[ClutchFans] Podcast: What in the world is wrong with the Houston Rockets?

Great listen.

 

another Jason Kapono, Ray Allen, younger Terry, Billups, Kidd, Nash or just Steph Curry

 

I was obviously giddy about the trade [for who they were getting and what they gave up] but I/twitter did also point this out at the time.

And some of you shrugged it off.

"Well, his team sucked"
"Well, he had nothing to play for."
"But his assists have gone up every year as his shooting has gone down."

 

Lucky WCF appearance was wrong.

The sole reason that we turned the table on mental midgets Clippers, Josh Smith, has left the team. But everyone else in the organization, from DM, to coaches, our cornerstones, and role players, has become cocky and lost focus and urgency.

What we need now, is leadership, which we simply never had to begin with.

 

Agreed.

Painful is the word I thought of.

Probably the most painful podcast for Clutch to do....for Clutch/MK and all of us.

 

It is especially wrong to rely heavily on a declining Josh Smith. Yeah he can still ball but the issues are deeper than that.

It is the second time now that I question our superstars mental midget Harden and declining goofball Dwight.

 

Not saying we should rely on Smith, but rather pointing out that lots of players didn't perform nearly good enough to be complacent about the ride to the WCF.

 

The guy above hit the nail on the head. Rockets are leaderless. A true leader doesnt let a team with this much talent fail consistently. Its not just leadership either, lack of effort, lack of chemistry, missing parts. DMO was a big part of the team last year, his post presence is severely missed. Dwight is a beast on rebounds and put backs, but he is a brick when it comes to inside game, he has no touch whatsoever. We have no inside game and we have no pure shooters. For a team that relies on layups and 3 pointers so much, to have no pure shooters is a travesty. Ty Lawson is a ghost. JET has heart but is too old.

I dont think Bickerstaff is the answer. The Rockets are in dire need of some toughness. Mario Elie comes to mind.

 

I don't expect JB to be here next year(at least not as the head coach) if the team continues playing like this. But it's gonna be tough getting someone else in here to take over before next summer. Most coaches wanna come in with a chance to have a training camp and some input on personnel moves so they can get the kinds of players they want.

I hate to say it, but unless things change soon, this could wind up being a lost season.

 

Can we get Adelman out of retirement? We are desperately missing organized offense and defense, and we don't have a qualified floor general to do freewheeling.

 

Good. We need the cap space for a full-time center.

 

I think Adelman is emotionally drained and may be unofficially retired. Plus dude will be 70 when the next season tips off. To put that in perspective, Hubie Brown was YOUNGER than that when he took over the Grizzlies.

If the Rockets want an established coach with a proven track record, I think Thibs is by far the best available option.

 

I like Thibs, his toughness and disciplined approach, but I don't think our players can handle his way of hard practice and hard defense every minute. I simply don't think our players are made for that. He would be great with a bunch of young talented guys and a few mature veteran leaders, not with our "stars".

Besides, his using-up-all-24-seconds offense might not be great fit for our roster.

 

We tried a players coach in McHale and we got mixed results. Yes, they advanced to the WCF last season, but otherwise the Rockets have routinely faded down the stretch every other year. And we've seen problems like careless turnovers, stagnant offense, defensive lapses, blown leads, and taking weak opponents lightly lingering during the entire 4+ years he was here.

I'm ready for a much stricter coach to take the reigns. Harden needs that at this stage of his career. It'll either mold him into an all-time great or expose him as a stats only All-Star who doesn't really care about winning.

 

Sad sad day

 

good listen.

talent, discipline, system, character,,, those are the areas an owner and a gm/coach should look for what went or is going wrong, generally speaking.

when one of these areas goes wrong, it's relatively easy to fix. otherwise a team could be in deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep trouble and the fix may take a while.

 

Only 8% of his shots last season were open threes and he nailed 40% of them. Rockets have generated a large number of open threes with Harden. This season, 16% of Lawson's shots were open threes, and he's made 31%.

I was more worried about his defense, but thought his three point percentage would rise as he would get better looks.

 

Good podcast. Clutch and Bower agree with what many knowledgable ClutchFans have been saying.

-The horrible start for this team has little to do with coaches or coaching. It's completely on the players, particularly James Harden.

-Les panicked by firing McHale so quickly.

-Did Harden basically get McHale fired by refusing to play defense like McHale wanted?

-Ty Lawson has been horrible and doesn't play well with Harden. Has Ty possibly given up on trying to fit in on this team?

-Moreyball isn't necessarily the problem. We just don't have players that fit that system. We take more three pointers than any other team, but we are the worst three point shooting team.

-Clutch thinks TJones needs to be traded.

 

Honestly, this is all on James.

If James was to play his MVP level like last year, i guarantee you everything would be falling into place by themselves. Ty Lawson would pan out and everyone would be happy. This is all because James came in without energy and his off court stuff.

The Curse is real.

 

I tried to make an excuse for James. He's coming off a career year where he played his ass off almost every night to get this team to the #2 seed, probably the effect of him having to carry the load wore down on him this season. During every shooting slump, he says to himself next one will go in because I have done it before. But then I realized Harden is 26. If anything this is the year Harden should go full super saiyan mode yet it still hasn't happened. It's about finding other ways to win at this point in his career, dont know why hes afraid to attack the basket all of a sudden, create contact. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt though on Saturday, was very animated on the defensive end and wasn't taking ill advise shots (althought the last couple of possesions were pretty bad) Hopefully we can see a turn around in his game from here on now. This team has about 2 weeks at best before we can pretty much call it a season.