........Langhi getting no PT? With Walt/Rice/KT out, why isn't Langhi at least getting some garbage minutes? Has he been relegated to the doghouse or something? Does he have bad practice habits or has he pissed someone off? I remember reading reports last year, that Rudy unofficially promised Langhi that he would be in the regular rotation this year. What has caused that to change? Are they planning on letting him walk at the end of the year? Also, while I'm at it, why is Willis not getting in the game anymore, with the exception of filling in for injured players? He still brings a productive offensive arsenal, even if he's had a little trouble finding the handle lately. With Cato's renewed attitude & the emergence of Griffin, I can understand why he's not playing center, but what about the PF spot? Finally, is Collier healthy? Why isn't he getting some minutes, to get him back into the swing of things? I realize that Rudy is working on establishing his regular rotation, but I'm curious as to why these 3 seem to be the odd men out. Collier, especially, showed some flashes of being a serviceable center last year, before his injury. Are they showcasing someone for a possible off season trade? Any insight as to what's going on behind the scenes would be greatly appreciated.
With Cato's play of late, and the emergence of the 19 year phenom, Kevin and Jason will be hard-pressed to see any addtional mintues after the break. As far as Langi is concerned, he is just not in our future plans. Rudy would rather give the mintues to Oscar and Morris, two players that will be sticking around awhile.
Last time I came close to broaching these subjects with any Rockets people I was told the following : 1. (paraphrasing their responses of course) “ … We’ve had so many line up changes that if we have a choice between a bunch of guys who played together as a unit (during a game situation), or a adding even one more guy who they haven’t played with or haven’t played much with … well, we’re going with the guy they’ve played a lot more with ….” 2. Collier they tell me is "healthy" but "doesn’t have the legs". Uh huh! Been saying that for two months. Personally, he looked pretty good in practice doing some short wind sprints and burpees, but I guess they mean he doesn’t have his “game legs” (stamina) yet. Go figure. I think they just don’t want to upset the core guys with even more subs. Who knows? My comment at the end probably explains it best. 3. Willis is being used less and less because RT is using Griffin in virtually all “small fives” and “speed fives”. With the five being (a) Francis, Mobley, TMo/Oscar, KT and Griffin; (b) Norris, Francis, Mobley, TMo/ KT and Griffin; (c) Francis/Norris, Mobley, TMo, KT, Griffin. - The regular sets especially against Western opponents will be Francis, Mobley, KT Griffin and Cato with Willis getting the first nod at Cato (except possibily against the TPups or the Clips, where Griffin slides over and the three spot is subbed by the bench) . 4. Playing Langhi doesn’t add anything to improve the five court players, other than to improve Langhi’s attitude and game prep. But so what he's gone. He's fodder for the mill. An add on in some obscure trade. Dang, he's not even second option off the bench any more. Sorry he better wait for garbage time, 'cause that's all he's going to get I think. Comment * I like the line up with Cato in there, especially mid to late game. He still starts a little slow, but he is gaining some respect. * Adding Griffin in the mix at center, and then trying to find time for Willis … man it’s tough in a 48 minute game to get everyone. * The main thing is to have some consistency, and you can get that a lot easier by shortening your rotation. Especially with young guys.
Man, that's pretty depressing, OP. It seems to me they have been pretty consistent for awhile. The guards consistently try to take their man off the dribble while most everyone else watches. Gosh, the core is doing so well, ... wouldn't want to upset them, or things might really get bad. NO O Cato works really well with this core. What a disaster, first losing Rice and now Walt. They were making such a tremendous difference. Boy, how 'bout that Eddie Griffin. Wonder if he could post up? I guess we'll never know. Wouldn't be consistent, wouldn't be prudent.
Moe your sarcasm is noted. LOL Basically look at what is in front of the team as a whole. 1. They will not make the playoffs this season. 2. They do not want to simply fold the tents and tank the season. What to do? 1. Expose the guys you are going to build with ... the core players ... the ones you are pretty damn sure will be with you next season ... to the team concept and playmaking as you (the coach) envision it. 2. Play the "other guys" only as you see fit. Guys like Collier or Langhi may not like it, but tough ****. 3. Play the game so that at some point the team will play like a team. Stress the type of sets you want, the type of offensive prepositioning, and flexes you want on every possession. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat - as many drills as you can during real game situations. Grant it, it does not look pretty but you (the coach) have to look at the long term. The goals for the season have drastically changed.
Goals have drastically changed? If they're not going to tank (and personally I hope they won't) then the goal is to win games and get a system down and do it well- that's the same as it was before the losing streak, right? Did you mean somehting else?
O....Welcome back to the boards! I enjoy your posts the most of anyone on here. If I may ask, are they scouting anyone in particular in college or high school? I'm imagining that we'll get a top 10 pick in the draft.
The Rocket organization's goal is and has always been to make it to the playoffs. (RT calls it the "second season". Sometimes euphemistically he refers to it as the "real season".) It helps the franchise in many ways. Team success. Player acheivement. Fan approval and involvement. Increase of playoff sharing (that's about $2-3 million extra to a whopping 20+ million if you get to the finals). But overall it expands the finacial and marketablity base enormously. That goal is no longer attainable for this year. The objective now is to develop the team as outlined above. That in itself is a formidable task. Tanking is NOT the goal. Tanking would absolutely destroy that focus and defeat the purpose. It will not happen. But clearly the idea is: 1. to get something out of the games ahead. Not play second or third tier players who will be able to win a couple of possessions (hopefully), but harm the over development of the core of the team. 2. to present satisfactory gametime real situations where this development can take place.
NJ Rock: Thanks for kudos, man. Nope not that I know of. Not looking at anyone specific just everyone in general. There's a couple of guys at Lon Morris and San Jacinto CC's that perking up some eyebrows though. I still think Duke's Jason Williams will be number one. Chris Marcus that tall drink of water out of Western Kentucky will be up near the top too. I like the idea of unloading the pick, no matter where it is - one to thirteen - and trade off for an established starter while unloading someone presently firmly stuck on our roster. Time to take advantage. The ideal would be to sell off the pick, look after our obligations for other picks THIS year, and somehow parlay that into a pick plus player(s) for a starter. Not an unreasonable plan. Cheers.
Opportunity exists in a season like this. There is no authentic pressure in a year when MoT, Rice, and Stevie are hurt for so long -- those are big parts of the puzzle, and no one expects Mobley to singlehandedly compete with Sacramento and LA. EVen if they were healthy, this was not going to be our year. Our year will be 2004-5 or something. So no, you do not tank. But you essentially treat this as a year of working on long term goals, like acclimating rookies and experimenting with rotations, etc. Even giving Cato minutes in crunch time -- these are things you could not do if you were battling for home court advantage at the end of the regular season. This is our 1992 year, where we look at guys like Buck Johnson and Vernon Maxwell, seeing who will be here long term and what their roles will be. Yes, making the playoffs would be nice, but at this point, Rudy has an opportunity to dress-rehearse this team, rather than try to scratch out Ws at the expense of health and/or long term team building. Rehearsal time is precious. Go for it. CBFC
Clarence That's right. You got it.. Hey how come it takes me two paragraphs and an epistle-sized thesis to say what you say in a few short blurps and plops?
OP: Good stuff as always. I know that the Rockets have stressed both publicly and privately that they have ZERO interest in losing for draft positioning. The main reason always cited is that you NEVER EVER place that mentality on your players under any circumstance. It is ok for them to understand that you are not that good, but not that it is OK to lose. Also, it cannot do anything for how you are regarded outside the organization both from fans and other players. Tanking, while it may seem like a panacea to some fans, is a good way to turn your franchise into more than a one-time loser.
Jeff: " ... It is ok for them to understand that you are not that good, but not that it is OK to lose...." There it is. That's the quintessential argument base against tanking, right there.
OP, You mentioned that you like the idea of trading the pick, if it's anywhere from 1-13, while moving (I'm assuming you meant) a big contract or dead weight. What's your read on the Rocket's feelings in regard to this matter? For instance, hypothetically speaking, say we were to miraculously end up with the #1 overall pick in the draft. What, in your opinion, would they do? Ming Yao has been hyped as the greatest center to come along since Shaq, Dream, etc....., would they take him or would they trade the pick & do the scenario that you used as an example in another thread of trading down a couple of spots & acquiring additional picks? Also, do you have a feeling as to what position player they feel is needed the most? By the way, thanks for the information in the above posts. It explains a lot as to why they've been using the lineups that they have.
opie-So what do you think the odds that the Rockets make some sort of move to add a player that will play a part in the future by the trade deadline? Very interesting that you think the Rockets would take JWill #1.
Since we're talking about goals for next year, my goal would be to get rid of Cato, Norris, and Taylor. Huge salary cap albatrosses that will hinder our development and chance for improvement for a while.
OP - I second Hottoddie's question. I'm dying to know what the Rockets think of Yao Ming. Especially when center is probably their most glaring hole. If Jason Williams is taken first, how far would Ming drop, and would the Rockets consider him?
Is that what OP meant? I took it as JWill would go number one without nesessarily referring to the Rockets. I took it as more of an overall draft opinion. On the other hand, I have been wrong before. OP You referred to unloading the pick along with an existing player entrenched in our rotation. Let's say we consummate a deal similar to the Rahim trade. We would have to include at least one big dollar player. I am referring to MoT, Cato, Rice or to a lesser extent Moochie. I doubt any team would take any of our injured players. That would mean we would have to package Cato or perhaps KT and Mooch with the pick unless we want to be part of another trade that involves 10-15 players.... What position do we need to improve? If it is the center position then what player could fill that void? Lafrentz. Is he worth that? I guess the point to my rambling in the previous paragraph has to do with the possibilities. If we have a top three pick then I could see us getting a premier player. The player will come from perhaps an older team that is very close to rebuilding. For example,(I know, I know) if the Spurs perform terribly in the playoffs I could see them packaging Duncan. I would guess Griffin and Cat are almost untouchable. But to get a player of that calibur we would have to give up Griffin or Cat along with the pick and some others to make the salaries match. Or perhaps, we could get Wallace without giving up Cat and Griffen... See the endless possibilities! What do we upgrade next year? The players that will return from the IR and a more experienced Griffin and TMo would probably improve our 3 and 4 position. If Cato continues to improve, he would be a perfect compliment to our offensive minded personnel. (I know that is a big IF). Other than Shaq, who is out there? Would we be better off drafting Ming?
