Sorry for being out-of-pocket the past couple of weeks. Draft week was insane!!! Aftermath week (last week) was equally busy. Well, trades never materialized, but none-the-less the offers were interesting. In the end, the allure of Ming was too much to pass up especially with the last minute assurances. So be it. I personally wanted to trade the pick and get value if we did not lock-up the agreement, but again the last minute assurance made that moot. Trade-ups: Not possible! As Butler ACTUALLY slid (Miami never thought he would truely drop to 10...hence the original trade rumors), previous trade offers were rescinded. Further, the surprise picks of NY (eventual trade), the Clips and Pheonix spun the draft. No matter......we grabbed a winner. Nachbar blew us all away at his work-out. This guy is a gunner and a flyer. One word.....WOW!!! I would truely love to have both Butler and Nachbar. Both these guys killed at Westside. Man, what a tandum that would be. Butler could have easily moved to the 2 when Cuttino was off the floor. The 2 & 3 spots would provide constant scoring like NO other team in the league. Well, we didn't pull it off and it is not going to happen, so no use in dreaming. Maddox: This guy was a gift. Bank on it....he easily makes the team , unless he just implodes big. Serious to the rim game. Big, tall, with great handles. A Francis clone. Moochie better be careful. If Tito's shooting improves - IT IS OVER!!! If this happens we have ZERO drop-off with Stevie off the floor. There is not a team in the league that can defend that kind of consistant assault/pressure. The feeling is that we are closer to our plan (two deep at every position) than we hoped going into the draft. Save some possible minor tweeking we should be ready for battle. Don't be surprised to see something develop after the summer games. I am not telling ya'll something WILL happen only that something MAY happen. Position evaluations are being determined. Well, again, I hope everyone enjoyed the draft. It was a lot of fun/nerves watching it unfold around us.
The draft was great, imho, but we've been suffering from "The Dead Zone" (serious-sounding drum roll) until thacabbage and now your wonderful self showed up to save us from fatal lethargy. So Bostjan was unreal at Westside? We heard that he shot lights out, but does he have good or great handles? Any D potential there? How soon do you think he'll make an impact on the rotation, and where do you see his role by the second half of the season? So the brain trust thought we might end up with Nachbar, Butler, AND Ming (if things fell the way we hoped)? Or did I misunderstand you. That would have been un****ing real! Glad your back, so stick around, OK?
Deckard, Naw..... It would have been a one or the other deal. I was just dreaming Oh, just an FYI since I was talking about the Westside workouts. Wilcox is going to be great! About as close as you can get to assured future All-star material in a draft. Those three guys impressed me the most. Damn, Wilcox is BIG!!! His shoulders are as wide as my HOUSE! Jeez. I definately would not want to take a shoulder down charge from that guy. Can you say OUCH!!!
ROCKET!!! Good to have you back. I would say that we are more than 2 deep at every position. CD has done his work and it is up to the players and coaches. I am glad to hear Maddox could be a Francis clone, because by next year we may need the room that dealing Moochie would get us. It would be great to hear that the team is not even remotely considering going after Lewis. Does Langhi have a future is this league? What are you hearing?
Any idea what the Clippers are thinking? (if they are, lol) Seems like there Has to be some deal happening sooner or later with "?".
If i were the Clippers, I would seriously think about trading Brand for Miller or Baron +..... from the sounds of it, Wilcox will be a very good starter, and Ely a great serviceable backup....
Deckard, Nachbar - fine handles, needs to bring D up to NBA caliber (expected, but easily attainable with his athleticism), can't answer about T's plans. We will see post-summer evals/tweeking (if any). Does anyone have ANY idea what the Clips are doing. I sure don't believe that even they know! How many PFs does it take to screw in a light bulb? DearRock, All I know is Langhi is done with us...better stated, we are done with him. Effort is a season long requirement - not just for the summer leagues. Talk of Lewis, yes. Serious, no. Way out of our price range. No way we trade Griffin or Nachbar!!! Oh, saw (again) and talked to EG the other day...First - DAMN!!! He looks so much stronger. Second - he is ready in a big way. We talked about game improvement. Serious back-to-the-basket work was his focus. He said he expected to take a pounding this year. He sounded very positive. Moochie, we shall see. He is a great guy. I would hate to see him go, but if Maddox works-out, then Mocchie may become expendable. Hell, he could start quite well for most other teams. He does have REAL trade value. The future will tell. I don't see him traded this year, but who knows. All players have differing development schedules. Maddox may (although I doubt it) develop by mid-season. Moochie is a great insurance policy.
rocket!!!- thanks for the info. between the butler and nachbar workouts, who was more impressive? i think we got a steal at #15. good to hear about maddux, i like mooch but if tito is similar to steve it might workout better with him as the sub. i don't know about the "no dropoff" when steve comes out though, atleast not until baron davis is our 6th man.
Hey ROCKET!!!. I love our team and I'm really excited about the upcoming season, but I have only one question...how to word this right; ARE THE ROCKETS GOING TO PLAY ANY DEFENSE NEXT YEAR? With that question, I mean are players focusing on that aspect more...are coaches planning on drilling it more...will part of their training be to watch the 1994 Championship season to learn that slower, less athletic guys were busting their butts on d. I would assume that now we'll try to funnel more into Ming and Eddie, but the problem will be fouls with them. So, if u could answer that for me, I'd appreciate it
BiGM, Both!!! I know that doesn't answer your question, but you are talking about two completely different players. Yes, both play the SF position, but one is long and lean (not by much, just appearance/longer arms) while the other is a little stouter and shorter with the ability to slide to the 2 spot. They have different games, but similar aspects. Both go to the hole! Butler has better handles as one would expect with a guy that can slide to the 2. Nachbar has more of an outside game than Butler - stink'in 23 out of 25. NOTE: This does not mean that Butler's inside game is better than Nachbar's - only different. Nachbar is a gazelle/ Butler is a to the basket slasher. Nachbar and Butler can both go back-to-the basket. They both need improvement in this area. Bottom line - both were a steal! rocketeen, We start every year stressing D. We work on it extensively. It isn't that these guys don't want to play D. Honestly, how many times can you actually say you saw one of our players tank a play on D (Tank = purposefully throwing a play)??? You guys harsh on Cato, but one thing about that guy - he doesn't give ANYTHING away for free. He would rather foul first. We have had to train him to let some go. His fouls are more valuable than the 1 bucket. D is our focus, but lets face it. Without superior athletes with great lateral movement abilities it just is not going to be at its best. Stevie and Cuttino have come lightyears from when they entered the league(NOTE: Stevie and Cuttino are two of our players with superior athleticism and lateral movement abilities). We now have more young horses with athleticism. Ming in the middle is a huge advantage to pushing shots outside. D should improve dramatacally this year on that alone. Another reality is that we are a scoring team (when healthy). Scoring helps D. It wears out the other team. Having a healthy Mo and adding a gazelle takes the pressure off of the back court to score. Assists will go up. That means the other team will chase the ball more - more effort to defend. Easier baskets also means more energy to commit to D. It is all connected. We were stuck in a "death spiral" last year. Go back two years and add a center and a SF. Then ask the question again. It really answers itself.
I don't know about that. I saw him on more than lord knows how many occasions not even attempt to challenge penetrators. His ole(bullfighter) type defense frustrates me more than anything. If I can see this, how come the Rockets cannot or how come no one does anything about it? Go back and look at say the last 4 games of the season. He mailed it in long before the actual season was over. However, he has improved through out the years. I wish him the best and I hope he ccontinues to improve. He just frustrates me!
Rocket!!!, I loved the draft but the thing that I am really excited about is seeing Griff. Does he have a realistic shot at starting this year? I have always heard that players make their biggest improvement from their first year to their second but I am not sure how true this is anymore with all of the kids coming out. The thought of a bigger, stronger Griff on the inside really gets me geeked for the upcoming season. Also where is Yao's skills when compared to those of Pau Gasol's.
bigboy, I never said Cato's D was qreat by any means. He has a ways to go. Just a couple of things here though related specifically to your comment about the end of the season. 1) We did not know of our future good fortune at the time. I am not saying that you hit the floor at half speed (I don't know many guys that have that ability in their nature), but do you really want your starting center with a possible career ending injury on a pointless play at the end of the season? 2)How long has Cato been playing organized ball? We keep reminding ourselves of this. He played little in college, virtually none in Portland and a few years here. Development-wise he is still at the late high school/early college level. He has all the tools. He just doesn't know what they are or how to use them. Right now, he is ours. It would seriously suck if we dump him and he develops to his potential in the next 2-3 years. Another OUCH!!! Crash, Not meaning in any way to be sarcastic or nasty I wouldn't even begin to know how to compare the two - different styles/players/positions/games/physical abilities/skills. Sorry Well, it being the fourth and all. I have to go to Spec's with the resident babe (wife) that lives in my house to get some stuff for a party. I may be back on late tonight after I shoot-off some fireworks. To all, Have a great independance day! To all the USA haters....go #uck yourselves!!!!! ROCKET!!!
ROCKET!!!, we all appreciate your info. big time. ..I don't have too much to say except let you know your info. is superb. Do you think Griffin will play a majority of minutes at the 4 or even start some? Did Torres really impress that much and will he be in the plans to bump someone? (take a spot away)
ROCKET!!!, thx for all the info I was wondering if you could enlighten us about the Small Forward situation. Have you heard any info on how Rice has been doing in his off season work? We got a short blurb about him playing and scoring a ton but nothing definate has come about. Have you heard anything about Morris? He has his detractors and proponents but I haven't heard anything about what he's been doing this offseason to improve and any information would be appreciated. And finally, what do you see us doing this comming season at the position? We really now have 4 guys who have or are projected to take minutes at the position, (Rice, KT, Morris, and Nachbar) have you heard anything about how that group of 4 is going to even out, or who's surprised people by their improvement? Thx in advance, this type of stuff makes the off season more interesting now that the draft talk is over.
