I definitely think Steve needs to be traded...I never woulda thought that Mobley would be more of a team player than Steve...I think Steve, Moochie and/olr someone like Padgett or Amaechi could be packaged for a decent PG and some bench help...I dont see Steve working out in Houston...
When I went back and checked out JVG's style, namely defense, I was excited that we could have such a young team playing high octane defense. I was very optimistic but I never thought the offense would stagnate like this. This just boggles the mind. How can you have such proven scorers like Mobley and Francis, an experienced vet like JJ and a shooter like Pike along with the presence of Yao to keep the defense honest from the inside and still score so little? This is sickening to watch. Heck its even sickening to just check the box score.
The Kings have a lot of capable, but most importantly, WILLING passers of the ball. Most of the time, they have 5 guys on the court who can all pass the rock from all positions of the court. The Rockets only above avg passer at his respective position is Yao. The Rockets would never be able to run an offense similar to the Kings. The current offense we have is best suited for the team. The problem is that Yao is not aggressive enough, and does not attack the rim as quickly as he should/could. Until he makes himself a force inside, will he be able to be a force for 48 mins on offense. I'm not saying our offense would score 110 a game, but it would be efficient if it is similar to what we ran with Dream. You don't need elaborate plays if you have a dominant man inside who can pass the ball well, as well as having good spot-up shooters and guys who can move away from the ball. I'd like to see Francis move without the ball for once. A screen away from the ball would be nice too.
WRONG. With NBA going to zone change today...YOU NEED elaborate plays and creative plays like the Kings did to be effective. Those half-court old ancient style ain't working no more, that's why you hardly see the Rox score over 100.
I think our execution is bad. We can't run a PicknRoll properly, I have little hope for us to run more complicated play. We depend on simple, throw it into the post play. Trouble is we are bad at it. 1) We throw it into Yao even if he 15, 16 ft from the basket and he starts to back his way into it and ends up with these awful shots or gets its stolen or blocked. 2) Other times, he got good low post position and we miss him completely. 3) We lose many balls because of bad passing angle. 4) I am still waiting for that lob pass. We do not know how to throw it in and Yao does not know to free himself from the lock of his opponent to go get it. Our post play clicks only if the opponent plays behind Yao and he gets the ball 10ft out and makes a quick move. a) I don't think the guards should give Yao the ball unless he has this advantage. b) I don't want the guard give up on Yao too early either, they need to dribble and adjust the passing angle and give Yao a few seconds to get good position. c) If he still doesn't, try something else. Even throw him the ball if he is 18 ft out as a decoy but prepare to cut hard off him or position to receive a pass. Many times, we throw Yao the ball in bad position and then watch him fail. It is just not good basketball.
JVG needs to quit trying to make what he's got what he wants. He needs to make what he's got work so he gets them to where thay need to be. Square pegs do not fit in round holes. I watched as much as I could stand last night. It is a crime what he and Patrick are doing to Yao. For cyring out loud, get a point guard move Stevie to 2 make Yao your 4, and Cato your 5 on the offensive end switch them back 4&5 on the defensive end. Quit screwin around JVG, you can't make the entire west play like the east. You've only made the Rox play like the east. If not, Rudy's rested and available I hear. You think Stevie would listen to him now? Later HLV t2k
I really do think Van Gundy is frustrated and is ready to make changes to the roster. I don’t think he will be as patient with this squad as Rudy was. This is just the wrong mix of players. All season long he’s been saying effort is not the problem and that the players are playing hard every game, they just don’t make smart decisions. That to me says he believes the players are all playing up to their potential (playing hard), they just don’t have what it takes (no smarts). Players not playing hard is fixable. The coach just has to be a hard ass that pushes them to play hard every game. This is something Van Gundy seems to be very competent at. Getting players to play smart is a whole lot more difficult. If a player is not a smart basketball player, he’s not a smart basketball player. It’s not something that can be forced upon them. And Van Gundy sure as hell is not a smart enough offensive coach to be able to turn a group of dumb players into a group of smart ones.
The problem is not Yao not aggressive enough. I watched the games, the problem is that this team doesn't know how to play as a team. How hard can it be to make some good passes once in a while, huh? I thought all NBA players are supposed to be able to pass (one of the most fundamental skill) when they come in? Watching the Rox play in San Antonio is like watching a bunch of guys that play on the same team but don't even know each other
as much as i hated the game last nite, the loses have been team losses. the whole team stunk, not just steve and not just yao, but the whole damn team, so STOP whining about steve. at least you cannot fault him for working his ass of, which he did both notes. and you people need to chill. do you realize that this team is playing a completely different style of basketball than they EVER have played? that this is the first few months of a long season? and that just about all of the elite teams had horrible seasons once they got all the personelle and coaches together? the lakers, kings, mavericks etc. they all sucked untill their offensive systems had been drilled so many times that they became like second nature to them. it takes alot of repitition and some time to get it all down. right now its like watching someone try to dance while they are obviously counting the beats and thinking, "one, two, three, one, two...." they are trying too hard because they are still learning. just chill, do as clutch h as suggested and after the game, step away from the keyboard till you relax, get laid, get a life, but its not all gloom and doom for these young rockets! you gotta give it some time.
The Rockets base plays aren't a whole lot different than the Spurs base plays. The difference is excecution, decison making (fast break and half court passing timing) and having the confidence and ability to hit an open shot. No disrespect to Yao (I love the guy even though his Spurs' efforts greatly lacked focus), but swap Duncan and Yao for the past two games and see which team wins..regardless of offensive plays. When a defensive juggernaut like Rasho Nesterovic can single cover Yao, then the execution becomes even more critical because the only passes back out of the post are near the 3 pt line...not a great place to keep initiating your offense. Execution and drawing doubles is why a PF (Duncan) had more assists than a PG (Francis). BTW...to anyone making the comment...please stop requesting the Rockets run a Kings' style motion offense. They do not have the overall passing abiliites to make it function. IOW, there is not a bad passes in the Kings' entire rotation.
Rockets need to get a bunch of scouts to Spain. Go to where Raul Lopez played and find his successor. Look at the college game. Teams that can't pass well don't win anything. Rockets have a trainwreck offense. I think a good Duke team could win against the Rockets.
Thank you. I just finished saying something similar to this in another thread. If Steve cannot carry out a simple offensive game plan such as that of JVG, then why would he be able to carry out a more complex offensive strategy? i.e. the Kings
610 had seven words from JVG which explains a LOT: "I don't believe in the fast break." There was some explanation, but he stuck to that point.
Spurs have better players than the Rockets, period. The team lost because of the bench. Mochie, Taylor, Nachbar doesn't strike fear into quality opponents. Turk man won the game for Spurs last night. Stevie shot his team into garbage can, and Yao simply sucked. The soldiers sucked, the general's game plan failed. It's time to move on.
That is inconsitent with other comments I have heard from JVG. IIRC, he stated before the current season that it is the players that determine tempo and during the season he has often been heard on the sidelines yelling for the team to "push it". Was this a direct quote, a quote taken out of context, the host of the show paraphrasing or satirising?
