If this thread is redundant or should have been posted somewhere else, I apologize. I have watched nearly every Rockets game this year, and went to the game vs. the Knicks. After seeing the game yesterday, I have a couple of thoughts on the Rockets that I would like to hear opinions on. 1) This is the most obvious one, but James Posey really needs to start over Glen Rice and play 35 minutes per game. I really think that Rudy T jeopardized our chances of winning the NY, Utah, and Minnesota games by playing Rice over Posey. Against the Knicks, Glen Rice was matched up against Latrell Sprewell, and this was one of the most ugly matchups I have ever seen in my life. It was blatantly obvious that Rice does not have the lateral movement anymore to compete defensively with small forwards in the NBA, which was evident as Sprewell torched him off the dribble time and time again. I'll use a comparison which works similarly in baseball. In the past decade, the Atlanta Braves have had success by playing lineups which had fantastic pitching, and fantastic defense. The fact that they had 2-3 position players who batted .230 or so made no difference. Glen Rice fits the mold here, and he isn't even much of an offensive threat. He's only shooting 37.6% from the 3 point line, and 41.4% overall. He's also a huge liability when it comes to defense and rebounding, only recording 3.5 rebounds per game. Rice is averaging a modest 9.5 points per game, but this is terrible when you consider how much of a liability he is on defense and rebounding. So, why is Rice playing the same # of minutes as Posey? Poor coaching by Rudy T, in my opinion. James Posey gave the Rockets 10 rebounds in 25 minutes against the Knicks, and he one of few Rockets who seems to give a concerted effort every minute he is out there. He also does not disrupt the offense, only taking shots when they are in the flow of the offense. He's also an 85% free throw shooter, an improvement over Rice. The Rockets need to play players who will 1) Be willing to play a limited role on offense; 2) Play hard defensively and crash the boards. Posey gives us both of those things, and he has the potential to get MANY rebounds, as long as teams keep focusing on Yao. 2) Kelvin Cato is only averaging 13.6 minutes per game in December, and only 12.6 minutes in his past 5 games. WTF is going on here? First of all, in the month of December, Kelvin Cato is averaging 5.5 rebounds per game in 13.6 minutes. That gives him a rebound-per-48 minutes average of 19.4 rebounds in 48 minutes. Those are Ben Wallace like numbers!! Cato also plays relatively good defense, averaging 1.1 blocks per game this year in a limited role. We're also paying him a huge contract. What I'd like to see is Cato playing more time at backup power forward, even if it means less minutes for Mo Taylor and Eddie Griffin. Mo Taylor plays no D and is only shooting 36% this season. We all know that Cato has virtually no offensive skills, but he is a monster on the glass, and will give the Rockets plenty of second chance opportunities with his offensive rebounding. Mo Taylor is a one-and-done type player on offense, and he's only averaging 3.0 rebounds per game this season in the same minutes as Cato. Personally I'd love to see Cato playing more minutes than Mo Taylor, although I might be in the minority on this one. 3) What happened to Joaquin Hawkins? He's like a 'Mini-Posey' in that he plays hard on defense and plays within the offense. Guys who shoot the ball well are nice, but it's the hard-nosed defensive players that win championships for you. The Hawk should be seeing at least 10 minutes per game. 4) Bostjan Nachbar should be playing instead of Glen Rice. Thanks for listening to me rant.
I agree. Rudy cannot escape the blame. If anyone defends his mistakes, he or she never watched any Rockets game or lives in some twilight zone.
I wouldn't mind playing Cato at pf but it would take great defensive rotation because he's almost certain to get taken off the dribble by quicker players. I think during the first half of games we should play Mo and EG at pf to determine which one of them is having the better game. They are essentially the same type of player on offense (as in they both settle for jumpers and never crash the boards) and other than EG's shot blocking, there's no real advantage to having one of them in over the other on D. It would benefit our team to play whichever of them are having the better game with Cato as the backup at the pf position by ensuring that we wont' give up offensive rebounds on the defensive side, and on the offensive side, Cato will never launch up an ill-advised shot to disrupt the offense. In other words we will be forced to run the offense through Ming and to rely on our fast break.
That was what I was thinking before Kenny Thomas was traded. Start Kenny. Let Eddie play 2nd quarter. Then put Maurice Taylor in in the 3rd quarter. And then let whoever is hot play in the 4th. But now he's gone. 1) Glen Rice is our only veteran and is a captain. But I think his role should be to be a supportive leader ON the bench. James Posey had 10 rebounds!!! He can score. He is much faster than Glen Rice is now. Allan Houston was just too good. With James Posey all in his face, he still scored. But we need someone like James Posey on the court to bring liveliness. Hopefully Posey can shoot 3's. He should get used to the offense. Please play more Bostjan Nachbar. LESS TERENCE MORRIS. 2) I agree! Kelvin Cato should play with Yao at the same time. That would be great. He could get all the rebounds and would help Yao greatly. The only problem is his offense. He is pretty much useless on offense. He can only offer his beautiful dunks. And he will get into foul trouble early. I believe we should play Eddie Griffin and Maurice Taylor and see whoever is feeling it more. If Eddie is just sucking like he did in the Knicks game, we can put Mo Taylor in. If Mo Taylor is tired and can barely walk, we can put Cato in. Cato is a monsterous rebounder. He just fouls too much but can block shots. 3) J HAWK?!?!? He's in so many commercials! But he doesn't play?!? I think when we really need defense, we should put Joaquin Hawkins and James Posey together. Hawkins is like getting two steals every ten minutes. But he barely plays... Hawkins brings a lot of energy and hard work as well. I liked him...when he played. 4) Bostjan Nachbar SHOULD play. At least 6 minutes per game!
i agree with everything that everyone here has said. ive said that we should use cato at the 4 sometimes too. most seem to think that he is too slow to play the position, but in certain situations against bigger teams yao and cato would be a big wall around the basket. not all the time, mind you, but i think that would be a solid inside presence when needed. posey probably should start over rice, but rudy is a loyal guy who will go with the vets. its hard to fault him for that, admirable as it is, but once posey gets more comfortable here, there is no reason why posey should not get the start. as for nachbar, i hear he is slow as molases, but ive never really seen him play so i dont know for myself. is a little garbage time too much to ask for? god knows that theres been plenty of it to go around as of late.
This thread boils down to Rudy not knowing what the hell he's doing out there with this team...and i agree with most of it...
I just thing RT tries to avoid team conflict. He doesn't like to get into it with players, so he avoids unpopular decisions. The Rockets are going backwards not forwards, and their playoff chances are on the bubble. Tough choices must be made, and RT better make them. Raven
Jo mama,Nachbar is not very quick but he isn't slow like Rice or Collier,he can get down the court at a reasonable pace.
I've never liked Taylor. I'd be inclined to give Collier minutes over Taylor! In all seriousness, I'd love to see Cato get some more PT at the expense of the MoT. Cato's been a beast and he would give fits to the offensive minded power forwards who destroy the Rockets game after game. Even though Cato can't shoot, he still has more facets to his game than that lazy Michigan alum.
there has to be some major reason why bostjan has not gotten much p.t. id hate to think that its just rudy being stoopid. perhaps he is simply not ready for nba bball. im sure hes quicker than rice, but maybe doesnt have the on-the court savy that a 10 year vet would have.
Red Choclate - my take 1) I am looking forward to Posey making a significant contribuion. However to take a team that is struggling to run plays and stick in a new guy as a starter is asking a lot. 2) I agree. Cato is playing well and Ming is beginning to struggle. However anybody who backs this idea has to give up "Cato bashing" and "get the ball to Yao" threads. 3) I love Hawkins. He is my type of player. Underdog, defensive minded and a Globetrotter to boot. But lets face it, he is just not that good. He can contribute and on the right team and in the right circumstances can be a player, but to think that our problems will be solved by a guy who has been looked at by the entire league and passed over for about ten years is really wishful hoping. 4) So who sits Rice down, Nachbar or Hawkins? What have you seen from Boki that Rudy and co has not? I am with you in that Rice is not that good and I hope that Boki is, but right now that is just more wishful hoping.
1. I agree with since Rice can't play D and only has his shot left. Also Posey can play great D and can rebound as well. 2. I agree with it Yao is still a rookie and Cato is a good defender and great rebounder. 3. I don't agree Hawkins is a great defender but thats it. The Rockets I believe are 9th in the league at defense and if anything they could use more scoring, and with bringing in Hawkins it just limits time for Francis and Mobley. 4. I agree I would rather have Nachbar over Rice, and Terrance Morris.
OK. Rockets were third in opponents' field goal percentage. Now they are 11th. It's been getting worse. Our offense has been getting worse too. Tonight will be the change!
I agree with a lot that has been said here, but I have a problem with Nachbar playing. The guy is young and doesn't have the NBA awareness that Rice does. Rice can still hit the jumper and post up(pathetically so far). Rice has become a very smart player that just doesn't have it any more, but he can still get it done in situations. My point, I would like to see more Posey and less Rice, but no Nachbar(yet). I don't want the expansion team to see Nachbar's skills. They make take him from us. I would like to see Nachbar get better through practice and then break out next year. Let Rice keep hitting those 3's unless he(hope not) gets injured.
I don't know if I quite agree. From what I've seen, Rice barely has a shot. I think I saw he was 2/10 today and from what I saw, most where wide open. I was watching Boki in warmups, and he was hittting everything: 3's and middle distance shots. As for Boki's defense, I don't know how good it is, but it can't be much worse than Rice's. And if Nachbar went off next year, then the following year the expansion team may want him. (they don't start till 2004-2005, not next season.) BTW, I do agree with Posey starting. I'd rather have Posey start and get a lot of minutes while Boki supplies a little offense off the bench. And from the Hornet's game, Posey looked better shooting than Rice as well. Just my opinions though.
Anyone who watched the past two games will probably agree with me on this: When Glen Rice was in the game vs. NY and Charlotte, his defensive matchups scored more points than when James Posey was in the game. Even if Posey shoots the ball worse than Glen Rice has been shooting (that's not saying much these days), he's still better for us than Rice, simply because he brings the defensive effort and is willing to crash the boards. No matter how badly we're shooting, we can still win games simply because of defense and rebounding! Tonight, Posey played 22 minutes, Rice played 26. Both players shot 2-7, but Posey totally impacted the game, with 6 rebounds, two of them on the offensive end. Rice, as usual, only got 2 rebounds. If Posey got 35 minutes per game, I see no reason why he couldn't average 7-8 rebounds per game, which would save Steve some wear and tear going for rebounds all the time. That is a huge help for us. PROS AND CONS OF RICE VS POSEY Glen Rice PROS Decent 3 point threat, has some low post game. CONS Horrible defender, doesn't crash the boards, commands the ball on offense, and isn't a great passer. James Posey PROS Excellent defender, hustles, rebounds well for a SF/SG, reasonably good passer, and doesn't require any plays for him on offense. CONS Mediocre shooter, but not a huge drop-off from Glen Rice Loyalty or not, Rudy T has no reason to play Glen Rice at this point. I don't care whether or not James Posey needs to learn plays at this point, the Rockets just need him to play solid D and rebound. As for the Cato vs. Mo Taylor situation... I really think that Cato needs to play 25 mpg and Mo Taylor about 10-15, at this point. What Yao needs is a power forward behind him with an Otis Thorpe-type mentality, who is willing to dish out the hard fouls and help out with rebounding. A lineup with Yao/Cato/Posey/Mobley/Francis is arguably the best rebounding lineup in the NBA, IMO. However, when you replace Cato and Posey with Taylor and Rice, you lose a ton on defense and with rebounding. Collectively, Taylor and Rice are the better offensive players, but defense + rebounding is MUCH more important than offense, considering that we have three very capable scorers in Yao, Francis, and Mobley. Rebounds give us more opportunities for us to score, and Taylor and Rice cannot help us in that area. I hope that within a few weeks at most, Taylor and Rice will be riding the pine while Cato and Posey are playing significant minutes.
I agree with Red Chocolate. Rudy Tomjanovich.... Paging Rudy T....coach of Houston.... Please listen to the sound advise of Red Chocolate.
Enough already from the Boki fan club Come on why can't you get it! Boki had his chance when he started a game earlier in the season and he proved one thing .He ain't ready.
Rice should start until Posey learns the offense. Rice is not a good defender. Boki needs experience but he's not a defender either. So we should start Rice, and give Posey the bulk of the minutes later in the game. Posey also gives you a spark from the bench.
