It's nice to see that someone realizes that Steve doesn't deserve all the blame, and some should also go to the rest of the idiots. Also, a little effort from some of these guys would be nice.
If you watched the Sac-town game, you noticed something interesting about their ball movement. The big man, specifically their chain smoking Slav, touched the ball almost everytime down the floor. he really set up much of the offense in a sense. Ming can do the same thing. He can see the floor and determine the flow of the offense.
From the little time I've seen of him, I think our second most "savvy" player can't seem to get into the game.
DD, I have always enjoyed your posts, you are an astute observer of the game. You were willing to give Frances some love for his early improvements; he appears to have relapsed into his old ways. Last night, Ming was posted up a few feet from the basket, arms outstretched, wide open. Frances was right in front of him, had to see him, pulls up and "clangs" a twenty foot jumper. Unbelievable! Another time Frances drives into a triple team and instead of kicking it out to one of two wide open players he throws up a wild shot that misses. If I were Rudy, I would be ballistic; these guys are making him look like he is the worst coach in the league. Their passing alone would drive the average junior high coach wild! Ming is one of the few people who looks like he knows something about the game and he rarely gets to touch the ball. It appears that some players have decided to "ice" him. Win or lose, ugly ball continues. Watching this team is not fun; if you love good basketball the Rockets will make you crazy.
Francis even said at halftime of ESPN's Friday Night/Game 1 that the team will run the offense through Yao. Against the Sonics, it happened. Why did Steve revert to form so quickly?
The NBA has created the type of crappy basketball that we are seeing from our Rockets. They always hype the one-on-one matchups and all we see on sportscenter are the "highlights". All our players are young and grew up watching this and idolizing these players and this selfish type of play. The two guys we seam to think have the potential to play "team b-ball" are Yao and Nachbar who grew up in a totally different basketball environment. The Kings and the Mavs are playing good team b-ball that is fun to watch but the NBA is selling A.I, Steve Francis, and anyone else who shoots 20 plus impossible shots a night. The NBA is creating losers by praising crappy basketball. Did anyone watch the World Championships? The USA was a bunch of overpaid LOSERS (that is what people who play a team game by themselves do, lose), against some good basketball TEAMS. Any player who thinks they are good but their team is not is a LOSER. Winners make their team good not the other way around. A winner is a guy knows his job and does it, even in a contract year. A winner does not judge himself by stats but by wins and loses. Name one winner on the Rockets. Here is my list. Winners Yao Rice (as much as I hate to say it) MoT (always seems to play within himself) On The Bubble Nachbar (not enough info) Steve (showing potential) Hawk (not enough info but I like what I see) TMo (not enough info) Cato (if he keeps up his good play with Yao taking his minutes he will move up) Losers Cat (can’t even spell team) Kenny T (I like his hustle on D but he has no clue that he is a crappy shooter) Eddie (he may be here because Rudy has not coached him well) I am starting to see some positive things from Steve Francis but Stevie Franchise will always be a loser, I hope he realizes that he needs the rest of the franchise to be a winner.
Okierock, I think you are on to something; the NBA has promoted individuals instead of a "team" concept. Result: hot-dogging, ball-hogging, highlight reel seeking, selfish, glory-seeking street ballers who pad their numbers as their teams lose. The league needs to emphasis fundamentals, more substance instead style. Good post.
To me, the lack of savvy players and bad coaching go hand in hand. Granted, some players come out of college, highschool, Asia, whereever with a better knowledge of what it takes to play team basketball offensively and defensively in order to win, but I don't think it is because players on the Mavs, Kings, Nets, Pacers, whoever is currently doing it right, are smarter people. They ARE currently smarter players, but, a good majority of that can be attributable to coaching, imo. Can anyone honestly say they have been impressed with what our coaching staff has done on a team wide basis offensively or defensively over the past 2 years? What about with individual players? Does anyone think Rudy & Co. are doing a good job of developing savvy players? I, for one, think Griffin has more talent than the 95% jumpshooting player he seems to have been reduced to. Rudy may be preaching it, and the players may just not be responding, but that is the same difference. Very few savvy players exist predetermined. They must be taught and molded.
I actually do NOT think it is coaching. I think it is a committment from the leaders of the team to the concept. I guarantee you that Rudy is preaching the team game, but the problem is that the leaders...ie Francis and Mobley have not completely bought into the team concept yet. When they either. 1. Buy into it... or 2. Are not the team leaders anymore Then and only then will this team be successful. I actually think that yao is the Answer to the problem. He will lead this team one day....with or without Steve and Cat. DaDakota
I don't think it's totally a coaching problem -- for sure it's not an X's and O's issue with Rudy. It's pretty clear that our current leaders are resisting the future -- they may feel their hegemony is threatened by the emergence of Yao. But haven't we always said that while Rudy's strength may not be X's and O's, he does have great skill in handling/motivating players, and getting them to buy into his philosophy? So here's a chance for Rudy to shine where he's supposed to shine. If he can't get buy-in from the Steve-Cat regime some time this season, then maybe somebody has to go. Either Steve and/or Cat, for being uncoachable, selfish cancers. Or Rudy, for not having the playbook nor the player-handling skills to harness our talent. But regardless, Yao will be a constant. He has shown the requisite savvy, team-first attitude, discipline, coachability, and willingness to keep his ego in check to be a good team leader.
Hegemony, aye! Literate posters, cool! I believe that Frances IS threatened by all the focus on Ming. I think Ming knows this and is backing off. Frances has EVERYTHING but maturity. If he and Mobley can get their heads together, the sky is the limit. Selfishness kills marriages, friendships, churches, and sports teams. Remember the Devil's final line in the "Devil's Advocate," "Vanity, definitely my favorite."
As was pointed out, given that most people think Rudy is a better "chemistry" coach then X's and O's coach, do we not see the fact that he can't work this out as a problem. The way I see it, you are saying we should continue to wait and wait until Mobley and Francis buy into the concept, which could be this year, could be next year, could be 4 years...could be never. I understand that it takes players some time, but you rarely, if ever, see a player not get it and later, playing under the same coach and the same system, all of a sudden get it. COaches don't last that long when unsuccessful. You haven't said whether or not you think Rudy has developed and players to be savvy. Surely, this has got to be part of a coach's responsibilities.
good point. Remember the kid dancing after a homerun in the little league baseball game? They watch sportscenter and they learn from there. Showing off themselves is all they care about, and they call it taking over the game and being a leader! I will never buy it.
True a lot of American basketball players are all about "LOOKING COOL" more then winning. However, there are some exceptions.... I think that the concept of team play is more prevelant around the world and thus the reason for the NBA drafting a ton of international players. Everyone can dunk, but not everyone can execute a pick and roll. To this day, I am not sure Steve can do that...and I am sure that Mobley can't. Rudy does need to get a bigger backbone, and if someone is not doing what HE WANTS on the court, he needs to put him on the bench. You can not be a "FEEL GOOD" coach with a young team, someone has to be the disciplinarian, and that needs to be Rudy...if not...he will be gone. DaDakota
It also doesn't help that a lot of American coaches put winning above playing and teaching fundamental basketball. A lot of coaches go the easy route and exploit a young talent's physical advantage over his/her peers to get the easy win at the expense of developing the players (unlike Bobby Knight). A friend of mine is an assistant coach at a local high school. The coaches there are dealing with both players who just want to "look cool" doing crossovers, dunks and stealing the ball and the coaches need to produce wins. Their current team is dominated by raw AAU athletes who lack any real understanding of the game. These players are resistant to coaching but the coaches tolerate them because they know that if they are too hard on the kids these athletes will just stop playing, leaving the coaches with a scrub team that can't compete with the other district teams. So instead of teaching fundamental ball, they just run a full court press and trapping defense to exploit athleticism and try to get points in the open court. There is no half-court continuity and most of the kids couldn't hit a jump shot or use the backboard to save his life. I've been told that if there wasn't so much pressure to win, the coaches would cut a number of their players to get guys who can and will play team ball.
DaDakota, I agree with most of what you said, except the Thomas part. There are three ingredients in being a "savvy" player: willingness, coaching, and innate ability. Willingness: From the quotes I've seen from Francis and even Mobley, I think they aren't lacking willingness. Contrary to the opinion of many people on this board, I don't think they are threatened by being supplanted by Ming. I believe they honestly want to win any way it takes. I don't have enough info about other players in this aspect. Coaching: I agree with you that it isn't coaching problem in terms of not emphasizing team play. The only possible coaching problem I see is that Rudy has too much confidence in the players to figure it out themselves. That philosophy might work with better fundamentally equipped players in the past. Not the new breed who hardly play any college ball nowadays. Rudy probably needs to give stricter guidance to the young guys. Innate ability: This is what I fear most. Some people just don't have it, no matter how hard they try and no matter how much you teach them. I hope that Francis, Mobley and Griffin are not that. Francis seems to have some flashes of improvement. Mobley, I don't know. Griffin, I am really disappointed with him. I believe Rudy is as frustrated as we are. He needs "savvy" players to execute team ball. And we don't have many on our team.
