I don't like this argument. Some other Rockets could have stepped up, but we will never know now. If MO T could ever get the PT that he should be getting, he could have gotten into a flow. Mo Taylor plays better in the crucial minutes of games, just look at the Lakers game on Nov 17th. Mo T hustles enough for me. Kenny Averaged 7 rebs in 2001-2002, whereas Mo averaged 6 rebs in 2000-2001, so MO T basically rebounds as good as KT. Mo T's bigger body makes him a decent defender. He does a good enough job on the defensive end, in my opinion. Stats dont tell the whole story dude. Do ever watch KT perform in the crucial moments of games? The guys falls apart like a cheap suit. KT helps the Rockets lose games by his disappearing acts against good teams (hell he disappeared in overtime against New Orleans when the Rockets needed him the most for God's sake) Plus he misses like 70% of his shots. He takes a lot of shots because the opposing teams allow their defenders to play him one-on-one. These defenders know that KT will miss lots of layups. Heck, he is invited to take the 20 footer, because he can't hit the darn thing. He shoots way more than he should, than is for sure. He fattens up his stats against the Memphis's and the Golden States, and the Denvers come with the facts? My observations stated above show enough evidence. And there are many here that have already agreed with my assessment.
How can you complain about that? When Yao Ming went out the Rockets were behind by 7 points. When the second quarter was over we were up by 2. If we can play effectively while giving our star rookie some rest then we should. You know this is the 1st game of a back to back. I guess you did not think about that though.
Originally posted by DavidS ...Smith, Wells and Boylen seem to be more knowledgeable in the Xs and Os realm. Based on...? Rudy might leave those tasks to those guys. That could be happening this year for the first time (coming up with the new "motion offense"). How did you arrive at this conclusion? Because you don't think Rudy is capable of conceptualizing a "motion offense"?
i don't get some of these rudy haters. rudy t has consistently gotten the most out of his players and found guys that were crap in other places and turned them into decent performers in houston. rudy always gets the most out of his players through motivation or whatever and that really is worth a lot more than Xs and Os. if rudy was an idiot then i don't think other players around the league would praise rudy and talk about how they love playing for him. also how can someone b**** about "dump it into hakeem"? geez he was by far our best offensive player what else do you want us to do? give it to kenny smith and watch him take over a game? rudy devised plans to make the most efficient use of our players. it may not have been pretty, but it works. yao ming is developing wonderfully too...do you just want to attribute that to ming? NO! you have to give the coaching staff a lot of credit too. ming is already getting 15+ shots a game after 18 games. nobody expected him to come along this fast and you have to credit the coaching staff with helping him along and helping change the offense for him fast. people complain about our offense now, but you have to remember for the past couple years it was oriented around 2 guards...one of which who likes iso's and holding the ball on offense and another who isn't the most naturally gifted passer but wants to play PG and is actually stronger at scoring and taking people one on one. is it rudy's fault that he made the offense to exploit his best offensive players strengths? anyhow..the offense is changing VERY fast and you have to attribute that to rudy and his staff. great thread i'm glad it was started...i'm sick of the hating that goes on from guys like Rockets R Us. he sounds like a grumpy old man who needs some metamucil (sp?)
What????? KT is probably the most fundamentally sound defensive player on this team, with Hawkins possibly being the exception. Yao was really huffing and puffing last night at times. You could tell he was struggling with his stamina. Still, he played 35 mins. Towards the end of the game, I felt he was just getting by on adrenaline. My guess is, Rudy doesnt want to burn Yao out. When he sees that Yao is sluggish, he seems to rest him for longer periods of time. It will be interesting to see how much Yao has left for tonights game. I would bet that Cato will get a good share of the mins tonight.
No. I do not. Not in 9 years has he remotely done anything that resembles a motion offense. This is the first year we've seen something like that and it was only because of the league cracking down on ISOs (boring!) and pressure from the fans and media. I mean, hell. Even the last game there numerous times that we had MoT and KT in ISO situations and 4 guys standing on the 3-point line. Hakeem withdraws? Old habits die hard. By the way, I'm sure he can "conceptualize" the idea, he just doens't know how to apply it.
not when he is playing players almost 2-3 inches taller than him, they just easily shoot over him, and yes maybe he is good with the passing lanes, but if u say hes a better defender than Griffin, or Cato. i dunno wat u are on..
Cliches...great. I seem to recall some games over the last two years where we scored an impressive number of points in one half because the team was running the court. The majority of the time, we've been hampered by youth and injuries. You probably shouldn't mention 9-years if you want to be taken seriously. Our offense really hasn't been a question mark since 1993, has it? I am one who believes that you don't throw a brand new team together...a bunch of rookies and injuries each year, and have a competitor right away. Our team basically started over a few years ago. It's called rebuilding and it takes time. Or you can just find an excuse to blame the coach. Criticize Rudy all you want, but we are already a competitive team. We can threaten any squad on any given night. We will improve this year, barring serious injuries, more than any other team in the league. The team will gel better, and Rudy won't have to experiment as much with the rotations. I'm happy with the progress of this team. It will be very successful...and Rudy won't be going anywhere.
It's obvious you just hate the guy and no matter what he does will matter.He plays a great game and you b**** and say.. "Some other Rockets could have stepped up, but we will never know now." What happened to going with the hot hand ? If he would have sat KT the other half would be b****ing...It's a no win situation around here..You people cry and whine if every little thing doesn't fit into you're perfect little ideal of what things should be.KT is still a young player and he is learning and improving.You guys act like he's a 10 year veteran and should play flawlessly.Maybe some of you should get off your ass and go out and coach your own NBA team since it's so easy How can you possibly say "come with facts" and in the same post say "Plus he misses like 70% of his shots" He was 48% last year and something like 44% this year. Some of you people must really be miserable to watch a game with.
Well, I dont hate Kenny as a person, but I sure do hate his game. No matter how well he plays, he is a liability on the floor in the end. And last night's game vs New Orleans showed that. That is why KT needs to go. I honestly don't think that is true at all. Many people here know that KT should not be on the floor during the critical moments of games, no matter how well he plays. With the amount of playing time KT had had over the last 2+ seasons, he should be more cosistent at hitting that 18-20 footer. In 2000-2001, Kenny was hitting 3 pointers believe it or not, and now he can't hit a 20 footer?? Hell, it appears he is declining, not improving. Yeah you are right. It just seems that he misses that many shots. It doesn't help that most of his misses are untimely jumpers with much time to go on the shot clock, thus causing fast breaks for other teams. You are right, I get pretty miserable when KT is on the floor in the 4th quarters of close games. Again, I just want to see the Rockets win ball games. KT on the floor in crucial moments will normally lead to bad results. Man, how many times have i said this already. geez.
AMS, With all due respect, if you honestly feed that Griffin is an overall better defender than KT, then you are the one that is on something and you must usually just watch the games on the surface and not really look at what our players do on defense. Griffin is obviously the superior shot blocker to KT, there is no doubt about that. Being a good shot blocker does not make you a good dender. When we are in a zone defense, along with Hawkins, KT is the best defender we can put on the court. He is very good at covering the passing lanes and when his man has the ball, his footwork and lateral movement is excellent. Also, you rarely see KT get bullied in the lane by his man (he always makes his man "work" for his points). Last, KT is a better rebounder than EG is. Overall, EG is actually a below average defender, although he has shown improvement at times this year. This is why KT is starting right now and EG is only getting spot minutes off the bench. Last, KT makes things happen on offense. He has a reputation as a "black hole", yet hes actually passed the ball more than people realize and hes only taking roughly 8-9 shots a game. This is not to say that KT hasnt taken some ill advised shots, but this is a team wide problem, not just a KT problem.
codell, i agree with you that KT is a pretty good defender for our zone Defense and yes Eg does get more blocks, and yes that doesnt necessarily always matter. but the point is i would put out a taller player who can block rather than put a player tat might steal the ball when we already have steve, mooch, and the Hawk to do so. and u have to balance the way your team plays D, cant have all players with ability to steal, or all players with ability to block, thats y im saying that EG shouldve been out there with steve and mooch., not KT, and i agree Eg isnt the worlds greatest rebounder but he does try more than KT and i have personally seen KT just stand around the paint sometimes, i aint trying to Knock on U, just sayin EG = better D in the game.
Rudy isn't Phil, he's not lucky enough to come to a team with great players. Rudy won rings because he's such a great coach that he turns toads into princes with his magic wand. I see I see, Hakeem, Otis and Clyde were not great players back in their hay day. So Phil won rings with MJ and that's riding coattails, yet Rudy won rings with Hakeem and Clyde was not.
Running the court? Is that what you call a motion offense? I'm not talking about fast-breaks. You (Cohen) probably shouldn't say "Our offense really hasn't been a question mark since 1993..." if YOU want to be taken seriously! Do you know what ISO means? I was merely stating that Rudy has used the same offensive scheme since he joined. Using the 94/95 offenses is not a good idea if you plan on sustaining a threat that's not predictable. I never want to see that again! Just pointing that out. Not debating whether or not we tinkered here or there. It's just that Rudy loves the ISO, because it's easy. Now, before you freak out...read on... I'm not talking about a competitor. Like If you were talking about a championship team! No. I just want some resemblance of an offense that's a little more than just ISO, whether we are talking about the last 2 years or even during the Clyde, Hakeem, and Barkley days. Pretty much give it to you best player and then say "get the hell out of the way." Boring! It starts from the top! I'm not going to blame the towel boy! Agreed. Surprised? If you got back and re-read my post I was stating the fact that Rudy didn't ever seem to have the ability (or desire) to even implement a motion type offense. That's why I thought, well maybe the other coaches took over the implementation part. Rudy seem to me more as a facilitator, not an x's and o's coach. Agreed. By the way, I never said that Rudy would be going anywhere: i.e., fired. Optimism is nice. But, the "successful" part is on hold until I see it with my own eyes.
It's useless to debate about Rudy's coaching, some fans just want him to stay. Rudy is the only member that's left from that chamionship squad. Losing Rudy is like losing the identity and the bond a fan has for the team, developed over the years. The last icon of the ole glorious days has to be preserved like national treasure!
