Based on what I've seen in the playoffs, the answer would have to be a resounding YES! Don't just take my word for it, ask the Lakers. Of course, it always helps to play for a head coach (Pop) who actually has a system...and a clue.
Robbie380 You are either a liar or you don't have an idea of watch you are talking about. Boki is NOT SLOW. Especially offensively which Rudy has raved about more than once. I don't know the Boki you watched but the Boki I saw got to the rim easily against supposed fasted defenders. Well we don't have to bang heads about this now butyour claim that he is slow will be rendered null and void come next season when he finally will get more PT. Please do not contaminate us with your "version" of reality. That said, I still do not question Rudy's judgement as far as Boki is concerned (technically because "he is the coach") - though I do not like it. I believe his approach to Boki probably set back the clock of development for Boki. Eddie got extended playing time in order to improve his game. Heck we traded away KennyT for his sake. Why not Boki? Why not give him more PT in order to allow him grow? It is not like those ahead of his were that outstanding. Boki is a special player and many Houston fans will realize this fact with missed feeling next season. Yao became an impact player because of PT not because of sitting and watching from the bench. This reminds me of Terrel Suggs - some players just don't wow you until they are in a REAL GAME action or scenario. Boki should have gotten more PT - shame on you Rudy.
HP, Rudy deserves no praise for Ming. I believe other coaches would have gotten a lot more out of Ming. For a player with such moves, shooting ability and size, any top 10 coach would have gotten more and by extension, therefore, the team would be in the playoffs.
Feg, did you see Pippen when he played for Rudy? He looked lost and he said so. No difference. It is all Rudy.
Even Clyde had trouble with Rudy's offense! Rudy limited Clyde to an ocassional fast break (that Clyde invented himself) and 2 plays: go 1 on 1 himself (sound familiar?) or throw the ball into Hakeem and watch Hakeem play 1 on 1 and pray that the ball might come out for a set shot.
If you could see this in 72 minutes, why couldn't Rudy? Why the heck did the Rockets draft him so high for? He is not gonna transform into a defensive wiz. He is not going to be faster ... next year or beyond .... IF what you said is true!
[/B][/QUOTE] Bruce Bowen and Stephan Jackson are better players than Mobley and Posey? If so, then we really have a problem.[/B][/QUOTE] They aren't better players, they just look better because they are playing with arguably the best player in the world, Tim Duncan, and they play within their roles. This Spurs team reminds me a lot of the 94 rockets and the title over the Knicks to be honest. But on your point, no two players are exactly alike. And the guy Boki is often compared to, Peja Stojakovic of the Sacramento Kings, was slowly worked into their system his first couple years into the league. He started out with little bench time, then a 3 pt specialist off the bench, and once he played defense the all star small forward you see today. It's way too early to judge Nachbar if you ask me.
Also you have to consider the coaching. Seriously, Popovich don't put up w/ crap and his players knows it. I am willing to bet that if the spurs had posey and mobley on their team, the spurs would be almost unbeatable just because of how Popovich runs things.
1. According to many reports, Boki's game is nothing alike to Peja's. He's not as pure a shooter like Peja. 2. Peja averaged 21 mins in 48 games as a rookie. The Kings found time to develop him even when completing in the all-important playoffs. Peja's even a year younger than Boki's as a rookie. 3. I read the Manu situation comparision. Spurs drafted Manu at 99 and let him developed playing in Europe league. If Rox really think that Boki's not ready, why not let him develop furthur in Europe ala Manu rather than stuck him on the Rockets bench whole season long? All in all, there is absolutely no reason to draft a guy at such a high pick and not play him AT ALL. Either 1) the guy is not good enough or 2) the coaches don't know how to develop and bring him along. Either of option points to problems in our management/coaching team.
Boki may be no Peja, but why not at least give him some of Rice's play time. I mean, if we're gonna play a slow, pure shooter, that can't play defense, then why not give the PT to someone that might develop instead of someone who could retire or fall over and die at anytime. Just wondering.
Newgirl, My point is it took an all star small forward and arguably the best shooter in the world 3 or so years to earn his current role. Now, you can counter with the Kings were incredibly deep excuse, which is true, so Boki should have gotten pt on the Rockets bench. And personally while I'm mystified he didn't play, it still takes more than one year to judge players in today's NBA with the league getting so young.
Rockets........problems everywhere. First..... The scouting people are horrible. For example......Eddie Griffin. Bostjan Nachbar. Tito Maddox. Then the coaches are too stubborn I guess. Overplay our stars. And don't play any bench players. No confidence. And no system. And then our players have their own troubles and yeah. GINOBILI!!!!!!! is doing very good. So is Okur.....even though he is like a center....even though they already have a star center......and Cliff Robinson.......they still play him. Oh well. Go Rockets!
All I was saying was, its not like we had Peja or Shawon Marion at the 3 spot, especially earlier in the season. The Rockets had KT,Glen Rice, and Terrance Morris. I will agree that Morris did look very confortable in his limited time which brings me back to another thing. Why when Glen got hurt and Morris filled in and Morris played very,very good, when Rice came back he got absolutely no game time. He went from playing good quality minutes to DNPCD. The point i was trying to make to Robbie was how could he tell so much about a rookie in 77 mins of action? Not only that, 24 of those came within the first 2 games of the season. Hell, Mike Dunleavy Jr and Nicholoz played more than Nachbar. I'm even sure Tayshaun Prince played more than Nachbar. I'm thinking, if you're not going to play the guy, why not draft someone with a huge upside like Woods.
Well guys the bottom line is I am sticking to my opinion. Boki looked like crap when he played. I don't know what I was looking at that yall were not, but to me Yao and Manu showed talent even when they were sucking. Boki showed none. I hope Boki does develop into a Manu-like player, but that will never happen. They are like comparing apples and watermelons. Completely different games. Does anyone have any links to Boki playing in Italy? Because I wanted to see his speed, ball handling, and passing.
How did you manage to turn this into an argument that Boki will or will not be a Manu-like player? No one said that except you. I watched every Rocket game except one and half of another. I say Boki showed plenty of promise in the very little bit of time he played. His defense was not horrible, as you try to say. If you want to talk horrible defense, talk about Matt Bullard and Walt Williams, who both played that position and got plenty of minutes from Rudy. Boki would have to have a leg amputated to be as bad as either one of those. Although there wasn't much to go on, one thing about his offense that showed good promise was him feeling comfortable putting the ball on the floor against NBA players. He went to the rim with authority. Other than that, what is there to see? Also, most of his minutes were at the very beginning of the season, when his injury was bothering him the most.
Bostjan Nachbar can't be any worse on defense than who........GLEN RICE?!? Bwahaha. Compare them. I think Nachbar can improve his defense. I just wonder.......if he is good on offense. Or if he is a bust. Or if he just doesn't fit with our team. I hope he gets to play next season.
Right here on clutch bbs, if you go to the front page and click draft. Then go down to where Boki says he's happy to be a rocket, they have some of his bennetton games. I'm still looking for this slow guy you're talking about.
Mobley forced his way on the court as an unnatural one in rookie year because every other pg sucked and Dickerson was set to start at the 2, also that the pg position in Houston requires only 3 point shooting and entry pass making, which Cat was good at. Eddie Griffin and Yao were obviously huge picks with sky high expectations, so they had to grace the court as well. Kelly Cato got to play 'cuz Les would turn into a clawing lil b**** if he pays 7 million per year to an injury list entry. All signs tell me that Rudy lost touch of/doesn't care about picks that don't force themselves on the court. Other than those lucky ones, the treatment for rest of the non lottery picks were downright scary. Collier and TMO were starved of minutes. Rudy thinks it's better to invest in over-the-hill players that don't fit into the team's long term plan like Kevin Willis and Glen Rice. Willis turned out to be another butter fingered Kelvin Cato and left after one season, and minutes that could otherwise go to Collier were wasted. Despite it was apparent the season was over by mid-season, Collier only played in 25 games, which makes one scratch his head asking why? BTW, Collier's numbers per minute is pretty good this year. The same treatment goes for TMO. Glen Rice entered the scene the same year as TMO, sucked as much as TMO did while not having any potential unlike TMO, but played a lot more minutes simply because he makes ten times than TMO does. While TMO did look like he's getting a lot better this year, he suddenly dropped off the face of earth after Posey came, while Rice still get to play even if he's injury prone, no potential, no defense and soon to go. Now Tito Maddox and Boki arrive, and what welcome them - the ones that don't have a high lottery pick number on their back or huge contracts to force their presence - are the cold bench and injury list. Maddox was said to be penetrating at will in summer leagues. Boki was said to be, I believe RT said this, a very creative slasher that can get to the basket one way or another, and a good shooter. Well, a full season passed and all we know is that Maddox looks like a troll and Boki looks dumber by day with his hairstyle. The fans aren't even seeing them in blow out games. Which seems to indicate that the Rockets gave up on them without giving them any chances first. What we get from the coaches is, though, that they consider Boki to be next year's pick, so they don't play him this year. Like others said, why not develop them in other leagues if it's set to not to play them anyways? Player development is in part related to roster management. Kelvin Cato, Glen Rice and Moochie's contracts force RT to play them even when they suck, depriving minutes of the young bucks. Still, mismanagement goes back to the coaching staff. Did I say the young players sometimes don't even get to play in blowout games?
