One more SA thread....its been a long time so Im allowed to.

verse, agreed. I wasn't saying that Jefferson wasn't a good shooter, too - he's a guy that could feast on open looks created by penetration.

I don't think Walt or Shandon are effective at the 3. Shan was a much better scorer/shooter/defender in 1999/2000, when he played primarily at the 2. Walt likewise plays better at the power forward slot, where his lack of athleticism doesn't haunt him as much and his defender often leaves him open on the perimeter. That is why we need a new SF - the ones we have aren't suited to that position, offensively or defensively.

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I'm about to boldly go where many men have gone before.

 

Oh, most definitely. That's where the "Rudy isn't using Shandon"..."Shandon is good in the low post"....is ignoring that he isn't now. And this is probably due to reviewing tape on the guy. Shandon hasn't improved, and league has him pegged in the low post.

From my tape reviews, Shandon shows too much ball when he makes any move. That is a natural problem with some players, and tape reviewers look for it. Defenders of such ball exposers instintively place their hand where the ball will be exposed in a move. It is a very basic thing for a defender to do.

 

I know you were. I did a poor job of acknowledging agreement in my rush to defend Rudy.

 

SamCassell:

exactly.

either RJeff or Jason Richardson would be natural 3s. neither shandn nor walt play like it. walt used to, but bad knees stopped that train long ago. shandn can't drive or shoot from outside - the 2 things most SFs can do.

 

That is a weak argument for Shandon Anderson. I like Shandon, don't get me wrong, but if you have to specifically have a play run for you on every offensive possession then you have a problem. Shandon's role on this team is somewhat similar to Mario Elie's role. Defensive specialist, occasional scorer, and a finisher on the break. Mario was never the greatest defender, he was just a very good, underrated, team and one-on-one defender, just like Shandon. People who expected Shandon to come in and shut down people may have been confused, he is a guy who will contain a guy, take a 30 ppg scorer and make him a 19 point scorer. But the people who think that Shandon is misused offensively are confused to. Granted Mario had some shots off of post plays, but Mario also slashed to the basket and was running the floor on the break. You don't run an offensive play for the 4th or 5th scorer. Mario Elie was the 4th scorer on the Big Three team, Dream, Charles and Clyde were the main offensive options. You didn't see Rudy running plays specifically for Mario, Mario found his scoring opportuniities. That is what Shandon has to do, and if he's leaving because of that, well good luck to him becuase the next team that takes him will be asking for the same thing. Say what you want about Cat finishing on the break, but he gets his points. Same with Franchise. But Shandon is capable of slashing and scoring, and he just won't do it. That's his problem.

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See the three, be the three.

[This message has been edited by RocksMillenium (edited April 23, 2001).]

 

Big Big MISNOMER: Shandon is not facing different defenders this year!!

Where does this come from that Shandon is a SF now and faces different defenders?? What was he last year in our 3 guard sets when Mobley came in???


You know, I've said this before: Cuttino is guarded by the SF more than Shandon, unless the SG is a better defender. There is not a big enough size difference in Mobley and Shandon (especially considering arm length of Cat) for any coach to use strict size as the determining factor in who guards Shandon. Mobley is guarded by the better defender, regardless of whether he is a SF or SG. Hell, Payton guarded him, too.

Shandon is facing the same defenders in our 3 guard line-up as he faced last year. Why wouldn't he be!!!!

Because of this and Mobley's continued improvement (albeit the struggles to get a midrange shot off with balance against taller defenders), I think we can actually wait on upgrading the SF position while give Moochie increased minutes playing with Francis and Mobley on his wings.

I'm not speculating about this; we have already seen Rudy do this quite often. To a large extent, Moochie at PG with Francis and Mobley as threats on both wings is a major 4th Q. attack of ours, particularly when we were playing catch-up ball.

Does everyone remember Moochie's classic ISOs straight down the center? That works because he has Francis and Mobley as options on either wing. In fact, that can work against zone as well. It totally flattens the defense and strings them out parallel with the baseline.

That nice 3 guard attack is why I say to just concentrate on the front line. The SF position can wait on rebuilding.

[This message has been edited by heypartner (edited April 23, 2001).]

 

ROTFLMAO!!!!

ROTFLMAO!!

oh yea, he almost never finishes.

20ppg, but he almost never finishes.

you've got to be joking.

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Lt. Roastabotch reporting for duty!

 

If the rockets can't get a better SF, I am for keeping SA. I am not an expert talent evaluator, but I do believe it is possible get a player more suited in the rockets system for the 3rd guard/SF in this year's deep draft.

I don't think SA is a bad player, just that he's in the wrong position for the rockets, who currently have noone better.

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"sometimes too many defenders and no scoring is a bad thing too: see philadelphia."

What? They were upset in one game of the playoffs, and all of a sudden their setup is bad? They could very well end up winning the title! There is NOTHING wrong with surrounding good offensive players with strong defenders. Houston already has the edge over Philly on offense, now all they need is more defensive players. Shandon is one of those defensive type players, and if keeping him happy means giving him a few plays, then the Rockets should do that.

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Well that's it, the season's over.

Protrolls.com!

I've got message boards up and running, feel free to Troll them. Anytime now....

 

I didnt see that tidbit before. If you watch the games Mobley is always at his best when he ISO's and drives to the hole. That ALWAYS gets him rolling and gets his shot going. When he has problems is when he starts jacking up shots fromt he outside before getting comfortable with the flow of the game by driving. Almost every game Mobley shot poorly in was because he didnt drive to the hole in the first place.

It is my opinion that we are a better team replacing Shandon. You rarely just lose a player, especially a starter, and get better. The question is can we replace Anderson with someone better. If not, then we should try and keep him. Pretty simple really.

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Haha.. you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is: Never get involved in a land war in Asia. Only slightly less well know is this: Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!

 

while i agree with you, JayZ...

the question then becomes: do you draft a SF to replace shandn if, by chance, there is an Eddy Curry or Tyson Chandler on the board?

IMO, you take the Curry or Chandler.

then offer shandn in the area of $3,000,000 per. if he takes it, fine. if he doesn't: peace. roll with a trio of langhi/walt/shandn at the 3 next year (in that order).


- OR -


offer shandn $3MM...then
draft a sf with our lower 1st round pick and say bye bye to bullard. langhi would take bull's minutes and the draftee with take langhi's bench spot until he proves himself. once he does...bye bye shandn.


[This message has been edited by verse (edited April 23, 2001).]

 

...

[This message has been edited by verse (edited April 23, 2001).]

 

Last year, for the Rockets, Shandon scored his career high of 12.3 ppg from the starting SG spot. Do you think Shandon would be a better starting 2 guard for the Rockets than Cuttino? Or are you suggesting that Shandon could get 13-15ppg from the 3 spot?

It seems to me that Shandon is what he is. He can get shots in the flow of the offense periodically and be effective. If he's not aggressive he'll score 8ppg; otherwise, he can be a good spark.

But Kelvin Cato can score 11ppg. Carlos Rogers can put up numbers too. Many players can score in the flow of an offense. For the Rockets though, only Walt, Cuttino, Steve, Mo, Moochie, Kenny and Dream can create their own shots. Langhi's getting there.

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women love me, fish fear me.

 

Don't take offense, Dreamshake.

I just found your infantile tone amusing.

The post was purposely inflammatory...just wanted to see what you would say.

You'd do better to ignore posts like that.

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Gascon

 

I have been calling Cuttino 'The Abyss' on John and Lance's show for over a year now. The iso concept of an offensive stategy is fun to watch...sometimes. Francis seems to recognize this and does not go iso everytime he touches the rock. The Cat, God love him, goes iso every time. His only assists come from dish offs when his iso falls apart. Don't get me wrong, I love The Cat, I just wish he'd try to learn from Francis rather than equal him. He should stop trying to convince himself and the fans that it's his & Francis' team because it's not. It's Bullard's team. (Sorry, I couldn't bring myself to admit publicly that it is Francis' team instead of Bullard's)

Chance

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One time, Matt Bullard blocked two shots in one game.

 

It's not Francis team yet. The guy is still developing. It's a 2 man team right now. People who expect Francis to carry the team are in for a rude awakening. If you take Mobley off the team Francis struggles because he gets doubled and tripled for an entire game without any help. And I know it's easy for people to say "well we can get Jamison to replace Cat", it's not that easy. If that were the case, I could say we could replace Francis with Jason Kidd. It's just not that easy, and until Francis matures into a full fledge superstar capable of carrying a franchise, it's not fully Francis team. Not yet.

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See the three, be the three.

 

Mobley would still be coming off the bench if Walt didn't suck this year. Who wants to disagree?

In our glorious run at the end of last year, Mobley was coming off the bench. And we didn't even have Mo or Hakeem! That should tell you something.

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"I'll be gettin real drunk and making fun of everybody"

 

I don't think rocks would want to trade Francis for Kidd even if they could, that wouldn't be smart.. but anyways, yeah, I also have to agree that shandon's D is a little overated, he is a good defender, but it just doesn't make up for the lack of basic fundementals, I'd love to see a change on the 3 spot..

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against all odds

 

Boy you do have thick glasses. You said

Do you want to have a nice fun battle of quotes? Because that was pure exaggeration and bias. You know Phil Jackson does that as mind games, like Phil Jackson is even a Xs and Os man anyhow, like Riley and Rudy are. Cangeolla's ? main complaint is about fan excitement and trying to get Scott Skiles to make a comeback...that was the instructions from Stern. Dream raves about Rudy, you know it. Shandon has bad fundamental offensive basketball skills, so like I care what he and Don Fegan try to say to convince themselves the team is hurting him. Pippen was as much about Barkley as anything....again there were no practices or camp that year to help Rudy do something new. Lenny Wilkens and Doc Rivers said they'd coach Mobley and Francis the same way. You know Riley already coaches the same way. Larry Brown is too.

You know I have seen Matt Bullard drive through creases all the way to the basket for scores at least 5 times....I've never seen him do it before, and the lockerroom jokes about it. If that happens, you know Pippen could have creases.

These past two years Rudy is doing new things and is getting the complicating options goins, and plenty of people are noticing it....I'm sorry you are not.

And stop with the stupid Olympics crap. You just let the dream team's play, while providing player management...that is all. Your comments are like those from Brazilian fans who b**** out their brilliant coaches everytime they don't win a World Cup. The Olympics is not viewed as important as the World Cup...give me a break.