Watching this team tonight lose against the Wizards, it struck me that we really have a lot of mediocre players, and that the Wizards actually have more of the raw pieces together. We've always said that we're just one player away (usually a big man), and then we're playoffs bound. Have we all forgotten that we were supposed to be playoffs bound this season? Face it, our 5 spot is not THAT bad. Center by committee is better this season than last with the production from Cato (very sporadic, but improving actually) and Willis. Besides there are plenty of teams without any good 5, and most of them are playing better than us (like Boston). The loss of Mo Taylor is not an excuse either. Kenny Thomas is already averaging practically the same ppg as Mo and beating his rebounds. When you look at the box score, we beat the Wizards in all the hustle catergories: rebounds (offensive and defensive), steals, turnovers, free throws, etc. The only thing missing is the scoring. And we've got scorers actually out there on the floor! That first game without Steve and Cuttino, Mooch and Oscar matched their average points per game with 40 between them. Tonight we had the Cat, and KT, and hell even Cato was putting it in the bucket! That's the problem . . . there is no one problem, no easy fix. This is a team that has to scrap a lot of players to get it done, maybe the coach as well. I see no silver lining in a high lottery pick this season.
You're so right and thats my point. The only players that anyone would want is Steve,Cat, and Griffin. Thomas is like Malik Rose, Rice is done,Williams is a spot player, Moochie is a backup, Torres looks good, but everyone else is pretty much nothing, no talent. I always say you can never have too much talent in this league. Look at this. Portland: They have players on their roster that can start on other teams so that makes them a very good commodity. The haven't missed the playoffs in ages,but they have lottery players all up and down thier roster. Look how they got Damon,Anderson,Rasheed,Pippen, and Davis to name a few. Have they did anything with the talent? No, but thehaven't had the triggerman to put the talent with the sytem yet either. The Blazers have a situation now where they might trade Damn on Bonzi. The thing is that they will get good players for both and they are not even portlands best players. Maybe Bonzi is one of their good players, but damon ..... well you get the point.
We're getting embarrassed with the players we have. We need to move a LOT of players, and I don't see how we can when we keep signing marginal players to huge contracts. OK, maybe you could make the mistake with Cato, but Mooch? Is he tradeable?
the loss of mo taylor, not an excuse?? ill disagree statistics dont show everything, kt cant hit that jumper like mo and thus hinders our offense Also we werent supposed to have steve out 4-6 weeks either and cuttino banged up too, but it happens if you really think the rockets dont have talent i guess you trust statistics a bit too much, but its hard to win without youre 3 best players healthy and thats our prob right now-mobes is hobbled, francis out and taylor out too.
First off, I would like to say that our team has a lot better talent than you guys give credit for. Obviously Steve and Cat are our "bread and butter", then we got two really good rookies in Torres and Griffin. Griffin has yet to play the minutes he should because Rudy is bringing him along rather slowly. Rudy has yet to draw up a few plays for him to get the ball besides a three pointer. Torres has been shown to light it up and has pretty good D as well. Kenny Thomas is a much better player than he was last year, hustles all over the place and is much better than Malik Rose. Moochie is one of the better *bench* point guards in the league. Kelvin is not that great, true. Walt has been playing really inconsistent minutes this year, so that has probably affected his performance somewhat. The probably with the team isnt the players because we have plenty of talent. What the problem has been is the ball movement has been really poor, our team plays best when the ball is passed a lot more, looking for the best shot rather than focusing on isolation. Last year we were one of the best offensive teams in the league. We were passing a lot more, fastbreaking more and playing smarter. When Francis comes back, I would expect a lot more of this, otherwise, you guys *may* be right. I just refuse to see it that way until the Franchise comes back.
I don't know what the Rockets might do but they need to get something done to salvage this season. 11 games without Steve could spell the end unless the Rockets get something done. The roster needs to revamp with players that put forth an effort has some intensity in it.
As they say, the numbers don't lie. And I don't just read the box score, I watch the games too. And it's all there in the games, this is a team without clutch players. Even the Cat is too inconsistent. And if anyone thinks this team was doing just fine when we had Cat and Steve, and our record was 5-1, well then that person is trusting statistics too much. We were already struggling before Steve and Cat went down, but now we've collapsed. The point is the loss of Steve has revealed something that was always there below the surface-- a team of mediocre players. A whole team, not just a few. This 8 game losing streak is against the bottom of the barrel of the NBA. If we had a good team we should still be able to win a few. Lose to the Bulls? That's a team playing without two of its starters too! They blew us away. What's the answer?
It's not so much that the Rocks need to rebuild, but that they have never stopped rebuilding in the first place. Its quite obvious that this team is still a few players away. Like I've said before, don't be surprised if the Rocks look for some more Fs in the draft, especially a SF who has great scoring potential.
Steve Francis - Out Mo Taylor - Out Cat - has missed several games and has two bad ankles Eddie G - 19 year old rookie All very talented but unable to perform at all star levels for obvious reasons but those players are the core of this team for the remainder of the decade. Roll Players: Moochie - very good and capable backup but should not be a starter Oscar T. - possible full time starter at some point has a lot of talent and looks like the perfect roll player. KT - Should not be a starter in this league. Would be a great player off of the bench or good for spot duty as a starter. very much like Othella with what he produces. I think this team has some great tallent with star potential and some very good roll players. The problem is everyone on this team with star power is either hurt, out or is still in their infancy. I can only imagine how good this team would have been if all of our top three players had gone through training camp healthy and started the season together. What we are seeing right now is just how hard it is to win with back ups, roll players and rookies. What we need is to get our star players healthy and back on the court together.
IMHO, horrible personnel decisions by Carroll and Rudy have killed this team: 1) Trading for Glen Rice - old, can't shoot, defend, or penetrate and will cost the Rockets $27MM over the next 3 years 2) Kelvin Cato - $36MM over the next 5 years 3) Moochie Norris - $22MM over the next 6 years 4) Matt Maloney - $11.5MM over the next 4 years to watch TV No other team has so many non/poor-contributors at the top of their salary list. Just think when Tim Duncan is a free agent in a couple more seasons, (and as David Robinson rides into the sunset), Duncan may look to move...but the Rockets will have $23.6MM per YEAR tied up in the aforementioned quartet. When the team was clearly in a youth movement, the sign-and-trade for Glen Rice coupled with paying at least triple the market value for Moochie was inexcusable. Enron managed their money better than Rudy and Carroll. What were they thinking? The buck has to stop with them. Sign me one angry former season ticket-holder...
if you're gonna rebuild why not go all out and go young? Houston trades: Terence Morris $490,000 to L.A. Clippers Houston trades: Dan Langhi $465,850 to L.A. Clippers Houston trades: Kelvin Cato $6,048,000 to L.A. Clippers Houston trades: Cuttino Mobley $4,413,375 to L.A. Clippers Houston trades: Steve Francis $3,473,520 to L.A. Clippers TOTAL: $14,890,745 L.A. Clippers trades: Jeff McInnis $590,850 to Houston L.A. Clippers trades: Darius Miles $3,054,840 to Houston L.A. Clippers trades: Michael Olowokandi $4,662,472 to Houston L.A. Clippers trades: Quentin Richardson $1,097,520 to Houston L.A. Clippers trades: Keyon Dooling $1,654,320 to Houston L.A. Clippers trades: Corey Maggette $1,448,400 to Houston TOTAL: $12,508,402 TRADE ACCEPTED Rockets 1. McInnis/Norris/Dooling 2. Richardson/Torres 3. Miles/Maggette/Williams/Rice* 4. Griffin/Thomas/Taylor* 5. Olowokandi/Willis/Collier* Clippers 1. Francis/Boykins 2. Mobley/Piatkowski 3. Odom/Morris/Langhi 4. Brand/Jamison 5. Cato/Rooks/Ekezie It's not that I want to get rid of Steve but that look on his face at the end of the WAS game really worries me. We wouldn't be getting an all-star in return but Richardson is having a great year. Miles, Dooling and Maggette are young and athletic. Kandi is more productive than Cato. McInnis is a good leader.
Can anyone tell me the difference, skill-wise between Mo and KT? They both play sorry defense, thye both don't do much inside, and they have decent jump shots. That basically is all they do.
Polarbear1982, I pretty much agree with you there. Cato, Rice, and Norris really don't mold well at all with Francis, Mobley, and Taylor. A Very imblanced chemistry is in the air right now and its not smelling too good. But It can certainly be corrected, quickly too. With the return of Mo Taylor and a seasoned Eddie Griffin, and a small forward marksmen out of the lottery things could look very diffrent next year. Cato, Rice, and Norris could easily find themselves down at the end of that Rocket bench next year, which would be a good thing.
Mo Taylor finishes much better, and keep us in 4th quarters. He's taller and bigger than KT. Tell me something, if Mo and KT take the same jumper, who's most likely to make it? Mo. Who's averaged 20 or so ppg? Mo. Don't compare Mo to Kenny. They're 2 different players, what we need is Mo. How can you say all this about rebuilding? Outside of the Lakers and Portland, who has a non-mediocre bench? You think Boston is not mediocre outside of Pierce and Walker? WE LOST 4 PLAYERS TO INJURY! UNDERSTAND THIS! The Blazers are the only team that could do anything without their top 2 players. BESIDES, we're NOT mediocre. We have the pieces to the best offensive team in the league. But the pieces are broken. Francs, Mobley, Rice, and Mo T. WHO will you double team? WHICH will miss an open shot? Don't give me statistics either. I'm positive Mo was shooting a better percentage than KT. He was shooting 49.8% I think. Torres has been a pleasant surprise. ESPN has noticed him, and gave him props. Griffin will become a magnificent player. Walt is one of the best spotup shooters in the league, and Moochie is one of the best backup PGs in the league. Willis is(was) a candidate for 6th man of the year. KT, who will join our bench, is one of the quickest PFs in the league. We have an excellent team. It's bad luck. There's nothing you can do about bad luck. The problems when Francis and Cuttino were here? That's because Rice wasn't shooting well, and we didn't have MO T. If we did, we wouldn't have that problem. Enough negativity. Be a realist. REALIZE the unfortunate truth.
SANE. You're partially right. We have a "decent" team when healthy. However, NO NBA team is softer at the 4 and 5 then the Rockets even when healthy with Mo and Cato. The real problem for not only this year, but the next several years is as I stated in my previous post. The Rockets have $20MM/year tied up for the next 3-5 years in players that contribute little if anything: (Rice, Cato, Moochie, and Matt "I get paid $3MM/year to watch TV" Maloney). As a result of these massive payroll blunders, the Rockets will be sentenced to mediocrity for years. The decisions this offseason, to tie up $38MM on Rice (can't play anymore) and Moochie (a decent, but HIGHLY overpaid BACKUP) over the next 3 years are inexcusable. After the previous Cato and Maloney blunders CD and RT needed to really be prudent with their remaining cap dollars. THEY BLEW IT BIG-TIME!!! Premier teams get a return on the players at the top of their salary chart. The Rockets get the least bang for their buck at the top of their salary structure. The Rockets CHOSE to spend big bucks on marginal talent that even the most clueless fan would have avoided. 1) Anyone with a pulse who watched Glen Rice the last two years new he'd slipped big time. 2) What fan would have committed $42MM to Cato based on one good EXHIBITION game, after demonstrating NOTHING in any regular season game? 3) Matt Maloney was a slow-footed, stand up jump shooter with a slow release that only was effective if he had 3-5 seconds to release a wide open jumper on a kickout pass from the low block. (So we sign him to 7 years...). 4) Moochie Norris has only slightly better skills than Damon Jones and a host of other previous CBA pickups at backup PG like Emmanuel Davis, Eldridge Recasner and other NBA minimum-wage players. He penetrates well and hustles, but lays bricks from the outside and can't guard any PG taller than Calvin Murphy. (So RT/CD commit nearly $4MM/year for the next 5 years?!) Thanks to having ZERO cap room, we'll have to "enjoy" the next 3 years of a mix of lottery finishes (in bad years) and first round losses after "good years" of 41-41. Sorry - I'll continue to be an EX-season ticketholder for quite some time.
That's a pretty good take PolarBear. (Do you get many polar bears in Texas? ) As a counterpoint, there may be some mitigating possibilities. I gotta wonder how long Rice wants to go on like this. He was star player at one point in his career, but now he's a shadow of what he was, he plays on a losing team, and he is constantly hurt. Would he think about retirement? Would he accept a buyout? We could perhaps sell it to the league as 'a career ended by injury' and get an exemption. Just a thought.
When everyone's healthy, we've got: Francis / Mooch / Brown - Excellent at the PG position Mobley / Torres - Very respectable SG duo Walt / Rice / EG / Langhi / T Mo - Variety makes for fun? EG will come around... Mo T / KT - Actually not too bad in the East, but still a bit weak Cato / Collier / Willis - with Willis switching as needed between C/PF, a respectable platoon When healthy, this is a good team. Problem is, our three best players are not healthy right now. Two of those should be healthy soon - long before the season is over. Remember, with our backcourt healthy (and it usually is) we're #1 or #2 in the league in that area. When Mo gets back, we'll have a significantly strengthened frontcourt as well. All is not lost, you bandwagoning ba*tards.
Polarbear, you know what, i'm tired of this Mo taylor is soft crap. Let me tell you something if you want a rugged, hard-body up type power foward your ass better be prepared to start b****ing about how he can't shoot worth a lick and all that blah blah. Because If you want a combination of the two than were talking about a rare Garnett or Duncan. These guys are not a dime a dozen. You guys just dont know how good we got it with Mo Taylor. Mo Taylor plays decent defense my friend. Yeah his rebounding is below average but its not so deplorable where it has a direct negative outcome on a game. Hell Mo taylors has a better stroke than Webber, Duncan, and Garnett. The key here now of course is his health. Stop throwing out this 'he's soft crap just becuase he has a in your face euro style jumper. Oh and three guys aren't going to sink the ship man. Relax and stop overracting.
