[ClutchFans] Podcast: What in the world is wrong with the Houston Rockets?

Relax, we got this. Road to lotto pick 2016.

 

I'm not sure if they're reaching this point yet, but eventually you'd hope that the players will look around and understand what they're doing isn't working and they need to maybe give this defense and effort stuff a serious shot. I'm reminded of how Rudy likes to tell the story about how he took over the team preaching defense and ball movement and was tuned out by the players until they went on a bad losing streak and decided they needed to change the team's identity, which is when the they truly took off.

 

Last night when the Rockets started coming back, it was because of ball movement and hustle...

In the 4th Harden went back to iso ball...

Last year when they made that come back it was due to Harden being on the bench and ball movement (and a couple of miracle 3's by Josh).

T_Man

 

yeah right. Like Kobe always trusted his teammates.

 

no effort or heart by anyone. seems like they given up on the season. just careless mistakes that leads to turnovers. not to mention horrible shooting, but as fans we could forgive the Rockets if they put it all out there and just brick shots but it's the lack of heart that's discerning. This season is my first time being a season holder and really regret doing it.

 

It's pretty clear that this team just sucks.

Harden doesn't play defense
Dwight just sucks
Ariza can't hit a lay up
Thronton sucks on defense and it's way to inconsistent
Brewer just sucks at everything as does Jones
Beverly can't defend anymore
Lawson never plays and sucks on defense


Blah

 

Two words:

James Harden

I have been watching the games all year and trying to pin point what is the cause of the lack luster play of the whole team this season. I had been thinking this for a while and then the play last night happened where James literally just stood there after a missed Reggie Jackson layup attempt and let one of the bigs for Detroit grab the rebound and score the basket.

That is when it dawned on me, that the level of play and effort from your superstar dictates the levels given by the team as a whole. In other words the rest of the team is going to follow Jame's lead, if he is not putting in the extra practice, and half-assing it on the court during games then the other players naturally will act the same.

Throughout the sports history all the "great ones" led by example and set a high level of expectation from their team mates. They understood that the team mates talent level might not be the same as their own but they dang well expected the effort to be the same.

JMHO but until James Harden, and to a lessor extend Dwight Howard, start playing balls out on the court and putting in the extra time in practice to consistently improve their games then the team will never be able to reach the ultimate goal of winning a championship.

If you don't believe me just see what the Golden State Warriors are doing right now...

 

I laugh at everyone who is pointing blame at individual players like Harden, Beewer etc. Its painfully obvious this is 100% a team effort in sucking. Let's be honest is anyone outside of Capela and on occasion Ariza playing good defense? The answer is no. Is anyone outside of Hardens occasional efficient night playing well on offense. Again no. The issues are so much deeper than pointing at a player and saying its him it's him. You will probably be a lot better off when you stop pointing fingers and just realize this team just simply sucks.

 

ok... so we are playing bad because "this team just simply sucks"?

so we suck because "we suck"?

great analysis.

now can you take one step further and enlighten us why we suck? why we went from "not suck" to now "suck" status?

 

Yes but Harden's season has been rife with problems, despite his analytics ticking upwards. And he's supposed to be the guy people rally around. Last year he was a force of nature, and the guys rallied around that. Each injury reinforced the remaining players' resolve. This year, with a mostly healthy cast, they look apathetic, disgruntled, and disjointed. We've had a coaching change with minimal results. We've had flashes of brilliance when Harden is engaged, only to be followed by aloofness the next game. Nobody is holding anyone else accountable. It's not Harden's fault that the Rockets are shooting poorly, or that there seems to be at least one other defensive sieve besides him at all times, or that they stand around all the time instead of moving off the ball. It is his fault that he doesn't seem to care that any of this is happening, and that he's perfectly happy to get his numbers and his endorsements and party after the game. I think that $200 million Adidas deal was the worst thing to happen to Harden from a basketball standpoint. He seems to think that he has it made, which from a financial standpoint he does. As said in another thread, this reminds me way too much of stars like Melo and T-Mac, who have all the talent in the world but are preoccupied by everything other than basketball. As much as I hate him, give me someone like Kobe, who can't seem to imagine life without basketball. We need that kind of passion (but not that kind of shot selection).

 

We suck because we have a system in place that relies on 3s without good 3pt shooters. We have no offensive identity and there isn't 1 person who is consistently playing defense for an entire game. We have a coach who seems to be in over his head when it comes to playing the proper players during certain game situations and a star players who has vanished from one of the floor and another star player who is playing like a bench player


This is no positive outside of Capela with this team. They suck

 

And not to mention this team doesn't seem to enjoy playing basketball together. You can see it in their body language.

 

I'm not saying you're wrong. His effort is absurd this year. But even the games he's played with good effort and played efficient basketball we have BARLEY squeaked out wins vs terrible teams. If that doesn't scream there is deeper issues with this team than Harden and Dwight putting forth more effort I'm not sure what will.

 

The stars of the team have poor reputations for a reason. Harden is approximately 591% less engaged on defense than on offense (legit) while Dwight is soft and mentally weak (arguably).

The behavior of your stars define the team under them. The problem is Harden and Howard respective attitude and immaturity.

 

You're right - the rest of the team shouldn't have to depend on a bearded man-child for direction. But that's the weird thing about sports. None of these people live in the real world. Very few of them seem to be in touch with the reality that their own production can improve independent of the others around them if they put in the effort. But when your star isn't putting in the effort, maybe they feel like it's not worth bothering anymore.

At any rate, this Rockets squad is dead in the water unless they undergo a 180 degree culture change.

 

New coach but this guy must have been brainwashed by McHale b/c it's still the same type of structure on offense, which really isn't much structure at all - still believing the myth that if he just reshuffles the lineup things will change or "we have to play more aggressive". What is that Einstein quote, the insanity one? Not sure why Morey won't hire Thibs, or someone with a proven track record of good offensive and defensive schemes - doesn't have to be someone with NBA experience. Look at the Boston coach. Morey continues to confound me.

 

This too. Look at UH football. They pretty much have the same players this year as they had last year but with a much better result this year. COACHING MATTERS MOREY!!!!

 

Time to rebuild:

Tank first;
Trade Haren;
Resign D12 for cheap
keep DMO, Clint, Bev,
...

 

Whatever.. We should all move on and not waste our time pointing fingers or wondering why our players aren't fighting every night. They just aren't. We have no idea why (no matter what we try to post on this forum).

If it was an easy solution, it would have been discovered by now.. It's pointless to get mad at Dwight for his inability to play in the post ten years into his career. It's pointless to get mad at James for not playing d. You can't get JB to work magic with these guys.

We just have to hope that this is rock bottom for us and that it doesn't last too long..

I'm a Rockets fan and feel really bad for our guys and everyone else on this forum. Our expectations have been crushed one month into the season.

 

So you want to trade harden but keep a old dwight?

Might as well get rid of both if your getting rid of harden.

Your wrong by the way, you don't give up Stars even if there flawed.

Dude was mvp runner up 6 months ago and the whole board thinks he's trash now. Clutchsfans is a unch of Whiny losers now what happened?