If I was Rudy T and I'm not, but if I were........ I would consider my strengths and my problems. Then I would realise that Rice,Griffin and Yao Ming are best off the bench and that my starting Five would be:- Francis, Mobley, Thomas, Taylor and Cato. All of these players are young but with some experience of the NBA Game. In the past they have proven that they can play together with reasonable chemistry. Griffin and Yao Ming do not have enough experience to play starter positions and Rice would last out a lot better with quality sixth man time.I feel sure that after this road trip, Rudy will go back to the drawing board, for our team is in need of chemistry and direction!
I'm not sure I agree with your specific lineup, but I agree it is time to try a few things and break things up a bit. With Yao coming on so strong over the past week, it was inevitable that the team would struggle trying to fit in around him. Add the loss of their second-best scorer in Mobley and you have the makings of something ugly. I'd just like to see some different rotations out there to find some chemistry.
Yes Jeff but Yao Ming was doing just great off the bench and when he came in the Rox would run plays for him . All that has gone out of the window why spoil a good thing? Rudy was supposed to bring him on slowly and gently, not throwing him into the thick of it and not run anything for him!Of course the players may be out of chemistry , because they might of heard about something big that is pending!To night said so many things about our condition!
I would start KT at the PF spot,Cato at center,and Rice as the SF. KT is shorter but is a stronger and better defender than Griffin.Yao is obviously more talented than Cato but gets in early foul trouble and has problems with physical players. We need Rice to start because we need to score quickly early on especially with Mobley missing.Rice would also have fresher legs in the beginning of the game. Mo-T and Griffin can come off the bench depending on the matchups. Both KT and T-Mo can get minutes at the SF spot,but I think KT is better off as a 4 however he can go up against the 3's on defense when needed. I hope Nachbar will be slowly brought into the rotation to backup Hawkins.Rudy is obviously looking for more offensive production from Francis at the 2 and I think that's why Moochie is getting a lot of minutes as the backup point guard. Moochie's minutes will go down when Mobley gets fit but I would go with Rice/Hawkins at the 2 in the 4th quarter and Francis playing at the 1 along with them.
I agree with you. Yao didn't look very comfortable in the last two games when he started. He had two early fouls today and had to sit the entire first half. I understand all the excitements about Yao, but he's only a rookie and he still doesn't completely understand everything that the Rockets run. We shouldn't rush him. He'll do better if he sits and observes before he comes in the games. We should bring him off the bench till at least all-star break. Same goes for Griffin. He's not looking very good so far this year, and I think one of the reasons for that was because he's starting almost every game. He's not ready for that yet. Let's fact it, this kid is barely 20 years old. He should be a sophomore in college now. Mo should start ahead of Eddie. Rice should not start either. He is 36 years old and doesn't have enough left in his tank to run 35 minutes a game. He can provide a good spark off the bench, but not in the starting lineup. Nachbar should play some. The kid can shoot and pass, and this team can certainly use those things based on what I saw tonight.
Shuffle is right, MTaylor needs to start in place of Griffin. MTayor is a 6 veteran and Griffin stills need to develop. Griffin should not bear the pressure of a starter at this time in his career. Too much pressure on the youngest when he isn't ready is too much to handle. The offense need to be run through the low post first. Inside Out, just like the days of the Dream. Yao has the ability to pass out and make good decisions when he gets the bread. When he gets it in the paint it either a basket or a foul. We also have great cutter in our guard and forward positions. Yao should take between 15 - 20 shot a game because of his shooting percent. With the new zone rules it is harder for a guard to penatrate and break down defense. Dictating the offense from the low post will produce much need scoring from all positions. We need RUDY to do what he does best. INSIDE-OUT will cure the Rockets offense and of course free throw shooting!
I say bring Ming off the bench. But let him start is good for one thing--SF and Ming can play better together over time. One thing I want from Rudy though, you either stick with your rookie or you bench him, bring him only in favorable situations. It's not good to start him and then bench him the entire first quarter even when he's in some sorts of early foul trouble. Cold Turkey.
I agree as well that Rudy needs to shuffle the deck and make some changes in his current rotation. But what I would really like to see more than anything is some consistency in his rotations. It's important that you have chemistry and gel with the other players that you are on the floor with, and this is harder to do when you don't know which unit you will be playing with from night to night. Especially if you don't normally pratice with that unit on a regular basis. Any rotation however should have Yao as a starter IMHO. Though he has had a couple of off games the past two outings, I still feel he brings more to the table than any of our current centers (even an improved Cato). Simply the fact that teams double Yao should open things up for other players, Cato does not get that kind of respect from other teams defenses.
Cut to the chase: We ARE STILL A PERIMETER ORIENTED TEAM. We live and die with the jump shot. A few games ago I saw a great interior chemistry starting to emerge with Mo and Yao. Why aren't we building on that? Both can score inside, create an inside presence, and both can help establish an INSIDE-OUT offense, not the other way around. I don't see a plan and I plain don't understand what Rudy has in mind for this team. Somehow I expected more with this aggregation of talent. Total << sum of the parts Would someone please enlighten me? Dallas Rocket
Really...I dont think you can put this on any one man's shoulders.. they ALL played horrrible.. Yes, Yao's shots werent falling for him..but neither was Rice's..or Eddie's..or Kenny's...shall I go on? We are allowing the defenses to dictate what shots we take, and that is unacceptable for a talented team like this..They need to establish the inside game and make the defenses honor that..that will open things up for shooters....if they could just hit their shots..
Even if Yao made 8/10 free throws, we would still lost by 2. This is whole team lost and not by Yao Ming. He is the only one that made over 50% of his shot (3/4). The rest of the team shot around 34% and that is where the game was lost.
While the standard in the NBA is to pull a guy when he gets his 2nd foul in the first quarter, I agree in this case pulling Yao was a mistake. The game was unusualy ugly and no one on either team could score. While Yao only scored 10pts in 18 min for the game, he would have had 16pts if his free throws had dropped. He was the only thing working and Rudy took him out. Yao ended up with only 2 fouls for the game, so he was available, but for what. It seems we did'nt use the one asset that may have turned the game.
Personally, I think the rims were off kilter -- both teams were shooting poorly at both ends. The Jailblazers just had the advantage of being more used to their own rims. Well, that's my conjecture. As far as the Rockets' starting five, I'd prefer to see Francis, Hawk (until the Cat is healed), Rice, Taylor and Ming with Griffin, K.T. and T-Mo rotating in depending on matchups. And, Rudy, please get Nachbar and Tito M. some playing time! I like Rice and Taylor playing with Ming because they are unafraid to pass him the ball. Steve is trying (consider that ill-advised over the shoulder pass back to Ming when Stevie should have just finished the layup) so there is hope there.
Free Throw is exactly what was needed to compensate for the poor shooting on the floor. IMO, if his FT was falling, he would probably have taken more shots and got more minutes too...
I would start Cato in the middle. The guy was playing good ball when he left for the funeral. I think if MoT is healthy I would give him the nod at the 4. Last year the first quarter was his. Jump shot after jump shot would drop. I might give the 3 to KT. Now with that being said, Boki still has not seen any action. He cant be any worse than what are are getting from the 3, besides Rice's two good games. Let the man play!!
Dallas Rocket, not to make excuses, but I believe the league caught up pretty quickly with what happened in the Dallas game. Do you really disrespect the opposing team so much to not think that every coach and scout in the league spent a few serious hours figuring out why Yao got 30 pts on multiple slam dunks from passes. Hell, it only took Dallas one halftime to realize their zone let Yao slide down from the free throw line on simple motion without a body in front of him. A lot of that was not set plays, just motion passing and the rox would work it around, and let Yao get lost by the defense, and then Yao would cut to the basket for a pass and point blank position. That must not happen, if you are the opposing team. The league woke up, and now we are getting hit with zones that looks like match-up zones, and very infrequent man-to-man. This means no more simply motion can get Yao free for great positioning. It will take crisp motion to include dribble penetration and well timed picks and cuts. Or it takes us *hitting our damn shots* because the match-up zones give up the swing passes for shots moreso than other zones. We can't afford to look lost or bump into each other or for two men to run to the same spot. And that is just a tidbit of real things evident in the Portland game. (for those with tape, I have to games times marked, if you want to see it--the ugly motion.) <b>The Evolution of a Season</b> The season is an evolution, and we are not a quick learning team,,,well, I think our defense is a quick learner, but the offense is not by any stretch. Scouts are creating ways to stops us as soon as we improve. Francis is not getting lanes for his baseline lay-ins anymore; he is not getting the freebie jumpers as much; Yao is getting fronted often; the defenses are going many, many minutes not playing us in man-to-man. Just as we have success, the scouts give us another look. This is not necessarily being out coached. This is the evolution of a season where the quick learners dominate, and word spreads quickly.
HeyP, I must say that over the last 2-3 days your posts have been dead-on in the face of all the second guessing. Well done. I especially liked your take regarding the efficacy of playing KT alongside MoT. Forcing a 3 to guard KT normally allows him to abuse them down low. Unfortunately, Portland matches up with us very well and we just were clanging shots last night. I've said it over and over, trust in Rudy. Trust in evolution. Rudy will have this team gelling come playoffs and no one, repeat, no one will want a piece of this team.
