http://biology.uoregon.edu/classes/....jpgs/08 horse figs jpegs/horse skeleton.jpeg Errr...it's dead...
The Rockets need to surround Steve, Cuttino, and Eddie with deadly outside shooters like Robert Horry and Rick Fox. Players like that provide deadly outside shooting, along with brilliant defense and all-around hustle points. This offense isn't working because outside of Steve and Cat, no one can make the outside shot consistently. As I said in another thread, surround our brilliant nucleus with Walt Williams, Glen Rice, and Matt Bullard clones, and this team would be a big-time contender in a year or two, while definitely making the playoffs next year.
I agree ZRB. This team has the star core players, now they need the supporting cast to help. A quality role player at the SF spot, and depth should help. A healthy Mo helps to, because at least they could pound the ball in to Mo and Griff.
Fair enough. Then name me 5 other guards who are better than Jason Williams. With this logic, Olajuwon must suck because he's not as good as Wilt ever was. Duhon's role was not to be a scorer, in case you didn't know. If you actually watched what he did away from the ball, you would realize that. Believe it or not, Duke asks some of their stud players to be role players. Duhon would be one of the primary scorers if he played for 90% of the other NCAA teams.
Ok 5 guards better than Jason Williams... Kidd Francis Kobe Payton Iverson I have absolutely no clue what you meant by the Olajuwon-Wilt comment All I said about Duhon was that he didn't live up to his billing. I follow ACC hoops very closely being a Maryland alum and all I heard after Duke won in 2001 was how they would have the 2 best guards in the country on their team this year. Occasionally he had a good game but for the most part, he was an average player on a great team.
NJRocket-What I meant was 5 college guards who were better than Jason Williams of Duke. What I meant by the Olajuwon-Wilt comparison was, that the idea that Duhon sucks, because he was Duke's 2nd best guard, is really asinine, seeing how he played next to the best player in the nation, Jason Williams. It's hard for a player like Duhon to live up to his billing when he is playing next to Williams, Dunleavy, and Boozer, where he option #4. I never said Duhon was a star, I just said he is a very good pure PG. If Duhon were on any team but Duke his numbers would be much better, and I'd think that that would lead you to believe he's living up the "billing". Duhon is only a Sophomore also. Duhon is an excellent ballhandler who plays defense, something the Rockets haven't had in a point guard in over a decade.
To start off, Im not yacking about how horrible the team is, Im constructively criticizing the team as a whole. It is an obvious fact that the Rockets are suffering because Francis is playing point guard. I think it is really important for the success of this team that we move Francis to shooting guard for three reasons. First, it halts the ball movement of the team because he is not a playmaker. Hence, all the dribbling and the problem with the 24 second shot clock violations. Second, he turns the ball over a lot more than he would if he was just concentrating on scoring. Third, as a point guard is a lot less affective because he scores a lot less playing the point. Think his career high would be only 36 points, they way he takes over games some times? I think not. As a comparison of another shooting guard playing out of position look at Iverson. In his rookie year he averaged 7.5 assists and 4.43 turnovers. After Iverson's move to shooting guard, besides his horrible play this year, he has averaged only 3.29 tos. Francis is averaging 3.71 tos over his career, with nearly two 4 tos per game years and is also averaging only 6.5 assists per game. There is a reason why we average the least amount of assists in the NBA by a large amount, by nearly two assists per game. A good point guard like Jason Kidd and Gary Payton averages only 9.5 assists, 3.37 tos and 2.56 tos, 9 assists respectively. I think before our team can really excel we need to move Francis to his natural position at shooting guard, move Cuttino to sixth man and acquire a natural pass first point guard. It may be asking too much for Mobley to move back to the bench, but if he really wants the team to do well he will listen to Rudy. How many years can you get Sixth Man in a row anyway? Another problem is that we lack established role players. There are too many players that look to score first and we need an overall improvement in other areas. Here are a few roles to fill: we need a defensive demon, a tough player in the paint to block shots (hopefully Eddie will do), a pass first point guard (thats not Moochie), a smooth 3 point shooter (maybe Glen Rice), an established team leader in the lockerroom (hopefully Francis will take this role) and a hustle player who does all the little things that dont show up in a scoreboard. This dillema with Francis is one small problem in the big picture in the future of this team. A lot has yet to be accomplished before we can make annual visits to the Playoffs.
kidrock I still dont understand the Hakeem -Wilt thing ...dream never played along side Wilt...anyway...thats irrelevant...let me ask you this since you seem to be either a Duke fan or an ACC fan of some sort that follows Duke pretty closely... Do you think that Chris Duhon is as good as either Bobby Hurley or William Avery was when they were at Duke? My opinion is that he is at best even with those guys and neither of those guys have yet to show they can play well in the NBA. Hurley and Avery were both better ball handlers in my opinion and both were more "pure" pt guards.
I was gonna bring that up as well. Of course, even Dickie V knew that Wojo had no chance in the pros.
In my opinion, if you look at his entire career, Bobby Hurley is possibly the best college point guard of all time. And I really don't think that's much of an exagerration, especially if you're talking about <i>pure</i> point guards. So, Duhon's probably never going to reach that level during his college career. However, Duhon has some attributes that could lead to success in the NBA. If you've ever seen him run after a loose ball, you'll see that he's a gazelle. It doesn't take him long to get to full speed. So when he runs a fast break, its definitely a <i>fast</i> break. He also has real good size for a point guard and looks like he's pretty much all muscle and already in NBA shape. He moves his feet really well on defense, and he's so fast that he gets into passing lanes a lot. And the last thing I've noticed is his shooting. His form is picture-perfect and he's definitely what you would call a <i>pure shooter</i>. Not that form really matters if you're missing your shots, but at least you know he has good fundamentals to build upon. And even with being the 4th option on Duke this past season, its still safe to say he underachieved. Next year, I think you'll see a different player.
The idea to move Steve to the two and bring in a pass-first one to make the team better can be argued. However, the one thing that stands out to me when I watch the Rockets play is their style of offense. What the Rockets need is to change their offense from a dribbling until the clock runs out and then shoot a lousy shot to a pass oriented offense. I know we have players that don't like to pass but this should fall on the shoulders of the coach (Rudy). Changing the offense, now that is beating a dead horse.
