It's time for Rice to join Cato on the bench.

Amen to that. Make him earn his starting spot back. I say we start Eddie in his spot, even though he hasn't done much to earn a starting spot either. We need to throw Eddie into the wolves from the beginning so he'll pretty much be forced to do well. Or Walt, at least he can hit a shot here and there. Either way, Glen needs to be benched for a while.

 

I'd definitely like to see Walt start at SF over Rice. Walt at least has some mobility. Rice looks like a stump.

 

Hello, not a Rockets fan here but rather a Laker fan. Just wanted to comment that we knew Rice all along was not a great team player. A few rocket fans thought we had missed Rice for his shooting but in fact, his days are numbered because he doesn't have the athleticism (with injury hampering him) to create his own shots anymore. Rice has to realize that he's not the main gun anymore like the days of old but has to deferred to other new up and coming big guns in the league.
Haven't you realize that he has complained in the last 3-4 years about his playing time and how he never gets the ball or get to play down the stretch? I actually don't think it's totally Rice beotching but rather 50% of the blame comes from his wife. She's the head of that family and whips Rice into thinking that he should be jacking up more shots and more time.

 

We can bench them both, but how the h*** can we get rid of the nearly $15m we're paying them? And the nearly $17m in the 2003-2004 season?

Ugh...3 seasons of Glen Rice.

 

I love Glen, he is an amazing player and crucial to the Rockets success. It is apparent though that he still needs to get his body back up to game speed. For the time being nothing would please me more than Walt to return in his starting role. So far this season Wiz has proven not only that he can rise to the occasion, but his chemistry with the rest of the squad has been phenomenal. The crisp passing, the solid screens, the veteran defense have all come together, and not just on nights when he is on fire. Even during games which Walt couldn't find his shooting rhythm he has still worked as a component to the rest of this team.

 

7.9 Points/Game, 3.4 Rebounds/Game, 1.09 Steals/Game, 1.1 Assists/Game, 23.7 Minutes/Game, 48.5 FG%, 30.8 3PT%

8.4 Points/Game, 2.3 Rebounds/Game, .80 Steals/Game, 1.4 Assists/Game, 30.5 Minutes/Game, 38.7 FG%, 21.9 3PT%

Guess which one is Glen Rice and which one is Shann Anersn...

 

I can only say that I hope Rice is just working through his version of training camp and preseason, both of which he missed. Because if he continues to play like this for much longer, then we're screwed.

If he can start hitting his shots with any consistency I think we could be a top scoring team and difficult to beat on any given night. But if this continues... One flop - Cato - is enough.

 

There's so many problems with the Rockets right now.

1. Franics, he still doesn't shoot enough. He shot the ball thirteen times yesterday. He even passed up a wide open three by passing to Mobley for a wide open three. What the ****was that? He's our star player! I don't see any reason why Francis shouldn't be a 28 ppg scorer. I think he's a better outside shooter than Iverson, so why can't he average near the same amount of points. I think this is the biggest problem with the Rockets. Francis still isn't selfish enough, and until he is the Rockets aren't going anywhere.

2. Mobley. Its time for him to take the next step. So far he looks like the same Mobley of the last two years, which is good, but not good enough. The shooting is still ridiculously inconsistent and he's still making stupid plays. Its time to grow up Cat. Francis is at least averaging more points than last year, Cat's not even doing that. However, Cat is shooting three's good so far, which is encouraging.

3. Cato...is an explanation necessary? I say we pay him the remainder of his contract just to leave the team. Not only he is a terrible player, he's probably the only negative element the Rockets have.

4. Rice. I don't care how screwed up his legs are, his shot should not be affected this much. I just don't understand it. All we need Rice to do his hit 3-pointers, and he can't even do that (7-34 from 3 point land). If this keeps up, I don't see how Rudy has any choice but to bench him.

5. Walt Williams. Season shooting: 28-75.

6. Moochie. No impact whatsoever, except for the three against the Suns. Partly because Rudy isn't playing him as much, but Norris doesn't really make anything happen when he does come in. He used to be a spark plug, but not so far this season.

7. Torres. Looks like a player fooled us again by playing great in the preseason. Torres simply looks terrible.

8. Griffin. Not to pick on the young guy, I didn't expect him to be great this season. But get this, his season shooting is 13-46? Was that a typo on the Rockets season stat page? He's 5-12 from 3 point land. Does this means he's 8-34 from inside the arc? This isn't that big of a deal, but its kind of discouraging because it looks like Eddie will not provide the immediate help that some of us were hoping for this season.

This is eight Rockets, that I believe I can say are not playing up to expectations (except for Cato, of course). How can you win when that many players are struggling? Kenny Thomas and Kevin Willis are the only two guys on the team that are doing more than expected this season. Luckily the Rockets managed to somehow win some games, but unless there's a change in play the losses are going to start piling up. I'm extremely disappointed with the way the season has started.

 

1) If Rudy was gonna bench Cato, why did he have to put KT on Pollard? Pollard is close to 7' feet. That's a msmatch made in heaven. At the very least, he could've used cato's fouls on the poor FT shooting inside players that Sacramento have.

2) I never thought I'd see the day, but Walt should start, and Rice should be put on the IR to work on his conditioning. Honestly, if I dind't know him, and I saw hi on a street somewhere, I would never beleive he's an NBA basketball player with the shape he's in. Personally, I think the problem is from the coaching staff. Time and time again, our veterans have very quickly slipped into poor shape. Barkley, Hakeem, and Glen Rice. They were great, but they weren't in their best possible shape. Look at Kevin Willis. He's 39. Does he look as old as Hakeem?

3) Francis is getting very frustrated. Hopefully, he'll start to shoot like hell and only pass when double-teams arrive. but, it's very possible he's gonna start to regress as the frustration mounts. This is not good for contract negotiations.


We've lost to the Mcdyess-less Nuggets, and the Webber-less Kings. We have no excuse. I'm sure most people here think KT and Kevin Willis are better than George Mccloud and Scott Pollard.


What's goin on? if Sacramento can be 8-3, and Denver now have the same record as us, why can't we be playing better with our team being much more talented now?

 

How much longer does Rice have on his contract???

 

The only good thing Rudy did was play and expose the rookies.

Last week I gave my recommendation that the Rice/Williams combo should only play collectively 35 mins until they both can prove they are ready. Thomas must play more SF and bring Griffin and make him go in the low post. There were so many dropped passes and poor finishes that the rookies cannot possibly do so bad. The Rocks are like GSW and LAC so they must not act like they are contending for a championship. Do like GSW and the other teams and play the rookies. Murphy, Richardson are playing big time. So should our young guns. Torres looked great last night. He was active and quick which will create more opportunities instead of those old out of shape men.

Francis and Mobley needs to do like Iverson and dominate play by scoring and let everything flow from there.

Also, the amount of outside shooting is giving me a flu.

 

Let's not give up on Rice,....Cato on the other hand...well, he, himself has given up...sad or pathetic.

 

okay, i don't miss shann anersn.

HERE IS THE SOLUTION TO ALL OUR PROBLEMS:

shoot the damn rock more, stevie.

 

Iverson shoots a crappy FG%, but it makes the game so much easier for his teammates with the attention he gets. If a team knew that Steve would be taking 20-25 shots, then they'd put more pressure on him freeing up other players. That's why the Sixers are 5-0 with Iverson.


Steve HAS to become the dominating type for this guard-oriented team to succeed. Either that, or cross your fingers for Eddie Griffin.

 

This season and 2 more high dollar years.