I know I will get blasted for this and I am sure rightfully so, but with Capela out and Montrezl starting I feel our 2nd unit is not nearly as strong as before (as evident today against Memphis). In order to keep our bench how it has been we need another player to step right into the starting role. I feel a big grasp as straws would be to start Onuaku and have him play defense (and see what he can do for the first 5 minutes of the game and of the 2nd half). This puts Nene and Montrezl back into the rotation where this team was gelling at. I understand that Onuaku has never played an NBA game before and starting him would probably backfire but our next two games are against Pho and Dal. I would love to have this lineup figured out and running smoothly again before the Clippers game on the 30th. I feel 10 min. a game from him with the starters could keep our bench comfortable as well as a shot blocker in the middle. Chances are he gets 3 fouls on him in the 1st quarter of the first game and we have to rotate out anyhow, but that's better than than having our bench blown out again. Dekker and Montrezl playing together in the 2nd unit helps this team tremendously and I would hate to see our team getting nailed to start the 2nd and 4th quarters again. With that said- let the bashing (and why is this even a new thread) begin
So, because our bench is weak, the solution is to weaken the starting line up? Either he can play or not, starting him would be a huge and unnecessary risk given we have only lost to the Spurs at home and Memphis away, both games that came down to the wire. Why would we tinker with that? Is there a significant difference between how we performed and how you would rationally have expected us to perform against those teams? Are you taking into account we torched the Suns and destroyed the Wolves after Capela left? I don't understand what people are expecting from this team. Just looking at early season threads about how fans expected the Rockets to do, it seems absurd that people are reacting this way after two losses as acceptable as any. A 60 win team (which we should not be) loses 21 times - can two of 21 losses in a season come at home against the Spurs and away against the Grizzlies? Please just be rational guys. Who is our second best player? Who has a worse second best player than us? 3rd? 4th? When you look at this roster on a piece of paper where would you expect it to finish in the West? Can it be ok for this team to perform non-amazingly sometimes? Jeez.
This is not an overreaction to 2 loses, only that with a 10 game win streak we were clicking. By having a non-regular start and play defense you keep everything else intact throughout the game as it has been.
Dude you haven't even seen Chinanu play a single NBA game wtf is he gonna do starting against Gasol? That's just plain stupid, if MDA tells Harell and Nene he's gonna start an unproven rookie over them just so the bench will be stronger he's gonna lose all the credibility he's had so far. Hey, here's an idea: let's start Ennis at pg and have Harden off the bench, with Harden coming off the bench we'll have the strongest bench in the NBA!
I often wonder if the people on Clutchfans that suggest off the wall **** like staring Onuaku think that D'Antoni and company are as unfamiliar with Onuaku and his abilities as we are. They aren't. They watch him in practice. They are monitoring his progress in the d-league. They have a much better idea of what he's capable of right now than we do.
Stop this suggestion...We had a chance to beat all the tram we lost to. Harden has been the main problem. If he can play a little bit better then we should be good.
If Gordon didn't start out 2-13 (or whatever it was) from 3 we likely win the game. Then we wouldn't have all these ridiculous threads being created or bumped.