Yeah, for most things. But I'm pretty sure within a budget. It's on the GM (or Cuban) to allow them more or to hire the specialists. I'm pretty sure RC Buford hired Chip Engelland. I know Kiki Vandeweghe hired him for Denver as GM. I'm not discounting his talent, sure they can be as useful as assistants for golfers on their swings. Just don't think it's as easy as hiring one and voila, you now have several .400 shooters on your team.
1, Start Beverly. 2, Put Brewer to the end of the Bench and give KJ McDaniels Chance. I think Mcfail just need to do these....and Rockets will be good.
Maybe its time to poach Popovich assistant Chip Engelland... hah It's definitely not that easy. We definitely have a problem finding the Draymond Greens and Kawhi Leonards. Unheralded guys that turn into sub-superstars. I'd even argue if Kawhi Leonard was drafted on our team he would be nowhere near the player he is today. But that's besides the point.
According to the broadcast, Bev admitted he is really hurt. Bev speak: "I'll be back next game." = Out 6-8 weeks "I'm really hurt." = Out until March Joking (kinda), but not totally. And Corey is a McHale favorite, so he'll probably continue rolling with him inexplicably even though he's not producing. See Garcia, Francisco.
Actually, I think Morey's philosophy is very simple. Get as much talent as possible. That's it. Everything else is secondary to him. That includes chemistry, playing style, synergy of skills, character, leadership, coaching system, player morale. Not that he doesn't think these things are important. He's not stupid. He just thinks that these things will take care of themselves if only we have enough talent. So if he gets an opportunity to increase talent, he will sacrifice any of those things in a heart beat. The proverbial "flexibility" is just one of the most obvious of his philosophy. He lets guys like Dragic and Lowry go in order to keep the flexibility. He believes that if they are really good, he can get them back eventually, or get someone else with equal or better value. He cares more about a player's overall value than his specific skills. Every player is a value tag to him. And he trade them like trading stocks. Morey is one of the smartest GM in the league. Look at how much talent level we have amassed since he took over. He is great at what he sets out to do. My beef with him is that he achieves this by paying the price of those other things. I am not saying that his philosophy is necessarily bad. It's just that you can't just judge him by the one thing he does great, namely increasing talent, and neglect to count the cost of getting it. GM-ing is a game of give and take. It's about what you give and what you take.
Is there a rudder on this ship? Because honestly, I don't see one. All the talent in the world will not matter if you don't have a course set or a flight plan or anything that resembles leadership. This is anarchy at this point. Who's in charge? I don't think the current coaching staff knows what to do with this team.
I'm curious how many players actually came to the Rockets and Improved their 3pt shot vs players that came to the Rockets and got worse? Jason Terry is currently shooting .360 - lowest percentage at any time during his career since he left Atlanta over a decade ago and well below has career percentage of .380 which has dropped from .400 when he first signed with the Rockets last season. James Harden is currently shooting .240 which is well below his career average of .365. It should also be noted that his best averages came in OKC when he averaged .375 his rookie season and .390 his last season. To be fair his average last season was also .375 but that is his only season that is really close to .370 in Houston. Ty Lawson is currently shooting .281 but he is a career .366 shooter. To be fair Ty's average has gone down every season since he has ben in the league but there is no question that this season has seen by far his worst drop and its not even close. Marcus Thornton is currently shooting .333 from 3pt range. His previous season low is .345. Corey Brewer is currently shooting .125 from deep. Corey has never been a good 3pt shooter but he has never been this bad. I absolutely agree with you that a shooting coach isn't going to magically turn a .333 shooter into a .400 shooter. Hank Haney didn't suddenly give Tiger Woods enough talent to be the most dominant golfer for a decade and Holger Geschwindner didn't give Dirk the talent to become a HOF caliber Power Forward in the NBA. But what a great shooting coach should be able to do is locate the things that make your shot inconsistent and help you fix them. He should be able to notice when you are developing bad habits and help you correct them before they become permanent. Does James Harden have the talent to be a .390 shooter? He did it one season while he was with OKC so I would say he definitely has the talent. Maybe a good shooting coach can help him when he loses his focus and starts creating bad shooting habits. Maybe James could be a .400 3pt shooter. Against Golden State in last years play-offs the Rockets shot .364, .304, .200, .531 & .208 from 3pt range. In both games where the Rockets shot in the .300s they took the game down to the wire and should have won the 2nd game. In the games that they shot below .300 from deep they were blown out. Maybe a good shooting coach doesn't move the needle a ton but maybe he could prevent multiple nights of shooting sub .300. Maybe he helps the team hit 2 or 3 more 3pt shots in the game and maybe the Rockets steal one of those first 2 games in California. Who knows?
A very nice thread except the thing Harden needs the most at the moment is a defensive coach and someone who he respects and can hold him accountable when he takes possessions off. I said it in a previous thread that when they aren't scoring then they don't defend either. Very unlike the traditional thinking that defense leads to offense
crash5179, I agree completely with the last post. And I never really disagree with digitallinh bringing up a Shooting Coach. We were in the midst of a discussion of what a GM can do to right the ship versus a Coach. I was saying Morey doesn't seem to be amassing the right talent for his system and he mentioned Shooting Coach's. Then I said, what's keeping Morey from hiring one then, if they can statistical move the needle on one of his big freaking metrics
I agree with you. DM should hire one and I believe Les would let him. We already know that DM is deeply involved with who is on the staff based on Rick A's departure as coach. I'm not sure what his reluctance is on that one.
