Comments on: Game Preview & Chat: The Houston Rockets

By: JONESONTHENBA

JONESONTHENBA — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:55:28 +0000

Kwame is all about the head. It’s like a pitcher forgets how to throw the ball over the plate. Or better yet it’s like what happened to Charles Barkley’s golf swing.

By: Bobby Smith

Bobby Smith — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:08:41 +0000

RG73:

Thanks for your response. If what you say is true, then that explains, to a certain extent, why he is paid so much.

I remember something about him playing Jordan one on one telling Jordan “if you reach I teach” or some crap like that. Lately I’ve been wondering what he would “teach” given that he LITERALLY can’t catch, pass, shoot, or dribble. If Kwame played Jordan RIGHT NOW I would bet everything I own Jordan could hold him scoreless–I’m not joking either.

I am going to look for some video of him in Washington. I had these vague memories of him putting up some strong numbers every now and then early in his career. His precipitous decline really is perplexing. When he does his “throw the ball off the backboard from 5 feet away” or miss a pass that is all but handed to him it makes me gag, and I wonder in amazement how he was the top pick in the NBA draft.

And then I get depressed that he is a millionare many times over despite his nonexistent work ethic. Perhaps the joke is on everyone else b/c he can basically do nothing, stay injured half the time, and jack around in the offseason and be filthy rich….ugh.

I would love to hear others chime in on why they think Kwame’s offensive game has deteriorated to utter garbage.

By: The Dude Abides

The Dude Abides — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:55:09 +0000

Some great observations here, everyone pretty much summed up my points about this game. One thing I’ll comment on is the final play of the game–Yao’s intentionally missed free throw after the imaginary foul on Farmar. D-Fish was actually positioned in the free throw lane to screen out Yao on the rebound, instead of on the wing behind the 3-pt line where Alston was waiting to catch Yao’s pass after the intentional miss. I have no idea why. The Rockets were down by three. Alston’s 3-pointer was a legitimate look at the basket, because not only was Fish positioned to screen out Yao, he totally hesitated after the intentional miss and rebound, and took forever to run out at Alston. Was this a coaching mistake, a brain lock by Fish, or a little of both?

By: kwame a.

kwame a. — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:15:32 +0000

Hint to Luke Walton: playing like he’s playing will not get him his starter gig back

By: Travis Y.

Travis Y. — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:41:59 +0000

The 2nd half was tough to watch with so many turnovers. When Fish is trying to lob passes over Yao Ming you know something is wrong. The Lakers couldn’t get their offense going and had to rely on Kobe creating with a stagnant offense.

I’ll say this again Farmar and Bynum looked great. I like how they bring a spark to that 2nd squad and change the pace of the game.

Luke is struggling now but he is accepting a new role so let’s just give it a little time. His rhythm and role is totally off coming on in the 2nd unit. Where did his 3 pt shooting go?

Onto Friday’s game, no Chauncey or Mcdyess sounds to me like we definitely have a chance. Even though Detroit always plays tough against us. I hate the lengthy Prince he is a Laker killer. Let’s see what this Laker team is made of.

By: RG73

RG73 — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:41:18 +0000

Bobby Smith: Regarding Kwame, yes, his offensive game has deteriorated amazingly. He actually had a nice offensive game coming into the league. If you watch videos of him from Washington it is like an entirely different player. He had a variety of post up moves and solid footwork. He had a mid-range jumper. He could take guys off the dribble. He could dunk with one hand in traffic off the dribble. He could catch the ball. In traffic. On the break. In the post.

I’m not sure what happened. I know that he broke bones in his hands a few times and didn’t get it treated properly. That was, by his own account, from punching his hand into walls and the like. He had the broken foot that didn’t heal properly, followed by the atrophied leg, followed by the shoulder and ankle injuries. I don’t know if it is simply that injuries have already ruined him (which seems ridiculous at his age and that his injuries were not that serious), that he completely stopped working on his game at all, or he has developed some weird mental issues in regards to basketball–maybe all of the above. But really watch some YouTube clips of his days in Washington and then watch him drop passes and throw the ball off the backboard from 5 feet away and it is the most astounding decline in basketball skill you’ll ever see. I don’t know how a player goes from having a complete offensive package (that is simply limited by youth and inconsistency) to having no basketball skills whatsover.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:19:28 +0000

Speaking of turnovers. Fish, for all the skills he brings to the table, is one of the worst passing PG’s in the league. Luke, on the other hand, is a good passer, he shouldn’t be making so many errant passes. That, and, if we are going to play a quicker game, guys have to get in a habit of looking for the ball at all times. Cut to the basket, please! The passers are often anticipating the cut. It makes you look like a fool, when the guy doesn’t cut, and the ball goes out of bounds.

By: Craig W.

Craig W. — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:12:01 +0000

Mike,
Let’s be philosophical…we won one we should have lost and lost one we should have won (Houston). Now we are even and have Detroit left of the really, really hard teams on the start of our schedule. As JONESONTHENBA said, the schedule only gets easier as we go on. Now if only we can improve as a team – a very good probability with our players.

By: JONESONTHENBA

JONESONTHENBA — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:06:55 +0000

Turnovers will go down as the year goes on. This is the start of the season. It’s better that the Lakers gradually improve than fall apart as the year goes on, like they did last year.

Bynum is leading the league in reb/48 min. Even beating out the king of that stat, Reggie Evans…

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/statistics?stat=nbarebound&qual=true&qual=true&sort=totreb&league=nba&split=0&season=2008&seasontype=2&seasontype=2&avg=48&pos=all

By: Mike in the Mountain West

Mike in the Mountain West — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:01:53 +0000

The only reason we won that game was because Houston was unable to capatilize on our turnovers. They only got 12 points of our 21 team turnovers. If the Lakers are going to anything in this league they have got to cut the turnovers. That has to be priority numero uno.