This season we have a team that boasts two superstars, arguably the best at their respective positions, two budding stars in Lin & Parsons to go along with a deep bench loaded with shooters…So why hasn't everything clicked or fallen into place yet? In my opinion there are a few major reasons… 1. The Asik situation If the big Turk would've just accepted his role off the bench, and kept his trade demands in house, we would've had: Rim protection for 48mins. Someone to man the middle when Dwight takes a breather. Someone to play alongside Dwight when we play bigger teams. and been able to grant his trade request and receive a quality return. Instead we have had to deal with his sulking and multiple 'injuries'. We've had to fill his bench minutes with other players that are less suited to the position & ill equipped to give us quality minutes when Dwight sits. Having the locker room know that an Asik trade is inevitable must leave certain fringe players in a state of mental anguish…not knowing if they are going to be part of the next trade package. I know it's a business etc, etc, etc, but these players are human and do have emotions. I believe that the Asik situation has cost us at least 4-5 winnable games, if not more. He has thrown his team, team mates & the front office that made him a multi-millionaire under the bus. 2. Injuries. I know that injuries are part of the game, but we've had our fair share of them this young season. Harden started the season with sore feet & it showed. Lin, Parsons, Beverley, Smith and Asik with his sore knees & bruised ego have all missed crucial games, that we could've and should've won had we had our full compliment of players. Everyone can see what Parsons means to this team, and to a lesser extent Bev. When Parsons is out the ball gets sticky, opposing wings get into the paint easier and we lose a potent offensive floor spacer & 3 point threat. I've already gone over the Asik situation, but couple that loss with the loss of Smith, and Camby at the start of the season, and y'all can see that we've been severely undermanned at the back up 5. Thanks, ya big Turk Jerk… 3. Coaching Lack of plays. Over playing players. Under playing players when they catch fire. Head scratching rotations No defensive scheme. Whacky use of time outs. Terrible plays coming out of a time out. Not holding players accountable… All that & we're still 24-14 (0.632) record. It takes a special coach to coach personalities and change certain offensive schemes to accommodate special players. The fact that we still can't get the ball to Dwight effectively, run a decent pick'n'roll offence to get our big guy going or stop the ball from getting 'sticky' falls in the coaches lap. A few mental lapses and bad decisions have cost us several games this season. There are at least 6-7 games that we shouldn't have lost. We should have 30 wins on the board by now…losing to Atlanta, Sacramento and Philly is inexcusable. I like McHale, but he has to do more than throw the ball to Harden or tell his guys to 'come on' from the bench. Demand that they run a pick'n'roll offence for the starts of quarters, bring someone in to teach the guys how to feed the post, draw up a new defensive scheme…hire JVG as your defensive co-ordinator…Something, anything…or this team will be like the mediocre Minnesota teams that underachieved, even with a loaded roster. 4. Familiarity. It's not NBA2K…guys take time to adjust, get to know one another and figure out how to play with certain guys. Look at Miami…Portland is another team has just figured it out. Unfortunately guys know that there is going to be a trade soon. Who could go? Asik? D-Mo? Casspi? Garcia? Lin? This is why the Asik situation, in my opinion has really hurt our team. Until something gets done, players know that they could be gone at the drop of a hat. We need to get something done & have a core unit that plays hard, and plays together. 5. Inconsistency Garcia has lost his shot…Casspi is on & off…Lin is Linsanity one night and Sleeping on the couch another. Harden will play lock down D for 2 1/2 Quarters, but matador D for 2 games after. Dwight will go 8/9 from the line one night, 3/9 the next. Jones is Awesome, Our saviour at the 4, a beast, klutz, waste of a roster space, knucklehead and game changer…all in one game!!! D-Mo is All-World one night, but D-League the next & so on. If our bench guys that were brought in to knock down 3's would do just that, Dwight would go 65+% from the line and we put 4 solid Qtrs into the defence we'd be unstoppable. 6. Turnovers. Turnovers are to be expected, but we have made it into an art form…Lin, Harden & Dwight can drive me crazy on any given night. If we cut down on Turnovers, we win more games…simple. I won't spend much time on this, because it's depressing. 7. Rebounds. No Rebounds, No Rings… No Rebounds, No Rings… No Rebounds, No Rings… I know we like to get out & run, but make sure that the ball is secured first. Tonight was a shocking example of how to let a team back into a game by not grabbing the Defensive rebound. Seriously. I could bring up Asik's absence again, but he's not out there. The players that are out there are responsible for securing the rebounds when the opposition misses a shot. To give a team 3 extra shots at a basket after they miss is Basketball suicide! No Rebounds, No Rings… No Rebounds, No Rings… No Rebounds, No Rings… The Good news is that we are 24-14, 15-5 at home, and that all of our 'issues' are fixable. Earlier in the year I could see some similarity to the 72 win Bulls team…(yes I am the Homer of Homers). We had our Longley in Asik, Horace in Dwight, Pippen in Parsons, Jordan in Harden & our Kerr / Harper / Brown in Lin / Beverly & Brooks. We also had Terrence Jones, Donatas and the 3 point gunners in Garcia & Casspi off the bench. WOW! If everything was clicking and our shots falling, UNSTOPPABLE!!! We have a team that is built to contend, but we need to fix a few of the things that I've mentioned above…and who knows, maybe next season, or the season after that we can emulate the 72 win Bulls, or at least win a few Championships along the way. Please feel free to add something I missed or comment.
Nicely said and I agree on every points you made. We need to get an active player now for Asik. Someone solid off the bench.
Not having set plays hurts us the most imo. In the crunch time our method is to just give Harden the ball and pray. It works more often than not but might cause headaches in the playoffs.
I blame it all on coaching. Players only can control themselves but the coaches controls every players and the gameplay.
You made a strong case for each of the issues that plague this team. Not sure if it is the biggest problem facing the team, but it pains me to think how much better the Rockets could be if Asik would try to make the best out of his situation. Unfortunately his behavior since the Rockets acquired Howard hasn't help the Rockets on the court or their ability to trade him.
wtf?! Sarcasm right? Dwight has been more than solid for us. And if it's not sarcasm, pls explain how he hurts the team?
3 words. Making Free Throws. If we shoot 75% (instead of 69%) as a team, I we'd average 2-3 points extra a game. If we shot 78% as a team, we'd average 3-4 more points per game. That's enough for us to have won 4 more games minimum that we lost. Its also difficult to project what better FT shooting would mean for us in terms of momentum...both ours and our opponents.
I voted all of the above and then some. Defense wasn't listed .... the defense has been far below my expectations. Rotations are slow , help defense is often non-existent , pick and roll defense is a joke & the perimeter defense has been abysmal more often than not. Sometimes I wonder if they even have a plan defensively. Point guard play needs improvement , injuries to one or the other aside PG play has been below par. Depth at the wing spots behind Parsons & Harden is lacking - Brewer & Garcia just aint good enough. Toughness & grit .... When teams crank up the intensity & defensive pressure , the Rockets guards tend to wilt.
Iso /hero ball the thing i feel hurt the rocket the most is Harden and lately AB tendency to play Iso/hero ball not only this lead to contested bad shots but it also take YOUR TEAM out of play and can lead to lazy defence (saving your energy for your hero offence) we play MUCH better when we move the ball look for the extra pass and when harden is the finisher and not the play maker
There are some key possession down the stretch where Harden played defense. Oh my goodness the team defense was suffocating. We need Harden to buy in.
All problem is on McHale. I'm sure all main problems can be solved except for injuries if we can replace McHale for a experienced defensive coach
Others: Not playing hard every night. Parsons said it well himself "we take weaker opponents for granted".
yeah agee you forgot free throws in general we have had poor ft shots not only Howard but everyone How many games have they miss more than 2 in a row or just 1 of two or so on. Even brooks miss 2 in atlanta which we needed. Harden miss a couple too in crucial time. FT in General for everyone on the team. coaching- i dont think they ever come w a play after a time out. and if they do have one they dont follow it. How many TO after one or same way of playing. coach needs to make players accountable for their mistakes and demand more or get in someone's face. not just one player or two. And u see McHale just clapping or chewing gum i wish he could stay but as a training coach to develop Dwight and our bigs. we need someone like George Karl or doug Collins who can develop players and helped them grow. OR a good coach like Rick Carlisle. Even D'antoni is better than McHale. He always draws a good play after a time out and at least has a system. Asik- if he just plays and everyone is healthy we get our second unit w Asik and Lin that would be great. wish we had a better sharp shooter like Korver or Dunleavy someone more consistent from 3 Garcia and Casspi knew that thats their role and we need those outside shots to fall down. they like to drive in a lot after a pump fake and is good if they score but the tend not too. Plus that just makes the paint too crowded. wish we give Canaan a shot. Idk but it was weird that Jlin came back when Canaan was gonna get a chance to play. That just made it kinda weird plus he didn't play that well wither but still we need to let him have some minutes. and see if he can get hot from three like on the D-league inconsistency for sure too. but that has to do with coaching too. Like some ex player and announcer said a few games back. Players got to know what they are getting too. If they are gonna be in or not how many minutes. Spoiler HUAAHH :grin: _/||\_ _/¯ ¯\_ Yaa \ || \_ _/¯ ¯\_ Yaa / _/ || _/¯ ¯\_ Yaaa _/||\_ _/¯ ¯\_