The Difference Between the Rockets and the Contenders

The Rockets are contenders. Harden and Westbrook are still "working it out." Head and Gordon are not playing. Capela is rounding into shape. If I was the coach, I would give Clemons more burn. Dude is impossible to guard and can shoot. By the All Star break, Rockets should be ballin. Clippers are the class of the West, and we match up well against them. I'm optimistic that we will be in the mix.

 

Here we go again... Just stop watching the Rockets play then!

 

i gotta feeling morey cooking up a trade or 2 for players that can maximize russ's strengths. and i cant wait

 

At the end of games, I would have Gordon and Harden do the hand off at the top. If Gordon’s defender runs to double team Harden, it’s one pass to Gordon for a 3. Tuck Russ in the corner and PJ on the other.

 

Chris Clemons is a naturally gifted scorer. It is exteremely obvious he can create, drive and shoot 3s.

Austin Rivers is too trusted to play PG. Chris Clemons should play Point Guard not Austin.

Austin on defense should Guard Point Guards.

Mike Dantoni is really the most stubborn Coach I have ever seen.

Rick Adelman trusted Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Kyle Lowry off the bench when they were young.

 

The difference is when the post season comes we KNOW Kawhi's bringing it. He's going to do everything he can to win a championship. Harden on the other hand, will quit & stop competing any moment. Having a bad game is one thing, but all out stop playing defense, stop shooting & throwing full court turnover passes to Capela. He legitimately looks like he's point shaving. THIS is why it's hard to see us contending

 

The Rockets have three huge problems that they must solve to become contenders: 1) Play defense. 2) Play as a team, where each player knows their role (Westbrook cannot be a shooter). 3) Learn to handle the clock when we have an advantage in the scoreboard.

 

You still out here throwing that crap against the wall!? What a ****ing idiot.

 

So clippers aint no contender?

 

Lou Will was getting a fair few layups, but good point most of their comeback was at the FT line, 3s, and KL smid range 2s.

 

Hands down better role players, some have better and more spender friendly owners, more ball movement,

better shooting percentages, more consistent D.

But more importantly, better bench......good balance of height and skills.

 

They were also without a starter (house) and their version of Lou Williams (Gordon ). Gordon is not as good offensively as Lou but he is a much better defensive player and would have played a key role in stopping Lou

 

You mean like the last 90 seconds of the Clippers game, when LAC used three 3pters while we attacked the rim, with these 4 plays in a row.

 

Guess where harden and russ.rank in the league in terms.of driving to the paint

 

We are dead last in bench scoring, do not have consistent 3pt shooters nor the size and personnel to really be top 3-5 defense.

The bench scoring will come with Gordon hopefully. Then let’s see if we can have at least 4 out of these guys to average 37% or more: Harden, Tuck, Mclemore, Rivers, Gordon, Thabo and House.

Lastly there’s always buy outs and trades to be made, so here’s hoping to a game changer.

Everything is still wide open which makes it exciting, for me at least. We are part of the contenders though, odd to conclude they are somehow not when we’ve had great defense and Harden MVP like play lately.

 

Were Rockets at full strength when they played the clippers? NO,case closed stop overreacting.

 

Just when you thought MDA embraces playing big, he reverts back to his old ways. You cannot blame him, he’s old, set in his ways. We need a real in-game coach.

 

our defense can be a problem but our bench is the main problem and we shoot so many 3s with none 3point shooters we need to make some trades for some good bench players

 

Honestly, sometimes seeing this team makes me throw up.
78 points in one half? A team that has been with the same coach for 4 years and has this kind of unpresentable games.
I think it's time to ask ourselves if with these players and with this coach we can achieve something. Personally I think this team is not going anywhere.