Good point. But to the Rocket's credit, their offense was in a large part responsible for the rule change to allow zone defense.
Its easy to know your role when you play with the best player in the league who delivered on a consistent basis.
The Kings know their roles despite not having the best player who delivered on a constant basis. Same for the Mavs, Pistons, Pacers, etc. Not having the best player does not excuse the current Rockets for not having good chemistry.
Absolutely agreed. Revisionist history sure is great. Back in the championship days, all fans did was complain about this backcourt. "Cassell should start. Kenny can't penetrate. Maxwell takes too many bad shots." It was all you heard on Sportsradio. They played their roles well, but it's funny seeing everyone praising them looking back when it seemed the pair couldn't do anything right in the fans' eyes back then.
Well, both of those guys (Maxwell & Kenny Smith) could spot up and hit the 3. Both of our guys now do more creating with the ball. Penetrate & dish or shoot type things. I wish we had better spot up shooters on the team. Maxwell's D was also often underrated.
But the Kings do have well defined roles. Could chemistry be better on the Rockets, of course. But the Rockets have a new coach, and this is just the second season with Yao and the first full season with him really. Chemistry develops over time. How long has the Kings current roster been together. How long did it take for the championship Rockets to get over the hump? So implying that taking Kenny and Vernon and substituting Steve and Cuttino and voila, you have better chemistry is ridiculous. Its another example of the blame the guards for everything mentality on this site.
If Steve and Cutino have such great chemistry, why do they turn the ball over so much? Kenny Smith was pivotal in the pick-n-roll. Don Chaney won coach of the year because Kenny ran the pick-n-roll. Cutino did not perform well in the playoffs. Maxwell's playoff performance ...ask Phoenix and the Knicks.
pgabriel is right. the rockets starting 5 in 1994 had played together far longer than any other starting 5 in the league at that point. that was a large part of their success. having said that...i still have problems with francis' fit with this current team.
I'd much rather trade frontcourts with the '94 Rockets than backcourts. Olajuwon and Thorpe for Yao and Cato? We'd win that Lakers series. I'd even take Dream and Charles Jones.
Mad Max, you are right. They did play for along time together. If Steve and Cutino stay that long together, we'd set the record for worse assist-to-turnover ratio of all time. Plus Max and Kenny were better shooters. Sure we THINK Kenny was a bad shooter cause his shot was flat and twisty, but he was a great shooter. Maxwell lead the league in 3pters 2 years in a row. ps. I HATE KARL MALONE
i'm not concerned with mobley. i think if we had a more traditional point guard, mobley could do just fine with this team. he plays good defense. and he's a damn good shooter. i think he could fit the role of the 2 guard on a Yao-centric team just fine.
tinman, you're so far off it's not funny. Despite getting more open looks than perhaps anyone in the league, Maxwell was a bad shooter. He led the league because he shot literally 500 threes a year - quantity over quality. Kenny, on the other hand, was good. But then, so were Brent Price and Matt Maloney and Bryce Drew. Are those the type of players you want playing PG for the Rockets?
True.. . . If some yelled THERE'S DEREK HARPER on the TNT set. . . Kenny would curl up into a ball and try to push Derek's Hand check away instinctively if it wasn't for out of bounds. . Derek would have checked Kenny all the way to new york Rocket River
Many people remember Maxwell's hot streaks, but over time they've forgotten his horrible shot selection. In 93-94, he shot 29.8% 3point and 38.9% FG shooting, which is pretty bad for a starting SG. His defence, however, was pretty damn good.
Although a little green, I would prefer '93 Sam Cassell over Kenny Smith.... Now Sam Cassell & Maxwell would have made a really nice tandem...2 winners, cold-blooded competitors, whatever it takes guys
Also, in 94-95 the NBA introduced what I like to call the Derek Harper rule. The handchecking/riding Harper did on Kenny I'm sure was one of the biggest factors in it being instituted.
Kenny knows how and when to pass the ball , Francis does not. Kenny knows how to pass to the Center and make him better, Francis does not. Manwell better than Cat, brought emotion and gave himself to the game. Kenny and Max way better team basketball players than Steve and Cat.
