JB Bickerstaff's strong words after the Pelicans game

Great PR responses...

T_Man

 

I am sorry you don't like my observation Deckard, but it is what it is, watch what he says, watch his body language, and judge for yourself.

Leaders talk about THEMSELVES first, they take on that responsibility, I have not seen that in Harden yet - I am hopeful that he grows into it, Tmac - NEVER did.

Maybe I am mistaken about Harden but I don't find any leadership in him atm.

DD

 

Hardens favorite third person word, We.

 

That is my point, I would like him to say "I" Need to do better, and then "We" all do....instead it is always "We".....

Start with the responsibility of "I"

DD

 

Don't Steph and Lebron say "We" as well? Did Jordan always refer to himself or did he say we?

 

thats the issue we've had a lot of PR responses this season without any sort of sustained effort on the court this season. The fact the team is at .500 this season is honestly a semi-miracle and a testament to the amount of talent this team has.

But this is why I loved Coach Wooden he kept it simple:

 

Could not agree with you more...

But all we will continue to get is PR responses...

T_Man

 

Well put

I'm surprised our record isn't worse

We just lost to one of the worst teams in the league in the pelicans

As teams get more tape on this year's rockets, it's just gonna get worse unless guys snap out of it

 

Oh, he's been coaching the whole first half? with a training camp and pre season? That's news to me.

I know y'all may not agree with his decisions, but he's given an explanation to a lot of things through interviews and the media. As long as he's been around the NBA, I think it's safe to say he's not going to just be clueless on things like calling time outs and rotations. There's a strategy to it all. It won't always work, but he's got a winning record and a very good one with Capela starting. Include the fact that apparently some guys are going off script in loses, and i think it's safe to assume his record would be even better, if players listened to him.

 

James Harden: Post Practice Interview 12/28/15
http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/channel/interviews

 

If we had a coach with balls, he would just bench Harden when he's sulking and ruining the offense. At least we can say that about McHale, he did it in the playoffs and it worked!

We need a mature coach with guts.

 

That's a career ender. You can't bench superstars

 

I don't think it matters what words JB has. He's just not the guy for the job. We were screaming that the Rockets need a disciplinarian instead of a players coach and Morey and Les replace him with an immature version of Kevin Mchale it's ridiculous. We wont be better till we get a new coach and get real role players. We thought we had good role players we don't. Trade them get Thibs we are good again.

 

Mchale sat Harden because he was sick. James Harden was sick that game. Mchale is the guy who would play Harden 96 minutes if he could.

 

I haven't been keeping up much with the events lately... working a lot of hours + Rockets haven't exactly inspired me.

Anyway, just a brief response to what I'm seeing:

1) I see critics pointing out that Bickerstaff is a lesser version of McHale when it comes to stature and respect from the players. My response is that his public comments may not be the sign of him boiling over in frustration or finding his influence inadequate. It may be that JB thinks that taking it to the public will wake someone up. If it was an intentional strategy, let's see how the team reacts rather than flip out and claim he is losing all control.

2) I also see critics pointing out that the Rockets need the coach to be the leader of the team because Howard and Harden are not good natural leaders. This may be true, but so far, JB has had a better W/L record than McHale, so I don't see this as a failure on JB's part either.

We're in a tough spot, and the truth is, no one in the public seem to fully get what is going on behind the scenes. Everything is speculation on our part here.

 

There should have been a TO with 4-5 seconds left with us getting it at halfcourt.....JB!

 

Yeah right, if he was coaching this team he wouldn't bench Superstar Player X or Y either. Mess around and get fired too. Lol remember it's a player league not a coach league.

 

Well his interview answers sounded good to me..... :grin::grin:

T_Man

 

Rockets players agree with coach’s assessment about them disrespecting the game
By Jenny Dial Creech on December 28, 2015 at 3:29 PM

The Rockets met for practice Monday afternoon for the first time since their coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, said the team “disrespected the game,” and had an intense practice.

Guard James Harden said he hoped the whole team took Bickerstaff’s words to heart.

“We should,” Harden said. “If we don’t take it seriously, something is wrong.”

Bickerstaff made the comments following the Rockets’ 110-108 loss to New Orleans on Saturday night. Harden said he understood where his coach was coming from.

“Just not bringing it every night, no matter who we are playing,” Harden said. “We have to be ready to go, ready to play, ready to get wins.”

Forward Donatas Motiejunas said the team had a good practice Monday, with a lot of communication and priorities in place.

“I think he was accurate to say that,” Motiejunas said. “We aren’t the same team we were last year. We have to work harder to get back to that level.”

The Rockets host Atlanta at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

 

John Blair interview with Adrian Woj

45:24

J.B., you've railed here in your time since you've taken over for Kevin McHale in trying to find consistency with your Rockets team. You called it the good Rockets & bad Rockets. That process for you, is it as much about building relationships with your players and maybe getting them to build better relationships with each other? As you've said and people can see, when things aren't going well for your team, sometimes it's body language, sometimes it's the way they're sharing the ball, the way they're competing on defense, is it as much a mental thing for this group?

Yeah, that's the test for us. That's my job. A lot of that falls on my shoulders through the relationships I've built with the guys and I continue to build with the guys. I've got to take that responsibility of figuring out a way to help all of us be more consistent. We're sitting at .500. It's the up and the down, the up and the down. We're trying to find a way to play at our peak and stay at that level instead of being on the roller coaster we've been on so far. Our guys are committed to it. There's frustration, that happens within the game but our guys want to win. They want to play together. They want to do the right things. They've proven that they can and that they will. Look at some of our wins. We've beaten some of the best teams in the league. We have to continue to play that way and we'll turn the corner because the guys are committed to doing it.

You beat the Spurs on Christmas and come back a night later and lose. Was your frustration that you want those wins against elite teams like the Spurs to be a jumping off point and something you build off of and you feel like you took a step back and that gets back to those inconsistencies?

For any coach, you want the best for your team. That's the most important thing. It's not about me, it's not about individual success. It's about the team and the team success. The frustration comes I think because you just want it so badly. You want to see that growth, you want to see the guys succeed because you know how much time they put in, how hard they work, the sacrifices they make. You want to see them have some success and payoff for all that stuff. That's when the frustration comes in from my standpoint. You want it so badly because you feel there are so many guys so deserving of it. When it doesn't happen, that's where the frustration comes.

J.B., when you took over, before you even coached your first game, you met with a lot of the guys one on one but when you sat down with James Harden, you said "Listen". Obviously you need him but you needed him on both ends and committed defensively. He played at a good level last year. He'll never be an elite defender. Has James followed through on that? I know he said "I'll be there for you and you'll get that out of me." Have you gotten that out of him?

Yeah. I think he has been better on both sides of the ball. If you look at the load we ask him to carry, he's gotta do a lot for us. He has to score, pass, play-make, push, gotta run. Early when I first took over, I leaned on him too much and played him too many minutes. Now that I've gotten more comfortable in this role, I've taken some of that burden off him by cutting his minutes down so he's fresh and can play both sides. When you look at it and look at it closely, when we're at our best, he's been a big part of that. He's the guy getting key stops for us. We do switching in late game situations. He's done a good job of doing that along with the other stuff. James is the type of player that should flirt with a triple-double almost every night and he's doing that. That gives us an advantage when you have a guy who can do that and on the other end, help get stops when needed.

J.B., a lot of times interim coaches in an effort to get star players on their side will publicly defer to their stars. You have not been afraid to yank guys off the floor. You've benched your star players at times. You've taken on the mindset I'm the coach of this team and the only way it'll work is if I act like I'm the head coach and not someone just trying to hold onto it. Is that a mindset and something you had to be conscious of when you decided on how you would embark on this challenge this year?

Because it was unexpected, there was no time to prepare for it. Everyone I talked told me one thing: be myself. In that, when you're in this position, you have to do what's right for the team all the time. I'm not looking at this as an opportunity for myself. The way I was brought up in coaching, if we could be invisible, it would be best. The guys deserve the glory and shine. That's what I try to do. The guys have been great with me. They've allowed me to coach them. There hasn't been any fightback when I had to make those decisions. My purpose is to facilitate whatever it may be that's best for the team. I gotta make those decisions. That's why I'm trying to do. I want to see the team succeed, I want to see the individual player succeed. That's the most important thing. I'm trying to create an environment where that's possible.

You grew up in a NBA locker room. The psychology of understanding the mindset of players. Coaches spend a lot of time trying to figure out what motivates guys, how to reach certain guys. Is there an advantage having grown up around locker rooms and been around it your whole life?

Definitely. Being around basketball my entire life, playing AAU basketball, playing in college, you have an understanding of the culture and environment of where players come from. You see it & experience it first hand. Being around it as a child in the NBA is one thing but having gone through similar situations as a HS kid, college kid, you have a definite advantage on the mindset. You're around players at a high level all the time. You have conversations with them. You know their background and how that impacts their thinking. For me, it's been key in my ability to develop relationships with all players, from old vets to guys straight out of HS to one and done type guys. Being around those types of guys and high level players in general, you have a better understanding of their thought process, what drives them and how to reach them.

Dwight Howard and trying to coach him right now - the team has at different times kept him out of back to backs earlier in the season to keep him fresh for the postseason, the stretch run. How do you balance it?

It's been a tough balance. Dwight is now healthy. He's working more now because some of the restrictions have been taken off. That was part of our early frustrations and struggles. We didn't have the consistency in our lineup that we were looking for. As of late, his impact has been more. He'll continue to be better that way. You want him fresh and healthy but you gotta get there first. He's playing, he's working, he's catching his rhythm. Now we're past that threshold with him. His body is responding in the right way so we can push him more. He's 30 years old but obviously has a lot of miles. You want to keep your eye on him. You want to give him an opportunity to be fresh and play out his career the way he would like to play out his career.

Is there a way to make this work with Ty Lawson?

Yeah, I definitely think there is. The past week or so, his minutes have gone up and he's played better. He's more comfortable & confident. He and James can play together. He can take the load off James' shoulder and gives you another weapon on the floor that can break a defense down and make plays. What happens when you bring new talent in and the type of player Ty is, he's so unselfish he was deferring a lot because he didn't want to step on toes, he didn't want to disrupt the rhythm of the team that was successful before he got here. That made him struggle. He wasn't as aggressive. Now he's to a point that he sees a need for his skill set and the two understand they can play together. That there's enough touches, enough balls, they can play well with one another and can make each other's job easier. Going forward, you'll see more of it and I think Ty is playing his way into more minutes.

In conversations with head coaches in your league, the one thing guys keep getting back to is the biggest challenge they have is, maybe it's always been this way, maybe it's grown more difficult but trying to be the dominant voice in your player's ears...that there's so many people around them and not always the people with the fairest motives or wanting the best for a particular player. There's so many voices around guys, by the time you get them back after they leave the gym, they've been told ten different things about their roles and what they should be doing or your holding them back or whatever it is. Is that the biggest challenge - getting them to listen to you, your staff and tune out those outside things?

That's gonna be...that's impossible. What you want to do is have them understand how important they are to the team and how important their role is to the team. That's where you get the biggest buy in. Once they understand it's all about winning, that's where you have your most success. As a coach, whether assistant or head coach, it's about building relationships with guys so you earn their trust. If they trust you that you have their best interests at heart and don't have selfish motives, they're more likely to give the team what you feel they need, what the head coach may feel they need. They're more willing to fill that role. That's where the time you spend with guys, not just on the court because the only time they hear your voice is when you're criticizing them, that's the wrong way to go about it. The more you spend time with guys, build relationships with guys, let them see you as a person and you get to know them as a person. That's when in tough times and difficult situations they're more likely to lean your way, more likely to fight for you and the team if you have that relationship with them.