Since there is a break in the play it might be a good time to reflect on how this team is doing in general and how far (if any) we have come along since the beginning of the season. keeping in mind that we have had some unexpected setbacks early on in this season, such as EG departure, injuries to Pike, Agriffin, and MoT. MoT's suspension, trades of Moochie, Amaechi, and GRice. SF3 (C+) has been struggling all season, but has started to pick up the pace in the last few weeks. His FG% is back over .400, and his rebounds and assists are very similar. His defense has greatly improved but struggles with making the correct decisions. Stats comparable to other top PG's in the league, we think he is playing bad but their isnt much different from last season except for his ppg.. by the end of the season I think he will be back on course. Cat (B+) constantly brings energy, hustle and heart. His outside shot has cooled off considerably from the beginning of the season but maintains his tough defense and clutch shooting. Undersized for his position but does a great job guarding opposing teams 2 guards. Also needs to work on decision making and passing but has been quite reliable this season. JJackson (A) consumate professional, plays tough defense and make good decisions. Very streaky shooter but has been a very pleasant suprise this season and great pick up. Undersized for his position but makes up for it with his strength and effort. Cato (B+) The enforcer for the Rox plays tough defense and has the difficult assignments of trying to guard the Wests talented PF's. Brings toughness, rebounding and nice compliment to Yao in the post. Poor outside shooter (but thats no suprise so you cant dock him any points for that) but will hit the occasional jumpshot and has much better hands this season. One of my favorite players to watch this season, the pride with which he plays and knowing he got a second chance to start shows in his actions and attitude. Yao (B-) started off slow but has been improving steadily this season. I think people have had too high of expectations for him this year but thats because we have been spoiled with periods of dominating play. His aggressiveness and confidence seem to be building but still a poor rebounder. MoT (B+) been a spark off the bench for the Rox providing instant scoring, defense and rebounding has improved but still doesnt box out effectively (IMO). If MoT could play some tough defense and rebound better we would not be looking for another PF and could focus on other areas. But he knows his role (which is to score coming off the bench) and does it well. Awesome array of low post moves, and undefendable when he heats up. JVG (B) Its been awesome to have a coach who instills a defensive philosophy and his very disciplined. If the players had half of JVG's work ethic we would probably be title contenders. (of course alot of players would be balding prematurely =P) Needs better timeclock management (timeouts, when to foul, better substitutions) but those are minor compared to the big scheme. Rox Overal (B-) Overcame a major setback losing EGriffin (who many wanted to become our 3rd star) which would have solved our current PF needs.. Have the top defense in the league (IMHO) and 2 struggling stars. How the Rox have the record they have while Yao and SF have been struggling all season with inconsistency is beyond me. People have too high of expectations for these guys, I hope they seed high but would be happy with them just getting into the playoffs where I think we can make some noise. I think we are at where we deserve to be.. side note.. Yao and SF have been struggling all season but we still have a decent team with the top defense in the league and a respectable record in a very tough division. I dont know about you but what happens when SF3 and Yao find their game? I think we instantly become a very scary team that will do alot of damage come playoff time. Personally Ive very excited to see what this team can do! Go Yao! Go Rox! Go Super Duper Backup Bench Brigade! J
man youre grading is off. i'd give JJ and MoT an A+ theyre both having fantastic seasons i'd give Cato an A-...Cato has been vicious this year
JJ and MoT an A+? I admit they are having great season but its tough to give someone an A+ unless they are having career season. JJ is a very streaky shooter and MoT doesnt play tough enough defense. Cato was tough for me to gauge only reason hes not an A is because of his shooting.. If he could shoot or MoT could play defense ? *sigh J
No arguement for the most part. However another critical blow this year was the evaporation of Pike. Of course we should have kept Posey. Notwithstanding, it is all in the hands of SF and Ming. We may eventually get hurt by having to rely so heavily on so many undersized players. For my money I would release a few them and bring back Tmo and Hawkins. Our defense would be even better but most importantly the team would be better able to run and finish better on the break.
I agree wtih the orginal post. For Mo and JJ to get A+, they would have to be getting us like 15 a game or so. If they really played A+, we would have a much better record than we have right now. No one on the Rockets has played A+.
OMG! go review jackson's numbers this season again. streaky!? he is our iron man this year. yes he has had a bad game here or there but overall its amazing how strong his consistency is this season. A+ Mo Taylor. Best 6th man in the nba. best season ever as a rocket period. A+ Cato. has mastered the alley hoop w/ steve. had a season high 16pts this season. career high 6 steals this season. that 6 blocks game against memphis. he gets an A this year for being our enforcer and kicking ass. cato is one of the major reasons why we are the best defense in the nba. and thats how you should judge it. what theyre asked to do this season / expected of and what they are doing. steve is a D pike is an F padgett is a B
to let you know, they have each been averaging 12 points a night JJ w/ not as many touches being 4th behind yao steve and cat, mo w/ coming off the bench for us. so ummm... i think many people who post on this board are predisposed to sway negative and.... i dont know, its just for me see i've watched every single game this season and like an obsession i read the paper check the standings and boxscores everyday multiple times a day so i feel the need to go in there and bat in their defense.
I can't agree with most of the post. It seems to me that the grades are all based on expectation, not actual performance. Some Players get high grade just because you didn't have high expectation on them before season started. Some players get low grade because you expected too much.
I'm not sure I agree with it all, but most of that's well within the frame of reason except for one thing: Cato. Cato's been atrocious. He can... sort of rebound (and even that's not great, partly because of his terrible hands). His defense is... above average (and he's certainly not undersized... he's big for a 4, and about average these days for a 5). His passing is horrific. His shooting is nightmarish. It's the shooting that I have the biggest problem with. Yao usually gets doubled by the other team's 4 sneaking over. Guess who that leaves open? That's right! Kelvin Cato! So, Yao passes to Cato, who's wide open from about 8 feet out. What happens? Brick. Or he knows he'll brick, so he makes a bad pass. Or he attempts to drive and turns it over. Cat has been an utter failure this year. I'd give him a C-, and only that, because it's obviously he's been trying hard.
You guys probably forget that Jamison and bobby Jackson are also 6th man off the floor. Even if a Rockets fan, I will have to give the 6th man honor to those two before considering MoT. Mo is a great offensive weapon but his D and rebounding are weak.
I would give Yao a 'B' for his sophomore season so far. He is only one of the two guys in the NBA who got consistently doubled on a regular basis. After he figures out how to beat a DT, his grade will be A.
Good Perspective. We've been doing great considering we lost our starting power forward. No doubt. We've overachieved given that fact.
Starting power forward? Was Gundy going to start Griffin? That's a serious question, I don't remember.
I think EGriffin was an important component in this team.. and would have been an big impact player this year. How many times did we wish we had a PF who could play D (Like cato) while still score (Like MoT) but still had some size (ummm... EG). He would have been the perfect fit this year with the way teams have been double teaming Yao. If they double feed EG for the midrange J.. it would have been a feast for him oh well his loss. J
Francis: D Mobley: C Jackson: B Cato: B Yao: B- Taylor: C The rest: D Van Gundy: I like his attitude, so I give him a B Overall: D+ The wins over LA and most of the games on National TV prevents them from getting an F. I expected much more from this team by the break, but they still have a chance to get their grade up to an A. All they need to do is show that they've learned something from the first 52 games, and win a few games in the playoffs. Yao needs to do what he did against Shaq to everyone. I'm also hoping to see Van Gundy work his playoff magic.
Francis (D+) --- based on his ability and team's expectation on him. Mobley (C+) --- as a 2, he has done his job to his ability; Jackson (B) --- effort & consistecy; Cato (C) --- good effort, but offensive liability; Yao(C+) --- very inconsistent; Taylor (B-) --- done what was expected from him, SCORING; improved board work The rest: C- (inconsistency, unreliable) Van Gundy (C) --- as the coash, he is responsible for the RESULTS. Overall: C -- daoshi
haven, did you expect cato to shoot well or something? his rebounding is down a little from last year's near league leading pace but is still nice and he definitely helps shut down the middle. i'm not sure how much more cato can give us. my grades: mobley: B+/A- done a very good job of defending and hitting the open shot and when he creates and scores over 20 we win. is fitting in quite well and brings it every night. yao: B has been far too passive this year and still shows fatigue problems but 16/9 is no joke, he is double teamed a ton, and is a very big reason for our great D. plus he's had some games to show us his true promise. jim jackson: B/B+ had a slow start to the season when it came to shooting and turns it over more than i thought he would (especially for a role player) but his shooting has come back enough to get him to 40% on 3's, he D's up nicely, isn't afraid to go in there and get rebounds, fits in well with the offense (and the offense rewards him with tons of wide open shots) and is generally a good influence when out on the court. i was glad when we signed him and am glad that he's signed for 2 more years. mo t: B+/A- does he rebound or play great D? no, but that's not what you expect from mo, even though he seems to try more on those two things. has been a terrific scorer off the bench. after pulling out the jump hook from no where last year, has introduced many new weapons to the arsenal, the baseline spin move being the most prominent. if his J is going, he's almost impossible for people not named duncan or garnett to guard. moochie: thank goodness he's gone steve: A+++ b/c he's the bestest player ever and since van gundy doesn't actually play anyone else, that's all i'll grade.
the rockets bench should get like a C, because there have been some brights spots, not couting MoT, he is like a starter, but Padgett gets like a B, i think spoon still sucks so i give him an F, and Boki will get a C cuz he's been hustling more than most of the bench, Mike Wilks is not getting minutes so he gets an I, and that Pike dude for some reason lost his shoot, the only thing he had going for him, he has no speed, doesn't reboud, i say F, but what I would really like to see is for the rockets to trade that guy, i might sound like i don't like pike but that's not the case, is just that i had high hopes on this guy, and his underperforming is sad to see, so overall the bench is the most inconsistent part of the rockets in my opinion.
