Before Yao it was Cato manning the C, how many fast breaks do you recall Cato had? He couldn't even finish on the break.
We aren't talking about the team. We are talking about Francis. And he sucks at it. If he could fix that one aspect of his game he'd average 3 more ppg and 1 more apg.
Short ****ing memory. People b****ed about the fast break when we were scoring 97 a game. Whether the Rockets could score is not REMOTELY probative as to whether Francis can run a fast break.
That's not the point, the offense wasn't run through Cato at all. They never had to wait on Cato because he was a non-factor.
I haven't really read this thread, but I can tell from the title, that it entails this man: administering his patented reverse neckbreaker to every man, woman & child in the city of Orlando, which sounds fascinating to me, and I wholeheartedly support.
IMO it's pretty rude to call every man, woman and child in the city of Orlando a Magic fan, but since you wholeheartedly support the being rude idea, consistency check passed.
Somebody needs to read up on the ravishing one and the rude awakening. http://community-2.webtv.net/TLCDE/RAVISHINGRICKRUDEA/media/captureD80.jpg This fate awaits all Orlandonians, your days are numbered!
Uhh...McGrady shot 41.7% and is a career 45% shooter (although he has averaged lower than 45% in only two seasons out of seven). Cat shot 42.6% and is a career 43% shooter. And, of course, McGrady has shot a lot more than Cat. Cat is a better 3 point shooter, though...just stick to that in the future.
I am sure that Steve and Cat will score more points with the Magic because Yao is not on that team and they will get more shots. I still don't think they will be uptempo. Are you saying that the Rockets were an uptempo team when Rudy T was the coach? If so, I would have to strongly disagree. The Rockets haven't had a fast break since Drexler retired.
I'm pissed as hell that this thread has derailed itself from Rick Rude, but anyway, I remember, maybe wrongly so, the Rockets playing a fairly up-tempo approach in 2000 and 2001 when Barkley and Hakeem were out and Cuttino, Steve, SHandon, Walt, & Cato were starting.
You're not remembering incorrectly. No one here is arguing that they were the Kings, or even Steve being a brilliant fast break leader. I'm just arguing that the team ran that year when they had their opportunities.
It depends on your definition of uptempo. Tell me who's team has a slower pace between Rudy's and JVG's? Running uptemo game usually starts with the rebounding, or forced TOs. If your big man cannot get the rb, or cannot get the ball out fast enough, then you cannot fast break. I'm not saying SF was great at running fast break, but it's just ridiculos that all our problem was squarely with SF, and all of a sudden we are a title contender now. Will Magic be an uptempo team next year, maybe. But the Rockets were certainly a much slower team with JVG than with Rudy, not that there is any problem with that. It's just not a fact to blame our slow paced game to SF instead of JVG.
I didn't watch the final that year, so maybe the Knicks ran wild during the final? But I was still in Chicago then, and very familar with the Knicks style during those days. I don't recall any Knicks teams were capable of running a consistent effiecint fast break. They had physical PGs such as Mark Jackson, Childs, Wards, etc, and a wild, inconsistent Starks. You just couldn't run a good fast break consistently with those guys as your PG. Riley's Knicks were called "Thugs" for a reason, but I know it's not because of their fast break.
Gimme a break, SF walked/sauntered/high stepped across midcourt even with JVG desperately making hand signals to push the ball like a frustrated NY cop during rush hour. It was a ritual that was repeated for 82 games. He did the same with RT coaching, but RT just sat there running his hands thru his hair and rolling his eyes. That could drive a man to...........oh, never mind. You push the ball by passing, not dribbling, and constantly looking to run, or at least attack a broken defense. SF didn't do this simply because he wasn't any good at it, but mainly because it stripped him of precious yo yo time. The Magic ARE in for a rude awakening. D R
They shot quickly. The fast break was beyond putrid. In fact, at that time, before this board had really turned on Steve, that was the #1 complaint. I can't remember *any* generally respected posters even moderately approving of the Rockets break at the time.
I'm not denying that SF was not a good traditional PG, I've said that all along since Yao was drafted. So you need to pass, not dribbling to move the ball forward, then who was the open man to pass to? We know Yao & Cato usually stayed in the paint, Cat has been labeld as a ball hog, so JJ is the only "good solider" who was open to recieve the ball, and SF always refused to pass the ball to him. Why can't people just realize that the Rockets as a team sucks on fast break. SF was a big part of it, the entire team sucks, and the coach should take the biggest blame for it.
The assertion that the Rockets have had anything resembling a fastbreak at any time during the Francis era is beyond ridiculous. They haven't properly run a fastbreak since Clyde retired.
Yes, and you misrepresented the facts, turning a .9% difference in shooting percentage into one of 3%. I was correcting and then adding further context.
