Well, who is doing the job of turning the ball over, cussing on national television and going to the Superbowl? Get on the phone, CD!
I'll admit I did not think that the Rockets would be that much superior to last year's team with the addition of Tmac. I still feel the same way. I truly think the other additions to the team have made the difference. Barry, Sura, Wesley, Deke have all played significant roles on this squad. I think by love for the Rockets blinded me from seeing faults with Francis or Mobley and this love also got me in trouble because I failed to recognize what a true basketball team was. So thankyou Rockets 04-05 for once again showing me what a true basketball team is. Man its so much fun to watch these guys but its even more fun to watch them pull for each other. Did anyone see Deke go buck wild when tracy hit the layup and was fouled in the last seconds of the game? And also I noticed all the players on the bench standing and pulling for each other not only on the offensive end, but on the defensive end. The chemistry on this team is simply amazing. I cant wait to see Sura back in the lineup. Also I cannot wait to see these guys in the playoffs and I really could care less who we face simply because I think we can beat anybody. Just think of this guys, we gave the Lakers a run for their money with Francis and Mobley on the team. I think that just speaks volumes of Van Gundy and his coaching staff. Now that we have a legitimate squad, just imagine the possiblities!!!! I can't wait till the playoffs to whoop up on spurs, suns, mavericks or whoever it maybe!!
1) Francis, had some very good games....11 and 10 assist (only 2 and 1 TO for those games). But followed up those games with 12, 10 AST / 7, 7 TOs. His best assist/TO game was 13-4 vs Sacramento. These are his high assist games. But there are a lot more games where he had 6 assists but also had 4 TO and even others where he had more TO than assist! 2) I'm getting different stats from Yahoo vs NBA.com...but here they are... Yahoo shows... Rockets 2003-2004 (last year): 19.3 AST/15.8 TO Rockets 2004-2005 (this year): 21.5 AST/13.7 TO NBA.com has...(regular season)... Rockets 2003-2004 (last year): 19.3 AST/16.7 TO (?) Rockets 2004-2005 (this year): 21.5 AST/14.4 TO (?) And this is funny... Yahoo shows... Orlando 2003-2004 (last year): 19.3 AST/13.0 TO Orlando 2004-2005 (this year): 19.3 AST/15.6 TO NBA.com shows...(regular season)... Orlando 2003-2004 (last year): 19.3 AST/13.7 TO Orlando 2004-2005 (this year): 19.3 AST/16.1 TO It's interesting to note. Other than Francis 4.0 TO per game, Orlando's other players all average less than 1.8 TO per game. Grant Hill is the only one that averages a "horrendous" 2.4 TO per game. Gasp! Maybe Orlando needs to trade Hill and get more 1.7 TO players? It would help Francis look better. LOL!
This team was always going to need additional parts, simply because we gave up so much scoring. Taking your premise, do you think that if the trade had not been made, but we had Sura, Wesley, and Barry, that we'd be a better team? I find that hard to believe, personally. Sura, Barry and Wesley would be largely redundant with Francis and Mobley. When they did play, their skill sets wouldn't be optimized. So, at the absolute least, trading for McGrady allowed us to reconfigure the back-court in an advantageous manner. I suppose one could argue that if we'd retained Francis/Mobley, we would have gone for more front court (rebounding & defense) help. Yet I'm struggling, hard, to think of comparable players you can get that contribute instantly in the front court who could be gotten so easily. Though for me, the amazing thing is that McGrady, a better scorer than either Francis or Mobley, is (1) more creative and (2) less selfish than either.
The TO's are not revisionist history. Neither is a players passing ability, or rather passing accuracy of that *best* player. That hasn't changed. While it's true that we needed Sura, Westly, and Barry to become a more complete team. But to suggest that those same players would have been *good enough* for Francis/Mobley team. Well, that's not true. I don't know about you. But I don't want to build our team on a foundation that is shaky (i.e. bad decision maker). The source of the problem is FRANCIS BRAIN. All the other aspects are just gravy; better players, better rebounding, better shooting....those are important. But all of those improvements are greatly effected by SF's idiot decision making. The foundation of the team you *start with* will determine how good you become in the future with more improvements. It's exponential. It's just hard to describe how *good decision making* and *smarts* make such a big difference. They don't have stats for that other than TOs and maybe wins. But those are results, not describing the causes of those results. This is why watching a players tendencies and understanding what he is doing *on the court* is so important in assessing a players pros/cons. I think what Jumpman is trying to say is that Francis/Mobely needed KG or Duncan or Shaq in order to become an elite team. Which is think proves your point (haven). TMac/Yao can do a lot better with LESS talent than Francis can do with MORE talent. See, for Francis....Sura, Westley, Barry wouldn't be enough. Neither would Howard. The Francis excuses would just go on and on.......So, in order to compensate, SF would need two more HOFers to make up for his inadequacies. Yao, Sura, Westley, Barry, Deke and Howard would not be enough. The excuses would never end.
The Warehouse on Ben White... They have league pass and always find me a TV in front of me with the Rockets showing. They call me "Rocket Man" because I've caught almost every game there for the last two and a half years. I do have to say that I prefer when there isn't karakoe... And when we play the spurs it's the best because I get sound... But last night was exceptional as far as stupid hot chicks. They don't really get much dumber and hotter actually. At first I was looking around with my ears which led me to do a rather large shot of Jager as it was only halftime... and only about half of the people could find relative pitch. But then... I looked... It was when the two girls got up and sang a Beastie Boys song while shaking those things. I now love Karakoe. I still prefer the 1.50 Longneck special on the rare night that it and the Rockets align. Call me old fashioned...
I looked it up, Stevie has had 17 games with 6 turnovers or more this year, while McGrady has had 0 games with 6+ turnovers. When factoring games of 5 turnovers or more, Francis has 24 games total and T-Mac only 3 games with 5+ turnovers. Stuart
I remember being upset that we lost Francis to a trade, because I have jerseys of players I thought would always be on the team. Aside from the jerseys, I was dissappointed that we did not receive a rebounder and throughout the deals we've made, we still haven't obtained that needed rebounder that would make Sura a small injury compared to how it seems the team misses him until Friday with Phoenix. I'm sick of PF who have the urge to score or have excessive personality. (Barkley+Rodman). I wish for the team, to receive a draft pick that can rebound, defend, and pass. No dribbling, no 5 minute post-up showcasing, and no contriversial weddings to himself or kicking camera men. Just a pure rebounder that can score garbage shots and give the opposition one shot and out. I don't miss Mobley's inability to stay consistent, or to take the ball inside like McGrady can. I always believed that if he would act as a leader and not second fiddle to Francis and now Peja/Bibby, he would be an All-Star in the top ten scorers list. He has the ability and touch. In fact, while Mobley was a Rocket, I wanted him to lead the team, along with the next year in 2002-03 with Yao. Sadly he and Yao are still a few years off (each great player takes 6 to 10 years to give their best on the floor, I give Yao ten) from taking over a game unless they stay consistent. Yao is developing into a occassionally couple of bad games instead of a month of bad games. But Mobley, will have to surpise the critics, because althought he is capable of being as good as McGrady, he must come out of his shell before he loses his shelf life as a possible All-Star.
Mobely is as good as he can be right now. He is short compare with likes of Kobe, Tmac and he isnt as consistent as Ray Allen, Michael Redd. Nor can he finish like AI or Mighty Mouse. He is nowhere near the all star level.
one thing this team is doing (I noticed it at the game on Sunday - and I saw it in the background after the game last night) after the intro they all put their arms around each other in a huddle and did the swaying back in forth in unison (sort of like they wanted to get focused togther) also, in the past few years - its been Cat, SF3 and Yao or bust - but remember in the ninties when a different role player would step up each night (Horry, Cassell, OT, Brooks) we have that again with Barry, Sura, Deke, Padge... guys know their roles I only wish this team could have had the whole season together - maybe that 6-11 nonsense would have never occurred
By the way, did anybody see the end where John Barry was upset on the bench about not playing? or was it about something else? I assumed it was because he wanted to be out on the floor for those crucial last seconds of the game, he threw a competitive pphit(fit)! Meowr!
Excellent point! I remember knowing before each playoff game that one of the role players would step up in support of Dream. It was never a question of will one of them step up. That was a given. The only mystery was which one is going to step up this time. Great memories and it is kind of the same feeling watching these guys.
When I saw that, I thought he was pissed at TMac(as I was) for missing the clinching free throw. BTW, I hate to be picky, but I sure wish TMac would hit better on those free throws.
Here is what I hate about threads like this. It seems people on both sides need to put down someone to build their player of choice up. 'It's not Tmac who's helped out it's Sura, JB, Wesley, etc.' 'Francis and Mobes were dragging us down. Those guys sucked and not only did we get rid of them we got TMac as well.' Francis and Cat did good things when they were here. They've done good things since leaving here. That doesn't mean that we aren't better off with T-Mac. I'll take the team the way it is playing now over our old team. That doesn't mean I have to put any current or former Rockets down to make that case.
