The rockets need to start establishing a low post presence in games early and late. Mo Taylor appears to be the only presence we have and he's not a bad one. He tends to want to face the basket which is okay, but atleast he is generally closer to the basket when he starts his moves. I really would like to see him get more than 7 to 9 shots per game. He needs more along the line of 10 to 15 shots. I know that may seem like a lot, but the Rockets appear to be becoming strictly a jump shooting team and that is not always their strong suit. Heypartner, any suggestions? ------------------
sorry...didn't see the game. Had friends in town for Rice homecoming. I'm not really one for "suggestions" on what Rudy should do. I'm fine just watching and learning how he thinks these players play the best together. In general, he likes to establish how the defense is playing Francis and Walt early. There are a lot of reasons for that, and they all benefit Mo. I agree; so far, we aren't really involving Mo too much in plays. I expect that to change, and look forward to seeing how Rudy uses him. Developing team plays to use Mo (beyond just clearing out for him) will take some time. Much of the time is in trying new plays each game to see what we execute the best in game situations. It is a matter of what you are going to focus practice time on. Defense, transition and extending last year's plays come to mind first. I look for Mo in the high post, but that will be tough to integrate immediately. Plus, I believe Mo will be instrumental in burning any defense that doubles 2 Shakes. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited November 05, 2000).]
I think they need to start milking Hakeem early in the game to get him to hit some shots and more involved in the game. Presumably, this is the main reason why he isn't able to really contribute much offensively. He was always the sort of player that needs to get the ball early and often or else he was cold. I think Hakeem and Mo should definitely get the ball more than they have so that opponents have more than just two or three players to have to worry about on the offensive end. We need to become much more team oriented, rather than a bunch of isolations. There is no team right now that thrives with isolations. You might be able to say that the Lakers do, but even they have certain times and places to pass the ball around.
