The McHale firing situation is a whole other thing. I have my opinions on the matter, but there is no way to prove why they did what they did and if it would be accepted by the public consensus, or the old timer NBA media types (probably not). I've tried to look at historical data but I don't have access to prove it or not, but I suspect from what I can see that based on the start the Rockets had with not just their record, but their point differential that showed that statistically the Rockets were done this season as a contender. That there was never a team that won a title or went to the conference finals with the start they had, or a stretch of games where they played that bad. It just statistically was IMPOSSIBLE to recover from, and the coaching change was already a Hail Mary pass to save the season. If they made the change in January, the switch would be more popularly accepted, but from a winning standpoint, they would have already have been done for the season, and it could have cost them the playoffs if they had another 5 to 6 game stretch that early in the season with that bad of a point diff. Moving McHale was the shot in the arm they needed to turn a sub .500 team into a .500 team. They knew they weren't turning a sub .500 team into a contender in December. They took a PR hit to do the right thing IMO even though I can't prove the data right now or at the time due to like having a life and stuff outside of CF. McHale wasn't going to save the team, and while he was useful for a young up and coming team, for this team at this point in their career I commend the Rockets for doing what needed to be done when it needed to be done... sacrificing PR in the process. Will it affect them with the Thib's or JVG's.... maybe., but I think they will still interview with the Rockets and I think they will understand when Morey and co. present the data to them on why they've made coaching changes in the past so a guy like Thibs knows this is an org that does things for a reason. ............ I get the frustration though with this season. Trust me. And I do think the Rockets org & front office made mistakes as they've made mistakes in the past as well. Drafting Dekker though is a pretty minor one if it even turns out to be one in a year or two. Even if they did draft Porter or someone else, I suspect they'd be in the D-League all season long as well, and wouldn't be a factor. The Rockets just don't really have many opportunities for Rookies and that's totally fine. Usually (like Capela, and 2Pat, etc.) in the 2nd half of the season rookies get A LITTLE BIT of a chance and often they jump at the chance which is great. The major mistake I believe we should really be pointing to and debating is the front office's trust in the personalities (McHale included) on this roster to perform consistently year over year. Was there a risk for a down season like this that should have seen coming and prepare for more with better structure (higher restrictions for offeason regime, weight rules, training camp design, players psychology investment, etc.). Could they have passed on the opp to sign LMA, etc. and made moves to increase the offer for Llull & passed on Lawson? Should they have NOT trusted Brewer enough to let him walk in FA? Could they have done better AGAIN with the PF position? etc. etc. I think there are lots of bones to pick with Morey & the FO that are alot more legitimate to debate than drafting Dekker.
Dekker is a slightly more athletic, more efficient, and less play making version of Parsons based on their collegiate careers.
(Completely off topic but IMO more interesting than whether or not Dekker has been good in RGV...) That would be ambitious. However, even if you showed me that no team in NBA history with that point differential for the first 11 games in the season has ever accomplished Y or Z, I would still argue that (probably) no team with that poor of a point differential who fired their coach early in the season has ever accomplished Y or Z either. If that's the case (and I have no idea cuz I ain't about to look that up either), then really at that point the season should all have been about saving face and prepping for the future. A Hail Mary pass would be a waste; take the knee instead. [feels] I believe this Rockets team is unique. Most of our wins this year have come after trailing in the 4th quarter - has that ever happened before? Our biggest problem is motivation. Obviously we aren't up there talent-wise with GSW, but we are better than this. Maybe our uniqueness means we could have been the first team to do something in the playoffs after such a sad start? And I think McHale was/is better suited to motivate our guys than The Ultimate Players' Coach JBB. [/feels] But per the hypothetical historical point differential analysis weren't they already doomed? Damn. Who'd have thought we'd be saying this back in September? Such a comment would have had you forever banished from the GARM. Sad days here at CF. Sad days. y tho? u could b here gettin reps Everything I've ever heard from JVG leads me to believe that he would never coach at a place where he didn't feel fully in sync with the owner and front office. I am guessing that Thibs is the same. But hey, when millions of dollars are involved, maybe they'd be willing to put up with that frustration? Maybe, maybe no. I'm just saying I won't be surprised if established coaches pass on the Rockets because of how we fired McHale, who is respected around the league. And lastly, I emailed you asking about Wimberly cabin recommendations. Where is my response???
That's very fair. Not to modulate my theory or anything, but you'd have to assume that when they made the move (and they were having these internal debates on if they should or shouldn't), the data might have actually shown that the season wasn't lost yet, but instead on the verge of being reparable. I'd assume someone in the office made the case like I just did with data, and someone made the case like yourself about making the change NOT having any impact because I DO NOT think it does. How many times have teams made changes and won a title that year or went to the conference finals? Based on all of this we just discussed, maybe there was something else going on from a personality standpoint or ownership standpoint. However I do think that my theory should still be relevant that there HAS TO BE historical data that showed sort of a breaking point, and the Rockets with that start had to be inching close & that data would lead to a team like the Rockets having the tougher conversations earlier than most if the data shows they need to be having the conversation. Wow thats a convoluted response lol. Probably more likely that a personality situation happened out of Morey's control then I guess. I agree to both. However there really isn't much evidence to show that JBB was ever going to be that much different than McHale which points to it being more of a motivational move than an actual basketball strategy move, or a personality issue move off the court. I'm sure practices have the same structure, the sets are the same, the defensive philosophies are the same, etc. I personally believe the move was more of a wake up call shakeup to get the attention of the players which it KIND OF did in a way. Still flawed basketball and basketball players but playing at a higher level. I would have to assume that they believe major changes for the future would need to be made over the Summer & training camp which is something I personally believe too. These NBA sets aren't hard, but coaches are going to focus on winning the next game. You won't see a coach sacrifice a couple wins to completely alter what they do mid season. As I "Modulated" earlier I would change my theory to suggest that they were on the verge and the move was more designed as a shot in the arm. Yep. Sad sad days. Hence the only poster in the history of the GARM to admit to modulating an argument and stating that what I say is drunken theory and not fact written from the BBall gods. Well I'll say this. I'd be surprised if someone as smart as JVG and Thibs wouldn't at least meet with the Rockets and learn to understand their relationships & understandings with coaches of past & future. And I'd be surprised if the Rockets wouldn't take the time to present a clear understanding as to why they made the coaching choices they've made in the past. JVG got fired himself from Morey... he's either on the same page, or he's not even walking in the room for an interview. Damn. Sorry i didn't get the email or didn't see it. I've stayed at the Cypress Creek Cottages before for a wedding weekend thing, but we've always used Hill Country Premier Lodging for vacation rentals. I've stayed at some amazing modern cabins in the area with great views and access to the river for like 300 bucks a night. https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...2!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x115a427f96c8faef
Wow small sample size but about half of his shots come from at the rim and he makes a very high percentage of them. This is promising. Also it seems like he could use some coaching, even tho extreme small sample size he is decent from the corners it would appear while being awful from the wing threes. The problem is the majority of his 3pt shots are from the wing 3s. He should be trying more corner 3s and maybe a few straight ahead 3s and see if he has any luck from there. But really if he can continue to drive to the lane like it appears and just improve to respectable at 3 especially in the corners he could be a solid role player. All of this after a long layoff from back surgery also. Don't understand why everyone thinks he's a bust. Every rookie we ever have practically goes through a year of development first before contributing.
In other news... <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wisconsin zoo named badgers after Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky for new exhibit: <a href="https://t.co/UYDQOHG0WQ">https://t.co/UYDQOHG0WQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/UpwqXUCErA">pic.twitter.com/UpwqXUCErA</a></p>— USA TODAY Sports (@USATODAYsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/USATODAYsports/status/717820457450340352">April 6, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/awyHUxwifZ">pic.twitter.com/awyHUxwifZ</a></p>— Sam Dekker (@dekker) <a href="https://twitter.com/dekker/status/725727573469057025">April 28, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Lol so many stupid ****ing post in this thread. The confidence behind everybody calling him a bust, behind everybody calling Morey a bad drafter. Its like everybody caught Basketballhollic fever in here... so many strong statements coming right out the ass.
And as clutchfans tradition goes, all the people giving him the bust label will come back in here to explain to the rest of us that they are right more than they are wrong on predictions... "look it up"
