So that whole "we traded away our turnovers" thing was right afterall, even if its only been one game. And our offense has gotten smoother by every Tmac dribble. That might be an oxymoron, but hell its true. Our team is gelling offensively and you can see it in every passing game. We might not score alot because of our tempo, but we will have a good, efficient attack. But of course our coach knows nothing about offense and we need to trade the whole team. Funny what a few wins will do. Ding Dong the b****ing is dead. Just wait and see how well we mesh once we play more than 4 games. Never doubt the logic of Tyler Durden. As for the post, I am utterly convinced that our beloved Jeff is indeed, you guessed it, Jeff van Gundy. God I love you Jeff.
I also saw jvg writing something in the hudle in the fourth quarter. Gotta love a coach who cares fan us fans.
LOL! Yea, funny how it is REAL silent tonight from all the "Yao-Bashers" & "JVG-Haters". Of course, there are probably many of them that have jumped back on the bandwagon after tonight's performance. lol!
Good post. Rational, I like it. I was glad that Gundy took Jackson out of the game. There is no room for last year style of play. Without JJ, we ran the offense much better tonight. I hope JJ gets it now.
Nice post, Jeff. Must admit, I still do not trust JVG to get our offense together for a run at bigger things this year, but I believe the potential is there... T-Mac has really looked good so far. Though I had not seen or concentrated on his play that often before, I have come away impressed. I can't remember the last time the Rockets had such a pure/reliable(?) shooter. Perhaps not since Murph (dude is toast) or Rudy T himself?? Not sure about our PF play.... I like both Mo and HO, but think maybe we should go back to Mo as 6TH MAN. Deke used sparingly till the playoffs sound solid to me. Hopefuly this game signaled the reaffirmation (sp?) that Yao is amongst the great centers and has a splendiferous career ahead of him and not the Shawn Bradley like existance that I'm sure many of us keep dark thoughts of repressed into a black hole. Or not JVG is the key I believe. He needs to FIND a way to pull this team together. He MUST find a way to maximize offensive potential and not just rely on defense.
The NUMBER ONE factor in the Rockets improving this year will be.... you guessed it -- Charlie Ward. With all due respect to T-Mac and Yao, without someone like Ward this whole thing falls apart. What I mean by that is that Ward is a veteran who understands his role. He brings the ball up the court and starts the offense, which allows T-Mac and Yao to do what they do. And, he doesn't turn the ball over more than 1 or 2 times a game. He just doesn't make stupid mistakes. Tonight he had 7 assists to 0 turnovers. In fact, the whole team had 24 assists to 9 turnovers. That is unreal. And, that is attributable mainly to having a veteran, traditional, basic point guard running the show. I agree with everything Jeff said, by the way. I just think that if I had to put anything at the top of the list for why this team will be an improvement over last year, it will be less turnovers. After that, having a guy like T-Mac who can almost single-handedly bail you out of just about any situation, along with Yao who is getting to the point where he will be able to do the same. By February this team is going to be practically unbeatable, in my opinion.
FYI - Steve Francis tonight had 7 turnovers to 4 assists. Had that happened tonight against the Kings in Houston, the game would have been over by the middle of the second quarter.
I like the fact that TMac handles the ball a great deal of time, like what Rudy T. is doing with Bryant & the Lakers, but I'm worry about the load he has to carry over a 82 games of the season. Someone else has to share the ball handling duty with him.
Agree with everything and I'll add one more thing. Brutal November schedule. It's not going to be this tough for the rest of the year. The Rockets were running on fumes last night. The Kings were sitting in their hotel rooms in Houston watching us play in Memphis on Friday night. I don't understand why the NBA does that. By the time the schedule eases up, our team should be rounding into good shape. It's going to be a great year...even if we finish November at .500.
I was more on the lines of liking the Mo-T and Howard combo, but I may be changing my tune here. You may be right with the brusing power forward thing, with a 15 foot jump shot. I remember when we had Otis Thorpe, although he had no jumper, he got rebounds, scored garbage points, and held the opposing team's power forward pretty much in check. I see why the Rox traded him because there was a need for more offense and they got that with Drexler, but this team already has an Hakeem, Drexler type combo. With a rebounding PF that can hit that 15 foot J, we might be in business. The offense is interesting though, maybe we don't need a point, maybe we need a Ron Harper, or just a tall shooter(Wow Brent Barry would have been wonderful here) T-Mac can bring the ball up, and when T-Mac needs to post the (shooter or Ron Harper type player) can bring it up. This is what I mean when I say this team isn't complete, but when it gets there it's gonna be a MONSTER!!
I am not sure about the idea of trading one of our powerforwards. I know we need rebounds but i dont want to mess-up the team chemistry that is forming. I like the Mo-Ho combo at PF, but i do realize we need that big powerforward who can rebound and play defence. I think we should just wait a bit and see how the Power-Foward combo works for now and then if we go on a skid we can trade for someone. BTW Who would we trade for? Someone who is a good tough player that we can get for mo or howard. I cant think of any. Any ideas?
If the New Orleans Hornets are looking to deal PJ Brown, I'd trade Mo for him. Hornets are messed up. They got broken over a knee at home by the Mavericks.
I was think about Malick Badiane, he is a solid rebounder and a shot blocker, and can get some, not much, points. I guess its too early for him to come in to the league and needs more experience since he hasnt been playing basketball for too long. Maybe next year he can come in and contribute some minutes. BTW How is he doing now?
Wow tinman. A great post, almost ruined by number 6. I particularly agree with point #2. If Bobby Sura can come back and play at 75% the level he did last year with the Hawks, this team will become so much better offensively. On the other hand, we could have the Detroit Bob Sura.
Juwan Howard is going to find his scoring average pretty messed up this year. I think Juwan likes stats. He emphasizes them on his website.
Think about it! we have yet to see what Yao and T-Mac can do when there's a legit good PG on the team. As a center, Yao needs a good PG more than anyone else.
