What is done is done. Learn from recent mistakes and move on. Portland has rebuilt itself nicely in just a short period of time. From the starting five that beat us in the playoffs three years ago, only Lillard has remained. Let's us just hope that whoever happens to be the head coach has the respect of Harden. I have said that Harden is the most talented player since Hakeem, and I am not backing off from it. However, defensive intensity starts with your best player and leader. If Harden embraces that part of the game, his teammates will follow his lead. He has shown he can play good defense whenever he wants to; it is a matter of doing it most of the time, rather than sometimes. These guys are not robots and to demand more than that is just not realistic.
Agree that character and chemistry matter, and analytics has to be one of multiple tools in evaluating players. It seems like common sense.
I enjoyed the article. Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Analytics are on their way out in the NBA. This isn't baseball where it's you vs the pitcher. It's the entire team chemistry that's so important in basketball.
It was a mistake to assume they'd be BETTER. Though not a mistake to assume Rox would be the SAME. Golden State had historically good play last season from Curry and crew. THAT seemed VERY "fluky" and unsustainable. It came out of nowhere. And they had abnormally good luck with player HEALTH too. GS brings back the SAME team next year no big additions. And instead of any regression to a mean, being figured out or leveling off, they do even BETTER? And that's with missing their coach for half the year? How is Golden State the correct stay-the-course action, but not the Rockets? I'm not saying the Rockets should have IMPROVED, no. Saying that you could have expected Rockets to stay the SAME and not get WORSE.
'a team that has squandered the careers of great talents like Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming by surrounding them with lousy coaches and subpar talent." Ouch the truth hurts and it's especially true now. We get stars and can't surround them with the proper players and then the stars retire or leave and we get good players but need stars and the cycle continues the only difference is that lately it's worse because of the horrid coaching choices.
the 1993-94 rockets were 15th in 3 pt shooting and 1st in attempts by a massive 13% margin over the 2nd place team in attempts. they took a lot of 3's because they deemed them smarter than the alternatives, not because they were great at it and not because daryl morey told rudy to do it.
yeah, if we had had a great supporting cast for that 5 game stretch where both yao and tmac were healthy, we would've conquered the league instead of squandering their lengthy, health-filled careers. or also if tmac hadn't quit the season we had our most talented team (and even then, yao still got hurt again).
“Good things happen to bad people.” Phil Jackson Doesn't matter about injuries, Jeff Van Gundy is just bad luck for the team.
We talk about how "good" they were offensively. Yet we neglect to talk about how below-average they were at shooting 3's... and they shot A LOT of 3's. They were 2nd in 3-point attempts but were 19th in 3-point shooting percentage. Morey built this team around 3's and layups, yet acquired players that were average-at-best 3-point shooters and guy's that can't create their own shot. So I think a good portion of the blame should go to Morey and Les.
Terrible article. This guy clearly knows nothing about the Rockets. Morey inherited a team with TMac and Yao. He actually put good roll players around them without having much other roster talent to work with. Yao and TMac were constantly injured and retired. He built a team that made the playoffs while losing its two best players. Then he built a team that went from mediocre to the Western Conference finals without tanking. Those things were very difficult to do. Morey is outstanding at trades. His big flaw has been the draft. Way more misses than hits. And I have been less than impressed with his coach selection. But I don't think we will find a better GM. Lets not overreact to one bad season. Even this year. Our team might have underwhelmed, but we are still in a position to sign two max players to surround Harden with.
The article is too harsh on Morey, but i am wondering if this is a setup by the press to put more pressure on Morey. If Lex really wants JVG or a top tier coach in the future, he will need to step in and redefine the role of Morey and Head coach. I think one of the reasons why McHale was fired is due to him headbutting with Morey. Headcoach should be allowed to have a say on team build and players for trade and draft. Lex may need to give GM responsibility on players to head coach, and allow GM to do the negotiations.
something happened in off season and carried into the pre-season and finally got to where we are now. I blame Harden on dating Kloe.
Yeah, everything is Morey's fault...including a strong team that's a consistent contender, and gave GS by far their biggest scare outside of 3-1.
Morey should get the credit when things are good, and the blame when they are not so good. I think he is a great GM, but I think he also knows that everything is on him, that is why he scores the long dollar. I do think he has constraints that he doesn't talk about like Tillman and the cap, but most people can see the writing on that wall. Looking forward to how he reshapes the roster again.....but I will say 1 thing, unless Harden changes some, it won't matter. DD
at this point, i wouldn't be surprsied if morey trades even harden. His trade value can't get any better than now. A lot of teams would sell the farm for harden....smaller market teams. We're probably never going to win a championship with him unless we get another bonifide superstar. So if he can't clear everyone else and get a real co star....we may as well trade everyone and hit the reset button. Its not just the warriors we have to beat, we have to beat all these other up and coming teams...i actually wouldn't mind a rebuild.
