I like this Rice trade for the time being, with the zone being implanted this year, not having a big man wouldn't hurt us as much, if we have a great pure shooter like Rice, he can break the zone of other teams. Every player and coach knows the only way to break a zone is to shoot from the short corner and the elbows. With Rice, we have someone who could spot for those 3's need to break the zone, and once they go back to man to man, Wink and Cat will being able to play iso, penetrate dish, basicaly do whatever they want with the Defense, and if they find a way to guard those three guys... We have an inside scorer in Taylor which would help us out a lot, plus with Griffin here, we have weak side Defensive help plus it would help out Cato and Taylor with their rebounding issues. I wouldn't say Rice is a great move or a bad move, but I believe Rudy and CD are preparing for the Zone. If they break the zone, and the other team goes man to man, then Franchise and Wink can play the old style they used to thrive in, the only thing is hearing Rice b**** about not getting the ball enough... But Rice will be a good teacher to EG and T-Mo with helping them delvelop a more consistant shot, plus being a mentor with all the experience he brings tot he team as a seasoned veteran
Actually, I thought McDyess was our first choice, but he turned us down. I don't know how much Charles influenced the decision to sign Pippen. Anyway, I've always been a Barkley apologist if you will. I didn't like the trade that brought him here at first, but I thought he was a heck of a Rocket. And yes, we should've beaten Utah in '97
For everyone who thinks the Rockets have to spend $9 million a year on Glen Rice, check again. Most of that money owed to him is part of his signing bonus, which the Rockets are not on the hook for. The only part the Rockets have to pay is around $20 million, which comes out to less than $7 million per. That is LESS than what Shandon is getting from the Knicks. This is not a bad deal at all for a guy who can shoot LIGHTS OUT. Sure the good guys need a 5, but how many are out there? Besides, nobody can hold Shaq, so spending a ton of money on a 5 is ludicrous unless he is a Tim Duncan type player. We all know there aren't any of those out there. Great move CD! This trade ABSOLUTELY helps the team!
Unbelievable Is when your favorite team sells you one thing and then delivers another. When we brought Scottie on I was ecstatic as were most you. Sure he was another vet possibly on the tail end of his career. But that was OK because we were going to try and get another championship before Charles and Hakeem retired. We all knew the sacrifice that we were making and none of us would of dreamed of being able to rebuild this quickly. We low-balled Hakeem, whether he would of come baclk or not is irrelevant. We committed ourselves to our young players and that was what we were going to do. For that reason we didn't make huge push for Webber or Davis. The idea that we were going to build chemistry from within our corps of young talented players was an idea that was sold byt the Rockets and their PR. I didn't b!tch when we didn't fly Webber in and shower him with kisses. I didn't complain when we didn't offer the Dream a few extra million right off the bat. You know why? We were committing ourselves to our young players. And guess what. I bought it. I said "We don't need anyone or anything but time to be contenders," to anyone that would listen. I started to believe that we had the makings of something special. Not just an exciting young team, but a team of players I could enjoy rooting for. Now we've brought in the exact opposite of everything we've been sold. A 33 year old 6'8" SF who cannot play any other positions and barely plays his own on defense. Ignorance is bliss, sure. In another couple of days I will put this behind me and start combing through our 2001 schedule and picking out the 65 wins we will have. Because that's the kind of fan I am. I believe in Rudy and CD, because I know that they are two of the smartest basketball minds in the country. But excuse the hell out of me if I'm little confused by their plan. I buy the tickets and I pay a fortune in cable bills to get to see them in Austin. I think that entitles me to question our moves every once in a while.
On a positive note, how long do think it will be before the Knicks fans throw Scott Layden into the Hudson river. My god, what was he thinking giving Shandon $7m/year when he has Houston and Sprewell locked up. At first I figured that he planned on trading Alan as soon as he can, but who the hell would want him at the salary he's making.
Thanos, I don't want to have an argument here, because I think the fastbreak was our worst problem last year. I religiously watch our problems with fastbreaks. It is not due to rebounding. It is due to Francis not pushing his rebounds up the court or not coming back for an outlet. Francis would even come down with a rebound 10ft out and just walk it up. Stevie, grab the rebound and RUUUUUUUN....no matter where you are and no matter how many backpedalers there are....dammit. Thanos, fastbreaks are not only about clear lines to the rim that require a man advantage (3on2, 2on1, etc). Fastbreaks are not soley about Magic with Worthy on one side and Scott on the other attacking Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge while leaving Larry Bird in the dust. Fastbreaaks can be development plays with no clear man advantage. The only requirement of a fastbreak is to create an open man before the defense sets. University of Kansas basketball is based on fastbreaks as a their primary set!!! They run fastbreaks out of the net!!! How is taking a made basket out of the net and passing it 10 ft to a guard who is making a cut any slower to develop than a guard grabbing a rebound and spinning and turning on the burners. It isn't! Fastbreaks are often pushed by a guard rebounding. Francis rebounding does not prevent him from pushing a fastbreak attack. Francis often never gave us a chance, because he would walk it up the court. And to presume this is because we didn't have a man advantage is underestimating the power of pushing the ball on a team of shooters and finishers. <b>What are Outlet Passes</b> First off, outlet passes are not primarily designed to get the ball up court. They are <b>primarily</b> designed to get the ball out of the hands of the PF and to a dribbler. How far up court that pass is is not the point. The objective is for the dribbler to get the ball as fast as possible, so he can outrun your PF and center, and anyone else not already backpedaling. Outlet passes are practiced very similarly to wide receiver patterns, but you do not practice the Barkley bomb. Outlets are not post patterns...they are little flares like Joe Montana running the 2-minute drill. They are short passes intended for a guard basically running a slant pattern or a hook (in basketball terminology, this is a V-cut). Francis was largely clueless to knowing how to get open for an outlet.....he just ran up court like we wanted to be James Worthy. Moochie comes back for the pass. He is the only one who consistantly gets open for safe outlet pass--short and sweet. He is the only one who consistantly takes off no matter where he gets the ball and no matter how many backpedalers the other team has.
What would be so wrong with that next season? We haven't made the playoffs either of the last 2 seasons, so I would think making the playoffs as making progress. If we don't, oh well, just one more year of experience for our younger players and another year off some high dollar contracts.
Let the Thanos roast begin! We have a team with 4-5 guys(Cat, Francis, Taylor, Moochie and <gulp>Langhi) that can all create their own shots. What the Rockets desperately need on the offensive side of the ball is someone that can catch and shoot rather than have to create his own offense(care to count the number of posts of people b****ing about ISO's?). Rice will fill the Rockets need for a catch and shoot type player.
Is Pig Miller still available? I know he doesn't have the 15 footer, but can get out and run on a fast break and can still rebound.
The Barkley trade was a success. The '97 team had all of the makings of a title. An unfortunate injury to the Chuckter's arm combined with horrible officiating allowed the NBA to keep their image of an unbeatable Jordan. To call the trade for Barkley a mistake is just wrong. He was by far the best player on the team for most of his tenure. By the time he got here Drexler was almost ready for retirement and Dream's game was sliding downhill like a greased toboggin. There is no way Cassell and Will Smith would have beaten the Sonics, let alone the Jazz. I personally like THIS trade (Rice/Shanderson) because we had two holes. I thought we would address the center hole first, hence the new nick, but we did need to plug the hole at SF as well. Griff is 19 so that won't cut it. Glen Rice is one of the better small forwards in the league. All we need now is for Cato to play to his potential, or to pick up a servicable center through a trade and I feel this could be a top 4 team in the association. All this in exchange for a backup to a guy that was consistantly top 3 on the team in minutes played. The possibility of using our cap for a great player was all but gone anyway. Maybe Jamison could have been signed next year. The only way for that to happen now is to package good talent that is underpriced (Griffin or Cat, preferably Griffin) with cap filler. I see a sign and trade of Tim Duncan for Griffin and Rice/Cato in the Rockets future, because Tim will not want to stay on the sinking ship that will be the 2003 Spurs.
Bullard can play catch and shoot with the best of ´em. At a fraction of what Rice costs, and without the attitude problem Rice brings to the table. So much for my "roasting". more to come later.
I totally agree with you Crispee on our fastbreak problems. Francis just does not push the ball up the court when he can do it just about anytime he wants. I was a point guard in college and I know from experience that fastbreak basketball is created from wanting to push the ball up the court ala Jason Kidd and Avery Johnson. If the rockets would just run more they probably would get injured alot less compared to grinding it out in halfcourt sets. When Francis gets the ball he just needs to take off and the rest of his teammates will eventually learn to catch up and fill the lanes. Its all up to Francis.
I disagree, but not totally. That is not the best way because it is not reproduceable enough. Hell, I could say the best way to a fast break is stealing the ball, but that doesn't mean I can set up a fastbreak team around that. Releasing your guards and trying to hit them in stride at the half-court line or further is the most dangerous way to do a fastbreak. Besides, it is well known that dribbling is what forces the defender to react, whereas passing too soon commits you and allows the defense to play the ball. There is such that as slowing up on the fastbreak. The ball is always best to be in the hands of a dribbler who can finish if the defense does not force it out of his hands. PhiSlammaJamma, I don't totally disagree. I know what you are saying. But I don't think you are considering what a fastbreak offense does. You are mainly describing fastbreaks in general...not offenses that specialize in fastbreaks. I am talking about the broader view of fastbreaks....to include the secondary break....which the media stats don't include, but coaches do. Coaches don't build fastbreak offenses via long passes that can be intercepted or end up going to a non playmaker on the wing who can then be cornered by the defense. To build a fastbreak TEAM, you practice the most reproduceable, highest frequency fastbreaking you can. That is simply getting the ball to a dribbler immediately and letting him push the dribble or pass it forward....even if that dribbler has to come back for the ball. Magic NEVER released. He always went to the free throw line for the pass, then took off. He also averaged 8-9 rebounds some years as well, and launched a fastbreak. Kidd frequently comes back for the ball. In fact, I've seen Kidd get a pick coming back for the outlet, because defenses try so hard to prevent the pass to him. Personally, I do not want Francis releasing, and I do not want the PF/C rebounder looking down court. I want Francis to come get the ball, and I want the rebounder to look at no one but Francis. Maybe Mobley can be an alternative ball-handler if Francis is in better position to release while Mobley is closer to the outlet....cause Francis makes a great finisher....but the two of them have to coordinate who is going to get the ball and who is releasing. Right now, we have no coordination on this.
