[ClutchFans] Four Knee-Jerk Reactions From Houston’s Preseason Opener

If Clutch is being knee-jerk this forum clearly has gone to hell in a handbag

 

Harden and Howard will have to play big for the Rockets to do anything in the playoffs. The bench hopefully will come around by the end of the season.

 

Agreed with your post for the most part. I would just change the second section title to "Harden is going to need to have a career year"

My knee-jerk: we need help at PF (Millsap would be so nice) and backup PG if we want to be a top 4 seed. Canaan inspires no confidence.

 

The starters looked good at the beginning of the game, especially on defense. then everything went to ***** f once the refs took over. But I really liked our rotations, though there was that corner three that Harden didn't close out on, and I think the ability of Ariza to stay in front of people was the biggest plus. He even was able to attack the basket on offense, which I definitely didn't expect. So despite the awful bench performance last night, I'm pretty optimistic for this season.

 

Milsap would be ideal...but the Hawks arent giving him up without something interesting in return...If anything it gonna be a three team deal...

 

Hadn't really thought about it, but I do wonder if Harden is asked or takes it upon himself to get more shots up this season. If he gets close to 20 shots a game he could/should be around a 30 point scorer with an outside shot of the scoring title.

 

We pretty much have the same starting five as last year who with Ariza might be actually better that last year both defensively and in three point shooting. The real question mark is the bench. We all know how some guys look great preseason and disappear once November comes around (Omri Casspi) and vice versa. I see Nick Johnson, Papa, Dorsey, and Dmo doing great off the bench. If we can get them to run they might be really good, the problem is will Dmo's improved post game slow them down?

 

We've always known we needed help at PF, but does Morey simply want to get help or does he want another superstar. I think if Morey simply wanted help he would have done it already.

 

Not really knee-jerk reactions - they're all points we as a forum were expecting all summer. The PF trade needs to happen sooner than later to get this team enough talent for a Finals run. I think one of those young PG's can work well enough this season.

One knee-jerk reaction I would make: our defense through April at least, will be almost as bad as it was last season. As Calvin Murphy pointed out, no-one helped the helper in last night's game. These guys have a long way to go before the defensive principles are internalized

 

I am going to need at least 7 or 8 preseason games to conclude anything out of them.

Well written as always but I am not going to jump to conclusions just yet. My 2 cents

Enjoyed reading the piece nonetheless

 

"When the Rockets take Harden out of the game, who is going to score? The team is fortunate to have unloaded Jeremy Lin, who they paid a lot of money to gobble up these minutes with average play, but it will take some time for roles to be carved out here."
lol, clutch still making sure to take jabs at jeremy lin! and no, i'm not a LOF. just pointing this out. :grin:

 

The team is fortunate to have unloaded Jeremy Lin, who they paid a lot of money to gobble up these minutes with average play.

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Incoming the LOFs......

 

It's true though.

 

Need another creator on offense bad, If Bev could do a little more, it would go a long way

 

He'd be perfect, but for any chance of that happening, the Hawks are going to need to really suck, and they play in the East, where sucking requires almost superhuman dedication (Philly), so that's that.

 

I like Clutch have a big desire for Millsap in a Rockets jersey.

 

I agree with clutch mostly, but after seeing the game last night. My Worst fear camE through. I don't see anyone on the rockets team besides hardeen and sum flashes shown by papanikalou creating plays for anybody else. We can hate parsons for leaving and being an a**, but he did create plays for him and others which put less pressure on harden. My suggestion to morey is get 'rondo'. He would make Howard, Ariza , harden, tjones life a lot easier. No offense to bev, but he is a limited shooter from anywhere and he can't create shots for others. I can see rondo- Howard pick and roll deadlier then even harden/ Howard. We simply can't ask harden to be our pg, and our scorer night in night out. It's a long season. Our four spot is weak , but with rondo it could be good if not awesome. No Rubio..... I said rondo.

 

My knee jerk.... Rockets will be in the top 1/3 of teams in terms of scoring off the bench. Potentially top 5.

 

If I'm calling twice a day about Millsap, I'm calling 3 times a day about Horford.