If you think 3 of your best players who carry the team are out, and you lead after playing 3 quarters 93-86. To me that saying a whole lot. Now Everyone knows if harden was in there, the other players would of focus on there defensive assignments and not so much on how they were gonna score. Tbh they could be a Andrea Iggy away from dominating the league, or if they had a really good player like Montrez Harrell, those 2 coming off the bench as well as house, gordon and Hart.
I think the game last night was fun to watch for 3 quarters, but I wouldn't get too up or down about the Rockets bench because of it. I don't think anyone in their right mind should look at the players surrounding Harden & Westbrook and think to themselves "Oh yeah... that's good enough to win a title". I like alot of the pieces, but lets be honest.... Morey has work to do prior to the trade deadline.
These guys got way more minutes than they use too. They got tired in the 4th . . .their stamina had no built up This is a game where Chandler and Thabo should have gotten some time That said I think what comes out of this game is 1. Hartenstein - is ready to take 15~20 minutes a game. He is in the role Capela was when we had Howard 2. Clark - can spell PJ a solid 10~15 minutes a night - PJ SHOULD NOT be going 40 a night. 3. Clemons should get 5~10 minutes a night - Shifting Harden or Ego to the SF position 4. House - needs to remain aggresive 5. Ego is still Ego Chandler, NeNe and Thabo - are there for emergency and mentoring purposes only. Rocket River
I think we still need to upgrade our bench players especially small forward and power forward position vs Lakers, Bucks, Dallas. I think warriors will come back as 8th seed with curry and Thompson come back, but it really depends on how much game they lose at this moment. Usually losing 42 match can become 8th seed. If they dont sign new players, Houston can let Harkinstein to play both center and power forward position. Give some time for Gary Clark to play small forward position for the case if they dont want to trade in strong players
We need a offensive rebounder power forward with Dennis Rodman Dna. A hustling maniac that rebounds miss threes and creates opportunities for scorers and can D' up on his man to a reasonable degree..
I agree that Hartenstein should get backup C minutes, unless we're playing one of the few teams that could punish us inside (i.e. LAL, Philly etc), in which case Chandler can get those backup minutes. He's active and has some skill, he's just lacking in polish -- which he needs PT to develop. Iggy would be perfect for 20 minutes a game. We'd still be lacking that 6'8"-6'9" defensive F that we've been missing since Ariza/LMAM left, but I'd feel much better about our 9-10 man rotation with Iggy in there.
While I would be happy if Iggy wound up being bought out and choose the Rockets........ keep in mind that he has not played at all this season and turns 36 years old in a month.
hmmmm, im thinking, yeah, but really dunt want this game to be seen as an optimistic one for morey. our size problem are there, particularly at 3 & 4 position, the problem has been exposed in a couple of previous games and awaiting to be tweaked around midseason.
If we had a primary ball handler we would’ve won last night. Once they started pressing the ball handler that was a wrap for us in the 4th. I enjoyed that game last night though because they facilitated and made a lot of good passes even when they were gassed in the 4th. I want to see Westbrook play with the squad without Harden very badly
I agree, love listening every game the announcers saying, with this line-up, our short lineup, we can switch everything since everyone out there is same size......... we need to rebound as a team.......... height is way over rated in basketball, we don't need it, we'll just play our 6'5" guy at center.
