No hustle? What Rocket team were you watching? Again, this is a personal opinion, but he seemed to show as much or more hustle than anyone else on the team. And his conditioning is perfectly fine. Why didn't he get involved after the 1st quarter? Ask Steve and Rudy. When the offense flows through everyone, like at the beginning of the game, it's easy to get good looks and be comfortable. It's hard, when you've been ignored for almost two quarters, to come in the game in the 4th quarter and drill everything. If you want his productivity to be the same for four quarters, keep him involved. Don't run away from him. As for his defense, look up the numbers, and the game tape. He does just as good a job on Duncan, KG, etc. as Chris Webber does, imho. On the Horry comment, I was on the Laker BBS a couple of months ago, and found a thread on possibly acquiring Mo Taylor. Not even they were biased enough to say that they'd prefer Horry to Taylor. ------------------ Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more! The Mo Taylor Fan Site [This message has been edited by The Cat (edited July 20, 2001).]
man532, good post! You hit it right on the head about Mo's conditioning, and how his rebounding and defending is affected. Mo will never be a great rebounder (he just doesn't have a "nose" for the ball, is more prone to rebound in his area vs "taking the ball off the rim" so to speak). But if he were to get down to 240-245lbs (from his current 260) it would improve his quickness and agility, hopefully having a positive effect on his rebounding and defense. Actually, given his ball skills and jumper, he could become a dangerous offensive player if he lost weight and became quicker. But I do disagree with the Horry\Taylor comparison. Taylor is more consistent than Horry. ------------------
Cat- Like CB4 said any knucklehead in the NBA can score. Give any player in the NBA shots and minutes and they will score. I still think rebounding is attitude and hustle. So I have a problem sayng Mo is a hustler on the court. He works for his points and not much else. Still he is a decent player, and in the west we need at least a decent player. Griff should help offset his poor rebounding, so maybe it won't be such a big deal. ALso everyone seems to like him which helps as well. My only point is I wouldn't say someone works hard if they don't rebound (or for that point even play D) very well, especially from a position (PF) that is usually around the basket.
I was able to coach basketball this year to a bunch of seventh graders. I just remember in high school I was always told to box out, but I noticed when I would the rebound never came to me. so i said screw it and went after the ball. thats what I taught my seventh graders and even though the tallest guy was 5 7 we still outrebounded everyone we played. thats what I see mo doing watching the ball come to him. and in some nights he will get lucky and have 8 to 10 rebounds fall to him but usually its 3 to 6. he just needs to go after the ball. thats why chuck was such a good rebounder. he went after the ball now I will be the first to say I love mo's game he just needs to be a bit more aggresive on his rebounds. mabey they could bring in chuck to teach him a thing or two. ------------------
Mo will either have to move over to the 5 spot or be traded once EG grows into the 4 spot - and that could be only a season or 2 away.... ------------------
i've said it before, i'll say it again... mo's biggest problem is not "positioning" on rebounding. his biggest problem is that he has the absolute *slowest* reflexes in the game. he's in GOOD position very often. he just doesn't have that 1/2 second instinct for the ball. that said, he's a very serviceable power forward for the rockets. ------------------ shandn has no "o".
Mo has a huge upside and comes relatively cheap. If he ever got aggressive and actually used his natural ability to rebound and block he could be one of the best PFs in the league. This guy can score as well, nice shot from the outside and some low posts moves. The most important thing is that he fits in great with the Rockets. He is happy with his role here. ------------------
Mo doesn't need strength, he needs an attitude. I met him before a practice back when he was still a Wolverine and he was solid. I can't imagine that he replaced that muscle with fat. ------------------
As a PF Mo is the consumate high post that some of the more notable PF's are incapeable of being, and alot less expensive than some noteables who could be that high post (ie Webber). I'd assume that that's the main reason that the Rockets think highly of him. [This message has been edited by Ottomaton (edited July 20, 2001).]
the one thing ive felt which could benefit mo rebounding the most is for him to get stronger..the guy has a big body, but its all "baby fat"...he needs to hit the weights and build his body up like OT..like OT he doesnt have particularly long arms or incredible ups...but yet otis was able to board usig his muscle... with added strength..he could get and hold a better rebounding position...too often do i see him get pushed under the basket... there's no excuse for a guy that big..playing that many minutes to not rebound better... ------------------
As the picker, he should instinctively roll to the basket. You could argue that his forte is the midrange, baseline jumper so he was doing the right thing in drifting to the sideline, but I would still have rather seen him at least make the initial cut to the basket, then v-cut back . As far as him getting acclimated with the system, his game is predicated on the face up isolation game, so it wasn't like he was learning the triangle or even a motion based offense. The only thing he had to get used to was sporadic touches on the offensive end, which was a change for him since he recieved the ball throughout the game while with the Clippers. Also, he doesn't play good team defense. I'll concede the fact he plays good position defense, though I still don't think he uses his weight as well as he could, but he doesn't see man and ball and is slow to react on weakside rotations. ------------------ Here is the casual assumption that a choice must be made between goodness and intelligence; that stupidity is first cousin to moral conduct, and cleverness the first step into mischief; that reason and God are not on good terms with each other; that the mind and the heart are minor buckets in the well of truth, inexorably balanced- full mind, starved heart-stout heart, weak head.
that's an interesting point you made, IVFL. not to turn the discussion away from mo and to rebounding, but I agree with what you said. in my experiences, boxing out just leaves you watching somebody else get the rebound. I believe defense and rebounding are 100% about desire, and I also believe that the team that wins is the team that want it more, always. I came to believe that from watching our very own rockets back in the championship days. talent is great. but I'll take the more competititve, less talented SOB every time. ------------------ houston rockets = 2 utah jazz = 0
If you were to go just on his offensive game he's more than average compared to other PF's in this league. You got to remember that last year was his first year and it took him practically up until the half of the season before he got comfortable with his role and play for the team. In scoring he got 13 pts per game, that's pretty good considering he had 4 or 5 games were he only played 5-10mins becuase of injuries or other problems. He could easily average at least 15 pts a game now that he's more comfortable with his teamates. With MT and EG out there together they are going to be complementary. MT likes to play outside, EG likes to play inside, MT can't rebound, EG can rebound, MT can handle the ball(MT had played SF for LAC), EG can't handle the ball, they are going to cause alot of problems for the opposition. Consider that EG has the size to play SF and not PF(his true position) and MT has the size to play PF and not SF(his true position), now EG has the size to post up SF's, MT has the speed to get pass PF's and the outside shot to make PF's guard him. If defense switches then MT can post up on smaller SF and EG can take the outside shot on PF's. Defensively they both have the size and speed to keep up with their positions. They complement each other perfect, if we got the typical PF like OT then with EG we would have a PF, SF and C inside at the same time, and none of them would be able to dribble the ball, it just wouldn't work. Along with his youth, size, chemistry, and outside touch I think he's very worth it. just MHO. ------------------
Cat,Do you know if Mo Taylor has been working on improving his post moves, rebounding and physical conditioning over the off season with a coach or at a big man camp? ------------------
I wish I knew. Honestly, I think he's working on his game this summer. That's one of the things we should all like about Mo-- he's very enthusiastic for a young player in the NBA, very coachable, and he definitely wants to learn. I haven't heard about him going to any camps, as those are usually for non-established players, but I would think he's trying to improve (just speculation). His physical conditioning is very good by the way, imho. I never once saw him have any problem in a game this year that related to his conditioning. People such as flutie like to make cracks at him about being "fat", but that is hardly the case. Everyone's body is sculpted a different way. He's quicker than most power forwards already, and can get his shot off against any of them on offense, so imho he needs some bulk to use in the post on defense. Mo has the perfect body type for a power forward right now; don't try and turn him into a small forward. ------------------ Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more! The Mo Taylor Fan Site
TheCat, You keep talking about positioning and that his weakness in rebounding can be overcome by coaching. I disagree completely. My own basketball experience was limited to playing pickup games (usually on outdoor courts with winner stays rule in force). I was an exceptional rebounder, despite having limited vertical, because of: 1. Desire to get the ball. 2. Knowing the way certain rims and backboards impacted missed shots. 3. Knowing how a missed shot usually went from the various shooters. 4. Sensing when somebody was going to shoot. Certain movements and facial expressions by the shooter were the clues to key on. 5. Go to the spot that you would expect a missed shot to come to. 6. Create Space by booting out the opponents. I had zero input from a coach and learned all of the above from the school of hard knocks because a loss for my team meant that I was off the court and trying to find who had the last up. EG and Francis had checkered college careers and yet are already regarded as solid rebounders. Mo went to a big time school and has been in the league for several years and is considered a poor rebounder. Forget the speeches about Mo needing coaching in rebounding, he just doesn't want the ball bad enough to be strong in that area. A question that needs to be asked of EG by those attending the games in Utah: How did you learn to be a good rebounder? Mango ------------------ Get it right or just don't do it! Resistance is futile....you will be assimilated. Start more Webber threads!
