As you can see by my name here...I am a huge Steve Francis fan. I love his skill, his ability, and his desire to win. However, I am not pleased with the way our offense plays basketball. As much as I am annoyed by Bill Walton he does have an understanding of the correct way to play the game of basketball. An effective offense in todays league is one in which 5 guys touch the ball and one in which the 4 guys without the ball are cutting and moving to open spots on the floor. Walton on repeated occasions has pointed out that the Rockets offense looks horrible. Because it does. Kenny Smith last night said our guards have "Dribble Diarea." There are some problems that need to be resolved and here they are. 1. Yao does not touch the ball enough. - Yes hes a rookie and yes hes been struggling of late but the fact of the matter is at this time in our season I feel as if he is our most efficient offensive player as his FG% shows us and hes a great passser out of the post. 2. When Yao does touch the ball there is no movement. - Watch the Lakers when Shaq touches the ball, the Spurs when Duncan touches the ball, the Kings when Webber touches the ball. There is constant cutting and movement which makes it difficult to keying on one guy and taking away outlet passes to stationary players. 3. The Rockets have no flexibility in their offense. - They run the same sets all the time. Their offense is soo predicatable my mom pointed out to me that they run the same play all the time. My mom is 51 and the only reason she could tell it was basketball is because the ball was orange and the guys were tall. Watch the Kings/Spurs/Mavericks/Lakers play. They run different sets everytime down the floor. This keeps the defense off balance and allows for more players to get involved in the offense and takes advantage of the fact we have scorers at about every position. And when more guys are involved the better they play Defense and the happier they are. 4. Cuttino Mobley is a complete gunner. - Ok now I didnt want to get into any bashing so ill make this short and sweet. He single handily ruins sets sometimes by putting his head down and trying to take his man. Steve is guilty of this as well...but the way Cuttino does it takes everyone out of the flow completley. 5. Our coaches are full of it. - As many of you remember at the start of the year Rudy T was said to be implementing a 'new offense' a offense that mirrors what the Sacramento Kings play. Now I think even Stevie Wonder could see that our offense in no way shape or form looks likes the Kings. They dont run 1 on 1's for their guards with no movement. They dont dump into the post to Vlade or Webber without movement. They push the ball up the floor and take good quick shots...we dont. All 5 guys are involved in the offense...We will be lucky if 5 guys touch it every 6 minutes. And it comes down to the coaches not working on an offense that they said was going to be in place. 6. We have too many raw/unknowledgable players. - James Posey, Cuttino, Mo Taylor, Eddie Griffin and yes even Steve play on instinct too much and do not truly understand how to run sets, run fastbreaks, set up the defense, and move the ball effectively. I dont know if this is an experience issue or a selfish issue. Because these guys have been in the league for several years at least and should realize what the good teams are doing to them night in and night out...and understand what makes the sucessful on the offensive end of the floor. I belive Yao has the best basketball IQ of anyone on the Rockets. 7. We have too many 'offensive' minded players. - Good teams in the league today have guys who know their roles and guys who are main options. The Rockets are a team that everyone who plays basically wants to shoot when they get it. Steve likes to shoot, Cuttino LOVES to shoot, Griffin always shoots stupid 3's, Mo Taylor is a blackhole, Posey likes to shoot. When you have 5 players who have selfish tendencies its not a good thing for an offense that is looking for continuity. The Kings have 5 guys who 'can' score but dont have 5 guys who want to score everytime they touch the rock. Webb loves to pass, Vlade loves to pass, Christie is more defensive minded and loves to pass, Bibby likes to do both, and Peja is a gunner who will pass. Spurs have Duncan and Parker, who do a great deal of scoring and Stephen Jackson gets his in the flow of the offense. But Bowen, Robinson, Rose, Manu, these guys play hard D and dont mind not shooting. Mavs have the big 3 and then defensive minded guys around them. Its not a coincidence that they play good offense. Because they dont mind passing and sharing. Solution? That is where I want your guys opinions. I have searched this topic through and through already and want to see if you guys agree with me and if you do, what you think needs to be done to change it. I will not even comment on our Defense.
1, 2, 3, and 5) Honestly, the best solution I can come up with for all of these deficiencies is a new coaching staff. I don't care how much their record has improved compared to last season, this team has underachieved all year long. Whether it's rolling over against crappy teams or reverting to ISO-ball just because Yao or Mo miss a couple shots in a row or failing to execute down the stretch in close games, they simply haven't shown any growth. They're the same bunch of selfish, immature players we saw the last couple seasons. The only reason they've won more games this year is because they're healthy. Period! But the biggest indictment on the Rockets players and coaches is not what they've failed to achieve this season. Rather it's what teams like San Antonio and Golden State HAVE accomplished under very similar circumstances. San Antonio, while incorporating several new players in key positions(some of whom are just as young and inexperienced as their Rockets counterparts, if not more so), is on the verge of overtaking Dallas for the best record in the league. Yes, they have the reigning MVP in Tim Duncan. That doesn't hurt. But if you've watched them throughout the season, you'll see that their execution on offense has improved and their players have come to learn and accept their roles. Can you say the same about Houston? As for Golden State, despite having just as much young, raw talent as the Rockets(not to mention a new head coach), this team that has been one of the laughingstocks of the league for 8 years was actually tied with Houston in the standings not more than a couple weeks ago. And why? Because the team bought into the system Eric Musselman installed and the players accepted their roles. Ultimately, their inability to play defense cost them a shot at the postseason, but they've definitely taken a huge step in the right direction. Can you say the same about Houston? Now of course, at this point all the Rudy marks are gonna pile on me with comments like "the team is young", "Rudy is sick", "be patient, winning takes time", etc. And to an extent, I agree. No one expected this team to be a title contender this season. Hell, no one expects it next season. But it's not unreasonable to think this team should be among the top 4 in the West come 2004-2005 and frankly, I don't see that happening if things remain status quo. The bottom line is these guys aren't LEARNING!!! Listen to any NBA commentator not named Bill Worrell or Calvin Murphy and they'll all point out the numerous mistakes made by these players. And you know what? They were the same mistakes being made back in November. Nothing has changed. What Les Alexander and all the fans need to ask themselves is what they want this team to become in 2 years. Do they want the Rockets to be a team that wins a majority of their regular season games on talent alone but lacks the maturity and intelligence to take the next step and contend for a title? Or do they want to be one of the elite teams in the league? The kind that matches brawn with brains and dominates both the regular season and playoffs. In other words, would they rather be the Lakers pre-2000 or the Lakers from 2000 on? Do they want to be the Portland Trail Blazers of the last 2 seasons? Or the Sacramento Kings of the last 2 seasons? 4) This one's simple. Cat needs to go. He's a good scorer and a clutch shooter, but he doesn't fit this team with the direction they want to go. He and Steve have identical games and that's not gonna work if the future of this organization is Yao. It's reminiscent of the Sixers when they had Iverson and Stackhouse. They got rid of Stack, which made Iverson a better player and improved team chemistry. The Rockets need to do the same. Get rid of Cat and bring in a 2-guard who'll knock down the outside shot consistently and can D up on opposing players. If you want an even better example, think of the mid-90's Sonics when they got rid of Kendall Gill and brought in Hersey Hawkins. Of course, these aren't the only changes this team needs, whether they make the playoffs or not. But they are the most obvious weaknesses plaguing the ballclub at the moment. Comments?
Man! I thought I was the only one who remembered Rudy saying this. I thought I was hearing things. In the preseason, Rudy said he implemented the new plays, but the team needed about 5 games to get used to them. Needless to say, the team never did run any new plays, and still seems unsure how to run the ancient ones. Good post.
Rudy is crazy about mismatch. Even sometimes he take a non-mismatch as a mismatch. Mo-T is not a blackhole. He does what the team needs him to do. He's the man.
Mo Taylor does not pass and holds the ball a lot. But he is actually a player who I like, in terms of ability. But this team needs changes in terms of style, personnel, coaching, and attitude....until then we will be winning games purely on individual talent...which in the NBA is never enough.
iOrange, MoT IS a blackhole. Try this next game. Chart how many times MoT shoots the ball vs passing it when he gets the ball. Granted he is shooting well as of late, but other teamates are not involved. As for the topic at hand. This team needs some major personnel changes, more than alot of people think. COMPLETE NEW coaching staff. I know its harsh to kick a man when he's down but Rudy T still needs to go. This current staff is clueless on how to prepare the players to play well consistently on O or D. Get a Pass-first PG and move Francis to SG. Francis just doesn't have the floor vision and intuitiveness to become a good PG. Mobley needs to be traded THIS offseason, while he still has some value. Maybe for a player that has a little less athletic talent but alot more BBall intelligence. RELEASE or trade Mooch for a 2nd round pick. He's worthless on this team that will be trying to contend for a title in 2 years. This may be unpopular but here goes: GET RID of EG or MoT. Both these guys are not good passers. Neither of these guys are good enuf PFs to contend with other West PF's and we need a PF to do the dirty work around the basket to compliment Yao. Yao also needs to toughen up in the off-season or he might be traded within 2 years. Being timid and shy on the court will get you nowhere in the NBA. Also, work on a signature postup move that will consistently get baskets (hook shot, jump hook, turnaround bank shot) On a side note: If the last game or 2 of the season doesn't matter whether or not we are in the playoffs, please play Boki and Tito some major minutes for developmental purposes.
