game winning shots to Griffin (won) and Collier (clank))

What I am trying to say is that Steve, overall makes pretty good point guard decisions. When they are decisions. His problem, as I see it, is he gets frustrated, excited, or lost and starts forcing things.

My real issue with Steve at point is the number of turnovers. I guess I reluctantly agree with silent j, if Steve has the ball often enough to shoot asoften as he should, he will probly have the high turn over numbes. Last game Rice had five turnovers. He certainly wasn't the point, but he was making the shot and getting a lot of touches.

I don't have any solutions. I guess I hope that experience will lower the turn overs. Maybe the best hope is better options (can you say Yao Ming) will lead to less force ups.

 

Become a Spurs fan. Then you'll get both.

 

How could you speculate these ideas while we're hours away from our most important game in 2 years?

Today, Steve Francis is the PG, and Cuttino Mobley the SG. Let's talk about how this non-compatible duo will trash the Suns today!

 

I don't think the idea of Francis playing 2 guard is a good idea, mismatches will occur since the size of Francis is smaller than most 2 guards in the league. But if Francis does come down to the 2 guard, i'd like to see:

Unrealistic Wish: T.J Ford - That would be the only thing i'd wish for next year! Really!!! T.J Ford would be the only point guard i'd like to see as a Rocket, young, runs and guns, smart, plays like a true vet. Sees things no other point guards can see. He has a gift! But most likely we won't get him, or better yet can't


Realistic Idea: I think if we would send a PG to play next year, it would probrably be Moochie. Unless we get a trade down and I would possibly think Darrell Armstrong. I like his game, he has great defense and he can bring down some advice, or maybe even show the team what "distrubuting the ball" means. He would be great to the offseason move. Other than, that I would like to see more of Tito.

 

In that scenario, I like Alvin Williams and Darrel Armstrong.

then Snow. I don't like the Miller or GP ideas. I see problems, and Ming ignored still while they squabble.

On the other hand, I'd prefer to keep him at the one, and absolutely prefer him there with matched with a point forward named Lamar Odom.

 

I don't think we'd see any more of these threads if he could turn these issues around. My point is, when he gets into these situations where he is lost and all he can do is pass frantically to someone at the 3 point line, it would be nice to have someone on the team other than Rice who can catch and shoot with the clock running down and actually make a shot.

j

 

Leave Francis at PG because realisticly the Rockets will not be able to find at better PG then Francis.

 

Not exactly. Any contract which is bought out hits the cap for the buy out amount amortized over the remaining life of the contract.

For instance, IF Rice would agree to a buyout for say $5+m, the remaining $4m ($9+m contract - $5m buyout ~= $4+m) hits the cap for the final year of the contract. This is not even equal to the MLE so it helps no team over the cap other than possibly an LT hit.

In addition, the team receiving the contract has NO guarantee Rice would accept a buyout and what his bottomline would be. I do not believe it is possible to set this in advance as Rice could just refuse a buyout to halt the trade.

 

Gilbert Arenas. Resticted FA. I am unsure whther the Warriors can match a full MCE since they only have the Early Bird, I think. He would probably have to accept being the Backup PG knowing he'd still play the majority of the minutes at the point. This would hurt a potential competiter.

Sam Cassell would be cool. His rings may light a fire unde rthe rocks. Would have to part with Mobley+ most likely.

GP...would be tough to work it out, but would be sweet.

Jason Terry would be interesting, but I doubt Hawks will part with him. I like his shooting ability.

Hollis Price. As a backup. If the Rockets want to stuff Yao down someone's throat, they may want to get a Kenny Smith Type of PG.

TJ Ford. If the Rockets want easy baskets, TJ or Kidd are the way to go. It would take a comittment from Rockets to fill lanes to make aquisition of TJ worth it if he comes out. Probably talking Mobley+ to get up in draft for him.

I'd prefer the Rockets get an upgrade to Moochie in shooting efficiency and keep Mobley.

 

Francis has been doing a pretty good job the last couple of games as point guard. Or we are getting very lucky.

But anyways...if we really got a point guard.....SAM CASSELL would be awesome. But I don't think he's available.

Andre Miller would be nice....but we can't afford him.

Gilbert Arenas would be nice....but we cant afford him.

Lamar Odom would be nice...but we can't afford him. He would be the best. Cuz then Francis and Mobley would both stay...and uhh Lamar Odom would be small point forward or whatever. And Posey could leave. But too bad. Ain't gonna happen.

Most likely, Steve will still be point guard next year...BUT HE BETTER IMPROVE HIS DEFENSE. God...people get past him so easily.

 

I was watching a lot of Marbury's penetration last night. 90% of it was off of picks. I think we might want to consider the Rocket's help defense on picks as a large factor as well.

 

What is with the misconception that Steve Francis is too small to play the 2 ? Steve is 6'3 while Mobley is 6'4 and not nearly put together physique wise as Steve. Francis takes on 7 footers every night when he attacks the basket so I don't buy the logic that he is undersized to take on opposing 2 gaurds.

 

I still don't get it though.
If we got a point guard like Gilbert Arenas...then wouldn't opposing teams just put their shooting guard on Gilbert and their point guard on Steve?
Yes...Steve could guard the shooting guards and Arenas or some other guy could defend the point guard. But on offense...won't it be like the same? They will just matchup whichever guy fits best...

 

Francis would be more free to crash boards. He wouldn't have to worry about getting others involved as much. I don't see Arenas as an upgrade at the point, but as good enough to allow Francis to play SG half the time and keep Mobley fresh.

The move to get someone like Arenas wouldn't be to get the PG from not guarding francis, but to allow Francis more offensive freedom. I'd rather play Arenas than Moochie.

With the large prospective free agent class a finite cap space, it is possible for all cap space to be used before arenas gets his piece. This would leave Arenas with three choices:

1) Sign middle class exception ~4.5 mil. I don't think GS will be able to match over early bird, but could be wrong. Best short term move.
2) Sign early bird with GS ~4mil.
3) Sign 1 year deal and get the Full Bird. Best long term move if he likes GS, but riskiest.

This is all based on assumptions that the rockets want to move Francis to the 2, Arenas would like to play for Rockets, The clippers don't spend a lot of money, Les is willing to pay some luxury tax, and Payton doesn't resign with Milwaukie.

 

Didnt he play PG during his early Rockets years with Dickerson as SG???