A fellow named Woodsland had the best reply I have ever seen in the Glen Rice post listed below. You people in Houston are amazing......someone like Woodsland tells the absolute truth and he gets ripped. Wake up and smell the coffee. Jason Collier is a piece of $%#$@ as a basketball player and if he were not on the Rockets he would not even make the NBDL. Terrence Morris is a non prospect. Francis and Mobley are our best players but do not know how to pass (unless it is an alley oop). Kevin Willis - God Bless him at least he gives an effort, but is worthless at his age. Same goes for Glen Rice minus the effort. Kenny Thomas is talented but plays an overall dumb game of basketball and does not know how to pass and for that matter make two free throws in a row in any game of importance. Mo Taylor is good but drug problems are a concern. Walt Williams...........best year of his career and he still sucks. Dan Langhi has potential but every time you get excited he throws up another air ball. Kelvin Cato is a good backup at best. Eddie Griffin (who was my favorite player on the team at all-star break) has had one of the most dissappointing second halves of the season. Where are the blocked shots and high accuracy on three pointers............one has to be concerned at how his effort has deteriorated and we better be careful not to lock him up in another 7 year multi-million dollar deal based on half a season. I hope his lack of effort is due to the fact that he just gave up after never receiving passes from KT or for that matter Stevie or Cuttino, but at his age that is a sign of MAJOR concern. This team needs change and nobody with the exception of Mobley (who has a cheap contract and has played like a true NBA player this year) should feel safe when this season is over with. Not to sound like Pippen, but Rudy's offense sucks and he has not shown me much as a defensive coach. Calvin Murphy addresses the weaknesses of this team much better than Rudy and I feel that it may be time for a coaching change. Hakeem was the reason we won the championships.....not Rudy. Generally the team with the best player in the NBA eventually wins championships. Every year Rudy falls in love with players like Maloney, Mack, Drew, Collier, Williams, etc. and does not punish these guys for making mistakes like most coaches do. Sad thing is that with Rudy as coach of this team I am certain that Jason Collier will be a staple in our lineup for years to come. You would never see Phil Jackson playing crap like Collier during the regular season. People will reply that he is evaluating his talent, BUT my friends it took me five minutes in Collier's first season to see that he officially sucked. You may not agree with everything I have said but I hope some people look at it objectively. Thanks and take care.
You bring up a lot of good points waltsucks2. It is embarassing to watch this team. Too many boring isolations, too many outside shots (from people who should not be shooting them), bad defensive team and too much street ball. I really miss the old days when all you had to do was dump the ball in the post and just react to the defense. Atleast then you had a play that could get you points consistently. I hope next year Rudy scraps the whole iso deal. He should just use it at specific times of the game, like the end of a quarter, the end of a game or when he is trying to get an opposing guard in foul trouble. I'm a Rockets fan through and through but even I know a bad team when I see one.
<b>You would never see Phil Jackson playing crap like Collier during the regular season. </b> Nah he'll run All-Stars like Mark Madsen, Craig Hodges, Cliff Levingston, Stacy King, Will Perdue, Joe Kleine, and Bill Wennington out there. Didn't Collier the other night shoot 5-7 for 12 points? But since you took the time to rip the entire team, who should Rudy have played then? Who should we have picked up? Please tell that to us Houstonians since we don't know what we're talking about and you're all knowing. This team is still REBUILDING! But if Rudy had Francis, Mobley, Mo and Rice at 100% for practically the entire season don't you think it would be a different story?
Yup, Glen Rice looked amazing when he was playing the first few weeks of the year. A lock for the all star team if he hadn't gotten hurt and a potential Defensive Player of the Year Candidate. Mo Taylor would have immensely helped on the boards and as a physical, defensive force inside.
It hurts to say, but the injury excuse only goes so far. KT has given everything Mo did last year and more. Rice never contributed. True we have no depth, but our fate isn't all injuries. It's a low b-ball IQ.
I agree that WoodlandsBoy has a good handle on Houston's talent level Those who think that we're "one player away" should think again. guys... we got skunked by Chicago and Memphis this year that doesn't happen to Philly when Iverson's out! I know they're in the East but this team has no quality depth, except at the 4. If you really think we should keep Torres, Langhi, and Brown, then I have one question. Would they be playing for any other good team in the league? You could say that they wouldn't be playing for Houston without all of the injuries. The issue is that these guys have got to go, and they must be replaced with ppl who are better! Will that happen? Rudy falls in love with his underdogs. He's going to sign one or more of those guys to 3-4 year deals... watch! I actually am not convinced Langhi is garbage yet, b/c he had a great preseason, and moves well for his size. He really plays like a guy who's scared coach is going to bench him after his first mistake. Morris flat out can't shoot at ALL but I'm not sure he's garbage either, he could turn into a really good defender (70% of defense is EFFORT) If Houston ran an offense where long range shooting wasn't absolutely necessary he could still be effective. He could be an excelent finisher on the break... but how would we know? Houston should trade Mo Taylor (Mid season- after he proves he's ok) for some depth just my .02
Funny you're the only one saying that about Rice. Glen Rice would have given Houston another scorer and outside shooter. And Mo Taylor starting helped Houston win 45 games. Funny how you troll the board after Toronto starts winning again. I'm assuming if Toronto misses playoffs, or get steamrolled by New Jersey we'll see the last of your trolling. Well there's always some good, like Toronto's best chance at a championship went down the toilet this year! Age and contracts suck don't they?
Raptors Troll: It wasn't a coincidence that our team defense was INFINITELY better when Rice was playing than when he wasn't. Rice was a floor leader that actually had vocal leadership skills, and brought the techniques that made the Knicks team defense over here. He could get beat man up because he lost a step, but he played sound team defense. Go cheer on the Craptors some more so you guys can give us a top 15 pick, then get bounced quickly in the playoffs. That Olajuwon fellow sure is giving Eric Montross a run for his money for that starting center spot. Get lost, troll.
Toronto will give Houston the pick they are owed from Seattle. Rice is trash... Come on... He sucks and has sucked for years.
Straight from Clutch, BTM: my understanding is Houston doesn't have to take that pick. Toronto can't force it on them, if they want to give up the pick. The Chronicle atleast states as much .... also saying that the first year Toronto makes the playoffs, they give that pick to Houston (unless Toronto and Houston both opt for that Seattle pick) http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30945 BTW, in Rice's last two healthy seasons, for those seasons he averaged about 14-15 points a game, along with 4-5 rebounds and a solid three point stroke. He also significantly improved in the playoffs, especially for the Knicks a year ago. I'll take that on my team as a role player.
Rice healthy is an asset. I don't know about getting him in the first place, but that's another subject. As for trash, there's a hell of a lot of it in this thread.
waltsucks 2, please, tell us something we don't know. I think alot of ppl are delusional, but I think more ppl realize the depth of our problem. It sometimes shows on the players' faces when they get the ball, they feel it's their chance to do something with it because they may not see it again in that quarter. It stems from our system. We drafted (really traded for) a very good PG and their is a big difference in the talent level after Cat. But it's not all about talent. You can have all the talent and all the defense, but if you don't have team play, you won't get far. And because Rudy has encouraged Stevie to shoot more, which means pass less, it disrupts the flow of involving the team. We need at least one more established player (i.e. Odom) and a deeper front court to make some noise in the West. ps- a better backup PG wouldn't hurt either.
Another scorer and outside shooter, huh? Rice was shooting at a terrible clip before his injury and clearly due to age and being out of shape he was no longer a post presence as in previous years. At the beginning of the year, I pointed out that Rice's stats showed a consistent, yearly decline in points and FG% and his matador defense is well documented. The guy is just plain washed up. Kenny Thomas has played better this year than Mediocre Taylor did last season, he actually cares about defense and rebounding, unlike Taylor.
But now who will give us what KT gave us last year. Our starting PF might not be a big dropoff, but it sure does hurt our depth. That is why no shot Morris saw time this year. We lost three forwards for long stretches of the season, that is going to hurt any team. Not to mention Steve missing about a third of the year. How good would Dallas be if they lost Dirk, Fin, and Najera for the season and Nash missed significant time.
Judging by the #'s, Kenny hasn't played that much better than Mo. Mo was a better shooter and a biggerthreat. Kenny is a black hole type of player as well. You are a Raptors fan, why do you hate Mo Taylor? Your signature is creepy.
gr8-1: If you remember, Taylor spurned the Raptors offer of 3 years, 18 million dollars the summer he signed with the Rockets for the 2.25 million dollar exception. I'm speculating that that may be his primary reason for his dislike of Mo. As far as KT giving us everything Mo did last year, I'm not sold on that. The numbers are comparable, but there are some cases that the numbers don't tell the complete story. Kenny gets a lot of his points by taking the ball on the wing, facing up his defender, and trying to beat them to the basket with his quickness and footwork. This sometimes is effective for KT (when he scores), but I'm not sure if he's really making the players around him better. Mo, to me, just gives you more options. He can take his man off the dribble, like Kenny, but his outside shot is tremendously better. The spacing on the floor when Steve and Cat are trying to drive is significantly improved by Mo's presence to hit that 20 foot jumper. Also, while Mo may not have a great post game, his body size is such that he can often turn and hit a 8-10 footer on the low block. Kenny, at his size, can't frequently do this, and as a result the defense doesn't have to give as much respect to his game in that area, and thus they can sag out to the three point line and deny our shooters open looks. Also, it's not the greatest comparison to compare Mo's full season numbers from a season ago to Kenny's this year. Mo averaged approximately 16 and 7, I believe, in the final half of last season, after he became more adjusted to the system and received more minutes. Kenny is doing well this year, but he has been in this system for three years now, so he had more opportunities at the beginning of the season. BTW, I am definitely not an advocate of trading Kenny, despite what this post may lead you to believe. I simply think that some of the things Mo brings to the table helps the players around him to better improve. My ideal Rockets lineup has Mo, Eddie, and KT all on the floor at the same time.
Lets see, Glen Rice wasn't at 100% (he didn't get a chance to condition himself during the offseason because of his foot injury), and he's washed up. Ok. We don't need the All-Star Rice, just a double-digit scoring Rice who can knock down the open shot. We'll get that next year. But the ironic thing is that everything you're saying about Rice we've been saying about Hakeem, and you're stuck with his contract so worry about that. The fact that Toronto has all of those contracts and are still looking like a non-playoff team or fodder in the first round speaks volumes about their future, or lack of it. As for Maurice Taylor, last year was his WORSE season, yet he still played very well. We'll get that from him next year. For somebody who isn't a fan of the Rockets you act like you know a lot about them. I guarantee that a Mo/Griffin frontline at 100% gets the Rockets 45 wins or so, team health willing.
