Mobley is a great defender. whe Rudy drafted him he drafted him 4 his devensive qualities. he even said that he would have 2 work with him on offense. hes a great defender. last year he got 5 steals in a game
Ayiyi, where to begin? A few years ago, Muggsy Bogues blocked 2 shots in one game, is he now a good shotblocker? Iverson got 9 steals in a game last year. His defense for a shooting guard reaks. Francis got 6 steals in a game last year, and averaged over 1.5 a game, is his defense now good? By the way, Cuttino's career high in steals is 4. Now, I have a quick question, Shandon's defense is undeniably good, and according to you, Cuttino plays great defense, and Francis plays better D than Cuttino. Our offense is very good, if it's true that our defense is that good, why did our record just plain suck? Why did Carter go for 35 and 37 on us? ------------------ The more lefties on your team, the better. Collier is Seven Foot and Left Handed. How can you go wrong? Trade or bench Kenny Thomas.
Good topic. I've been wondering the same thing. His first year there was a lot of talk about his defensive quickness. This year everyone thinks he's a matador. I think I'll have to go with Scarface on this one. Against the shorter PG's he causes some problems with his long arms and quickness. However, he seems to have trouble getting up on the larger SG's. I think his biggest problem is the same one that Stevie has. They won't keep their damn mouths shut. They seem to always bring out their opponents best game. I know they aren't that bad of defenders so it must be the fact that they talk trash and fire up their opponents. I think their's a difference between getting in your opponents head and intimidating them (Michael Jordan) and playground trash that Mobley, Stevie, Iverson, Payton, etc.. all get into. Just a thought..................... ------------------ "Stranger things have happened, but none stranger than this" - Commentator after a parachutist landed in the ring of a Holyfield fight
This is a very good point. There's a big difference between matching up against a 6-2 PG and a 6-7 SG. I think thats part of the reason as to why what Mobley has been regarded on defense has changed so much. The other part is that Mobley's mentality changed a lot between his rookie and second yr. His rookie year, Mobley was not really looked at to score and really concentrated on trying to slow down the opposing PG with the encouragement of Pippen. This was one of the few/only positive things Pip contributed. I remember in his rookie yr, Pip saying something like "Mobley is the 2nd best defender on this team behind me." However, in his 2nd yr, Mobley has been so pre-occupied with trying to score and his offensive game as a whole that he has slacked majorly on defense. Not to mention, he is now matched against much bigger and taller players. The guy is 6-4 190 matching up against 6-6 and 6-7 wing players that are 220-230. There is an obvious size disadvantage there. This and the way he plays are big reasons as to why he needs to come off the bench. ------------------ Check out the Best Source for Draft Info Draftsource.net
MManal, Why would you believe ANYTHING Quitten would have to say? ------------------ "Is this thing on? I'm in charge now"-Alexander Haig [This message has been edited by BobFinn* (edited July 15, 2000).]
I realize it's more difficult to match up against the taller shooting guards than it is point guards, but it's not impossible for a guy who is 6'4" and 190 lbs. That puts him in the same spot as Vernon Maxwell (www.nba.com/playerfile/vernon_maxwell.html). I think a lot of it has to do with desire, not to mention the coaching staff making it a priority. ------------------ [This message has been edited by TraJ (edited July 15, 2000).]
He is too busy tring to put it in the hole. ------------------ I am so exasperated that I could expectorate.
Quitten obviously was on drugs, considering he didn't say a word about Olajuwon. ------------------ The more lefties on your team, the better. Collier is Seven Foot and Left Handed. How can you go wrong? Trade or bench Kenny Thomas.
That, and Bryon friggin' Russell of all people lit him up regularly. What a great defender. ------------------ WE WILL WATCH THEM FALL... Next year
Back to the topic. Mobley is NOT a good defender, in fact, our guards are horrid defenders. The 2 biggest problem areas on the Rockets are: Defense and Rebounding. If the Rockets have any hope of improving their record, they need to play better defense, and get that basketball when someone misses. Remember what Barkley said, you have to WANT the ball. You can't do anything without the basketball. DaDakota ------------------
Mobes is a good defender at the 1 at 2guard he is average. ------------------ "We need to fockass".....Dream back in the day
Traj made a good point here. he said that the coaching staff has to make defense a priority. i don't think i ever saw a team coached by rudy have defense as a priority. i love rudy and think he's a great coach, but i think he relied too heavily on dream to get all of the defense done. back in 94 it wasn't much of a leap, but now he has to start ingraining these young guys with the mental and physical toughness that they need to get the team into a strong defense machine. i think the owner (for some strange reason i forgot his name and now it's starting to bother me) should hire some assistant coaches that really know how to teach good defense. kind of like mark cuban is doing in dallas; i'm not saying get twenty of them or anything, but i think we need to stress defense in practice more, and it will show in games. ------------------ "When the mind is thinking, it is talking to itself." .... Plato
Cat's defense is going to improve exponentially every season. Playing defense in the NBA is all about knowing the tricks of the trade. You have to know what you're going to get away with.....and which refs will let you get away with it. It sounds like an obvious statement to make, that the longer he's in the league, the better he will become.....but I think Cat is a real student of the game. He's learning quickly, his second season only proves that. I think he'll make a name for himself on the defensive end of the court before all is said and done. The same can obviously be said of Steve. Our defense as a whole will improve when we have a core group of players that are used to working together. We don't have that yet. But we will, I hope, soon. ------------------ "I'll take a Dream Shake for two, please."
Cat's defense DID NOT improve in his sophomore year, where there arguably should be the MOST growth. DaDakota-Precisely, except Shandon excluded...unless his D seems so good to us, because we're comparing it to Francis and Mobley's? Rudy's never had to coach defense, because he always had a top of the line Olajuwon, who was just a plain old stopper. Cato may end up pretty good, but he won't ever be the stopper Dream was. ------------------ The more lefties on your team, the better. Collier is Seven Foot and Left Handed. How can you go wrong? Trade or bench Kenny Thomas.
Let's not forget that the Rockets did have their fair share of good defenders for awhile. That's what won us our first championship. Olajuwon (of course), Thorpe, Horry (did a good job), Elie, Maxwell. I can imagine there were times when four of those five guys were on the floor at the same time. Our weakest link defensively was our point guards -- Sam Cassell and Kenny Smith. Ahh, those were the days. You could actually touch someone without getting called for a foul. ------------------
Sophomore slump? Change of position (starting 1 to reserve 2)? Or maybe contract year (put up some big numbers, maybe win sixth man award and earn big bucks)? Cat has the tools to be a good defender but clearly he worked harder at in his first year. Perhaps this year he will learn that if you combine hard work at one end with hard work at the other end, you become a better player and the team benefits, too. His kids at the worlds played some D for him. If the Rockets scrapped that hard... ------------------ If you don't remember the ABA, you don't know basketball.
DaDakota and Nikestrad: I agree mostly, but I'd say rather that Rudy's is accustomed to teaching a different KIND of defense. I suspect that he's encouraged players to funnel people to Hakeem. Like, it's ok if the other person drive's to the basket, as long as Hakeem's there to make the block. Now, players can do the same thing, and Kelvin Cato ingloriously misses the block. ------------------
