I don't think it's fair to knock mobley considering they played against one of, if not the best defensive team in the NBA right now. The next time we see a Mobley vs. Finley matchup, the advantage will automaticaly go to the Mavs.
Great point Haven. That is definately a factor in the Rocks blowing leads or going cold in a game. Cat and Mooch still throw up too many ill advised shots IMHO.
From what I see, Mobley is passing the ball a lot better than what he did in the past season. He is learning the art of passing. Give him some time, he will be good.
I think Van Gundy's words bare repeating: "Mobley is making plays for his team." We want Mobley to disappear into the offense. You can call that "doesn't seem like he fits in with the rest of the team," but then you are disagreeing with Van Gundy...who is the best coach in the NBA without a job. That first half offense was a breath of fresh air to me. That is absolutely the first time I've seen us play sustained motion. That was actually Motion with a capital M. Never thought I'd see it. Thing we have to understand about Mobley is that he honestly tries to do everything Rudy says. You can tell he loves Rudy and would go to battle for him and lead the charge. What seems to happen with Mobley is that he overthinks his assignment. In this case, he is looks to be disappearing into the new offense and thinking he can just flick on Instant Offense later when called open (and Steve has said in the paper that he tells Mobley to step up late). He seems to need to plan sets in his mind, and only being able to play instinctively after several repetitions, resulting in not seeing times where he could have just simply penetrated...and that is a major piece of any motion offense...dribble penetration. I did see him a little more comfortable doing that last night, but he's going to be slow adjusting...so, what bothers me is he is not focusing on his 3s. He needs to be there for 3s in this offense. He needs to remember that, and practice that and make his damn 3s. This team is going to look out of synch in spurts, and that is why we are not a contender. That motion offense we saw is not something we can sustain against changing defenses without video recaps to learn from the next day....and Dallas proved that. I'm pleased with the progress, and I'm quite disappointed in the BBS for losing their collective mind last night on our best Motion offense of the season. "But we didn't do this...but we blew it here...but we should trade for a 38% shooting PG and move Francis to Shooting Guard so he gets tired chasing Kobe, McGrady and Iverson around all night." With a young team like this, you can find fault in any game you watch, and focus on that....but you won't enjoy basketball as much as me. There is nothing more thrilling than witnessing change and evolutions...and the Dallas game gave me a thrilling sneak peak at what is happening in practice. Remember, for every time you see something new (like a Francis give and go with Yao, or Mobley dribble penetration to collapse the zones for a easy dish) for every time you see these things, it is happening 5 times more in practice. imo, Mobley is learning the new offense faster than Francis. He is playing a different game this year, that is evident. But then again, I don't think Francis is being asked to learn much new, rather simply to learn to pick his spots better.
