BEEZ

The thing abou that is though, Griffin right now shoots the 3 better than KG will for his career.

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I have no clue!

Devestata

Griffin will end up playing PF, if they eventually want Nachbar to start at SF. Plus, he's more suited for PF anyway, since he is a great Defensive player said above.

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Ghost

that is a sick lineup.

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Pitt > New York?

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shyFX325

trust me, none of that made any sense

shyFX325

exactly adding iverson to any squad that wasnt customed tailored around gettin him the ball and making the little brat happy would equal one thing: locker room poision.

rocketeer

the rockets couldn't get iverson or tmac and don't really need them. they would definately make the team better but you can have too many good players. francis and mobley are already the best backcourt in the league.(if you disagree name one better) they just got ming and nachbar in the draft. by the end of the year i expect(being a rockets fan) that the starting lineup will be francis, mobley, nachbar, griffin, ming. they are all young, can shoot, and have tons of potential. griffin has already started showing what he can do and ming and nachbar can immeadiately contribute with their shooting and ming's size. on the bench they have kenny thomas, mo taylor, moochie, rice, and cato. they could use a backup shooting guard, a better backup center, and possible a team to take some of the power forward depth but they already have the core in place. getting another star would disrupt the good rebuilding the rockets have done. 2 years from now when you are saying they should get tmac or iverson they should already be title contenders by just keeping this team together.

BBallFan

There's more to basketball than just scoring. Francis and Mobley are one of the best-scoring backcourts, but I don't think they're anywhere close to the best backcourt in the league. They'd' need to play defense as well to be that.

R-Star

I disagree. Francis and Mobley are the best back court. Like Rocketeer said, name one better

rocketeer

but like i said "who's better?" i can't think of anyone. and they are underrated defensively. mobley came into the league as a defender and shooter. last year with francis down and other injuries mobley had to step up and be the go to guy. next year the team will be better as a whole offensivley and defensively. having ming and griffin behind them on defense will make them look better. and having more shooters and healthy guys on offense will make it a lot easier for them to get better shots which will leave them more energy on defense. bibby and christie, nash and finley, iverson and snow. none of these are better than francis and mobley.

BBallFan

Alright. Here's a few I'd rather have:

First, the much more well-rounded ones... that will still give you offense, all while providing infinetely better defense. (these aren't in any order, just as I think of them)

Kidd/Kittles
Payton/Mason (or Payton/Barry, if they use that again)
Armstrong/McGrady (or Vaughn/McGrady, if you only want to count starters)
Fisher/Bryant
Bibby/Christie
Snow/Iverson

Now for ones that also aren't particularly strong defensively either, but I'd still rather have:

Nash/Finley
Cassell/Allen

Just to name a couple off of the top of my head.

Then there are several which I think are very close (other young backcourts mostly, that could prove to be better after this year).

I think people overrate Mobley and Francis because they score a lot. They're one of, if not the worst defensive backcourt in the league. Francis is an incredible offensive talent, and Mobley is pretty good too... but I think that Houston would be a much better team if they paired Francis with a defensive-specialist, even if it means sacrificing some offense. They have the young offensive talent in the frontcourt to easily make up for replacing Mobley with a defense-first guy.

BBallFan

He's never been a good defender in the NBA.

Anyone else remember the Barkley quote? I'll paraphrase it:

"Cutino, he's a great guy... but he's instant offense on both ends of the court."

rocketeer

i guess we will just have to watch the season and see who is the best. i still think they are the best. francis is an allstar and mobley is one of the best non allstars in the league. but if you look back at the beginning of the post i guess we are sort of agreeing that the rockets shouldn't get tmac or iverson. neither of them are defensive stoppers like you say the rockets need. i like the backcourt how it is offensivley and defensively(with the frontcourt being able to help out) but they could use a defensive minded backup 2 guard.

BBallFan

Actually, McGrady is a tremendous defensive player... it's just very impractical to get someone of his caliber, as I doubt Orlando would ever trade him.

Obviously, if Ming and Griffen turn in to dominant shotblockers, the defensive shortcomings of Francis and Mobley can be covered up... but still, the Rockets have more than enough offensive talent to afford losing Mobley for a good defensive guard. I think they'd be a much better team if they did.

peleincubus

I think someone earlier made a perfect point. If you have ever played basketball you would know that it is the most taxing sport right along soccer.

So last year when Francis was hurt and Mobley had to take up the slack. Who else were you going to expect to do it. Griffen someone that was suppost to be a soph. in college. Cato, no i dont think so. Taylor was out Rice was also. You had no one that could really create their own shot. Although Kenny Thomas did help. Which will also help him in the future.

So yes I think that is a valid point, that the more help Mobley and Francis also have offensivley then the more energy they can have into defense. And also knowing that it is one of their weakpoints that they would try to get better at it.

And one more point the better Griffen gets and defense and at blocking shots (he led NCAA as freshmen in this catagory) and also Ming with his size and Rudys exp with centers Hakeem (all time leading shot blocker NBA) Yao should become a good shot blocker. The less other teams will want to go to the rim playing against the Rockets, so then the guards can play up on other teams easier with less worry that if they go around them that they will have a easy layup or dunk.

So I think in the next couple of years the guard defense will be just fine!!!!!!

Spell Checker

I do not feel Francis or Mobley are overrated. Understand this, Mobley was almost a 22 pt a game scorer last year. This is from someone who wasnt even supposed to make it in the league and was a 2nd rd pick. Francis, other than Jason Kidd name me an