Steve Francis Moochie Norris Boki! Glen Rice Mo Taylor JC! Eddie Griffin Yao Cuttino is "defensively challenged" a nice way to say it?
If Hawkins was that good he would be starting as most of the Rockets play poor defence, most of the time. On the odd occasion I have seen the Cat play great defence.
cat playes great defence in big games. the problem is getting him to play like that against bad teams.
In this order: Juaquin Hawkins James Posey Steve Francis thats it really... Juaquin Hawkins doesn't start because he's not the best offensive player at SG or SF plus you have guys that are getting paid big time money at those positions and it would question the Rockets credibility about talent... Juaquin Hawkins is hands down the best one on one defender on this past team with James Posey right on his heels... Thats why we definitely need to keep both of them...
I definitely believe that Juaquin Hawkins is the best all around defensive player on our team. One-on-one and team defense. He is always aware....the only time he was abused was by Michael Jordan.....the refs were on MJ's side. They were like, "Who's this little kid?" Anyways...Yao Ming could be our best defender...but he's not aggressive and his teammates don't help him at all. Posey is also a good defender because he is tall and athletic. Sometimes drifts off...which isn't good. And for some reason doesn't use his brain much...fouls people for no apparent reason......like one time......Rockets were winning by 1 point.....and then this guy is just dribbling and has no chance of making a shot...and Posey fouls him...and it wasn't even his man. Luckily, we still won because of a funny free throw lane violation by the shooter. WHEW! Cato is also a great defender. He's not really that intelligent either. But if he sees a ball.....he wil go for it. That's why I love him. It's funny......some loser tries to shoot from like 20 feet out. And thinks Cato won't do anything. And Cato jumps out and hits it like 1000 feet into the stands. Beautiful. He's a blockin monster. And rebounding monster. Well......he isn't afraid of crap. Only Shaq... Cat is also a good defender. Even though he is undersized.....he is smart....but I mean this as only 1on1 defender. He is horrible.....he leaves shooters wide open.....but that is because he is trying to help other teammates who are incapable of guarding their guy....and when he goes to help someone.....no one goes to help cover his man. Which is sad. He's tough and cocky and arrogant and is good. HAWKINS IS THE BEST IN MY OPINION.
Cat is our best one on one defender, he don't call himself that but he really is a stoper, he shut alot league-best shotting guard off. And his offence can wear his opponent off too. Hawkin is pretty good defender too, he is best at play in-ur-face D, and transition D. but he been called foul alot, which reduced his efficiency. Posey is a good defender, but he is good at passing lane defence, not at one on one defence.
Only one Rocket received a vote to the NBA 2002-03 All Defensive team...Yao Ming got a whopping 1 vote. http://www.nba.com/news/alldefense_030508.html If there's a debate whether or not the 9th or 10th player in the rotation is the best defender, perhaps that in and of itself is indicative of larger problems.
If this is the case then the Rockets are DOOMED . The problem with Francis is that he leaves the player he is supposed to be guarding and trys to see if he can help out . Thats why other teams Point Guards are able to look so good.He needs to gain confidence and trust in his team.
The best man on defender on the Rockets is Cato, followed by Posey and Hawkins...Mobes has improved his defense, but that's like saying that Danny Devito grew an inch. People are getting a little carried away with him, calling him a good defender, etc. He only looks good relative to the rest of the primary perim players on the team, which is a pretty bad indictment. He also benefited from having a shot blocker behind him on virtually every play last year, and as such could afford to gamble and play up more, which should result in improved defense...Imagine what a Payton would do assured of coverage on every play. Cato, when inspired, has good on and off feel, a solid base, good feet and spacing, and a pretty good judgement on when to play aggressive and when to play smart. He has a good body for man defense, can bang or come out up to 10-15 feet without losing his ability to recover. Not bad...not great, but not bad at all. The key is attitude. Posey didn't impress me all that much in his time in Houston on the defensive end, but in Denver I really liked his game. He was smarter there, and oddly more aggressive. Here, maybe due to unfamiliarity, he seemed to be feeling his way on D a lot, which is surprising considering the shot blockers behind him...I look for him to really step up on D and worry less about scoring if we resign him.
