After Game 2 of Smith, and Game 1 with the most talented starting line up (in their prime) for the R

they all need to stop complaining about the calls as much as the good guys do, not just JSmooth... maybe try reverse psychology.

 

Honestly, no one knows. That's why the coaches are trying to find out what we have. And Morey is trying to see if he needs to trade for Dragic or another playmaker. He got Shved and Smith. Will they be enough on our team?

Just be patient. Even with our poor shooting and TOs, we had a chance to win in the endgame. A championship contender isn't built in a single game or a single week.

 

I like the tone of our Defense now. I feel like when Josh Smith showed up, Ariza found a new spark to set him on a tear. Last night he played to passing lanes and weak side doubles like a mad man. We just need more time to mesh and set up our offense. I think if we can keep J Smoove in check as far as bad shot selection and morale we'll be fine. He only took 7 shots last night as opposed to his 21 the other night.

 

Can't agree more, Love this team.

Can't wait for Playoffs!

 

agree with the patience for mesh posts above.

His game will be getting touches off hard cuts, put backs and a handful of iso's a game - but all primarily in the flow of the standard offense without taking away from it. He'll space to the three but actually do his slashing from there.

Having another ball handlers/shot creator, especially at the four, will be big down the line.

Having DMo get solid post touches off the bench while going against a slightly lesser opponent should also help his play.

I think the new lineup is good. I do question if we should insert canaan as the starter and bring bev off the bench - but with bev's 3pt shooting through the roof this season, I get why they haven't. Still, I think Bev is the worlds worst post passer and I cringe every time I see him drop it down low. 50/50 whether it's a turnover.

 

Oh, another team JSmoov and chemistry thread.

 

I'm sorry but wasn't everyone complaining about how Ariza and Harden are playing too many minutes? Seems to me with Brewer and Smoove we have a solution. Let's give it some time to brew before we complain about chemistry. It's not even the first week.

 

Too early to grade the new players on the team, but when march and april comes we will see how deep this Rockets team. Chill out folks, I'm sure you don't like to see the Rockets behind the Grizzlies in the division. Who does anyway!

 

It's going to take at least a month to integrate Smith if not longer.

Plug & play doesn't exist in midseason in the NBA. Not with Josh Smith, not with Clyde Drexler (they won their first 2 games with him, then lost 7 of their next 10). Not with anybody.

 

I came here to post this exact same thing. 90% of what we perceive of good play is really about players knowing where to be in relation to each other both on offense and defense. Good players have a general idea of it, but each team has a unique system and it takes time for the players to know when to cut, when to expect a teammate to cut, when to switch, when to help, etc. The players are so quick on this level that these types of decisions need to be nearly instantaneous and it's just not something ANY human can pick up in the course of a few games - it takes many months to get it and even years to perfect it(think of how the Spurs move the ball).

 

It's been 2, count them, 2 games. Give it some freaking time.

 

I saw improvement from game 1 to game 2. In fact, there was a time or two in game 2 where he passed the ball when he should have shot it.

I was skeptical after the first game, but am more optimistic after game 2.

 

Man I'm so angry! Last night I was cooking, I put all the ingredients of my casserole into the pot, put it in the oven for 2 minutes.

When I took it out & tasted it...the flavourd were there, but it tasted terrible.

What do I do? Throw it away & start again with different ingredients, or should I just leave it in the oven for a little while to let it cook, the flavours blend & ingredients mesh?

 

Order pizza. But only give the delivery driver pennies on the dollar.

 

I think this teams issues are all related to coaching , especially the offensive funks they seem to go thru at least once or twice a game.

They don't get many "easy shots" , everything is contested and if the refs swallow their whistles it makes the offense very inefficient because everything is contested and the efficiency comes from getting to the charity stripe.

I like the idea of layups , three's & free throws .... mathematically it makes a lot of sense but I don't think they are going about it in the right way.
Rather than running ISO Harden or posting Howard they need to incorporate some movement & passing to get those two the ball in better situations , breaking down the defense rather than beating your man one on one.

I'd really like to see what guys like Adleman or Jerry Sloan could do with this roster ....

 

I'd order Chinese take-out.

 

It took what 25 turnovers and 14 missed free throws for the Spurs to eke out that win? The Rockets played pretty bad last night and still almost won. The sky is the limit with this group. When the Rockets come out and play solid tonight against Washington maybe you'll change your mind.