Rudy T likes the Wizardry Posted: April 16, 2000 3:03 AM According to a Basketball News report, "Walt Williams failed to find his comfort zone in his first four months or so with the Rockets, which led most insiders to believe the club would try to trade the 6-8 forward—who's locked up until 2002—in the offseason. Williams has been on a tear the past few weeks, though, and now we hear coach Rudy Tomjanovich definitely wants him around for the future." The report also cites with Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley out, Williams has excelled and Rudy T has exploited mismatches by using Walt at the 4-spot. In the last 13 games, the Wizard has hit over 60% of his shots. Of course, this could be some kind of elaborate ploy to inflate Walt's trading value, but most of us have been around long enough to know that Rudy has his favorites, and like it or not, they seem to stick. So if it's true that Walt has a secure spot on next year's team, what does that mean for this off-season? 1. It still means going after a talented SF, and the name Rashard Lewis will continue to pop up. It's clear that he would be a nice fit here, and he would lend some versatility to this position, and allow Rudy to experiment with some different lineups. Maybe he'll be Player-X that Rudy will snag this offseason. Bo Outlaw's name keeps popping up, too. Time will tell. At any rate, this is a position that the Rockets traditionally can't seem to secure, but definitely needs attention. 2. If Rudy's going to stay with the Wizard, then we know for certain the focus will be on the 4 and 5 spots in the rotation. (ergo, no Grant Hill) Everyone is going to fantasize about Tim Duncan this off-season, and I do me EVERYONE. There isn't a team in the league that won't be talking about getting him. We may have a better chance than other teams, but he's FAR from a Rocket. So, barring a very fortuitous situation in which Duncan ends up in our mist, this is the area of concern. Personally, I don't see any immediate, easy solutions to this problem. In theory, we could trade our picks in the draft for the top pick and get Kenyon Martin, but that's about as realistic as landing Duncan at this point. Brian Grant is a possibility, if we can lure him. Another if. Another possibility that has been brought up is to wait out the 2001 season and go for Webber. (When we'll have more cap room and Hakeem has officially made his exit) In any case, if a sign-and-trade were to take place, and/or if we were to use our $4.5K exception, we can expect any deal to involve Cato, being as he is relatively expendable to us, (if we are getting the quality Player-X that will solidify our lineup) and that other teams may be interested in him, and mainly because Rudy and CD seem to be disappointed in him, which is a sure ticket out of town. So in conclusion: - At the 3, Walt likely stays. My guess is that they make a strong bid for Rashard Lewis, but also make inquiries for Bo Outlaw as a second option. - At the 4/5. The current cast remains. (including Hakeem) First option, see if there's ANY way at all Duncan will don a Rockets uni. Second option: Trade up in the draft. Third option: FA's, a la Brian Grant. Fourth option: Wait another season. (Webber, next draft, etc...) ------------------ "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and STATISTICS..." - Mark Twain -
You guys remember how high Rudy and CD were on Walt when he first came here, right? It was like they had been hoping to get him on the team for years. Walt was so bad for a good portion of the season it's amazing that they are leaning towards keeping him after a 10-15 game stretch, but the name of the game is chemistry, and apparently it's forming for this current team. Just take a look at the numbers the foursome are putting up over the past 15 games or so.... Francis, Shandon, Cat and Walt. I think it's a damn good bet all 4 are here next season. ------------------ NOTHING BUT .NET CLUTCHCITY.NET
I completely agree. Walt was the player they wanted in that trade. Walt's career numbers are very useful to this offense. I don't think Rudy will trade him until at least his stock is back to want his career numbers warrant. He is arguably a top 5 3pt shooter in the NBA. And hitting the 15-20' J coming around the double pick is not hard for him either. The role he has on this team is structured into our new offense and a definite threat when someone like Walt is filling that role.
Let's hope he can keep up the pace. Of course, it's unrealistic to think that he'll be able to crunch out these kind of numbers forever, but even 75% percent of what he's giving us now would be FANtastic. I'd be more than happy to keep this guy around, and he's certainly showing lately that he's quite able to fill the void (and I use that term loosely) left by Pippen. I guess what I'm saying is, now that we pretty much know that the 3 spot is secure, we can put more real focus on the 4 and 5. Less questions mean a more sure direction. That way we can plan the next move more clearly. ------------------ "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and STATISTICS..." - Mark Twain -
I contend...the only way he doesn't continue these numbers is for defenses to make unwanted adjustments on the Francis Wing Attack, the alley-oop play, and dishes to KT rolling off the Double Pick. The Flex Double Pick will be hard to stop without giving something else up, specifically the alley-oop and KT rolling to the basket when his man leaves him to stop Walt. The Double Pick is deadly with Francis holding the ball and two out of KT/Cato/SA doing the picking. If you overplay Walt...here comes the pick-n-roll and alley-oops. You see, Francis still has the ball in his hands. He can see any overplays and find the rollers and rim bashers. Walt is wide-open my friends. Given his career numbers and what we are witnessing now, I do not expect him to miss these shots, too often. 56% rate is too much to expect, but Walt can hit an open shot at a high rate, nonetheless. Now with all that sad, there are several SFs in the NBA who can hit those shots. I don't want to lose Walt unless we get another "Walt" in return. Or we get a star big man around whom we can shape a new system that doesn't need the Flex Double Pick.
