Pike and Jackson are both shooting about half of their shots as catch and shoot threes, and are hitting about 36%, which is not a horrible average. Padgett is shooting 50% playing in those 8 minutes. It isn't like he is creating his own shot either. He should be good for at least 0.5 apg. Yes, those guys should get you more assists than Posey and Kenny Thomas who are the antithesis of catch and shoot players, and Eddie Griffin and Moochie Norris putting up worse numbers from behind the arc, not to mention the dramatic improvement in Cat's three point shooting. With his supposed drastic increase in passing and a team full of catch and shoot players, he certainly should not average fewer assists per made team field goal than last year. The reason he is doing so is because his improved/increased passing is bull****. It doesn't exist. People want to find a reason for why Steve is stinking it up this year. The reason is because he is being asked to play defense and play offense in a more rigid system. He can't seem to do either very effectively. Steve Francis is not the best allocation of our limited resources. *** Warning, trades ahead *** Here are a couple of trades I have ben thinking about recently that would be beneficial for both teams. My favorite: Rockets send Steve Francis to the Golden State Warriors for Mike Dunleavy Jr., Troy Murphy, and Avery Johnson. After this trade we can either run with a backcourt of Jackson and Mobley, or we can bring in a veteran like Charlie Ward as the PG and move Jackson to the bench. We also would have a legit PF in Murphy so we would have the option of trading Cato or Taylor for a decent PG, maybe one of the Jazz PG's Arroyo or Lopez. Another possibility: Rockets send Steve Francis and Boki Nachbar to the Chicago Bulls for Tyson Chandler, Kirk Heinrich, and Eddie Robinson. Here we have to leave Jackson as our starting SF, but we get a greater upgrade at PG and our new PF has more potential than Murphy. We take Eddie Robinson's bad contract as incentive for Chicago to do the deal.
This is the funnest thread I've read in a long time. Lots of thought out and passionate comments (on both sides). This is what keeps me coming back to the board. Thanks to all.
From what's been reported it seems Yao might be a pretty loyal guy (e.g Bill Duffy, Mooch). I'd hazard a guess that he'd support Steve if he were to choose between Steve and JVG.
I enjoyed the passionate post, but that's way too much psycho babble here. Rockets have problems, yes we all agree. Les is cheap, CD makes bad draft and trades, JVG is boring, Stevie is a ball hog, and Yao is soft. But guest what, Rockets are battling for 6th spot in the west. Too many Brainies here need to watch some p*rn, get laid and chill.
Yea after seeing Ming play the way he did, i was like WTF! Its like he didnt give a **** i was really suprised... JVG needs to chill out, i know hes frustrated but stop taking it out on them they just need time
If we are all ready to riot just imagine how many Lakers fans have committed suicide in their losing streak....
Steve's first season, there were no zone defenses (except for Utah who would stay in the zone and dare the referees to call more than three illegal defenses). NOBODY whose game was driving to the basket in an iso offense is playing as well now as they did before the rule change. Have you heard Tracy McGrady's complaints this year? (If not, you must be wearing earplugs.) How do you beat a zone? Ask any college player: ball movement and hitting the outside shots to force them out of the zone. Since nobody in the NBA, but especially on the Rockets, seems to be able to hit outside shots, and since passing (except for stupid, high-risk lobs) and moving without the ball are not skills that "talented" players have bothered to learn in the last 20 years, we have a hopelessly ugly NBA. And I don't want them to drop the zones anytime soon because I want players to have to learn to pass and move without the ball. Iso NBA was ugly too. Over time at least these rules will force teams to learn to play team basketball if they want to win. This approach to the offense will result in improvement over the rest of the season. When the Rockets are hustling, passing with confidence, and shooting with confidence, they look very good. But consistency, and especially consistent confidence, in a new system takes time. It will be the middle of NEXT season before the Rockets look good offensively on a consistent basis. Until then, if they can stay consistent defensively, they will continue to win about 3 out of 5 and make the 6th or 7th seed, while looking REALLY UGLY when they lose.
The regular season is not about that. It is about ticket sales and excitement. Certainly winning is important, but this ugly ball will chase fans away. There needs to be a change.
I think everyone that wants to see that old fashioned kind of game should just watch the WNBA. Viewership will definitely go down. Who really wants to see pass, pass, pass, jumpshot over and over again? I want to see the best basketball players in the world do their thing. Imagine all the great plays we would have missed from Jordan or Dream if we had turned them into midrange jumpshooters only? The league made a bad mistake by putting in the zone and people are not going to watch basketball played this way. Viewership and attendance will continue to go down until the NBA realizes that it is in the entertainment business. And no one is entertained by the crap put out on the floor these days.
Well, this has moved away from the Stalemate topic. Along those lines, see this thread in the NBA forum. Nice ideas being thrown around, particularly my idea involving the Lennard-Jones function.
Widening the court would work, especially if you widened the lane as well. Today's athletes are too fast and too big for the current size of the NBA court. But that won't happen because the seats you would eliminate would be the $1000 seats!!
