Our NOT SO YOUNG guards

I totally agree with Mr. Blinebury. It has already been FOUR years. We still have not made the playoffs. We have so many good players, but we still have not made the playoffs. It takes time...but they are getting older. Cuttino and Steve cannot lead this team. Sorry, but we need to get rid of one of them. I suggest finding a good shooter. I know everyone wants Elton Brand and a good power forward. But it'll be useless to have all these great big men without any shooters. Glen Rice is getting old. We really need a shooter. I like Cuttino Mobley, but I think he should leave. We can blame everyone. We need change! We don't have a chance against Dallas. Really...we need a good leader and no ballhogs.


Lessons fail to sink in for not-so-young guards
By FRAN BLINEBURY
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Sometimes it's about being young.

Sometimes it's about being dumb.

Eight nights earlier, after losing by 21 points in Dallas, Steve Francis offered up his analysis of the Mavericks.

"They've got a lot of work to do," he said.

This might, of course, be like Van Gogh criticizing a guy with two ears because they happen to stick out a little.

Nonetheless, the Mavericks earnestly went back to the drawing board, did a little tinkering with their plan, then came to Houston and hammered the Rockets by 23 Wednesday night.

There were no alarm bells ringing inside Cuttino Mobley's head either after last week's disaster.

"I'm not really worried about the Mavericks," he said. "We're OK. A lot of us are young. It takes time."

But is there enough left in all eternity to wait this out?

We might all be older then Yoda before they get a clue.

This is more than another no-worries slump now. For one thing, there have been too many of them. For another, the past week has looked more like a giant sinkhole that swallows up everything for blocks.

When the Rockets fell to the Pistons at home last Friday night, it was officially their biggest loss of the year.

But this was their worst. As Bill Walton, sitting at courtside for ESPN would say, it was h-o-r-r-r-r-r-ible.

It was inexcusable because for a half the Rockets actually went out and showed they are capable of executing an offensive and defensive game plan.

It was abominable because it came on the heels of road losses at San Antonio and Dallas, then the wipeout at home to Detroit, then the Super Bowl Sunday defeat to the lowly Chicago Bulls, followed by a less-than-inspiring win at Memphis.

If you're counting, that's five losses in six games.

If you're really counting, this is the fourth year of the great rebuilding process, and in a lot of ways, the Rockets haven't taken a step forward.

The problems are not to be placed at the feet of Yao Ming, who may or may not be feeling a bit fatigued at the midpoint of his longest-ever professional season.

The problems are not with Eddie Griffin, Moochie Norris, James Posey or any of the other peripheral characters in the cast.

This is all about Francis and Mobley, who have repeatedly and consistently come up smaller in the leadership department than Yao's friend Mini-Me bending over to tie his shoes.

How many pages get torn off the calendar while listening to the talk about youth? Francis is 25, and Mobley is 27. Francis is in his fourth year as a pro. Mobley is in his fifth.

Together they have not appeared in a single NBA playoff game.

We're young, we're learning, they say over and over and over.

Well, for the record, Hakeem Olajuwon took his team to the playoffs in his first season and to the NBA Finals in his second. Magic Johnson won it all as a rookie. Larry Bird was in the playoffs as a rookie, as were Karl Malone and John Stockton.

There is the old saw about how it took Michael Jordan until his seventh season to win an NBA title and Shaquille O'Neal until his eighth.

Francis and Mobley haven't even been able to nudge this act into the postseason, let alone think about grabbing the trophy.

The problem is with Francis shooting 1-for-12 through 2 1/2 quarters in San Antonio and then passively accepting a place on the bench while his team rallied in the fourth period.

The problem is with Mobley taking a leisurely stroll up the United Center court with the ball in Chicago on Sunday and being utterly shocked to be whistled for an eight-second violation for failing to clear midcourt.

There is a lack of discipline here, a dearth of professionalism, which is why the Rockets will find themselves fighting through the second half of the season for the No. 8 seed in the playoffs instead of being higher, where their talent level should place them.

This is also about coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who for too long and through too many storms has used the velvet glove approach with this team -- with his veteran leaders -- and left them up to their own devices to sort it all out.

This is a different team now, not one with Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler and the championship components. It is time Rudy T coached them differently. A new plan? A new attitude? Something. Anything.

You can point to the Mavericks' tossing in 15 3-pointers on the night and just shake your head.

Or you can point to a second straight embarrassment on your home court and shake yourself awake.

In English, in Mandarin, in any language, this is rapidly turning into a disgrace.

"We haven't run out of time," said Francis.

Or excuses.

 

...OOPS