Daryl Morey - this is your mess - get to work fixing it!

So the Rockets have won an avg of 55 games in the Harden/Howard era (not to mention with McHale...), made it to the conference finals last year, and now some of you want to blow up the team after a 1/4 of the season?

This year has been frustrating to watch, but the team has not been fully healthy all season. Now they are beginning to get their full key players back, still adjusting to a new coach and integrating a new PG. They also seemed to come in this season overconfident, thinking they could coast and turn it on towards the playoffs. Hopefully this has been a wake up call of an ever adjusting league (and that Warriors juggernaut) and come to the realization not to take things for granted.

Bottom line, you need to let these guys, who have shown evidence of success, to eventually get it together and re-evaluate after the season is over.

 

Of course he wouldn't say any different! That is the point.

He is aware he is the general manager and he knows what that entails. That is why this is a dumb thread. He doesn't need you to tell him he's responsible. He knows that. How stupid do you think he is?

By the way, NOBODY (literally NOBODY) was complaining about this roster before camp. Everyone here felt DM had done what was needed to take the next step with a great roster. I did, you did, Clutch did, the media did, everyone did.

Nobody could have seen this coming and nobody did. You didn't.

The premise of your post is that Morey needs to be reminded that he is responsible for his team's fortunes. He isn't an idiot. He knows that in a way that none of us can fathom. To act like he needs to be reminded is just dumb.

 

This is silly. Check the record. I've been a huge Morey backer since he came here and I didn't meet him until around the summer of D12.

 

The problem is Harden has Maury and the Rockets firmly by the balls. Maury caters to his every demand and has put Harden on a pedestal. So much so that Harden knows that he can do almost anything without anyone holding him accountable. Harden is no LeBron or Curry or Durant to deserve such treatment

It was embarassing seeing Murray cheer leading for Harden for the MVP campaign when Curry was clearly deserved MVP

Look Harden has been Morey's biggest acquisition and Mary will do anything to make him look good.

Frankly as DD said, they need to have a sit with Harden and ask him to put his ego aside and focus on the team goals. Play more team ball, play off the ball more, move around when you don't have the ball, quit dribbling the air out of the ball etc And FFS play some defense and show focus as leader

It all started with McHale's pathetic coaching and the bad habits developed under him where he didn't hold Harden accountable. And now a rookie coach who is out partying with these folks is expected to reign in James? LOL

 

Last season we went to the conference finals and lost to a team that is now 23-0 (as of this post heading to ot). What were we supposed to do this off-season blow up the team? Who honestly saw this coming?

 

This is good stuff. We are in a wait it out position. We are adjusting to anew coach, new players, and injuries. People need to develop some fing patience around here! We win 5 out of 6 games and all anyone wants to do is complain. There is no magic bullet. No new coach is coming this year to right the ship. We can't trade H or H and get equal value. There is no player we can trade for that will make us beat GS or SA this year. Deal with it.

As Batman said, Morey put this team together in the offseason and everyone loved it. Everyone. I think our fragmented training camp due to injuries has had a big toll. We have to give the team time to get better.

We will likely be a 4-6 seed. That's pretty good. I don't think anything we do this year can really overcome GS or SA (or CLE) in the playoffs. No use shredding our team if we can't beat those teams. Trading Harden or Howard is really some of the worst thinking I've seen on this board in a while. We will decrease our overall talent and you can't win without talent. We've had low talent teams that played their asses off. Those teams never got anywhere. Some people would prefer we had one of those teams. You are welcome to watch one of the many low talent teams in the league continue to be mediocre for years?

 

Here's my question....

When has a player with a habit of inconsistent effort (especially in big games and/or against top teams) ever changed for the better? What are the odds that Harden will start playing adequate defense and learn to play off the ball capably? I can't think of a single Championship superstar who had a reputation for being lazy except for maybe Shaq (and he was the most physically dominant player of his era AND had high motor Hall of Fame SGs next to him). It's true that Hakeem had to mature to become the player he did, but the one thing he never lacked was effort. He never had his mail-in games the way Harden has, nor did he shrink in the playoffs the way Harden has (he was a big time playoff performer right from the start). Harden is no Hakeem.

Maybe DD didn't quite frame his post clearly, but what I think he's getting at is that neither Harden not Howard are going to "turn it around" in the current situation. I'd even take this a step further - as a pair, these guys will never be a legitimate championship team foundation due to their shortcomings that have been noted endlessly elsewhere. Short of surrounding them with other superstars (which the salary cap of course makes impossible), I'm not convinced any combination of affordable role players and/or a "system" will make the Rockets a championship team so long as Howard is a gimpy 0 on offense and Harden a mercurial 0 on defense. That's just to many holes to plug with only (approximately) 57% of the cap remaining.

That being said, I see no point in hiring a top tier coach right now. As one poster mentioned, the best available guys probably aren't interested. Additionally, I suspect that management realizes that the Howard-Harden pairing can no longer be considered a "sure-thing" and will be using this season to observe how they respond to this bad start. Why would they throw out big money to a new top-tier coach when there's a legitimate question as to whether our team (and its superstars in particular) would actually listen to him (let alone benefit)?

I've never thought that Harden and Howard were a good pairing and their total lack of chemistry the past two years seems to support my belief. Their games (and maybe their personalities) don't mesh and I don't think different teammates or a super coach would really make much of a difference. I would be really surprised if Morey still feels they're a legitimate foundation for a championship. They're not rookies and expecting them to "mature" any more is unrealistic.

So.......if this is not a championship pair, then is it better to move on now or hold onto them in hopes that they'll somehow beat the odds and turn into radically different players and personalities?

 

If you know basketball, you knew this Rockets team will crash and burn

 

Morey is stuck this season, he's waiting for off-season to ask Dwight to take a paycut to stay while he does everything he can to pry KD from OKC.

 

I have a solution. Trade a first rounder for Brad Stevens.

 

Good post DD, I agree. and:

Im sorry to blame a man who's been already fired, but this is totally true. This group has developed terrible daily habits during these pasat 2-3 years and now it's going to take a radical change at coaching to redirect the situation, or a radical roster change.

I believe JB will put the team into the playoffs, but that's it. Team is basically same McHale's team, it's going nowhere.

 

Riley has actual credibility. What is Morey going to do? Inspire Harden by telling him stories of Morey's pulling all nighters and acing math tests in the clutch??? Morey has no credibility for these conversations.

Is that your only call to action in this thread? Morey have stern discussions with the coach and players??? That's not going to have much of an effect IMO.

 

Morey is shell shocked at how bad this team is performing just like the fans. He should of put in an offensive and defensive game plan with a defensive center and a ball dominant sg which needed to be integrated. What we are watching now is predictable. No discipline and players look confused. I dunno if a trade helps because whoever comes in might be confused even more.

 

No doubt Morey has Mr. Alexander all in his ear about this team's problems and Mr. Alexander's dissatisfaction. These call out threads demanding "accountability" and that someone "fix it" are just silly.

I've heard Popovich, Tomjonovich, Jackson all say that the direction and attitude of a team follows the trajectory of the team's best players. My best guess is that this is a problem rooted in Harden AND Howard. Points and rebounds aside, I don't know if these two are demonstrating discipline and focus on the floor for their team. I don't know if they are demonstrating coachability and trust. And there isn't much a coach, GM, or owner can do if the best player(s) is(are) severely flawed.

This is a major collapse, but not one of epic proportions. I try to remind myself that this is the same team that was just 1 win/loss away from being the 6th seed in what was a tight Western Conference run last year. They needed a miracle comeback to take the Clips. In short, they were teetering and the Western Conference Finals appearance kinda masked the fact that this team really wasn't over the hump. Last season, they teetered in one direction; this season they have teetered the other.

Maybe it wasn't the Warriors who were lucky last season but the Rockets. And this team needed to come into the season to prove they were legit contenders and not just lucky to be the 2 seed last season.

 

Good points. I don't see Howard ever being disciplined and focused. Seems like a total clown. I am confused about Harden. I don't know how he could become sooooo skilled and not be disciplined and focused.

 

Stttttttrrrrrrrrreeeeeetttttccccchhhhh...

 

If he's so busy, why didn't he give Josh Smith a call a little earlier? Dude was great for us and an absolute steal at his bargain price. Morey should have been calling him daily from the start.

 

He dropped the ball on that Jsmoove situation.