Assume that Walt Williams is dealt. On a typical night, close game, no foul trouble, no matchup advantage, both have played up to their potential in preseason and practice, and the Rockets go 10 deep. Who plays, Langhi or Morris, and why?
I think Morris would get the PT. I'm going on a gut feeling as watching Langhi play last year was at times painful.
Hope fully Morris. Although, if the Rox have already won the game, you'd prob'ly have both on the floor: Moochie "Superfly" Norris; Damn! Lanky; T-Mo; K-T?; whomever. I'm still hoping we have another deal somewhere that pares down this roster a bit. Even if we deal Walt for Jahidi White (and that's no definite), we're a little heavy in the small forward department. I'd include Damn! Lanky in a trade. That would be harsh on the boy: he just bought a house here. But Kukoc did the same in Philly before he got shipped.
Few rookies can walk in and start in the NBA. Lanky has had a year of learning under his belt, how ever, without the Wiz I bet you would see Shandon start at the 3. We won't know squat though until September when the Wiz/White deal will play out.
i'm going with langhi. sure watching him play last year WAS at times painful. but i think he's made some real improvement since then. watching him in the one summer league game that i saw, he looks alot stronger and more confident (course it was summer league). that said, watching tmo play in that same game was quite a disappointing experience. turnovers, fouls, etc. there was a series of possessions in that game that tmo just couldn't do anything right (i'm talking about the game we played against utah that was on espn). i honestly hope we don't have to rely on either one of these guys. but if we have to, i'd go with langhi, simply because he outplayed tmo in the one s.l. game i saw, and his overall stats were much better than tmo throughout the summer league games. tmo should be a better player than langhi by this time next year, though. confidence seems to be a problem with both of these guys. lets hope tmo gets over that quicker than langhi.
If Tmo plays up to his potential, there is no way he wouldn't get the nod. Though he does have a limitation or two (does not have the coordination for great ballhandling, is not ridiculously explosive), at a peak level of performance he can defend and rebound better than langhi and probably shoot just as well. He is faster, stronger, has better body control and shot-blocking ability, and is better at finding open players and getting into the flow of the game. I still think that tmo can reasonably end up being as good as Robert Horry or better. I can still see him being a one or two time all-star, and consistently as one of the top five or six complementary players in the league.
Hopefully this will be Bullard's last year as a Rocket. After that, Langhi will take over the role of 3 pt specialist. Rudy loves Langhi, and will not trade him. Morris didn't exactly stand out in the summer leagues. He's got to prove himself in practice and the preseason, or else he'll find himself on the IR to start the season along with Collier. Goodbye Walt Williams.
Langhi will get the nod, because he hustles 100% (morris has to prove that he can play like his sophmore year - not junior or senior), Langhi works hard all year in practice and I think that Rudy feels he deserves the playing time.
If terence guards langhi in practice, langhi will have serious trouble getting a shot off. good point, though, barbourdg. If tmo plays as good as he did when he was 19, there's no reason he couldn't start games. Though I maintain his junior year was his best, in the last two years of college he did seem at times to be playing not to get injured.
If I recall correctly, Langhi played well in the RMR last summer and then fizzled out during the regular season. My bet is Morris rebuilds the chemistry with Francis and has a good first year. He is a better athlete than Langhi and can block and shoot.
This is a good question. To my way of thinking, it is all dependent on when in the season this occurs. At the beginning, I think Langhi will definitely be ahead of Morris in the depth chart, but towards the end of the season, Morris will skip over him with better play. But to start out the season, Rudy would never bench a player like Langhi who was benched all last season and promised to get more PT this year.
I would go for Morris, cuz he is a really good defender, pretty good rebounder and an excellent shot blocker, college stats=2.2bpg. I guess I'm thinking of it in a defensive view, cuz our team needs it bad.
Morris has to show he can defend players and that alone will put him above the other SF's like Bullard and Langhi... Plus he does have 3pt range like Bull and Langhi... He still has to show he can defend better....
Langhi "fizzled out in the regular season"?...here we go again...look, the kid barely played and never got a chance to get in a rhythm. Langhi is definitely ahead of Morris in the rotation and he will produce. No, he's not an All-Star but just watch, the kid has serious skills. Rudy knows it and you will too.
Tlburon, While it's true that kirilenko beat tmo off the dribble several times in the rmr, the whole atmosphere was not exactly an intense one. Equally important is that one thing that improved in all four years of tmo's college career was in fact his defense.
Shandon Anderson. Langhi shot 32% in the RMR, but he was 100% on his only 3 pointer so I can see the Matt Bullard comparisons. Morris couldn't beat out Omar Freaking Sneed for P/T in the review, so don't get your hopes up for him either. j
But the question isn't who do want to play small forward. The question is who is the 10th man in the rotation: Langhi or Morris.
