Well stinks is a strong word. it needs improvement. im not tryin to get a ranter or criticizer rep. just wanted to see if anyone else shares my opinion. If anyone hasn't noticed most of the rockets players are horrific passers. they telegraph the ball and pass right into odvious passing lanes. bill worrell or calvin even said everybody plays the weak side lanes against the rockets. chest passes or fundamental bounce passes would reall help shooting. the passing isn't crisp at all usually though. there isnt alot of quick passes to wear teams out. teams like sayyy sacremento practically play a zone. well only way to beat a zone or good interior D is by ball movement and passing. walt williams- does fancy one handed crap. he threw 3-4 bad passes. doesnt swing the ball fast enough. doenst know when to lay off the shot apparently either. kenny thomas- tries the spectacular pass too much. is actually a good passer in certain situations. but he often has to hand the ball. FYI off topic he shouldve hit the offensive boards better but noooo he stood aruond the 3 point line tonight. mo taylor- not a great passer out of the double team. tries the backdoor pass too much and it rarely works. cuttino mobley- enough said. this area needs alot of improvement although he isnt too bad at finding a post on a drive.... francis is just 10 times better. horrible at passing out of traps and double teams. dream- used to be a great passer. now is pretty good still. occasionally makes goofy passes. throws too hard sometimes. moochie norris- good passer but sometimes leaves it easy for defender to steal. 2nd best passer on the team. francis- best passer on the team. finds open guys well. looks to pass too much sometimes. occasionally makes stupid passes. shandon anderson- average passer not too great tho. tries to force things sometime. passes very well on the fast break. langhi n collier no idea. cato- barely knows a thing about passing. just knows the odvious. moochie hits shooters alot better than the rest of the team. if the passes were crisp and where the shooters want them we would have WAYYYYY more 3s. and if the rockets would ever learn that mid range jump shots aren't bad shots.. we could run alot more catch and shoot.. pick and roll plays etc. other subject was ball movement. if everyone touched the ball confidence and shooting % would go up. if we had some ball movement and spiced up the offense shandon would score 12 ppg. easy. he does well when everyone is moving and involved. i could play in the rockets offesne if i had height and could shoot the 3. itz really annoying how everyone stands around and usually dont even crash the boards. cuts to the basket would be lovely. so would more pick and roll and give and go. pick and roll worked great against Indy. havent seen it alot sense. ah well tell me waht you think this isnt based on tonight only just my opinion for the past month. ------------------ --TEX [This message has been edited by TeXaSalsa (edited December 19, 2000).] [This message has been edited by TeXaSalsa (edited December 19, 2000).]
It is obvious that the Rockets have a lot of trouble in the half-court offense. It looks like they're free styling alot of the time. As much as I hate to admit it, I would like to see some Stockton-Malone type pick'n-rolls. This would at least give us better shots. Also, we need to run some more dump in post plays to Hakeem like the good old days. He proved to us all that he is still a force and should be a big part of our offense. ------------------ "Oh No..." -Bill Walton in 97 just before Stockton's buzzer beater
MY COMMENTS IN ALL CAPS !! GOOD POINTS...I'LL stop shouting now...hehe I said in an earlier thread that this team does not know how to win yet, they are still learning. They are a year away from the playoffs. DaDakota ------------------ If Mankind evolved from Monkeys and Apes, then why are there still Monkeys and apes?
Yeah, I thought that was a big reason they shut us down in the forth tonight. We were having our shots blocked when there were multiple players closing in on drives to the basket. Someone was open on those, but we were forcing it too hard. I agree about Langhi. I thought our lack of height was also a culprit tonight so Langhi could help there as well. ------------------
The halfcourt offense is ok. the rockets would be better at run and gun fast break bball IMO. we lack a post player that has a go to "pet move" dream's moves still are good just not nearly as consistent. the jury is out on langhi. i don't know if he is the next kuckoc or the next don maclean. i'd rather us have a 3 that was a pure athlete who is a good over all player. the point is i think we could win some more games if we got back to fundamentals like good passing and ball movement. i agree w/ Baqui more pick n rolls would be nice like i said in my original post. for the most part i agree w/ DaDakota on alot of things. except the last statement that they dont know how to win. sorry but i beg to differ. the rockets are playing extremely well in close games this year. whether it be cuttino, steve, moochie they are all learning to take and hit the big shot. they havent mastered it by any means. but they are getting much better. compared to last season they r doing superb. now i agree they dont know how to win consistently. but they are playing much better in crunch time. i like taht play when kenny passes from the high post. he is a good passer from up there. he makes a sharp pass usually. another thing i wanna address is being ready for the pass. alot of our guys are shocked when the ball comes to them. passing takes 2 people a sender and reciever. both parties need improvement. i see alot of guys bobble the ball. itz silly. the kings win basketball games because everyone is a good passer and everyone gets involved. if the rockets passed and played like a team they could get to their level very quickly. ------------------ --TEX
almost forgot who also is a brutal passer matt bullard- sorry but he is. he cant throw a lob pass over any1. he cant throw a pass into the post. his passes are too slow and get stolen alot. passing off the dribble should be illegal. he swings the ball well on the perimeter though. dont even ask aobut on the fast break. he is another one that wastes time by having to hand the ball right to our guards. ------------------ --TEX
hey DaDakota...I actually read a lot of patience in your responses. Ironically, I think that means we aren't as good as you were expecting. Now I'm sad! I miss Barkley! waaaaaaaa
Carroll Dawson on Mo Taylor: One thing we failed to mention is that Mo's also an excellent passer, he likes the fact our philosophy is the open man gets the ball and you never have to worry in our offense. He just fits. http://www.nba.com/Rockets/taylor_transcript_000825.html ------------------ The Serious Police are watching. Follow the rules or be assimilated. Shandon is underrated.
o pleaz thats a generous endorsement if i've ever heard one. he isn't that good a passer. he never hits guys in the post very well and tries the backdoor pass too much. i suppose is above average but excellent? hah. no way. thatz not an insult to NIKEstrad who did a nice job finding that quote. i just dont agree w/ CDs description of his passing. ------------------ --TEX [This message has been edited by TeXaSalsa (edited December 20, 2000).]
One thing we failed to mention is that Mo's also an excellent passer It's very unusual that an "excellent passer" is averaging only 1.0 ast/game while playing 26.9 min/game. Even Othella Harrington is averaging better than that. ------------------ [This message has been edited by aelliott (edited December 20, 2000).]
You can't evaluate a player's passing ability by looking at assist statistics. The vast majority of passes aren't potential assists.
I can't think of anybody that I'd consider an excellent passer that only averages one assist per game. While it's true that you can make good passes that don't go as assists, the fact that you are getting almost no assists says something too. ------------------
I feel there are two main reasons the offense has been bogging down, there is not enough diversity and the three point shooters (Walt and Bullard) have both hit a cold spell. I have noticed over the last few games, that the Rockets have gone more and more to the guard iso set which defenses are zeroing in on. I feel they need to mix in more post ups for Mo Taylor and begin to establish him on the low block. I feel his assist numbers would pick up b/c he has shown the capability of drawing the double team. Also, to create better spacing since Walt and Bullard are struggling, it wouldnt hurt to start giving Langhi some PT. Once one of the long range shooters start hitting with more consistency, the middle of the floor will open up more for penetrating guards. ------------------ Check out the Best Source for Draft Info Draftsource.net
