With all of these good performances from the likes of Terence Morris, Oscar Torres, and to a lesser degree Damon Jones, how do you see the 15 man roster shaping up?
Guards 1 Steve Francis - Starter 2 Cuttino Mobley - Starter 3 Moochie Norris - 6th man until Griffin proves otherwise 4 Oscar Torres - I hope he is Cuttino's backup, but this is based on the Detroit game 5 Damon Jones - deep on the bench, possible injury coming up Tierre Brown - cut Darren Kelly - cut Forwards 6 Glen Rice - starter, though TMo could steal minutes from him as coaching staff doesn't want to "take unneeded risks" 7 Kenny Thomas - starter, though he could easily lose this to Eddie if Griffin is the stud everyone around here thinks he is 8 Eddie Griffin - first or second off the bench 9 Walt Williams - third option off the bench, but could easily change depending on performance... If he gets hot Rudy will give him the minutes at SF or PF 10 Terence Morris - with good performances, could push Glen and Walt for minutes 11 Dan Langhi - I think that sprain is worse than he originally thought 12 Maurice Taylor - IR for the whole season, though if we get him back late in the season, and we are in the playoffs, things might get quite interesting Centers 13 Kelvin Cato - starter early on, could lose this spot if we get Jackson 14 *Marc Jackson - if we get him he could be the starting center and backup power forward some point in the season 15 Jason Collier - bench, how deep depends on Jackson Ike Nwankwo - Cut, but still has a small chance to save himself MHO of what the 15 man roster could look like. If we don't get Marc Jackson we might keep Ike, or find another center/power forward to fill the gap. B
Houston Rockets 2001-2002 Roster Starters PG- Francis SG- Mobley SF- Rice PF- Thomas C- Jackson -------------------- 2nd String PG- Norris SG- Langhi SF- Williams PF- Griffin C- Cato -------------------- 3rd String PG- Jones IR SG- Torres IR SF- Morris PF- Taylor IR C- Collier - Kelly (Cut) - Brown (Cut) - Ike N. (Cut)
ugh... i really don't know who'll stick around but what i've learned is "In Rudy We Trust". He has the will and i'm sure he'll find a way
We are only allowed a 12-man roster, right? Are you saying 15 because you can have only 3 men on IR? With the good play of Torres and Jones, Langhi is not looking too good off the bench. He better get that ankle fixed up and fight for PT or he just might find himself cut. Rudy has come accross a lot of potential this summer and I'm glad it ain't my decision to cut folks. These "filler" guys are playing so well that our starters have to play better to keep spots. Mooch is playing so well that I wouldn't be displeased if Mooch started at PG and Steve played 2. Where would that leave Mobley? Rudy has some tough decisions. -krosfyah
Stop calling these guys filler. Even Ike is not filler. The beauty of having all this talent and depth is that you can limit the minutes of your starters to reduce the risk of injuries and ensure freshness for the playoffs. Make no doubt about it the team is going for more than just making the playoffs. The depth also give Rudy leverage to demand intensity on the defensive end. In fact defense is going to be the reason why Morris will get more playing time than Langhi at SF and Torres could steal more and more minutes from Walt. My roster and playing rotation with minute allocation are as follows: C - Cato 20, Jackson 20, Collier 8 PF - Thomas 24, Griffin 24 SF - Rice 25, Morris 15, Langhi 8 PG - Francis 33, Moochie 15 OG - Mobley 33, Williams 12, (Rice 3) Rudy will have great flexibility with this roster. Probably the most attactive thing about this team is the scoring ability of so many. I am expecting the team to average 100 points.
Notice the quotes in my message. All these guys are good so I'm using that term loosely. Sorry if that offended you. What about MoT (IR)? How about Damon Jones or Oscer Torres? I don't think Ike has a shot unless Jackson doesn't come and maybe not even then.
Sorry, I did only the rotation. My roster would include Torres, Jones. I was not offended by your comments CROSSFIRE!
1- WINK, Norris 2- Cat, Torres, DJ 3- Rice, TMo 4- K9, Griff 5- Jax, Collier, Cato IR: Wiz, MoT LANKY: bye Kelly: see ya next year Brown: peace Nwankwo: see ya midseason(after we trade Cato )
even if we do have our 15 man roster finished, everybody has played so well that they all seem to deserve some quality minutes.
This would be my 15 man roster and rotation: C - Cato 25, Jackson 20, Collier 3 PF - Thomas 23, Griffin 20, Jackson 5 SF - Rice 30, Morris 10, Walt 8 SG - Mobley 35, Torres 8, Francis 5 PG - Francis 30, Moochie 18 Minutes per game: Francis, Mobley = 35 Rice = 30 Cato, Jackson = 25 Thomas = 23 Griffin = 20 Moochie = 18 Morris = 10 Walt, Torres = 8 Collier = 3 Taylor, Langhi, and Jones would be on the IR
I like CompaqC list. All in all it's a great position for the Rockets to be in. Instead of putting marginal players on the roster in the last remaining spots, the Rockets have some depth. We still haven't seen Mobley, Rice, Griffin, and Jackson play in the preseason. Though one preseason game does not make a season, I was impressed my the play in last night's game in Kansas City. I saw potential and possible depth in the Rocket's bench. What's going to be fun in the regular season is watching the bench's play. Instead of saying, oh no don't put him in.....
If we get MJax, I hope he is the starting power forward. Kenny plays hard, but he is undersized and has shooting touch problems. With his play this preseason, I think the Center position is Cato's to lose. This team would be better off having his shot-blocking presence in the game, and I think he is complemented well by MJax. I expect Kenny and Walt to possibly be shown the door early during the season via trade(s) to make room for Griffin, TMO, and Langhi. They are the future of this team and are capable of making contributions now. Starters Cato MJax Rice Mobley Francis Bench Norris Griffin KT TMO Torres Collier Williams IR Jones Taylor Langhi
I don't know if Cobra Commander and Serpentor could co-exist in the starting lineup. I would substitute Zartan or Major Bludd for either.
The Rockets have nothing to lose by starting Griffin. The potential rewards could be tremendous. Francis-Norris Mobley-Jones-Torres Rice-Williams-Morris Griffin-Thomas Jackson-Cato IR: Langhi, Taylor Cut: Brown, Collier, Kelly, Nwanko
ZRB, What do you really think the chances of them cutting Collier are? I think Rudy likes him too much...even if he did forget about him the other night.
Without acquiring Jackson, looks like: PG - Francis/Norris SG - Mobley/Torres SF - Rice/Morris PF - Thomas/Griffin C - Cato/Collier 11 - Williams 12 - Jones IR - Taylor IR - Langhi Personally, I'd like to see them get another big man (4/5) to rotate in with Cato,Collier,Thomas,Griffin. Our guards and small forwards look to be above average. I think Thomas and Griffin can be serviceable as well as Cato/Collier. But there needs to be an addition of some sort or our front court will be logging huge minutes. Cato and Collier are both coming off of injuries.
Walt Williams is no longer a luxury we can afford to keep on the roster....he must be traded for a big man, such as Jahidi. Cato and Collier is not going to cut it for 82games.
