Losing hurts... ESPECIALLY when this could easily be turned around.

That's what makes this so hard to take,Rudy better open it up soon....he needs to get with the program yesterday.....I'm actually wondering if Rudy might get the kick up into the front office at the end of the season.

 

Is Rudy blind? Bryce Drew is the worst defender in the NBA, and he is guarding Jason Williams with less than a minute to play..(?)

This is sickening.

 

As much as I hate to say it, I agree with this. Drew makes a couple of shots so Rudy thinks that justifies him playing in the 4th? Bad decision. I still am and will always be a Rudy fan but this has to stop.

Common sense tells you to have Shandon and Steve in there at the end. And I think keeping Bullard in the game last night after his three was a mistake - we needed a defensive player in the game for the last minute then also. Substitution has to get better. Forgive me, Rudy.

 

Bryce Drew is total defensive liability, once Webber was posting up and Drew was standing between his man and Webber, doing nothing like an idiot, and he finally decided to run to Webber when Webber is passing, leaving his man open, the guy who got the ball swithed it to a teammate at the baseline and he drained a three. If you want to double team just do it, don't stand there doing nothing in the middle!

 

I think yall are totally overestimating Francis' defensive prowess. Jason Williams drove on Francis at will. And in the transition, Francis waited for too long to pick up the ball.

Francis is a rookie and he has the natural ability to be a good defensive point, but for now he should at least look upset when he gets blown by on D.

 

No Worries is right. Williams, as well as every other point guard we've gone up against this year, has scored on Francis at will. The difference between Drew and Francis defensively right now is just not that much.

 

That's right it was Francis who was the victim of 5 3's by Williams not Drew. It is Francis who guards him most of the game, and boy I hate to always sound like a defender of Drew when, I too want Harper or better. So here it comes, and I know I am going to take a lot of flak for this, but if you watch that shot by Williams you will notice that Drew is playing very, very tight D, so close he almost touches the ball upon its release. Good hand up, but Williams hit an absolutely terrific shot. Call me crazy but what we saw was a terrific shot.

By the way, if you think pulling Drew out of the fourth quarter means that we will win and is the only fix needed that is just about the craziest statement all year. Blaming L's solely on Drew takes less effort when there is always a lynch mob out to get him. There are more problems here than most care to address and while Drew is one, he's by far not the only.

Drew bashing is fun and on occasions I will join you, but only when it is truly deserved. When everybody here is capable of criziseing and condemning Francis with with the same fairness that Drew is then let's talk.

I love Francis but please put both blame and credit where it belongs. Francis left Williams open enough that first game for Williams to hit 5 3's and left Jackson open to bury the dagger in heart against Indiana. Jackson he has a history of no conscience shots like that. If Drew not Francis had had eight turnovers last game, people would have called for his head.

 

Defenders or Drew get real!! When was the last time Drew got a steal or even close to one for that matter? The only reason (and I stress only) that Francis is getting burned by opposing points is due to the way Rudy defends the pick and roll. And as far as Williams driving by him in the game, if you were watching the WB broadcast of the game Calvin and Bill could clearing see something was wrong with Francis, could have been the calf acting up or just fatigue. I mean give the guy a break, you can be the bright spot in an offense (as Francis was most of last night)for so long before it catches up with you.
In any regard the thought that Drew is a better crunch time defender than Francis is simply ridiculous.

 

Sometimes this is just too easy

No one said that Drew was better than Francis. What we did say was that Drew and Francis both play crappy D. Making a Francis for Drew substitution to improve the D is also simply ridiculous.

BTW, Francis as a Rocket has never played above average D. His hear has not been in it.

 

It is clear that this team needs a wake up call on defense. Rudy seems unwilling (or unable) to shake things up. Not personnel wise, but playing style. What's the worst that could happen if we just go crazy and play, for example, a full court press defense? We lose; so what we're losing now! Come Rudy, shake things up, get mad.

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The truth is out there... but not in the post.

 

Apparently not easy enough Worriless...

If you would carefully read my post nowhere did I say that Francis was a better player than Drew (though the answer to that is obvious). I simply sought to give reasons why Francis' defense to this point has been lackluster and also rebuff those defending thought that Drew should be in the game at crunch time. Hmmmm... though reading your post again it would seem that you agree with me on both accounts, would it not?

[This message has been edited by O-dawg (edited November 22, 1999).]

 

Boys and girls, gentlemen and ladies:

The reason that he subs in Drew at times when a defensive stop or a particular ingredient seems to be missing, is very simple. Brice Drew is a very coachable second year(okay,almost second year)player.He will attempt to do exactly what Rudy wants him to do.His execution may be faulted but his attempt will always be noted.

For all the talent he has, Stevie has not quite been able to handle assignments very well yet. He is a free spirit scorer who still thinks green light means he has options on defense. This is called being a rookie phenomena.

For all the posting and debate over Mobley here, the one thing that is never mentioned is that Rudy still does not feel Cuttino listens to him as much as he should. He is another instinctive player who relies on talent heavily, if not solely.

At one time, they used to call me a comer. "Played by the seat of his pants". All talent. Raw skill. Magic. Automatic. But guess what? I had difficulty playing within the team. Playing to their skills as well as my own. By the time I was coachable, I was past the point where I was considered.

If talent was the only, or the most important measure of what it took to play at the NBA level ... than I know a lot (and I mean a lot) of ballers in urban community centers, derelict playgrounds, YMCA's and money courts all over this continent, that could be taking Garnett, Payton and Duncan to the mat every trip down the court. Beating them hands down. Everytime.

But their team would never win a game with these "star-studded, individually-talented, instant highlight reels" who could not take direction or play within the team's game.

 

Popeye you must have not been watching ANY of the Rockets games this year, the only reason Francis has scored so far is when he takes it by himself and creates his own shot. Francis right now is just an extension of Broccli's and Dreams arms, all he does is bring the ball up court VERY slowly waits till the rest of the team iso's on the left block for Charles or Dream to post up his or her defender... heh, and then dumps it in to him and then takes three steps to the right (which I dont understand because it is a spacing problem because he bunches up with the other players at the trey line) Francis must be commended for even listening to Rudy right now, Charles's shot selection is worse than even Maxwells back in 89, Broccli is throwing shots up not taking shots. The only reason Steve has been getting any points is because he has made so many threes otherwise he is not being allowed to use his godgiven talent, which is more than 90% of the rest of the NBA. Francis has actually listened to Rudy this year, Cuttino has not, and Drew could listen all he wants cuz he aint going to do a thing even if he is told what will happen before hand by a psychic, from the psychic friends hotline. Am I the only one here that noticed Drew helping up one of the SacraMento's players in the fourth when it was crunchtime and the foul was more of an intimdating foul more than anything, well anyways Cat comes up and yells at Drew like, the Phuq are you doing? then Drew just gives him a goofy ass look like he was elmer fudd or something? Its wrong to blame Drew for losing because Drew is just trying to play out there, it is however Rudy's fault. Drew is not even to the talent level of one Percy Miller who couldn't even play in the CBA. While we are on the subject I feel Cuttino is a garbage player also, however I look at Cuttino like he were Gary Payton compared to Drew. Cuttino would be a backup were ever he goes, but I would like him to be Francis's backup rather than Shandons backup thus solving Rudy's disappearing act of Anderson. Then instead of using cato and Dream at the same time bring in cato for Dream and Tmass for charles, this way we will always have a shotblocking presence in the game with a true powerforward in the game also. Also Rogers should come in three mins into the game for Williams and should play the entire fourth quarter unless we need threes.

anglosaxonphenon... that equates to about 1/3 of francis's steals not 1/2, Francis at 1.75 so 1/3 of that a game is .58 a game however he doesn't avg that he averages .5 a game and that aint .... well hell you know!

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"We need to fockass".....Dream back in the day


[This message has been edited by Scarface (edited November 22, 1999).]

 

Maybe Drew can't rap but Percy Miller (Master P) cannot hoop. The only reason he got those try outs to begin with was for publicity stunts. The guy thought he was going to make the Raptors for real. Something is seriously wrong with him, cause afterwards he began to knock the Raptors. Poor sensitive Percy.

Drew on the other hand is the devil for helping someone up in the fourth quarter, gee I bet no one's ever done that before. Hate shows buddy, take it easy. To say he has no talent is just a silly exaggeration too.

Cat a garbage player. I rest my case.

 

What talent has Drew shown? Cat is garbage he would at the most will be starting for a lotto team before they sign someone better, Cuttino is a usefull player however, kinda like Mario Elie, in the scheme of the NBA players like this can be successful because they are athletic and are smart in the game,(cuttino has no shot selection so he has his short comings there) so don't get me wrong I would like to have Cuttino on the team for the time being, however Bryce Drew has no reason for being on the court, I have seen no talent other than a special talent of looking more and more lost in the game as he gets more and more playing time, I did not read your fullpost on Drew playing good defense at first so I was obviously laughing my @ss off when you said Drew and Francis were almost the same when comparing their defense, it is true that Francis has not even played to 1/100000000 of his defensive potential but that still is one trillion times better defense than drew has played even against a 3 year old. Francis has the ability even if he is playing half-ass defence to alter the shooters direction and body control just with his athleticism, however Drew doesn't have that ability, its not like I hate Drew cuz I don't, I sympathise with him to a point, it would be like me trying to guard Jason Williams, It ain't gonna happen, I get frustrated because Rudy is putting him on the court when he should have never been lucky enough to make the NBA. A streaky shot is not a good enough reason to be in the NBA, if you are a pure shooter, you have 2 bad shooting games at the most in a row, not a whole career, not even Kenny Smith was that bad at pg and I very much disliked him as our pg. My friend if you like the guy thats fine but dont insult my inteligence when you try and say ANYTHING positive about the guy, cuz its obvious you have a stronger grip on his jock than, Marv Alberts had on Pattrick Ewings.

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"We need to fockass".....Dream back in the day

 

I can't believe that some guys are defending the horroble decision of leaving Drew on court guarding Jason in the last seconds.

Take Drew out, put Francis at the point! Let Anderson to guard the 2 and Rogers the 3 to create some height mismatchups!

But for god's sake Francis was guarding the two who must be taller than him when we needed a defensive stop desparately!

 

Caucasion:

Drew has 6 steals thus far, Francis 20, both have played 11 games, Drew 16.4min/game, Francis 34.8min/game.

In other words per minute Drew steals better than half of what Steve steals, not bad at all, come on now O surely you can check NBA.com before you bash. So for every two steals Francis gets, Drew get at least one. I didn't know he had that many steals either, but thank you for pointing that out.

Steals do not relate to great defense. There are many examples. Take a guy like Mario Elie, in his prime. Hardly ever ripped anyone. But he was a solid, body defender. Steals don't have anything to do with straight-up defensive ability, because most steals are not "rips", rather picked-off passes as a result of playing the passing lanes. Many guys like Gary Payton and Scottie Pippen are both good defenders AND rack up a lot of steals. That doesn't mean that steals are a direct product of being a good defender. Just means that those certain individuals are blessed with great all around defensive instincts. Take another guy like John Stockton, for example. The league's all-time leader in steals. Doesn't mean he is a good one-on-one defender, though. Isolate him against Steve Francis, and 9/10 times he will get burnt, badly. Stockton is just a great help defender, and plays the passing lanes well. But the league's top point guards can make him look bad, one-on-one.

Bryce Drew may have shown an ability to play the passing lanes, but his steals-to-minutes ratio has absolutely zero correlation to his defensive ability compared to Steve Francis.

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"Museum officials outside of Houston have reported an ancient artifact identified as "Rudy's Postup Plays - 1994" stolen, as of November 2, 1999...officials urge residents to contact...

 

Caucasion:
Are you and Drew like brothers or something? Or maybe you are Bryce. Clutch, check this guys IP or something. Man, for you to be so hard on Cuttino in some of your previous posts and so praise worthy of Bryce really makes me wonder. Please read my post again, I wasn't being quite that literal when I mentioned Drew/Francis steal ratio. Sure I could check NBA or ESPN .com and quote stats until the cows come home. Again the question in debate here is not whether or not Francis is better than Drew offensively or defensively, I mean even you Bryc... I mean Caucasion' can not deny who is the better player. No, this thread was started in response to why Drew was left in the game at crunchtime. Are you saying by all of your stat quoting that you think the decision to leave Drew in the game was the right call?

 

Rudy's player substitution and use are a shame.He,Chuck,and Dream are set in their ways thinkers.You would think between 3 intelligent Hall of Famers they could figure out what is wrong and subjogate themselves for the better.With these egos it's taking awhile.In the end it is Rudy who should be able to implement the new system no matter what. HH
........and held responsible if it isn't.......................

[This message has been edited by Hardwood Hammer (edited November 22, 1999).]