Rudy T hopefully understands that the way the rockets play, although the rotation is one of the longest in the league, the minute allotment has to be redistributed. Why? First, we want to run all the time; second, we want to play aggressive defense; and third we have some talented youngsters and some old men. We just cannot afford to lose Francis and Mobes. Remember this is a long road and there is no justification for those heavy minutes. Poor personel management is as much to blame for the Denver loss as anything. We lost because of heavy legs and fatigue. As a monday morning quarterback, I would have started Moochie and Walt in the backcourt in the second half of that game. This would have been solely on the recognition that it was a back to back and our horses have taken us this far and we will take it from here, especially if one of them has a migrane and the other has hip problems. I would have Brown spell Moochie, Morris for Rice and Oscar for Williams. The crazy and long extended runs Denver put on us probably would not have happened, as we would not have been putting up those crazy jump shots and giving them fast break opportunities as we could not get back on defense again because of the legs and fatigue. I am convinced that the rockets have quite a few potent offensive plays with various formations and schemes. They do require an early start to the offense, movement of ball and players, and routine shooting abilities from the field and line. Dead legs and fatigue make these plays impotent, and it is all downhill from there. Fresh legs and minds could have made a difference here. Is this spilt milk? No it is not. We have a similar situation comimg up in the next week and a half, with three games in four nights. Based on these factors and the way the season has gone so far, I think our rotation should be like this: (season-to-date minutes) Center: Cato 24 (22), Willis 24 (20) The center position has done a good enough job. Need to improve on the 54% FT% and 47% fg%, getting to the line more that five times a ball game and blks per game which is 1.57. Combined rebounding of 15.7 is good. These two can handle the duties and can be relied upon. Power Forward: Thomas 24 (30), Griffin 24 (14) FTA of 5 per game and reb/g or 9.1 are dissappointing numbers. These two things can be solved by Griffin getting more minutes at the position and concentrating on being in the low post on offense and defense. His increased minutes will allow KT to be used some at the 3. With Griffin increased minutes, we can expect blk/g of 0.9 should go up to 2; and fg% should be closer to 50% than the current 46%. The only way we could possibly afford to have the 1,2 and 3 shoot like they have been, we need to have 50 fg% from our 4 and 5 spots. Small Forward: Rice 27 (28), Williams 10 (19) Thomas 11 Hands down our least productive position. In fact, Morris and Langhi manning that position could not do so bad: 36% fg, 2 fta/g, 29% 3fg, 4 reb/g, and 14.3 pts/g. At this point, for the most athletic position in basketball, we have our least athletic players in Rice and Williams. So when they are not hitting their shots, which is their forte, the problems are exponentially multiplied; and it places additional burdens on our other positions especially our 1 and 2 spots. We need to improve our fg%, fta and rebounding. KT given his performance to date and the need to get Griffin some more time, KT should spend some time at the 3, playing about 11 mins at the 3. Conversely, the minutes of Rice and Walt collectively, until further notice, should be limited to 38mins/g. If Rice is playing well then his increased play will be at the expense of Walt and vice versa. As a position, they should all drive some more, and run low post plays to get some fouls and up the fg% and be less predictable. If Griffin plays well at the 4, then increase KT at the 3, at the expense of Walt. The thing is, if Rice and Walt start shooting better, then the team will take it, but they have to find a way to be productive in that alloment of minutes. Also, I would not go to a 3 guard rotation as a strategy to improve the output of the 3 spot or to limit the risk of Rice and Walt. These moves should also improve our defense at the position. Francis 35 (41), Moochie 13 (17) Need to improve shooting based on 39%fg and 22% 3fg, by reducing number of shots. The output of 23.7 pts per game is good but that can come with less shots and better shooting. These shots should go to the 4's and 2's. With that increased balance the shot selection would improve and the shooting percentage. The tempo and pace has to be set by this position. This is critical and there should be no compromise on this. We are a fast team and anytime the point guards are not promoting and leading that, for whatever reason, they should be switched. Reduce Francis minutes to 35 and put Moochie at 13 and do not hesitate to call on Brown to ensure the tempo and pace stays up there. For example, five minutes to go in the half and Francis and Moochie appear tired like on the back end of a back to back, then bring Brown to close out the half. He would keep up the tempo and allow additional rest to Francis especially. I am not saying that Francis is fragile but prevention is better than cure. I would like to see Francis shooting % go up to 50% and for that Francis has to play less minutes. Mobley 35 (42), OT 13 (11) Reb/ g of 7.3, 47% 3fg%, 1.4 blks/g and 20 pts/g are all good. Could improve fta by penetrating even more which would also up the fg% of 44%. Mobes minutes have to be limited to 35. This would do wonders for OT and would expand his contributions. Overall, it means we will move up from being ranked 23rd in scoring and fg%, 17th in FTA, and 21st on points per shot, on the offensive end. With the change at the 3 and 4, the rebounding should go up and reverse our current 2 reb deficit. Of course 24th in blks per game has to be a concerned and the 3/4 changes would help that.
