Just some thoughts Im tosing around in my head ... Would all of you prefer to have a team grounded more on defense or offense? To score at will, or to shut others down? Is a guard oriented team generally more geared towards scoring or defense? My take: I would rather have the O. Live and die by it. I've watched Knick and Heat ball long enough. It is ugly. I want scorers. And it just seems right to surround Francis with as much offensive talent as possible. I want him to dish to guys open for jumpshots. I dont want to have to rely on guys like Cato to need alley oops all the time. ------------------ No signature for you!
You have to have a mix of both offense and defense. If you have a talented defensive player with poor offense at center, such as Cato, match him up with mediocre defensive player with good offensive skills, like Collier. Ideally, you have a platoon, or a backup who can provide stellar defense, a perfect example would be Portland's PGs, of Stoudamire-Anthony. ------------------ 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. [This message has been edited by NIKEstrad (edited July 03, 2000).]
Then this is Houston's mix so far: Defense: Cato Offense: Everyone Else ------------------ No signature for you!
Cisco, I understand what you are saying, and have watched way too many boring Knicks games, but the opposite of that is how many games and titles did the Golden State RUN TMC teams win, they would consitently score over 120, but their opposition would score over 130. Can't remember them winning any titles. Why can't we have both. Surely a high scoring line-up that is centred around it's guards, is usually based on guards that are fast. The task has to be, to get these extremely fast guards (Francis and Cuttino) to use their speed on defense and get all over their players when they have the ball, play the lanes when the off the ball, looking for steals and dunks, use their speed to play help D, and get to spot to take charges and pick pockets. For me we have the physical attributes to play good high intensity defense (esp francis, cat, shandy, cato, KT, moogie) but just need improve their defensive technique and more importantly work harder. Defense is all about intensity, mental application and working real hard as a team. Smeg ------------------ Stuff BBS, the Rockets and you guys It's all Clippers these days, come join the bandwagon and visit http://www.ClippersCity.net
I do think you need a balance. Another example of the platoon system would be Anderson/Mobley. Anderson can light it up sometimes, but he always brings defense. I'd still like to see us pick up another BIG man who plays great defense and rebounds well. I'm not talking about All-star caliber. I'm talking about somebody who won't demand a lot of playing time, but will do what he was hired for when put into the game. Even to the point of having this attitude: "Have six fouls, will use them." ------------------
I prefer the offense personally. Whether you score more, or they scores less, the result is the same .... and as crisco said, offense is so much more FUN to watch. Sure, balance would be great, but if I just had to choose... I choose the great shots and neato dunks . ------------------
Ahhhh, I understand. Smeg of Defense. I can see Francis applying himself and improving his D. Along with Mooch and Cuttino. Somehow I cant see Cato substatially "mentally applying himself". And I think that no matter how hard KT applies himself, he will still be torched. But at least KT has an offensive game. I still want more O than D. ------------------ No signature for you!
Although I can see the postives in a platoon system. what I actually meant by balance was having players who can play both, not necessarily equally well, but not a liability at one and sensational at the other either. Another thing to consider is a good defensive team, that forces the opposition to put up low percentage shots, doesn't allow 2nd shots and furthermore creates lots of mistakes and turnovers through steals and blocks and high intensity, will create for itself a hell of a lot of offense, especially easy transition baskets. In other words Good Defense creates Offense Smeg of Balance PS maybe i have this attitude, cause the team i coach is limited offensively and we have to let our defense create a fair chunk of our points. PPS Either way the rockets score just has to be greater than the opposition score for us to win. ------------------ Stuff BBS, the Rockets and you guys It's all Clippers these days, come join the bandwagon and visit http://www.ClippersCity.net [This message has been edited by SmeggySmeg (edited July 04, 2000).]
I think you are offensive, Crisco. There is no defense for that. Hee hee. Seriously, if you want the Rockets to be the kings, then they will be fun to watch, but will bow out in the 2nd round. Also, Shando is our best "bring it every game" defender, not Cato. He just blocks shots. Dream - both when he is well Cato - D Collier - O Williams - a touch of both, erratically Bull - none KT - O Anderson - D, a little O Cat - 2 O's, but no D in Cuttino Mobley Francis - so much O that he does not need D Mooch - O, I have no idea about the D Drew - Never made a D in his life ------------------ rimbaud post-a-thon 2000 *Your Ad Here*
The Rocks defense isn't bad. Keeping a lead is difficult but that is an exception with most young teams. Their offense carries them sometimes though. Right now Shan is the Rocks best defensive player. Kenny and especially Cato have shown that they can be a force in the paint . As Stevie gets more experience his defense will be increasingly solid. ------------------ I AM SPARTACUS
Rimmer, Two points 1. Williams - a touch of both, erratically Walt Williams has never and will never play any defense in his life. Even if he stood still and Oliver Miller ran full bore into him, he would find a way to stuff it up and give away a foul and miss out on the taking the charge. 2. Francis - so much O that he does not need D Don't care who it is but no amount of offensive ability and production excuses the player from playing defense. Surprise, surprise that people are content with 30 wins for a season. Especially if a team is SERIOUS about contending and winnning the Title (and not just the highlight reel contests) Smeg of Defense ------------------ Stuff BBS, the Rockets and you guys It's all Clippers these days, come join the bandwagon and visit http://www.ClippersCity.net
Smeggler, 1. If you watched carefully, every now and then the Wizard played a little D. It was a shock and the natural human reaction is to disbelieve and creat a new memory of him telling the guy with the ball to fake him left and then go right and "it will work every time." You have to fight it. Then you will see the D he played for about 5 minutes every 4 games. 2. That was mostly a joke, but wouldn't you rather have Francis being the weakest D guy than anyone else. This is for two reasons: 1. His offense helps subtract a lot of errors. 2. If everyone else is a great defender, he can funnel. Being that he guards the man bringing the ball up, he is the first line of defense. It is always best for the first line to be the weakest. But, yes, he needs to work on his D. If he improves, it will be killer. ------------------ rimbaud post-a-thon 2000 *Your Ad Here*
Fair Points Rimboy, But if opposition PGs continue to have Season highs in Points and Assista against the Rockets cause Steve is guarding them, as they did last season (i never knew Mike Bibby and Terrell Brandon could score that much). Then we will continue to loose. Smeg ------------------ Stuff BBS, the Rockets and you guys It's all Clippers these days, come join the bandwagon and visit http://www.ClippersCity.net
If I had to choose, it would be O. I think everyone agrees that to win it all, you gotta bring a decent D to the table though. I don't think the Rockets are as far off in that catagory as some people think. If we can get Kato to get his head out of his ass and into the game(and don't you think Rudy has been showing him film of his bull**** all summer) he can be a dominant defensive center in this league. Now if we can combine that with a big shotblocking PF, then our defense could be outstanding. KT is just too short to be the kind of force we need, but Collier is a legit 7 footer. I'm not sure what kind of defense this guy plays, no one will till we see him against NBA players, but Rudy seems to think he's gonna be alright. Have the guards funnel their guys inside and let the big guys take target practice and I think we'll be ok. ------------------ "And On The 8th day god Created Basketball, And on the 9th He Created The Dream To Play It"
As much as i know how boring defensive oriented teams are to watch. I gotta say that, in the Playoffs, it's the team Defence which will save you in the critical moments. I've always beliveed that Only a team which can play GREAT defence is capable of winning championships. ------------------ Ostertag for Three!!!!!
The problem, is if you play great defense and offense, you're a superstar (which is hard to acquire). Let's assume we have Cato at center. We'd need a PF that can score down low, or else again, we're not going anywhere. Collier can score down low, but his defense is average. ------------------ 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.
If Steve can turn the ball over 25% to 35% less then he did last year that would be a heck of an improvment on defense for him. I beleive that he will do that. If Walt will start off the season hitting the percentage of shots that he did in the last month of the season that will be the only way he can improve his defense. I don't think he has enough talent to improve any other way! I want to see the Dream playing defense the way he use to. I loved the way people changed their route to the net when Dream was there. If he plays this year in scores 12 to 15 points per game that would be satisfiable to most of us, because he is not are offense any more. That is what our young bloods do. ------------------ One minute ago you had 60 seconds longer to live then you have now. Did you enjoy the 60 seconds you just had?
What do turnovers and FG% have to do with defense? Smeggmadoo: You are right, but the logic is, if others step up and cover when Stevie messes up, then they will not score or get an assist. Of course, we both agree that Stevie needs to improve, but who else would you want to be the weak link? KT? Not much help for him down low. Wiz? Man blows by him or jacks one up in his face on the wing - not as easy to help. My real point (I guess) is that at least Steve is not like that chump Jason Williams. Let's see, no consistent O, absolutely no D, poor assists, wonderful turnovers, selfish play. If he had amazing D, then he would be bearable. As it is, he is useless - except for the "wow, a white guy who plays like a (15 year old) black guy" media nonsense. ------------------ rimbaud post-a-thon 2000 *Your Ad Here*
id like to say that jason williams is by far, the most over rated player in maybe the history of the league. they show his one awesome pass on espn, but fail to show the 15 bricks in a row he puts up from those transition 3 point attempts. about this thread now. you just have to have a blend to be successful. you cant have one or the other. the bulls and rockets won championships because they could do both. you use offense to get the crowd going, get the blood pumping and play tighter defense which leads to turnovers and transition baskets. you use defense to shut down your opponant, especially if youre having trouble to score in the first place. the tight defense will create turnovers as well and will lead to an offensive game. im greedy. i want both. and i think this rockets team has enough good defenders to be pretty successful this coming season. ------------------ Great players aren't always great, they're only great when they have to be
lol Rimmy. I would rather have Francis leading the charge defensively similar to Payton, than have him become a passable sieve. Walt would be my weak link of choice. Since Francis IS the Franchise, he should set its tone defensively, no? NIKE - what? Collier can score down low? I thought he was more of a jumpshooter... ------------------ No signature for you!
