This Season "The Curse of Melo" (#anotherMelothread, but not what you think)

Not the way you think I mean it though, Melo is not a curse. We are being cursed for the way we treated Melo.

1) Melo finally chose to play for the Rockets after Morey chased him for years, for the minimum.
2) JeffB retired rather than coach Melo who got him fired when Melo was a rookie.
3) MDA played along with signing Melo, but gave him a whole 2 days in camp to learn the team before benching him for a nobody who has done anything in the league Ennis. (1st insult and obvious revenge)
4) MDA decides to play Clark more minutes over Melo because Melo has a bad game or two and Clark has a decent game or two, an undrafted rookie that no other team wanted. (2nd insult and obvious revenge)
5) Rockets defense sucks, not because of Melo, but the same way they do now because our 3 stars are either not playing due to suspension or injury, or they are just not giving their best out there.
6) Rockets (or Melo if you want to believe that narrative, who knows) decide to part ways with Melo because they don't want to deal with any "drama" or whatever they said was the reason, so Melo is still on the team, but not playing or waived, and can't be traded until December 15th.

Hence we are cursed because we didn't approach the season as professionals, mostly from a coaching stand point, but also from a management standpoint, and treated Melo unfairly as the scapegoat, when we could have had a much better team.

First, Morey and Tillman should have talked to JeffB more about Melo before bringing Melo on, and given the man a HUGE raise to get him to agree to coach Melo again. I know he may have had family problems so they say, I don't know. But I know a big fat paycheck and some man to man talk would have had Jeff in camp and teaching the defense in training camp where things needed to be worked out with so many new players coming on board and losing 3 players in Ariza, Moute and Anderson; who at least knew what they were SUPPOSED to do in the defense, even if their skills were declining. Sometimes the mental and knowledge aspect of the game makes up for what you lack in being gifted as a top athlete.

Second, MDA should have started Melo at the 3 in training camp to learn the defense and get comfortable with the starters. We play positionless switch everything defense anyway, so it doesn't matter what position you claimed Melo or Tucker was at, it would be the same role. This would make it easier on CPinjured3 and Harden because Melo is still a better offensive player than Ennis or Tucker. Ennis or Tucker don't break down defenses or cause the need for help defenders. Melo still can regardless of what he lacks on defense. Our offense has been as putrid as our defense for most of the season. We will never get 25 to 30 point games from Ennis or Clark, so giving them more minutes than Melo already means that you will win 3 to 5 games less in a year. Melo average more in his worst year in the NBA last year (16ppg), then both Ennis and Clark have together of course. I have said this all before in another thread though.

Third, Morey should have traded Ego and Tucker for Butler, along with whatever 1st round picks were needed. Once you signed CPinjured3 to that massive deal, and then Capela to his deal, you were ALL IN. You needed Butler in the worst way because you already should know that CP3 will be injured, and if you put all of the play making on Harden, with only Gordon as your other option, Harden will be Harden and his turnovers will go up, and his on ball perimeter defense will suffer. This is called knowing what you have in your players, which Morey should know by now. Butler could have helped Harden lead the offense some when CPinjured3 is taking games off or hurt, or whatever.

What DEFENSE is Tucker our GLUE for? Not the travesty that we have witnessed this season. Plus Tucker is older than Butler. Butler is one of the few two way players in league that excel at both, making him a top 15 to 20 player in the league, if not better as some would suggest. We could have probably closed that deal early on before Philly upped their offer if we included Tucker, Gordon and 1 or 2 first round picks. Everyone knows and always says in every trade, that whoever got the BEST PLAYER wins that trade. No question that Butler is better than Tucker or Ego, and imho for this team better than both put together.

A core of CPinjured3, Harden, Butler and Capela...with a Melo happy and starting, would have been MUCH BETTER to watch this year over what we have now. And I am not just saying this now, I said it before all of this season happened the way it has. You would still have a bench of Green, Ennis, Clark and Hart, with our off chronically injured Nene and Knight as trade pieces hopefully, plus the mid level exception for buyouts later. There is no way in HEdoublehockeysticks you can get me to believe that that team wouldn't be at the top of the Western conference right now and our hopes of a contender still in place, even after losing Tucker and Gordon.

So we missed out on Butler, sent Melo home, have no 3rd star to currently chase, injuries abound, and currently sitting as one of the worst teams in the league record wise.

This is on MDA, JeffB and Morey for their handling of the Melo situation first and foremost, and then on Morey and MDA for not wanting to give up Tucker and Gordon for Butler. THIS IS THE CURSE OF MELO, for his mistreatment. Yes, the players play the game, but the coaches and management have to set them up properly to do it. They went half in on "Running it Back" and are getting run the F off the court most nights.

A core of CP3, Harden, Butler, Melo and Capela was your starting lineup for a contender for this year and another or so, but we messed it up with Egos and not giving up Ego and Tucker.

I still love my Rockets, and hope that we can turn it around this year. Morey, MDA, JeffB and Tilman need to figure this out now. It is now not as easy as it could have been with the right mindset going into camp with all of your coaches and no grudges.

TLR ---- Then get out of this thread because you have no business being here.

 

BTW, Tilman, Morey, MDA, JeffB, CPinjured3 and Harden should all sit down with Melo, apologize for how things have gone, ask him to REJOIN THE TEAM, agree to let him start the rest of the year to try to let him revive the end of his career, and plan to help/hide him on defense, Ennis should hopefully play much better off the bench in an under 20 minute role as an energy guy.

Then of course we still need to make trades. But we can start here without giving up anything to MAKE THE TEAM BETTER. Anyone saying the defense will get worse with Melo, it just isn't possible in my eyes to get any worse. Everyone needs to let the hurt feelings and egos go, no pun intended.

 

Karma is a biatch. Also, we could be underestimating how this might be affecting CPinjured3 and his decision and playing effort, especially in the beginning of the season. Some people don't understand that they aren't just friends, but like family. Not saying the CP3 isn't injured, but his beginning effort was in question even with an injury.

 

It is awkward for both sides, but they both need to do it because right now, they NEED EACH OTHER!

 

Terrible fit how? Who's offense has been better fit wise(other than our top 3 of course)? Who all defensively have been better fit wise? Who other than Capela averaged more rebounds? Aren't we last in rebounds in the league? How many players have given us a night of 25 points plus when we look anemic most nights on offense? How did he get to be a terrible fit when he only played 2 days of training camp with the starters, and even when we had injuries, MDA started freaking MCW or Clark over him? Please do answer these questions so that I can understand your point of view.

I agree that we are a few good to great players and health away from being contenders, but we are bottom of the barrel right now. Melo can help in my opinion. Our bench has to be the worst in the league. Remember also when we tried to play both Gordon and Lou as 5th men? It was hard on both of them at first and they had to learn to adjust. We asked Melo to come off the bench for the first time in his career, and to do that with Ego as a sixth man also.

#NOTAFAIRCHANCE

 

I guess you love the way the team is playing now and believe Melo is still the problem. Okay, yeah, I was being serious. I don't see anyone else on our team that can average 16ppg still other than CPinjured3, MVP, Capela and Ego. That's not enough firepower in a league with a new freedom of movement rule.

WE NEED SCORERS!

 

With the defense our team is playing right now, I would rather run with an all offensive team and try to outscore teams than consistently watch us barely score over 100 and allow the other teams to still put up 120 and beyond.

Why not bring Melo back and even add Swaggy P? At least on any given night one or both of those two can get hot for you and give you 20 plus points, even 25 to 30 a few times a season. Play them in a zone defense if you have to. Nothing can be worse than our defense now. Heck, I would bring 75point Fredette from overseas to back up CPinjured3 and jack up shots from 3 early in the shot clock verses MCW. I mean the Mavs still have Devin Freaking Harris and we let him hit 5/6 3 pointers yesterday.

 

No one person has given reasons why what I said isn't true. Which player other than the obvious are better than Melo on offense or defense? Not what you think they are capable of, but what they are doing this year? 10 games to work a hall of fame player on the end of his career into your lineup is a joke, not a chance. But I get it, Clutchfans hated Melo before he joined. And I have never been a Melo fan at all. I'm just calling out what I see with my own unbiased eyes.