What the Rockets can learn from the Mavs.......

I watched that Mav-Seattle game too and now I am exhausted. Wow, what a game. Nash is good and getting better. However, I think most Houston fans have forgotten how SF plays when he is healthy. He is a superstar but he might be a better fit at shooting guard.

 

nash is awesome of course, but he has much more seasoning than francis. he has two more years plus alot of international ball. nash is turning into a superstar in his 5th season but in his 3rd season he was merely a good back-up point guard. francis' third season he is the starter for the western all-stars. i'll compare the two when steve gets more time on the court.

 

I would also like them to change the uni's like the mavs did. I hope houston still has that family feeling on the team which it had two years ago. It seems like no one has been talking about it so i am assuming they've lost a bit of it. It seems like the mavs really read each other's minds

 

http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10701&highlight=Mavs


I think this was discussed a wee bit earlier...



DaDakota

 

Hell, I was there! Great game, disappointing result. It's nice to see an offense-oriented game now and then.

Nas does not have to face the same kind of defensive pressure that Steve faces every night. He gets amazingly wide-open shots all the time. Put Nowitski, Finley, and Howard on the Rockets, and I guarantee that Steve would do the exact same things that Nash does. Put Nash on this team, and he would struggle far more than you could possibly imagine.

 

LOL I thought you were gonna say something to the effect of...let's stay in the lottery 10 years straight and keep drafting crappy players; and when we actually draft a decent star (Kidd, Mashburn, and J. Jackson to an extent) we immediately trade them, then get lucky to draft a foreign-born 7 footer who will change the game of basketball forever. Oh, that and spend RIDICULOUS amounts on contracts of stupid players such as Howard and Bradley.

 

I don't think you would have to give Francis those players, just put him in Aldemans,Karls,Nelson, or Rivers coaching system and he would be better off. I was listening to Rudy after they said Francis would be out tonight , he went on to say that he is such a big part of the team. That was cool, but then when he said he runs about 30 plays for Steve i was tripping. Why in the hell would any coach in his right mind run 30 plays for the poing guard? The pg is one of the few players on the court you shouldn't have to run any plays for. To me that says it all about how Rudy mismanages this team and Francis. I can see a couple here and there, but the pg is suppose to get the team ino the offense ,deliver the ball to players, and then if needed break down the defense. People complain about Marbury all the time being a shoot first pg, but isn't that what we're doing to Steve? Sure he rebounds better and have a better attitude than Marbury, but game wise ,whats the difference.


Using the league pass, Milw,Orl,NJ,Dallas,LAC, are my favorite teams to watch. More times than not, I tape the rockets and watch the other teams . Sorry Rox fans, but their style is very ,very boring.

 

High school and Jr High teams run more complicated offenses and have PG's with more feel for the game than Francis.

 

emoreland, yes the Mavs have sucked for a decade but this is new ownership and new coaches. Also, to say that the Mavs "got lucky" by drafting a foreign-born 7 footer is asinine. The Mavs stepped up and drafted him in the first round amid pressure for them to draft Paul Pierce. Get your facts strait buddy.

 

I know your exaggerating, but this is silly. Francis is learning a new position at PG. Francis is learning to play at NBA level, and despite that he's one of the best PG's in the league. Despite not having a front court than can catch all that well, and score at will, he's one of the best PG's in the league. Francis is a great all around player, and developing into a great team leader as well.

 

I might be silly, but it sounds like you aren't really that objective.

As bad as he is this year, Moochie does a better job of creating scoring chances for our big guys.

I like Francis, he's fun to watch, and at times can be the best player on the floor.

However, you are mistaken if you think he's a good PG. I would say he's a good SG. But he does not have PG skills or a PG mentality.

This might be contributed to Rudy's offense. Or you can say that Rudy has to base his simplistic offense around a SG who is playing PG.

I never said Francis wasn't a good player. I just question if he is a good PG.

Overall, he's a very good player.

Let's just move him to SG, and find a pure PG who can defend, as well as run an offense that requires some movement.

 

I'll agree that Steve is still learning the position, and he isn't the prototypical PG, but he can play the position, and it's important to use the talents that each player brings. I mean his shot is way better than Jason Kidds, and his passing isn't as good. So for him to always pass and never shoot like Kidd does, would be a waste of his abilities. As he learns the position and game better it's all going to change IMO.

Also as EG develops, and other players that can catch the ball, shoot, move more without the ball, his passing will improve as well.

 

You basically explained why Steve should be a SG rather than a PG.

I am saying that Steve would make a better SG than PG, right now and in the future. Why force the PG role on a player whose skills are much better suited to be a SG?

Really, the only reasoning is that Mobley is already at SG.

But you are nuts if you think Stevie makes a better true PG than a true SG.

Stevie is a "good" PG. If he played SG since he came into the league, Steve could be a "great" SG who can average close to 25 ppg and 4-5 assists.

Your quote is basically dead on with my point that I want Stevie to shoot the ball more than pass. That makes him a much better SG prospect than a PG prospect.

 

Right now he might be a better SG, and he plays SG about half of the game lately. Steve prior to joining the Rockets had been a SG and not a PG. But Steve wants to be a PG. And Stevie, definitely has heart and the dedication. He'll never be a JAson Kidd clone, his game is just different. But was Thomas' game when he played on the pistons. Detroit won back to back championships, even though he wasn't the prototypical PG.

I think probably it all lies somewhere in the middle. If Steve had better talent around him, it would be easier for him to be a PG

 

Steve, to me, is the only position on the Rockets that, talent wise, is obviously better than the Mavs. Dallas has a player as good, or better, at every other position (including bench). It's not a surprise that they're better.

The main problem on the Rockets offensive end is obvious to me. All the players have forgotten how to make quick decisions. THey get a pass, they hold for a second, then they think about what to do. Their is nothing wrong with the offensive system or the coaching staff. In fact, watching the Mavs game, you'll see they run the exact same offense, except with more of an inside-post up threat (cause they have the players - Howard and Nowitszki). They just make faster, quicker, crisper decisions.

Maybe the Rockets should learn how to play chess, or some other game where you always have to think at least one move ahead - that is the major offensive change they need to make.

 

Bingo.

That is what is lacking, the improvision by the 5 guys on offense.

The only real improvision we ever have is the alley oops to Cato, Mobley, or Francis.

Other than that, the players don't have the on-court chemistry that is needed to have an offense like the Mavs or other teams who are able to use movment to score a bunch of points.

The Rockets think too slowly about what they want to do on offense, so the shot clock eventually goes down, and we end up forcing shots.

This may be due to lack of instincts from our players, or lack of coaching.

 

Francis is an average to below average PG in a half court setting. The fact that the game is 80-90% half court makes me wonder about Francis at PG.

He is too slow to determine what exactly he wants to do with the ball (as well as Mobley and Moochie), which kills the offense from getting into any sets, or getting into any kind of flow.

Yes, Rudy hasn't devised much of an offense. But, basketball isn't like football, where the coach has to call in the all the plays. There is a lot more improvisation that is needed to be a PG. Francis seems to lack the PG's thinking skills. He seems to have more of a SG one.

The "problem" with Francis is that he doesn't want to be a "selfish" player by taking 20+ shots a game. Naturally, his personality makes him want to be a PG who helps others play better. But, his skills do not seem to coincide with what kind of player he wants to be.

I know this analogy has been beaten like a dead horse, but Philly realized that their best scorer was best suited to playing the SG position. Notice how Philly has done much better since Iverson moved to SG? Philly had always underachieved when they had Iverson trying to play PG.

Why can't we do the same?

 

I think it's lack of time playing together due to the fact that every other night someone is injured. There is no way the team could develope the kind of chemistry they should with the myriad of injuries.

Let the guys play together long enough and their instincts will be more attuned, the options that a coach can even run will be multiplied.

To play together as a team the players need to learn not only their games but the other players games, and how other players react to each other. Due to injuries that kind of learning hasn't been able to develope at all.

 

That is true. However, this league does not wait for teams to catch up. The excuses must end, and the results must begin.