Rather than go ballistic on the Rockets for the 4-game losing streak (I already did that in the privacy of my own home), I will just hand out my midterm grades and try to be objective, if that is possible. Center Positives: Yao Ming has been better than most thought although he has really begun to struggle as teams have adjusted and he's gotten tired. Overall, he has been better offensively than anyone thought and a tough competitor. Kelvin Cato has been maybe the biggest surprise of the year. He is #2 in the league in rebounds/48 minutes played and brings it every night. Negatives: Yao is struggling of late due to being tired and having to go against teams that have figured out his moves. This is not unexpected for a young rookie who has had to take in so much in so little time, but it hurts the team when his offense is in the dumper. Grade: B+ Power Forward Positives: Eddie Griffin has shown his value as a shot blocker and low post presence on the defensive end. The 20-year-old has shown flashes of solid offense and is learning. After a shaky start, Maurice Taylor has started to show some offensive touch and has provided a big body down low. Terrence Morris has added some key minutes here and done the dirty work the team has asked. Negatives: Unfortunately, this is the weakest spot on the floor nearly every night. Add to it the fact that the league is loaded with great four's and you nearly have a disaster. Griffin has a shot so flat, even Calista Flockhart feels superior. Taylor has struggled with his shot because of a slowed recovery from the achillies injury. As a result, there has been little offense out of the position meaning little threat on the post for the Rockets. The lack of consistency on the offensive end has been tough on the team. Grade: D Small Forward Positives: Thank God for James Posey. The former Nugget has adapted quickly to the Rockets and found a niche as a defensive stopper, rebounder and guy who can flat out run the break. Bostjan Nachbar has shown flashes of his talent when he has had a chance to play. Negatives: Glen Rice started the season well but fell into a pattern of inconsistency and ended up on the injured list. Without any real outside threat, the Rockets have seen defenses collapse in on their penetrators. Nachbar, though talented, still needs time to develop. Morris has come off the bench for a few minutes but has seen his best time at the four. Posey needs to improve his shooting percentage. Grade: C (would be lower if not for Posey) Shooting Guard Positives: Cuttino Mobley is having another good year scoring. He is 7th in the league in free throw percentage and still has not lost his first step. Over the past dozen games, his defense has improved and, when he has played well, he has looked comfortable hitting shots in the flow of the offense. Negatives: Unfortunately, Cat, at times, still shows the maturity of a 5-year-old. He has had a difficult time learning to give up the ball in crucial situations instead choosing to take difficult shots. Frankly, his FG percentage would probably be up around 48 percent instead of 42 if he would just be smart about his shooting rather than trying to jack up bad shots at inopportune times. Grade: C- Point Guard Positives: Steve Francis is dominant yet again. If he hadn't been voted on the All Star team, he very well could have made on playing alone. He is in the top 10 in scoring and is one of only two players in the league to average better than 20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists per game. Remarkably, he is one of the best three point marksmen in the league as well shooting nearly 45 percent from beyond the arc. He has shown at times that he can truly be the leader and go to player on this team and he has improved his game over the past three seasons. Negatives: As Francis has gone, so has the team. Francis' play has either been brilliant or, at times, ugly. He follows up a 44 point 11 assist win over the Lakers with a 4 point 4 assist 4 turnover game agains San Antonio. Sometimes, he looks down right brilliant either hitting the tough shot or the big three while other times looking lost and confused as he is near the bottom of the league in turnovers. Moochie Norris has been a disaster. He's frustrated with his lack of play but his time on the floor has been unworthy of time. Shooting under 50 percent from the free throw line for him is inexcusable. Grade: C (would be higher if not for Norris) Coaching Positives: The Rockets rank among the league's best in team defense - blocked shots, opponent FG percentage, opponent three-point percentage and opponents points per game are all in the top 10. Overall, the team has integrated Posey and Yao fairly quickly. Fast break points and rebounding are dramatically higher and they are forcing more turnovers as the season progresses. The teams night-in, night-out commitment to defense is amazing considering they have all but given up on the zone defense over the past month and the fact that their backcourt is not considered elite defensively. Negatives: It is hard to understand the schitzo nature of this team. To win four in a row against some of the best playoff-bound talent in the league and then drop four straight is frustrating to say the least. Near the bottom of the league in turnovers and right at the bottom in assists, the Rockets look confused and out of sync on offense more often than not. Twenty assists is great, but NOT OVER TWO GAMES. Most frustrating is the lack of adjustments made during games. The team seems unable or unwilling to get the ball into the low post despite obvious mismatches. They have made crucial mistakes at key times and often seem unfocused and even undiscilplined. The lack of willingness to try different rotations while struggling has also made the offense predictable. Worst of all, they don't always bring their A game and have lost quite a few to bad teams. Grade: C- (defense keeps this from being lower) Offense Positives: The Rockets can dominate offensively. When they do move the ball and find the open man, they are devastating. Yao has been much better sooner than many thought and Francis has become a terrifically consistent shooter. Posey has given the team a surprising boost on the offensive end. Negatives: See the coaching section...Truthfully, with as many weapons as the team has, there is no excuse to be one of the worst in the league in passing the ball. The unwillingness or inability to get Yao the ball more often and move the ball around makes the offense look downright hideous. Grade: D- Defense Positives: It would be tough to get much better defensively. They are in the top ten in multiple categories on defense and rank number 2 overall. They have increasingly gotten better at forcing turnovers and rarely get outrebounded. When the offense has struggled, the defense has carried them. Negatives: The Rockets could do a better job forcing turnovers, but even that is improving. Grade: A+ Intangibles Poor adjustments on the offensive end of the floor, lack of willingness to pass the ball and awful execution at times has really made the Rockets a Jeckyll and Hyde team. They can look like world beaters in one QUARTER (nevermind a game) and look like a rec leage team the next. Play stellar defense and be in the top 15 in free throw shooting but make stupid mistakes and trail almost the entire league in assists. Schitzo. Grade: F Overall It is hard to figure this team. One day they are tearing up the Lakers. The next day they are losing to New York or Golden State. They don't pass the ball. They turn the ball over far too often. The coaching adjustments have been downright awful at times and the poor offensive execution leaves fans to wonder why the hell they don't give their rookie offensive gun from Slovenia some time off the pine. The team has improved dramatically on defense. There are times when they can win defensively even when they are pathetic on offense. But, with all this talent, there is no excuse for being this bad offensively. More than anything else, not bringing it every night is costing them wins. It is also pissing off the fans. If that keeps up, the team may need to change its slogn to Be Part of Something Disappointing. Grade: C My general thoughts... I still love this basketball team. The talent on the floor and on the bench is more than enough to win consistently. I am blown away by the team's defensive production and their committment to that end of the floor. Yao has been an absolute joy to watch and, despite the criticism, Francis is improving. Compare what he does on the floor to two seasons ago and the changes have been dramatic on both ends of the floor. Posey has been a truly welcome addition and, when he has played within the offense (which, unfortunately, isn't all that often), Cat has demonstrated that he can be a good scorer. I also would like to iterate that I am NOT in favor of a coaching change despite the fact that I'm frustrated with some of the decisions out there. Replacing a coach in the middle of a season is usually an absolute disaster and is reserved for teams that are at the bottom of the league. This team still has a real shot at the playoffs and they have shown they can be dominant when they want to be. Firing Rudy T now would signal the team doesn't expect to make the playoffs and, honestly, they do and they should. Now, all that could change if the team continues to struggle in the second half, but now is not the time. That having been said, a change is definitely in order. Whether that means a trade or a rotation adjustment, something must happen. I absolutely see no reason NOT to put Nachbar on the floor more often. I also think this team absoutely MUST put upon its best players the demand to move the basketball. If Mobley or Francis is unable to move the ball, sit them down for a while and let them think about it. Not passing the ball should almost be grounds for getting fined. And, honestly, the next time this team showed up and played poorly against a young team, I'd bench every single player half-stepping it and let the bench guys have a shot. Ultimately, I still feel strongly that this team can compete on a playoff level. Being the second youngest team in the league, no matter how much anyone says it isn't an excuse, DOES make a difference. The lack of real veteran leadership means they must learn on the fly. The result is up and down play and mistakes. The trick is limiting the mistakes and getting the up and down play slightly more level. I haven't lost my faith in the team as a whole, but I can certainly understand why fans would be pissed and the onus is on the team to get their act together and start playing the way they are capable as well as on the coaching staff to instill a sense of continuity so the fans see that they are making progress.
Funny . . .Last year the Offense was No the problem . .Defense was We may have hated the ISO but . . . . . It worked better than what he have now Rocket River
I agree with everything except the defensive breakdown. Even though we are so high up on some of the defensive statistical lists, I think most of this has to do with our oppenents simply having poor shooting nights. Yes, I understand that our defense directly relates to how well our opponents score, but I always see our guys giving open looks when they should be contesting their opponents shot. A couple of stats that I think show we really aren't that great defensively: We are 3rd to last in the league in steals. Our turnover differential is -2.9 which is second worst in the league. We are last in the league in point off turnovers. Also, we are 5th worst in the league with a 1.22 assist/turnover ratio. I guess I just think our defense is very overrated. I'd give them a B- at best simply because of where we are in regards to opponents points per game and blocks.
The guys are reluctant to abandon the Iso game and move into a passing game which is difficult for them to do resulting in poor execution. Defensively we are a lot better but Francis and Moochie are our weakest defenders and have to step it up. We are unlikely to get much benefit from a trade and have to do the best we can from these players but things definitely have to change. Maybe SJC suggestion of getting a shooter/passer like George McCloud might help some but if he were in good physical shape and in form I'm sure somebody might have picked him up by now. I would give an overall C- because the guys don't play smart basketball.
Its sad to say that Steve is the cause of most of those bad stats. His High TO's and Low assists numbers kill us on multiple levels as you are showing.
I think we should be trying to get delegate our playing much like the Indiana Pacers are. We have just as much of a deep team as they do. We are relying too heavily on Steve, Cuttino and Posey play. 40+ minutes is way too much time for them to be playing, too tiring and too much wear and tear. We should go with a main core of Francis, Mobley, Posey, Ming and Griffin give each of them between 30-40 minutes. Then bring Norris, Rice, Taylor and Cato off the bench for about 15-19 minutes a piece. I think for everyone to get around the same amount of time for the starting unit and then have only two main bench players would be the best to go. True, we may have around $20 million on the bench D ), but it would be the best way to maintain some team chemistry without constant changes in the starting lineup. The players I dont have listed would play only in garbage time. For the time being, until Rice comes back, I think Taylor and Morris should be getting more time. What do you guys think? Starters: Bench: Francis- 40 mpg Rice- 24 mpg(6th man) Mobley- 39 mpg Taylor-20 mpg Posey- 33 mpg Cato- 11 mpg Griffin- 30 mpg Norris- 10 Ming- 37 mpg
They are trying to get Taylor more involved.He has a couple of decent games and then he starts to miss his shots and struggles on defense partly because of his fitness problems. T-Mo and Nachbar should get some more minutes at the 3 so Posey can move to the 2 spot to give some relief to Cat. But our basic problems have been pointed out repeatedly on this board and we have to get better before we can start winning again.
Actually, forced turnovers and steals are two of the weakest indicators of overall defensive ability. San Antonio, widely regarded as one of the best if not the best defensive team in the league, is only slightly better than we are in the steals and opponents turnovers. Usually the best indicator of solid defense is opponent field goal percentage. I think you give them way too little credit defensively. I mean, they are second in the league in opponent field goal percentage over 42 games and it's just because teams shoot poorly against us by coincidence??? The team has its problems. Team defense is not one of them.
I don't know about a grade, but this is the second most underachieving team in the NBA behind the Clippers
if we were gonna say our defense isn't good b/c the other team misses open shots then i would say our offense is good except we miss lots of open shots. i mean my god glen rice has missed enough wide open 3's this season to fill my nightmares for the rest of my life (and he's only played 3/4 of the season). fact is, our offense doesn't score so it sucks and our defense doesn't give up points or a high fg% so it's good. now after just bashing rice, who i considered a waste of flesh 2 weeks ago, i am starting to feel he is quite valuable if as nothing more than a guy who spreads the floor. people will always have to respect his shot for the most part and there is at least a chance he'll hit the open 3 (which he gets a ton of) which makes the offense so much more open. it's crazy how much defense pack it in against us now. i know rice is terrible on defense but man our offense just looks so ugly when every time a guard penetrates there are 3 guys to greet him and the only options to throw it out to are a bad shooting mo t and a wide open but poor shooting posey. or eddie, or cato, or hawkins, or tmo, or moochie. we have so many crappy shooters. it's one reason we're good on defense, b/c we have so many crappy shooters who are good/decent defenders. we actually need rice (or possibly boki) on the floor to spread out the D. at least today ming was aggressive for the first time in forever. he actually ran down one time and established position immediately and got a pass all the way from halfcourt from steve and then he just bulled over marshall another time. i would love to see that more often. i would also like us to give it to him more, although his recent play was making it hard to trust him. but if he'll do more of what we saw in the 4th today, give him the ball a lot steve and cat and mo t (who i was about to drive to chicago to murder after he bricked 4 in a row to start the 3rd, including a wide open layup). and jeff, you were guarding on a large curve (like a straight up and down line practically) when you graded sg lower and pg tied with sf right??? no way our SF position (which was rice for a long time) has come close to outperfming our pg and sg positions. stupid though they may be, they are above average and carried us before yao was good and tried to carry us when he struggled recently (very successfully i might add before the current 4 game streak). it's funny, i pretty much agreed with all the analysis, just not the grades.
This team does need something. Probably not a trade (tho I would gladly see Mo 'mo - ve on', but it ain't gonna happen. This team needs a cold slap -- and that might just come from a Larry Smith taking charge. This team upsets me because this team teases me into Believing. Again and again.
Good read! I wish Rudy and all the Rocket players could see their grade cards and make improvement on their weakness or something they could have done better.
I would say the Hawks are underachieving more than the Rockets. They aren't incorporating a new rookie into their offense and defense, and their lineup is pretty solid...still, they suck.
I agree with everything you posted except: "Positives: Eddie Griffin has shown his value as a ... low post presence on the defensive end." Actually, I consider this one of Eddie's weaknesses. He has trouble keeping his man from establishing great post-up position and allowing himself to be powered down in the post. As a shot blocker, he also has a tendency to jump at pump fakes. Still, I like his weakside shotblocking instincts and the fact that he is finally trying to establish himself in a post up game on offence instead of always jacking 3's.
