Rudy doesn't re-act quickly on subtituting players. Come on! man Now you have Posey, use him for more time. Boki is pretty good too! Mo need to trim down a little bit, stop eating too much junk food man! Rice is running out of gas at the final turn, too slow, missed too many shots and no D. Rudy please don't just watch the game, coach to win man!
To further support my earlier claims about how aweful Taylor is.... even in tonight's rout of the Bucks, he was only able to score a whopping 2 points (got out-scored by Boki's trash time). AND, after playing 12 minutes, he left the game in the third quarter with a "tightened Achilles tendon". Doesn't that sound great?!? Man, what a waste of money he has been. Again, one of the biggest problems with our team: Mo Taylor is a turd. -- droxford
The first rockets problem is Cuttino Mobley. (Why on earth did rockets let Dickerson go instead of weak-AI run&gun player like Cuttino Mobley?) Second of all, I come from Slovenia (Boki's home country) and boy must I say how is he wasted by the rockets. I've seen him play many times. You would love to see this guys abillities. No offense to Cat's fans, but this how I see it.
It's difficult to completely disagree with just about everything said here. But I think Timing is correct that our expectations keep getting out of whack. I said coming in to the season we had a shot at the #6 seed and that's pretty much where I see us, but it's 2003 now and what this thread is all about is disappointments and surprises. My disappointments: 1) MoT's health. Hate him/love him those damned achilles injuries more often than not take athletes two years to fully recover from. From the reports I heard in the summer I thought MoT had a chance to be an exception despite his girth. In the absence of perfect health I expected him to be able to consistently stick the 12-15 jumper he has throughout his career. It hasn't happened. And I think we're one of the worst mid-range shooting teams I've ever seen. Watching Cassell last night really brought that back to me. I honestly think we have shooters that prefer the open space of 22' and beyond shots because we're terrible dribbling in 6' and hitting the shot. It's a huge liability that's got to make Rudy sick. As a player, he was a great shooter off the dribble and getting to the spot he wanted to shoot from. 2) Our forwards in general. I know they're many reasons no one's stepped up, but that's what Rudy's waiting for. And Rudy will wait until hell freezes over before his philosophies change. Guys will start for several games regardless of production, then mostly sit while another guy starts for a few games regardless of his production. Rudy was a hell of a player and he believes a player needs time to get going. That's why Nachbar isn't playing, because Rudy has decided not to invest consistent major minutes this year, because that's what he believes it takes. For all the Rudy-bashers, he drives me nuts too, but he's consistent he doesn't protect himself by bashing his players, and we'll never know how much crap's really flying around because Rudy doesn't allow it. That's not a coach who has no control over his team. For those who want the Rockets to crack some heads in this year's playoffs, pray for Posey. You also see how it could be possible that E.G.'s "coming out" party could begin late this season, that's what usually sets the table for a player's 3rd year and it happens more often than not for those with talent. My surprises: 1) Yao Ming. You've seen this guy somewhere before? I haven't. 'Nuff said. 2) We actually play defense sometimes. Kudos to Rudy and the staff for the zones implemented a year late (like every other team in the NBA, WHY?). Steve has impressed me with his growth, and though I doubt he'll ever be a good one-on-one defender, there's really no reason he couldn't be. That he's trying and is attempting to stay on the same page with the coaches is more than I've seen in previous years. Cat, oh boy, I love the guy but he's not a quick learner. But he has played some D this year. Kudos to his publicist. So given we're a young team with at times showing signs of chemistry, we're about where we should be. We're a young good team that's extremely painful to watch at times (7 pts. in a quarter? FIRE EVERYBODY!). I'm pretty content. Yao and E. Griff. haven't scratched the surface yet. I still like the KT/Posey trade and that's another huge X-factor. And as I sit here with the paper looking at the 3-9 spots in the West, I'm thinking the Lakers get in there knocking someone out, 2 of those teams probably get a critical injury/injuries and still think Utah fades. We could end up as the 4th seed, what a strange season.
I do think that individual defence needs to improve,, but give them some time as a team, with yao in there zone should work pretty well once they polish it,, with time, this team will grow almost unstoppable..
