I know, this is kind of early for more predictions, but why not have another one? My question is who do you think will be the most improved Rocket. We have a few candidates I can think of: Eddie Griffin- Played real well in the SPL and has gotten stronger and has a year under his belt. Mo Taylor- Has been said to have been working out a lot and is starting to reach his prime age. Glen Rice- Didn't play much, so a 82 game season from him could automatically win it for him. Seriously, if he could hit some 3's, 10-15 ppg is possible. Kelvin Cato- Usually a candidate for Least improved, he now has a little competiton and is reportedly working real hard. Could he show us "shades of Olajuwon?" Kenny Thomas- Last years MIP for the Rockets. Could he still improve more? There are others too, but these may make a big impact with improvement. My guess would be Griffin. He is a stud and our future PF. With good PT, I think he could suprise. (well the world, not us. )
Thats a good question and right now I have NO idea. I would like to see how Cato plays after all that I've heard about how hard he's been working this summer. By the way, how do I add a signature to my posts???
Yes, a reply. I would like to see Cato be MIP, because that would probably be the only player ever to get LIP and MIP. Maybe not. You can make a sig by going to user control panel at he top of the page. Go to Edit profile, and there should be a box with signature. There you can type in a sig.
Steve Francis. As he learns to deal with his migraines and stay healthy, he not only becomes smarter, he becomes a better learner as well. This will aid him during the regular season in becoming a smarter player through repetition and learning. As his supporting cast develops and matures through the course of the season with new options on offense, Francis will learn to take advantage of those players in order to enhance the team's chance of winning. After all, winning should be his biggest priority. Gone are the days of Francis and Mobley having to take every shot and drawing the criticism of fans for hogging the ball too much, something drawn out of necessity. Better players should bring about better ball improvement, improved decision making, and an overall improved team. And I think that Steve Francis will be the biggest beneficiary. Not necessarily in scoring, because both he and Mobley may drop below 20ppg next year, but in assists and a drop in turnovers. Oh, he'll still be called upon to score and rebound - but not as much as in the past. Averaging nearly a triple-double a night is not a bad feat, even if it means you only score 15 points per game. Why? Because it'll help your team win, and as Francis learns to play with his new teammates, winning will be the prime result. If the Rockets are going anywhere - and I think they are - it rests on the improvement of Steve Francis. I think that's something we'll see early next season, midseason at the latest...that's why he gets my pick as most improved Rocket.
Man! I was thinking about mentioning him and Mobley, but I decided against it. I predict he will improve a lot, but mostly on things not on a stat sheet. Same with Mobley. I mainly put guys that would vastly increase in PPG, RPG, or another important stat. Guess I should have included him since the 2nd answer was him.
I think that Rice has a really good chace of bouncing back really well this season. I am hoping that the injury problems of the past 2 years are past him. Even if he is a shadow of his former self he will be a valuable asset to the team with is shooting touch and exerience. Secondly I am really hoping that EG will have a great season but he may still be a year away. He is still really young and the return of Mo doesn't help his playing time much.
Off that list, I think Francis is going to be MIP. To be quite honest with you, I think the league will see Francis differently after next season. He's really going to rip it up. I'm talking small improvement on the stat sheet, good improvement on D (Griffin, Ming and Cato shotblocking), and he's going to get rid of this "selfish" tab the league has put on him. On that list, I think Rice has so much to improve on, so I think I'll go with that. Doesn't anyone else get the feeling that Francis wants to wreak havoc on the league? Odom will be the league MIP this year btw. Francis, Odom and Baron Davis are the new generation of superstars next years. Bank on it.
mfclark:- Right on the mark! I have been saying the same thing ever since the Draft and have been shot down ,so many times. I am glad that you are on the same wave of thinking! Team Basketball is the only way, of course we will have to improve our team defence.Our man on man defence was very poor last season and we excpect to see a better level of defensive coaching this season. E.Griffin for most improved!
My pick for MIP is Mobley. I think all in all, he is the hardest worker on the roster and is constantly improving. He took himself from a mid-second round pick as a back up PG and has evolved into one of the league's premier scorers in four years. His jump shot as well as his shot selection has improved year to year and I see no reason for it to drop off this year. The improvement w/ the rest of the team will benifit Mobes nearly as much as it will help Francis b/c the more offensive threats you have, the more effective a team's best scorer can be. Take Nowitski in Dallas. Since everyone else on the court w/ him can score, it gives him much better looks at the basket so he can score a lot w/o taking a lot of shots. And w/ Mobes always trying to improve his outside stroke, he can become even more effecient and even more dangerous IMO. I agree w/ Kilgoure on EG. He's still a year away and w. Mo & KT still on the roster he won't get the PT to increase his number substantially but I do think w/ the improvements he's made this offseason he can be more effecient w/ his PT and score 8-10ppg b/c he shot and his off. rebounding has improved.
I'd say Francis because he was looking real good individually last year, but he didn't get to play much with good health. Also, the team was broken up with so many injuries, but if everyone's healthy and with the new additions, he'll play much better. Also maybe Cato according to that report...
I think Francis and Mobley are just about the most unlikely candidates. They will improve, I'm sure, but they already play at such a high level that the amount of improvement they manage cannot be all that great. Besides, in my observations, it seems that guys who improve a lot are players who are good already but -- for whatever reason -- have not been able to exploit their talents. Suddenly, a barrier is cleared and his greatness shows forth. So, I'm picking a darkhorse and long-shot candidate: Terence Morris. Probably more wishful thinking than intuition, but I'm banking on whatever promise the scouts had seen finally coming to bear.
I think the obvious choice is Mo Taylor. He's gonna go from having played 0 minutes & recoring 0 stats last year to averaging about 13-14 points a game, 8-9 rebounds and silencing all the nay-sayers.
Maurice Taylor with Cato as a very close second. But I do think that Taylor will win our MIP and maybe the MIP of the whole NBA.
Cato, Eddie, Mo. That's at least the three that would help us the most if they came through with a little more game this year, so that's my wishful thinking MIP list. BTW> I also believe that our star guards should do some vast improvement with a bigger lineup in there this year; but they have put up such profound numbers recently that statistically, their improvement will be viewed as a decline instead (outside of asst's). Ms. Cleo has spoken. Your credit card bill will arrive in 2-4 weeks. Thank you for your business.
The most improved should be Griffin. Remember he only averaged like 9 points on under 40% shooting. This year his scoring and fg% should go up with an improved post game and more minutes.
