Now, I know the timing of this may be unpopular with Rudy going through a battle with bladder cancer. However, I am convinced that this staff has zero clue about how to run an offense or a quality defense in the NBA. Now before you get all mad, please hear me out. When the Rocks won the championships they had the best offensive and defensive player in the NBA, and that was the same man...Hakeem. Now that we no longer have that, the coaches simply have been unable to get a decent offensive set going. Look at the Spurs, they bring in Manu Ginobli, Steven Jackson, Tony Parker (20 years old by the way), Speedy Claxson..etc...etc...and they all know the offense by the middle of the year, and at the end of the year are solid contributors. The Rockets still play crappy ISO basketball, no one is moving off the ball, and their defense is beyond terrible. Steve Francis is now officially Tony Parkers biatch, Parker abuses him at will both offensively and defensivly. Why is it that Greg Popovich can get his team to play good solid offense and defense, but Rudy and the mental midgets can't? I never hear Pop griping about lack of practice time, or inexperience (Parker is only 20 you know). And the Spurs put a ton of effort into defense. Heck, Steven Jackson could not even get into college, and he is playing fantastic team oriented basketball. The only conclusion as to why our team does not play good solid team ball is that they are simply not coached well enough to make it happen. Les, please go outside the organization and make a change. I am tired of TNT/ESPN etc announcers talking about how pathetic the Rockets passing and offense is......please get someone in here like Bill Fitch, that will instill some intensity, and someone that can TEACH the game of basketball. DaDakota
I have to agree. There is absolutely no excuse for a team of professionals getting paid multiple millions to look this clueless on both ends of the floor.
Parker gets by Steve at will, and usually this leads to a breakdown of our defense. Also, Steve has a very hard time getting by Parker. Steve has problems with quicker guards or guards that can match his quickness. I wish Steve would take a cue from Gary Payton & Mark Jackson's book and learn to post up smaller players. More importantly the team just looks lost, and the offense is terrible, an occasional cutter will not get it done. This team needs a much more stern hand in my opinion, but that coach needs to also be a teacher. Larry Brown would be perfect.....but there are others that I would like to see. I just don't think Rudy and staff are good teachers of the GAME of basketball. DD
It was sick out there tonight. There is no way we will dump the whole staff now. Phoenix plays at Detroit tomorrow and we get an "easy" home game verus Denver Sat night. So things aren't out of reach and nothing is over yet. Even though I am extremely frustrated, I say stick it out. The less changes we make now, the better. The guys know this staff. The guys looked bad tonight... I hope it was because: 1. 2nd game in back to back and 7th game in 10 days 2. Huge letdown from emotional game vs Lakers last night 3. RudyT distraction, although I was hoping for this to be an inspiration. I can't hear any fat ladies.....
How about a center that doesn't miss critical free throws, turn the ball over in crunch time, shoot 18% during the critical stretch run to get into the playoffs, who doesn't get abused by everyone he guards during the stretch run, can actually at least speedwalk up and down the floor instead of looking like he is in slow motion while everyone else is in fast forward, actually plays in the low post instead of being another spotup shooter who can't hit his shot? This is not a direct attack on Yao, because you could say somthing like this on just about every player on the team. He is just the most loved around here and makes it easier to get the point across. We are the second youngest team in the leaugue, We will have our ups and downs. You all were blaming Rudy, but look at the team now that he is gone. How about we get a whole new posting staff who can actually post intelligent thoughts instead of just pouting everytime we lose? The guy had us firmly in the 8th spot when he went out and you want him fired?
DaDak, if Stevie could get stronger a bit more, and maybe taking some cues from Starbury offensive books ( the way he creates separation on his drive and finishing touch around the hoop while still absorbing heavy punishment from BIG guys around him ), he would be getting even better than he is now. TP actually abuses GP more than GP does anything on him. The only PG in this league that ABSOLUTELY has TP number is Starbury IMHO
I completely agree with you. This team is poorly coached. This ISO system has been labelled on TNT has "dribble diahorrea"
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but...isn't it the head coach of the team who gets to decide who his assistants are? This could mean that if Rudy is somehow unable to continue coaching next year and Larry Smith continues to show incompetence, the rockets might be looking for a new coach? And that new coach will get to decide whether he wants the current assistants or hire new assistants of his choice. If he brings his own assistants then we have a whole new coaching staff?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems at the output of games the Plays are run but then eventually the team (Francis & Mobley) go outside the game plan. Thus leading to ISO basketball. My real concern is that it could equally be some of the players fault that the Offense is not executed thrughout the game. I get real frustrated that after a timeout is called I'm held to the belief that the offense well be reinstated and Francis and Mobley wont feel the need to be in there comfort zone which is ISO ball. I get the feeling that this team just isn't cohesive enough for there to be a trust level where Francis and Mobley (mainly Mobley) can defer to teamates. One could also argue that this should be no excuse since the role player have been scorching as of late. One would think that with the consitancy they have shown of late would allow for Francis and Mobley to put more faith in their teamates and the offensive scheme. Throughout most of the season I would wholeheartedly agree with you, DaDa but what I'm confused with is IF there is an offense to be run then why arn't we executing game in and game out. IF it's obvious to us that ball movement and player movement wins games consistany when ISO ball only plucks you wins when players are on fire then why don't the players run the offense? Could be because of two reasons: 1. There is no offensive scheme outside of isolation plays and the glimpses of ball movement we ocasionaly was just a mistake and the coaching staff is working hard to eliminate any of these blunders. That could explain Why Moochie is inserted into the game especialy so early as of late. 2. The players who make the decisions have no faith in the systems and believe ISO ball well win the majority of games.
Now there's a petition I'd sign - but it won't do any good. CD is too close to these clowns - it's up to Les.
The entire coaching staff on this team is a joke. They all need to go. The Rox are on the verge of missing the playoffs 4 times in a row, and until a coaching change occurs to change the overall philosophy of this team and the way they play basketball, why should we believe it's going to get any better. I know Rudy has cancer and all and to some it may seem insensitive to fire him, but it's a business. He and this coaching staff have failed in developing this team.
There is no reason why the rockets dont avg 100 pts a game. They have an inside game, shooters and people who can put the ball on the floor. I hate to see the rockets go into their offensive sets with 10 seconds left on the shot clock. They should running up the court after made shots and rebounds. I don't by that "it's ther players fault" argument. If there was a strong coach, if the player, whoever that player might be, is not doing what their supposed to be doing, they would find themselves sitting next to the coach. The coach I would love being the coach is George Karl. His offensive creativity is sensational. Since that will not happen and Rudy (Get well soon!) will still be the coach, he needs a coach for offense only like NJ,SAC,IND. The Rockets, at every point in the game will have 3 scoring threats on the floor, no reason, like last nights game, for there to be such a hard time getting quality shots. Finally, don't worry. The Rockets will make the playoffs. Just look at the remaining schedules for HOU and PHX. The Rockets will go 6-4 or at worst 5-5. PHX is looking at a best case of going 5-6 but most likely 4-7. Even with the best case for PHX and worst for HOU, the Rockets will make the playoffs.
I did spot a bit of good coaching last nite. It happened right when Larry Smith benched Steve and Yao's a$$ for piss-poor play and for Steve's tirade against him. Way to go Larry!