Patterson, Hayes and Boykins

  • As I had written last week, the Rockets had been feeding Patrick Patterson in the paint pretty aggressively in recent games.  They went away from that last night and it paid off with the big man hitting some huge jumpers down the stretch.  I think the team needs to abandon the idea of Pat in the post altogether, or at least, for now.  He just doesn’t have the touch.  He seems to put the same force into shooting the shot as he does into backing down his man.  And quite frankly, why do fans insist that he post up anyways?  He’s a good to very good jump shooter and even without a postup option, just running their normal guard oriented offense, the Rockets are top 10 in the league in production.  To be a good big man, you don’t have to post up.  If you play defense–which Pat does–and you space the floor, you will more than suffice.  That’s what Charles Oakley did and I don’t think anybody in New York was complaining about him.
  • Speaking of big men, I was just thinking yesterday – get used to Samuel Dalembert and Marcus Camby at the center position.  Camby’s not going anywhere.  And now, with no notable free agents on the board, there’s no reason to not pick up the option on Dalembert.  Now of course, they could always use Sammy as a trade chip for a big name or even still waive him just for the flexibility…but as for the latter, I wouldn’t see the point.  Just out on the market, I don’t think you can do any better than a Dalembert-Camby center duo.  I hated the signing in preseason, but now that it’s clear this team has no plans of tanking, ever, I’d be more than content with continuing the status quo at that position.  As long as you continue to upgrade the rest of the roster, you could do far worse than having two veteran rim protectors.
  • Something’s just not right about Chuck Hayes in Sacramento.  Maybe it’s the fact that he’s a guy I hoped one day would retire in red and have his uniform raised to the rafters.  Maybe my favorite Rocket of all-time.  One thing about Chuck Hayes was that you could always know the outcome of the game, without having watched it, by looking towards his locker.  If the team lost, he appeared as if a family member had passed.  He really took losing hard.
  • Realize that when I say Earl Boykins joined the team last minute, I mean it literally.  We’re granted lockerroom access every game day from 5:30 to 6:15.  At 6:15, that’s it, we have to go and let the guys get ready and tune in.  We waited, knowing Boykins was in the building – his travel bag was already there at his new seat.  Apparently he was taking a physical.  Finally at around 6:14, a ball boy I hadn’t seen before walked in casually.  Suddenly, everyone realized the ball boy was actually Earl Boykins and the video you see under this post was produced.
  • Boykins played fantastic.  I realized that even after watching players play numerous times over the years, I never really pay close attention to their games, or enough to describe, until they join the Rockets.  Boykins, unlike Courtney Fortson, is very much in control on the floor, which is understandable as he’s been in this league for 12 years.  He can drive hard with either hand which makes sense – if you’re 5’5 and in the NBA, your skill level has to be completely off the charts.  From what I saw yesterday, he wants to drive hard one way and then spin back and drive in the other direction.  His best quality is how low he dribbles to the ground.  This isn’t meant as a joke as you’re obviously thinking, “he’s 5’5, of course it’s low to the ground.”  When you watch some other guys who are relatively “short”, for NBA standards, they don’t always keep it low.  And that’s one of the main things they teach you growing up.  Stay low when you dribble.  That’s why Courtney Fortson loses the ball so easily – he’s short but he dribbles so high, it’s not only hard to control but it’s easy for a defender to reach in and poke it away.  When you get extra low to the ground, defenders have a tough time because they don’t want to have to reach down and get that low as well.  This is how Boykins has used his height as an asset and made a living in this league.
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