[Feigen] Daryl Morey sees improvement for Rockets despite criticism

Mainly, the problem is that these facts do not fit the narrative that the Rockets' sky is falling.

 

In the Blazers vs Spurs series I saw Splitter being very physical with LMA and crowding him on the defensive side of the ball, but I have to admit LMA had some wide open shots he just couldn't knock down against the Spurs where as he couldn't miss against Rockets. I think it was game 1 or 2 in Houston series where I saw LMA hit a fadeaway 3pter which was just ridiculous. Point being maybe Dorsey can body up LMA getting physical with him but like you say he has a tendency to be very foul prone.

 

I am sure the Rockets would like to have Jermaine O'Neal if he is willing to take a one year contract with a low base salary. However, ask yourself this, if you had no allegiance to the Rockets and you were offered a bigger role in OKC or San Antonio where would you go? Would you sign with the Rockets for one year or look for a contract with a second year player option to squeeze out another couple million dollars before you retire?

 

So being in a contract year made his 3 point shot going more than usual. Did he "concentrate" more while shooting? Did he hustle more on D? Contract year matters more in football than basketball. Especially for a role player. Teams know who you are already. We've had Ariza here before. He has always been a great defensive player who rebounded well for his position and made hustle plays while consistently improving his outside shot. He is not the type of guy that would only turn it on to get paid and then dog it. Obviously you are not familiar with him.

 

I understand what you are saying but the Rockets depth last year was bad (to be expected after 2 off seasons of clearing room). As it turned out Asik missed large chunks of the season and Lin was unpredictable. Truth he told, had the Rockets lost Howard or Harden for a good chunk of the season, they would have struggled last year as well.

I wouldn't say for certain if this team is better or worse. I am not overly worried about replacing Parsons with Ariza because the defense and turnovers should go down. I am worried about losing Asik and wonder who is going to replace Lin. There are a number of talented potential replacements but they are unproven. Off setting that is the continued gelling of the Rockets and the anticipated increased production from Daniels, Beverly and Jones.

I also think people will be surprised by Jeff Adrien.

 

And they shouldn't be. Adrien is a legitimate rotation player. Check his numbers in Milwaukee last year: How does 11ppg and 8rpg in 25mpg with 17.4 PER in 28 games with 12 starts sound? Those were almost Jones numbers. Not that he will avg that here but he is no stiff. He will rebound and play tough D and be opportunistic on offense. The kind of useful guy you like to have as the 9th or 10th man.

 

From Chris Sheridan:
"When given playing time toward the end of last season, he produced consistently good numbers (he averaged 14.3 points and 10.0 rebounds in April), which makes it quite surprising that nobody is jumping to get him. He has played for four teams in his four NBA seasons, and whoever gets him is going to be happy with the signing — which is why we have him ranked ahead of Andray Blatche, who is not getting a lot of interest after spending last season with Brooklyn as Kevin Garnett’s backup. He has been working out in Charlotte, where he used to play. JULY 15 UPDATE: Rockets get him on a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum. He will replace Chandler Parsons as the best bang-for–the-buck contract in the entire NBA."

 

And this

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/buck...ng-to-bucks-b99218047z1-248485341.html?ipad=y

 

Thanks to jump shooter, and Nook. I like the comments from okeezie regarding Adrein too.

 

what the morley application on the new smart phones does not account for is injuries and how badly the team looked when parsons was out in contrast to when harden was out.
what were lin's numbers with harden injured? we're in for a rude awakening if the cornerstones miss even 8 games during the season. The west is that competitive.
And Asik as always so under appreciated by fans. Once it hit the coaching staff that they could indeed place asik on Lamarcus without being fined by the league, Asik can slow down bigger pfs because of his quickness on Defense.

 

The problem wasn't so much that Parsons was out. It was that Garcia and Casspi were in. When Harden was out Lin and Brooks filled in. Those are guys who can score and get hot if given the ball. Parsons was replaced by Garcia and Casspi who sucked. If Harden had a long term injury you would have seen a different story.

 

The Rockets were pretty lucky when it came to injuries last year, but IIRC there were still short spans when they had to go without either Harden or Howard, and they survived because they had other guys to step up and temporarily take on larger roles.

Lin was inconsistent overall, but he lit it up for several games when Harden was out, and Asik seemed more comfortable and active when Howard had to sit out a game or rest up. Parsons often played a great complementary role when needed.

Not that I'm pining away for last year's team by any means, because I think in the long run, that team would have fallen short of the prize, but IMO they were better than our current roster as it stands, if there are no more additions.

 

When Parsons was out, it was early in the season when Dwight wasn't acclimated either.

 

I think some of you are just plain too negetive on the whole summer of losing Lin, Asik, and specially Parson.

It was a gamble which any GMs would take given that we really had a shot at getting Bosh. However, we may of putting too much into this "gamble" by preparing for it.

I seriously doubt Morey is going to keep Lin as a backup for 8 millions a yr, he is more then happy to get rid of him. However, is it that hard to get rid of him by virtually getting no value in return? Lakers is already getting endorsements from China/Taiwan for ads and sponsors just because of Lin. I dont know how much but those are sources of income because of Lin.

Asik, I know he is great center but he was not happy and we really have no ways to keep him. Everyone remember he quit on us in middle of the season, and his trade was actually pretty good. That Draft pick will either net us someone nicely or a bait for a trade before the deadline. Some team will start thinking about rebuilding and may like that pick.

Parson, the biggest upset of all. He would match parson's contract if it wasnt for his poison trader kicker pill. It virtually made him impossible to be traded, this is a doube edge sword which will kill us either way. Do we have the confident that Parson will be that 3rd star? If by any means, he does turn into that star could we still win a championship? I think Parson is a even bigger gamble than the whole getting Bosh deal.

 

Adrien is one tough mothafuggin player. He will get some playing time and Dmo and Jones better watch out and improve their play, especially on the defensive. Nothing like real competition to improve a team's level of play.

Last year's team was good but had more holes on defense (really an unexpected outcome) than swiss cheese.

 

It wasn't just that he was making some ridiculously hard shots, but rather HOW he was making that frustrated me the most. LMA was basically shooting rainbows against us the first couple of games. Shots with arcs that steep should NOT go in that consistently. The ball was basically falling in vertically most of the time. Short of rising up significantly higher and slapping them down, there was no way of stopping those shots with rainbow arcs.

 

just like what the spurs did to curry and klay in last year's playoffs.. get physical with them get them out of their rhythm or groove or comfort zone

 

I think Morey let Parsons go because he probably more concerned about trying to win the Kevin Durant sweepstakes in next year's free agency.