Couple of things first -- photos got squashed again today. I can't post any more of those. I figured that was coming, so hopefully you enjoyed three days worth. Secondly, I won't be there tomorrow -- family outing. I learned also the Rockets will be in Austin until next Friday. They actually have a preseason game I think Tuesday and they will come <I>back</I> to Austin for camp after that game. They did the drug testing today, so that's why practice went pretty long (it got switched up to just one practice today -- from 12-3, but it actually went from 12:30 to about 4:30) I saw probably an hour and a half worth of scrimmage. Mobley sat it out with an ankle injury, though he is expected to be back tomorrow, and Rice and Mo both sat out as well -- they spent the entire time shooting on one of the side courts. Francis, Griffin and KT all looked very, very good .... all three were exceptional in fact. Griffin and KT went head to head most of the time and both nailed a lot of shots and had nice moves. KT's 17-footer was damn near automatic. He must have hit that shot 5 times. Francis also had a pull-up stroke working. Boki at times looked great as well. What I am so impressed with about him is how well he cuts and runs in transition with the ball. Passes very well also. His defense was not that great. Terence Morris (who I should note looked pretty damn good also) had a couple of moves on Boki, but overall what you would note from that matchup is how well Boki fits in a transition game. One of the scrimmages was tied with 1 second left when Francis found Boki for an alleyoop layin -- pretty nice. Terence missed a three that would have won it. Brandon Kurtz didn't practice - left to have an ankle x-rayed, and Joaquin Hawkins is the name of the guy I didn't know there. He's not too bad actually. The real highlight was a play where I think Francis or Tierre (can't remember - it's in my audio notes) stole the ball from Hawkins, then immediately fired it to a streaking Griffin. He took probably two steps from the top of the key and threw down a vicious one-hand slam over Hawkins. Pretty amazing. I got some quotes from Rudy about Griffin's progress after the session -- he's thrilled with how Eddie's playing, saying he can tell he wants it inside more.
I interviewed Kenny after practice and will be writing a story on him. I've always been a little nervous to talk to Kenny because the dude looks like the most unhappy son of a gun on the planet, but he was actually very cool.
Thanks for your summaries Clutch. It almost feels like we were there,too. And it certainly gives us a "fix for the day". Otherwise we'd still be suffering through Rocket Withdrawl.
I know, I'm starting to worry too. There would be nothing more frustrating than seeing another season go down the drain because of injuries. Have the Rockets had a scrimmage yet where everyone was healthy and playing?
Thanks for the report Clutch. Everyone let's try not to worry about the drug test until there is a reason to do so. HOPEFULLY, they have all learned their lessons from the previous incidents .....
I think I know what you mean. Kenny's rookie year at the RMR, I went up to Kenny with the intention of talking to him for the site, but the look he gave me as I walked up (I had a tape recorder) was about the most intimidating look I've ever gotten from a player in my life. I chickened out and settled for Bryce Drew.
Maybe Mobley was just tired from getting his groove on at Platinum X on 6th street last night and wanted the day off
About the pics, please don't get into any trouble on our behalf, Clutch. No sweat anyhow, your well-written reports are the real attraction. Thank you for keeping us entertained this week. With Morris on the bubble playing well, maybe it's adios Collier now, and the three centers are Yao, Cato, Griffin (with Taylor in emergency). Clutch, in light of the sizzling shooting display and good passing from Boki, how well-suited do you think he will be as an occasional SG (sub for Mobes or his replacement during injury), or would his defense (or some other facet) be too much of a liability? If Boki shoots close to this well in NBA games, seems like you'd want someone like that in the lineup as much as possible and with Rudy's veteran loyalties, Rudy may withhold some of the SF minutes from him and instead allocate them to Rice and KT given how well they seem to be playing of late.
Clutch, did you see any of the "motion" offense being implemented in the scrimages? How are the guys dealing with it? Also, your reports focus a lot on the positives. Can you give us some flavor on who sucks (besides the camp-invitees). I don't hear much about Moochie and Cato. Should we infer that they are in poor shape. Same for Maddox and Torres. Thanks!!!!
How dare you putting your family ahead of the Rockets! JK. Thanks for you great work, Clutch. Good to hear that KT has a consistent midrange J. I always thought that he couldn't hit consistently anything farther than 10'.
how was griffin getting most of his points? did you see any sort of post-up work with him? either way good to hear him doing well. thanks alot clutch
