seriously, what rudy's doing, IMO, is absolute atrocious. while i have a complaint list a mile long regarding rudy and his sub patterns, etc., i'm just going to concentrate on his treatment of eddie griffin on this post. 1) rudy was quoted at the beginning of the season as saying that eddie is a definite 4. eddie was quoted at the beginning of the season as saying he definitely saw himself as more of a 4. what position does rudy have him playing? 2. that's right. not the 3, not the 4, the 2. power forwards spend the majority of their time in the paint. small forwards mix up their time in the paint and behind the arc. 2 guards stay behind the arc (unless they can dribble/drive, which eddie we don't know if eddie can do). why in the hell is rudy forcing a natural 4, possibly future 5 to only shoot 3s? before someone says something stupid like "well, rudy can't shoot for the guy" or "eddie needs to stop shooting so many threes", let me point this out: the only play being run for eddie is the high screen and FADE for the open 3. 2) there is a myth going around some parts that the reason eddie is playing so much outside is because he doesn't have the strength yet to play with the big boys inside. BULLSHI.T! eddie griffin's ace move is a turnaround jumper...not a bangem up drop step or crushing, across the middle shaq-esque jump hook. he can consistently hit that damn turnaround j from out to 17 feet. seen it done. but what does rudy have him doing? parked at the f.ucking three point line! 3) eddie griffin is probably the best pure rebounding post player on the rockets. eddie gets good rebounding numbers - consistently - in limited minutes. all of the defensive end. why? because on offense his ass is parked at the 3 point line. if he were anywhere near the damn paint on offense, we might accumulate an extra 3 or 4 offensive boards per game. that translates into a possible 8 to 12 points per game. how many games might we have won with those extra attempts? 4) eddie griffin deserved to be on the floor with kt. i'm loving some kt right now. he is playing his damn heart out. but (in rudy's never ending brilliance) he almost NEVER catches the ball near the basket. it's almost ALWAYS 18+ FEET OUT! does that sound like a power forward or a small forward? just logically speaking? is that a 4 or a 3? that's a three. so why not run kt at the three and eddie at the four?!! it doesn't have to be starting! how about for stretches? we're losing anyway, right??? especially now that steve and cat are out, why not try this for stretches: PG: mooch ("the little fuc.king dribbler ) SG: torres SF: kenny thomas PF: eddie griffin C: kevin willis no isolations for mooch. no steady diet of pick-and-fades with eddie. let eddie and "alligator arms" willis patrol the middle, eating glass and whooping ass! let kenny take advantage of his size advantage versus threes. let eddie post some, damnit! 5. MYTH: RUDY'S BRINGING EDDIE ALONG SLOWLY no. rudy is wasting eddie's time running only ONE play for him. can anyone here tell me that they believe eddie griffin is capable of succeeding in exactly ONE play? he couldn't succeed varying his game? rudy is breeding walt williams, jr. he tried to get another walt williams when he got glen rice. now he's trying to make eddie griffin into walt williams, jr. remember crispee saying how all griff practices are 3 pointers? that's coaching, fellas. that's the coaches either a) telling him what to work on (and at 19, they ought to be telling him what to work on, or they aren't doing their fuc.king jobs); or b) not being able to get through to him to work on his post game. well i don't believe that, considering he posted the majority of time in his collegiate career, posted the majority of time in the preseason, and sees himself as a natural 4, not 3. so i'm left to believe that this is what the coaching staff wants from him. they want him to keep working on his 3 point shot - not to work on the post moves a 4 uses. not to work on his pet shot - the turnaround j. not to work on a drop step. work on the 3. see the 3. be the 3. shoot the 3. be walt williams, part 3. **** rudy...YOU SUCK.
Some strong words there, but I agree. I definitely think Eddie should have a 3-pt shot, but it should come after he's learned the basics of being a PF. He may not be strong enough, but KT is no tall enough and that's not going too bad. KT and Griffin doesn't sound good to me though because then who would take the 3-pt shots? I don't want anyone in a frontline of KT, Eddie, and Willis taking the 3.
Rudy shows no confidence in his rookies and they are playing scared. HE IS DOING THE WORST COACHING JOB OF HIS CAREAR.
I really really really hate that pick and fade play...especially whenever EG actually posts up (once every few games), he more often than not, scores in the post. Jesus Rudy! Rice and "The Example"* both have had success in the post, so try to post them up more! Duh! *Naming rights belong to Achebe
i assume that was facetious. the 3 point shot is the death of "good" basketball, i swear! torres can shoot the 3. kt, mooch, and eddie can all shoot the midrange j. "alligator arms" can shoot the jump hook out to 10 feet. sounds to me like the floor is covered. walt williams and walt williams, jr. are still on the bench, ready to fire them up. oh yea, so is langhi, brown, morris, etc. all waiting to jack the 3. BGM: the one time EG posted versus san antonio, do you remember what happened? he got a foul on duncan. next time down? pick and fade. brilliant coaching. absolutely brilliant.
I agree with most of what you said. But I was thinking maybe of having KT stay at the 4 and then EG can play more of a 3 role. 'Cause you also hafta consider next year when Mo Taylor comes back. Mo's gonna want that 4 spot, so if Griffin starts it'll most likely be the 3 (I don't see it at the 5). At the 3 EG can shoot from 17 ft, post up and even jack up a 3 on occasion.
OK, now I'm going to cry. Finally, someone I can agree with. The 3pt shot is the worst shot on the floor, and should never be a staple of an NBA offense. Yeah, yeah, the Rocks won 2 World Championships as a 3pt shooting team, but that shot wasn't why the Rocks won back-to-back, this 6'10" UH grad had something to do with them. As far as Eddie goes, I still can't understand why he's on the perimeter at all being that he's a baseline player and obviously seems more effective in the paint. Why ask a player to do things he's not comfortable doing? Or better yet, how about putting a player in a position where he feels most comfortable and can establish confidence? After he's established his strengths, then work on his weaknesses. Why do I feel like I'm pointing out the obvious?!
I give you credit for a very thought out post. You definitely took the time to prove your case. But the problem with your point is that you are biased. You don’t like Rudy. You don’t like his coaching and it almost sounds like you don’t like him as a person. And so what happens is you let that influence everything you write. Every point you try to make is filled with some facts and some biased fiction. So I have to throw it all out as another rant against Rudy. Eddie Griffin is a talent but he is a 19 year old talent. I watched every Rocket game and in my opinion Eddie does not have an NBA post up game yet. Sure he made a couple of turn around jumpers in previous games and even got a shot off over Duncan and got fouled but he has shown an in ability to do that consistently. I believe he will become a legitimate post up threat at some point perhaps even before the season ends but he is not ready to do it on a consistent basis yet. You can argue this point but I am just going by what I see. At times he looks lost out there. Maybe it’s because he is overwhelmed learning the defenses and the NBA game but he still hasn’t got it all figured out. Yes at times he looks brilliant. That small stretch against the Spurs where he blocked 3 shots and shot over Duncan had me jumping off the couch. But he did not duplicate that performance in the second half and Duncan was starting to have his way with him. I, like many others would like to see him get more minutes he is definitely a raw talent that has star written all over him, but I trust Rudy’s judgement in bringing him around. Obviously you don’t agree with me but Rudy has proved it time and time again he knows how to get the most out of his players. He has picked up no name players and made them into the Elie’s and Cassell’s and Mobley’s. If you don’t remember the Rockets were ready to get rid of Olajuwon and Rudy became coach and said absolutely not and Olajuwon became a star. I give Rudy the credit for taking Olajuwon from all star to MVP. And honestly I think Rudy has pulled Griffin when he needed to be pulled. Saturday against the Spurs he was out of sync and Duncan was treating him like the boy that he is. Why put him through that just yet. He will have plenty of time to repay Duncan in the years to come. My only disagreement with Rudy is I would sometimes like to bring him in earlier especially with Rice playing as poorly as he is. But I think Rudy still hopes that Rice will come out of his funk. I starting to doubt that and I am sure Rudy will eventually remove him from the starting rotation if Rice continues to slump. Other than that I think Rudy is handling Griffin just about right. And as for your thread I have know problem with your opinion. But a more honest title would be, “I think Rudy sucks and other thoughts”.
Verse, I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!! A couple of weeks ago I started a thread "Please explain it to me like I'm a four year old" asking the same f****** questions. This is a guy THEY GAVE UP THREE FIRST ROUND DRAFT CHOICES to acquire. I just don't get it. His natural skills are so apparent and they are exactly what we need: rebounding, interior defense shotblocking (where we are about last in the league), and some points in the paint. I have seen no effort to develop his interior game, and his body language does not exude any confidence instilled by the coaching staff. It's not like we have all-stars standing in his way!! And I also agree that he and KT should both start. It doesn't matter whether they are called 3's, 4's or 27's, PUT YOUR BEST PLAYERS OUT THERE. Give EG siginificant playing time and instill confidence in the guy. All we have now is a perimeter game, when we're "on," and that will not take us very far. I know he's young....but I just don't get it
I was going to start a thread similar to this, but never did. Griffin's lie from the last game was sad. 1-4 fg, 1-4 3pt, 7 boards, 3 blocks. Griffin's game right now is internal dialectic. All it is doing is hurting him. Griffin is bigger and stronger than Garnett was when he was a rookie. He scored 10 ppg doing mostly inside work that year. Hell, Nowitzki logs minutes at center and no one can say that he is huge. In other words, size in regards to bulk is bunk and a lame excuse. Even if Griffin is not "ready" for the post, how else will he learn. Practice can only do so much, he needs game-time experience. I think Griffin should log a lot of minutes with Cato, so there is not other post-taking big man. Then run plays for Griffin, see what he can do, build his confidence, groom him for the 4, etc. This can't be pleasant for Eddie.
How can one not agree w/ my man Verse? I'll be @ MSG 2nite and will try to get there for the 6pm shootaround to yell out all these points to Coach Rudy. Hope he isn't too inebriated to understand.
The biggest problem with the Rockets right now that can be fixed is that we run no transition. What is the compulsion with arguing rotation with coaches and telling them to change their offense as if you know for certain that Eddie is Reddie for some Heddie low-post play requiring him to find a pass, if covered. "How else is he going to learn" is nothing but a logical argument. It is a bad one at that; the 'ol sink or swim argument, toss him into the deep end. It is weak, because it is no better than the opposite argument to "groom" him. Keep it simple and let him do what he is comfortable with and stay away from doing things that require the team to adjust for him and come out of their own comfort zone. These arguments are opposite, yet the same. Both arguments simply are not that important, right now. They provide no winning answers longterm or shortterm versus the larger problem of running smoother team offense starting with the PG. I love Eddie, but let's be real. When is the last time you've seen him pass!!! Maybe he is having trouble with it. If he is such a low post stud, isn't he going to have to pass out of it once the defense adjusts. He had a rep at Seton Hall for shooting too many long shots. What is the difference we are seeing, really? Oh...and no one is preventing him from driving like Kenny and Mo. Oh...and here is what Eddie says himself: A "jump shooter"! Surely that must make you want to *puke* verse. The easiest arguments fans can make is to name all the things that the team isn't doing and just say, "logically, what the hell is rudy doing...why not THIS, dammit," aAs if you know for sure that Rudy isn't trying that in practice. To me, it is transition, because Rudy has stressed that again and again and clearly we have the talent for it. Talking about what we should do with the 19 year old is pure speculation by comparison, imo. But boy does it bring out the "logical" arguments in everyone!!!%#*$@!!??!?!?!&%$#L>@~~~~!!
I think Rudy is trying to turn Eddie into a SF. So when we have the product, he'll be a SF that rebounds well, blocks shots, and plays D. All the qualities Mo Taylor lacks. In Rudy's current system, it seems like the SF MUST have a 3-pt shot, maybe that's why Eddie is taking so many?
crispified critter: transition is a problem that has existed for the past two seasons. like i said, i have a laundry list of complaints. i'm just focusing on this one right now. make no mistake, though, i'll be hanging those up to dry in the near future. as for eddie and passing... um, crispee. how much passing is necessary when you receive the ball 25 feet from the basket with no one around??? if you're referring to the pre-season, i'd agree that eddie is a hog. and...i...love...it.... what i don't love is a jump shooting hog, and that's what rudy is developing him into. i don't give a rice owl hoot about him saying he's a smooth player...a jump shooter. i take that as a comment on his ABILITY to shoot the jumper...not that he wants to be a damn 2 guard. as for his rep at seton hall, you're right. he shot too many long jumpers...20ppg worth of them, i guess. the complaint, if you did follow griff in college, was that for abuse he dealt out inside the arc, he spent too much time outside the arc. this is different from shooting 38% of your shots from 3 point range. of griff's 73 shots taken this year, 28 have been 3 pointers. that's 38%. of griff's 480 shots taken @ shu, 128 were 3 pointers. that's 26%. that's a marked increase in shot selection. somehow, i don't think that's solely eddie's choice. crispee, you, i and everyone on here knows that he doesn't have the handled - as of yet - of kt or motay. so why would you expect him to do as they do? a better strategy, until he improves his handles, would be to put him in varying situations where he can flourish. i find it hard to believe the 3 point line is the only flourishing point for eddie. speculation by comparision. hmm. hello, pot. my name is kettle. damn you sho is black... no one's arguing whether or not transition is a gaping hole in the rox game. it obviously is. but the future of this team rests heavily on the development of eddie griffin. transition can be corrected. incorrectly developing a player cannot be corrected. see: marcus fizer ps. i hope you're including yourself in that "everyone", also. very little of what you posted was logical insofar as the topic of this thread, rather coming across as a blatant attempt to detour the thread towards a crispified convoluted crosswalk of crappy transition calls....
Although EG does look like a SF.....when I see him on D in the lane and the few rare times I've seen him in the post w/ the ball he looks more like an inch and 20lbs from being a 5. RT should be preparing him for that path me thinks.
Sane: that is a possibility. however, i would seriously disagree with that strategem. i'd MUCH rather have a dominant 4 than a dominant 3. just by positional definition, that 4 will be much more effective at damaging the other team. foul trouble, inside play, higher % shot, etc. pippendagimp: bring a megaphone, please. Old Man Rock: a well thought out rant is a contradiction in terms, so you can squash that silly anecdote you were compelled to include. the fact of the matter is that it is impossible for you to say that griff "does not have an NBA post up game yet" when you haven't seen him do it consistently. or is that just your bias and blind faith in rudy???? thank you for playing...please try again... Live: obvious to everyone but RT.
What is the compulsion with arguing transition with coaches and telling them to change their offense as if you know for certain that Mooch and company are roochie for hoochie fast-break play requiring them to run while dribbling and pass, if covered.[sic] Fun with math: a. If the BBS knows more than Rudy, and heypee knows more than the BBS, does that make heypee an admin? b. If heypee were to design 5 transition plays using toys from his Strawberry Shortcake collection and Rudy ignored 5, how many lonely nights would heypee experience concurrently? You have 5 minutes, pass your papers to the front when you are finished.
crispee, how many sinking ships of Rudy's bs theorems are you going to go down with? Hey, hey, hey, I have an idea: the Rice trade was a great pickup!!! Ooooo Oooo Ooo, I'll be the devil's advocate... you don't see Rudy coaching Moochie to break the tongues on the hardwood floors, you see Moochie failing to execute. Oooo Ooo Oooo when Moochie hits 3 shots in a row, we should forget about the past qtr of ineffective offensive play. Ooooo Oooo Oooo, the PNR isn't an ISO, it's a DUO.... a 200X increase in player inclusiveness!!! And last, but certainly not lease, oooo oooo ooo, a 'novel' concept... groom all of the big men to start plays on the wing... there are no negative repercussions at all, e.g. Francis going down for 6 weeks or so......
