Mo has proven that he is not a cancer

Great story by Feigen in the Chronicle.

I have been very impressed by Mo's attitude this year. He is taking more than four fewer shots per game than he did last year, and he has not complained. When the team had a losing record and was on the distant horizon of the playoff picture, he did not complain.

And now, when everyone in the NBA is realizing that the Rockets are gearing up for a run at a player who plays his position , he's not complaining.

I will be the first one to admit that I had serious concerns about his attitude coming into the season. Last year I saw him criticize his teammates by name in the papers. I saw him raise his arms up and egg the boo birds at the Clip Joint on during a blowout loss to the Rockets when he was booed. I heard a power forward who had never averaged seven boards a game say that he expected the max as a free agent.

I thought this behavior was a reflection of a young man with a bad attitude -- a potential cancer. I didn't think that frustration with being a Clipper was a good enough explanation for his behavior.

I was wrong. Mo has proven it to me this year.

Make no mistake, I would lose Mo in a second if it meant getting CWebb. But if that falls through, I'd be happy to have Mo on my team. He's proven to me that he is a fine young man with a bright future.

Especially if he improves his rebounding.

(Oh, and the article makes it clear in no uncertain terms that CWebb ain't gonna play center. So we can go ahead and forget about that right now. You don't recruit the top free agent prize by asking him to play a position he doesn't want to play ...)

<font size="1"> For the record, I was typing this post while ZRB started the other thread with this article. Besides, our threads do discuss different aspects of Mo. </font>


http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/856155


Taylor knows Rockets will look at Webber
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle


LOS ANGELES -- Travel north on Interstate 5 and his friend and role model remained the man who would be king if he would just accept life as a King. Head south and so does life, where Maurice Taylor had been condemned to three seasons in NBA purgatory.

Somewhere in between Monday in Sacramento and tonight in Los Angeles, Taylor found his life.

He is not the celebrated free-agent-to-be -- even by Taylor's own team -- that Chris Webber has been all season. But the Clippers remain a reminder that things could be much worse.

In a world in which anything short of overt, giddy adulation is considered disrespect, Taylor said he would not be offended if the Rockets chase Webber this summer to play his position. But his return to Los Angeles offered a reminder of how far he has come in his one-year trial in Houston.

"I'm one of those people that will always hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Taylor said. "The best is obviously getting the contract I want, signing a long-term deal and having everything over pretty quickly. The worst would be a monkey wrench thrown in the deal.

"Obviously my first choice is to remain with Houston. It's been a good year for me. It's been more exciting than I thought it would be. But the NBA is a tricky business."

For Taylor, the rub could be Webber, his Michigan predecessor whose legacy he never could quite match. The Rockets have been openly pleased with Taylor's play, especially since the All-Star break. More than merely praise him, they run Taylor's plays to begin every game and, in last week's fast finishes, ran plays for Taylor to close out must-win situations.

"He's been a big factor," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "I think he's comfortable with us on the floor, mixing with the other players. He's a good guy to be around. He has a good rapport with the coaches, good sense of humor, fun guy to be around. He's been a very good fit."

But the Rockets have also steadfastly positioned themselves to save cap room few teams can match, ostensibly to pursue Webber, an MVP candidate only now entering his prime. Webber has even offered indications that he would consider the Rockets' overtures.

But unlike last season when his impending free agency did become a concern, Taylor said he has learned to postpone offseason worries until the offseason. If the Rockets have their eyes on another, he said, he will move on without regrets or bitterness.

"It's not anything to worry about," Taylor said. "Even when I started off slow at the beginning of the season, I wasn't worried. I was unhappy that I wasn't playing the way I was capable of playing. But it was an adjustment period for me.

"There's 28 other teams in the NBA. I can't fault the Rockets for going after CWebb. He's a great player. That's the way the NBA is. At the same time, I have decisions to make myself. I don't feel any pressure or rush to make a decision because they will talk to CWebb or I hear Houston wants CWebb.

"But just like they have the right to talk to him, I have the right to talk to any team."

It is easier for Taylor to keep that perspective because, he said, he is confident that the long-term deals he will seek will be available, even if the Rockets land the league's biggest free-agent prize.

The Rockets could try to play Webber and Taylor together, though that would likely require a sign-and-trade deal to create enough cap room for both.

Webber said he would be open to such a possibility, citing the teams with oversized small forwards. The Rockets might be more likely to look at one of the power forwards as a successor for Hakeem Olajuwon in the middle, a notion Webber did not embrace.

"I am not a center," he said uncharacteristically emphatically. "I've done that before. I'm not doing that again. No sir. No thanks."

Webber can afford to shop for just the right new home. Taylor, who was left without a seat when the big-money music stopped playing last summer, expects to have more choices this time.

"I have some decisions to make, I think more so this year than last year," he said. "Last year, with the cap as tight as it was, there were not many teams to negotiate with. I'm hearing there are more teams interested this season. And this is a long-time commitment."

Despite an eight-point night Tuesday and rebounding performances that are sporadic at best, Taylor's best has been better than ever in the past few weeks. In his past 14 games, he is averaging 17.1 points on 51.3 percent shooting, setting or matching career bests in points, field goals free throws, defensive rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots.

"He's an excellent, talented player," Webber said. "Whether you can consider him in the elite or not, I'm not sure. He has to improve his rebounding and other areas. He's definitely hard for anybody to guard. And when he's on, he's on. There's nothing you can do."

That has been enough for Taylor to become a valuable part of a playoff contender could again next summer. If Webber might remind of the uncertainty about the future, the sight of the Clippers will remind of the past, and how far he has come.

"I feel like I can hold my head up high," Taylor said. "We're playing for a playoff spot. And they're where they always are. I think it's worked out pretty well. I don't have any regrets about taking the contract for a year. I think we did a lot of things, won a lot more games than people expected."





[This message has been edited by wrath_of_khan (edited March 22, 2001).]