Oscar still deserved to be a Rockets and I really don't know what Rudy saw from Maddox. I don't really think he is ready for NBA.
Keeping Tito over Tierre is a good rebuilding move, in my opinion. Tierre is already at his potential. Tito still has a lot of rust from not playing for the last year. Better POTENTIAL.
Seems to me like the vast majority of the Rocks fans out there have seen very little of what Tito has to offer. I went to the Rocks and spurs game in SA and I don't think he even played. If he did, very, very little. I'm going to guess the coaching staff sees something in Tito that everyone else saw when he played in college. Judging strictly by his college numbers and what was said about his college game, I think he might turn out ok. At least he did something in college. Too many people are getting drafted for upside alone. He seems like he might be a pass first guy which I think the rockets are in great need of. But, what the hell do I know?
HP, what is your assessment of Moochie? based strickly on his basketball skills (compared to other PG's - 1st and 2nd string). Will we see that same 3 guard lineup with Moochie down the stretch? Will Moochie ever figure out how to finish a fast break? Will a lighter Moochie (lost weight) cause him to stop dribbling the clock out, as some have mentioned on this board? Thanks
Well I didn't predict it, but it doesn't really come as a suprise to me that they dropped Tierre and Oz. Tierre's days were numbered when Tito signed that partially guaranteed contract. It's obvious the Rockets see something in him, and there isn't really a point in holding onto 4 point guards. Oz was good for that little stretch last year, but he couldn't get any time after that, despite continuing injuries to the team. Guess they saw something they didn't like about him. I'm happy to have Hawkins and Petey on the team. Tito too, but I hope he doesn't have to play this year.
I ain't HP but... Moochie is a solid back-up who should not be starting for any team regardless of what Kenny Smith says. He is an overpaid back-up at that. Obviously he's clutch. I don't even remember how many times he's hit big shots. He doesn't create many of them on his own, but the plays are usually drawn up for him to be in the right spot. His ballhandling is about average for the NBA level. He used to do the same damn inside-out hesistation over and over but I've seen him vary his crossovers a little. His mid-range J is decent, but his 3 pt is pretty inconsistent. He does hit them when they matter though. He has a tendency to try to do to much. One of the major problems is his desire to try to create contact and draw fouls. People like AI, Marbury, Francis can do this whenever they want, but Moochie ends up running more into the defender than anything else usually. Usually this happens after he has been dribbling out the clock and has to do something (either jack up a shot or try to draw contact which usually results in a TO). The dribbling out the clock has nothing to do with how fat or skinny he is. As long as we run the flex and people aren't moving around or spaced well, what's he supposed to do? It is still partially his fault, because I think he'd learn the lesson after a 100 times, but anyways. Flex has alot to do with offense losing the defenders through movement and since most people were just standing around there were dribbles and more dribbles and everyone was getting headaches. Of course moving around with no purpose is just about as bad as standing still. Moochie...fast break...huh? I honestly can't remember him ever running the break. Of course how many opportunities do you have when our PG is getting the rebounds and the defense sucks. You can't have fast breaks when the other team scores. You got to have long rebounds or a good outlet passer...cough MING... So, no there's a better chance of Steve running the break, or Nachbar, or anyone but Collier & Cato, then Mooch. But that brings up another topic about Steve not looking for his teammates/ looking for his shot too much. When he gains trust in his teammates, the team will be so much better for it. It's understandable though when everyone was bricking everything last year other than Cat. This year is different though and hopefully Steve will realize that. Sort of like the Randy Moss 40% thing. Steve can do his ISO stuff 40% combined with Cat, but the rest needs to be within our motion offense. So, maybe I came down hard on Mooch, but I think he's way overpaid to be a back-up. He's a good player, but Rudy needs to learn 3 guard line-ups should be used when necessary, not every game because he thinks they're cool or whatever. Especially when our front-court rebounded worth crap, 3 guards is NOT the way to finish out games. 3 guard line-ups are for mismatches and to use quickness to overcome size. This does not work so well often, and especially should not be used in the last stretches of games. Hope I answered your questions.
gotta disagree with u there. I definitely think Tierre has what it takes to make it. Yes, he has a weakness of handling traps, but its not impossible to get better at it with good coaching. And besides, even if u dont agree with me that he is good enough, he is still way freaking better than Tito any day!!! I mean, Tito really didnt show me one damn thing in the whole preseason. Really. I mean, he never shot the ball, looked completely lost every time he was on the court, got pressured and lost the ball easily, got the shot clock down to about 8-10 seconds before even starting a set play. . . .oh yeah, he is 6'4....big freaking deal!!!!!! the guy is a complete scrub. I mean he had to come off the bench for the Rockets scrimmage on Sunday!! I think the only reason the Rockets cut Tierre was because they were saving face that their high second round pick turned out to be a bust. And they gave him some guaranteed money. Thats it. The club didnt wanna answer any questions as to why in the world they drafted a guard when they had Moochie and Tierre? Simple, u just get rid of Tierre. Problem solved. Very Sad.
Are you sure about that? I was guessing that Norris wasn't more than 210 maybe not even more than 200 pounds last season.
It was noted on this site during training camp that Moochie feels a lot better than last season. It also stated he was around 235 last year and that had many people dumbfounded on here, myself included.
I wonder if Maddox will ever get mad in a game and give an opponent a flying spear to the head. Oh wait...
<blockquote><hr>Originally posted by HeyDude Yes, he has a weakness of handling traps, but its not impossible to get better at it with good coaching. <hr></blockQUOTE> Yeah, well it is not impossible to get worse at it, too. Once the NBA exposes a PG's dribbling problems, as it did to Matt Maloney, PGs can get worse at it based on defenders using that knowledge. in other words, you get played straight up at first in your career, but when your weakness gets caught on tape, they play to your weakness, and your production gets worse. I do not see Tierre improving. He had trouble with left-handed layups last year, and he had trouble dribbling under pressure this year. That is really bad, and I don't believe a coach can help you much with that. And if they can, why don't they spend time helping the 6'4 point guard, then??? Your reason for Rudy keeping Tito is to cover up a draft mistake?? Really? My reason for keeping Tito is because 3rd string is not that important....what you want is the best guy for practice. Tierre cannot challenge Francis in practice. Moochie really can't, either. My guess is they picked someone who was big who could give Francis a bigger challenge in practice. btw: I suspect he might get cut midseason if he doesn't improve much, especially if we are in a playoff drive. We may need that roster spot if injuries occur to sign veteran's to 10-days.
Hey neither guy is an all star thats for sure. But I gotta say Im shocked they kept Maddox over Brown. I am scared silly every time Tito checks in after watching the pre-season. Talk about not being able to handle the press! I think that any time he felt pressure (at least when I was watching) he turned the ball over...and as a result the other team scored. I liked Brown....and I will miss him. He showed a lot more in the pre-season (and last year) than Maddox. Third string or not, Im really surprised at this move. The Hawkins over OT move doesnt surprise me as much, because he really showed a lot in the few minutes he has played...and has played well except for a few miscues...one of which cost us a game but hey its preseason. Oscar's performance has seemed to be on a downslope since early last season. What does surprise me is keeping Pete instead of Oscar. Only seen him play a tiny bit, but he's laid up for pete's sake (no pun intended) Id rather have a healthy "injured reserve" than someone who is REALLY INJURED.
I'm thinking we let him go because he found a better job elsewhere. If he did that's awesome (same thing that happened to torres) If he didn't, I feel bad because he was out there rooting our team during draft night to only watch himself get replaced. That must have stung so bad.
After the 1st pre-season game I had a notion that Tierre or Torres were going to be cut. They were putting up good numbers per minute, but they were trying to be THE machine instead of a cog or sprocket in a machine... We ended up cutting both of them and keeping Mickeal... I thought keeping Mickeal was a classy move...If we cut him he would have no where to go since his main tool for his livelihood is damaged. Tierre will have no problem being picked up by another team (Cavs, or some CBA team....) With all this talk of Tierre or Tito, I think we did the right thing in keeping Tito... I like his defense and his ability to blend with a team. I'm serious some players (even at the NBA level) don't get it. And I might add...some of our fans don't recognize it either...we glorify the guy sticking out whether he does it within the offensive scheme or without. I like both Tito's and Tierre's aggression and fighter mentality but if I had to choose we did the right thing considering who we already had on our team...
Tito Maddox seems to play like a wreckless T.J Ford. I think Tito (aka Troll Doll) will be a nice point guard in a few years. He just needs to work on his game mentally.But so far the ball handles and the timing of passes he has made seemed OK to me. He just needs to be settled with a few veteran lectures IMO.
Guys, many of ya'll are worried about our 3rd string PG when our best player is a PG who can play 40 minutes if needed (Remember, we should not be short on SFs this year--no pun intended--where we are pressed to play small with Francis at the 2 and Mobley at the 3). Once you are at 3rd string, you select on potential and who you have money owed to. What is most interesting to me is that Hawkins and Mickael were kept over Oscar and Tiere. Very interesting, but I think I like it. Get tougher defesively on the wings and get away from small ball (I thought Oscar fit this mold too as an SG, I guess not), good plan. We could go from routinely playing one of the shortest, smallest line-ups (starting and backups) to one of the tallest, biggist, in one year's time. Especially if we start playing KT and EG with heavy minutes at the 3 or Nachbar at the 2.
heypartner, Actually, Tierre has gotten better at finishing the left handed layup this year. He actually had the game winning left handed layup against Orlando. And my point was even if he does suck against the press, at least there are other things he does well. Tito doesnt. And i just cant buy the fact that they cut Tierre because Tito is a better practice dummy for Francis. U really think Tito is better than Moochie at defense? He is 6'4, but not a very quick 6'4....
