Since we're again putting stuff on Harden, let's call out the elephant in the locker room: our role players are extremely one-dimensional. Look at tonight, when Harden passed it out (of a double-team) or Westbrook gave it up, what happened and what usually happens? McLemore - Shoots. When he tries to drive he rarely gets to the rim and his passes are way below-par for a guard. Capela may have had 3 TOs, but I saw at least 2 awful passes by McLemore that were slapped away or Capela not even caught since they were far out / at the ankles. Dribbling skills are alright. House - Shoots. He had some success driving the ball earlier in the season, but now? Same story as McLemore, rarely gets to the rim and for two guys who are athletic that is just atrocious. If you look at other teams and how the most mediocre guys can drive and kick or get to the rim, I'm baffled by these 2 inability to do the same. Maybe it's because of our terrible perimeter defense, but still. Dribbling is not impressive either. Tucker - Passes. When he drives, rarely anything good happens unless he's in some zone and determined to make a floater. He rarely shoots unless he's wide open or from the corner. He's a great defender and competitor, but cannot do much more than shoot or pass it around. Dribbling: meh. Rivers - Drives. He rarely shoots and while he can drive, passing is also not his strong suit and relies on his floater a bit too much. Is a bit more than 1-dimensional, but somehow not getting a lot of playing time and just not playing with that pep in his step to get around 10 points a game. Can dribble for sure. Gordon - Shoots and drives. This guy is our most versatile player aside from WB & Harden. However, his dribbling skills are abysmal. Always loses it somehow. He gets to the rim and is marginally successful. Hits the banker or lay-up, but also whines a lot about being hit and just loses it due to his dribbling or it being slapped away. Capela - can take a few steps and hit the occasional floater or banker, but still tends to rush this. Has some passing skills, but could still use polishing. Thabo - nothing really. Hartenstein - nothing much, unless it's a lob. Chandler - nothing much, unless it's a lob. Clemons - shoots. Clark - shot. Your stars are not going to have it every game and we know Harden can be a little sensitive to hitting shots, teammates not hitting shots, mistakes and frankly I think the two fouls early took him out of his rhythm a bit. Also last night did too much so a stinker on a back-to-back is human. I think it's time to be frank about our role players and our team as constructed. We should get more of our guards and somehow it's not happening, but I think it's safe to say our roster is flawed. To expect this roster to be a contender and best in the league - as per MDA in the interview in recent days - is just unfair and unrealistic. Coach may say that since belief can do a lot and we need our guys to believe so House and Rivers in particular play up to their capabilities. However, I think it's not being negative when we don't expect us to be contenders and acknowledge that we're somewhere around 3-6th in the West.
Why should just get good basketball players and then focus on blending them, figuring out analytical system and looking for people that do exactly what this system requires is just not practical. Good coach makes good players work even if you give him midrange shooters
Refs aren't calling fouls in the lane so players stop driving and become easier to guard. Blame the system thats making us very predictable, Moreyball.
I said it yesterday, and I’ll say it again...the Rockets have a bunch of limited specialists...they don’t have pure hoopers, guys who can just ball PJ scored 3 points in 30 minutes...before this game he had gone scoreless in 4 of our past 6 games while playing major minutes all Ben can do is spot up shoot...he’s exceeded my expectations tho House trying to dribble or create is a tragic site...all he can do is run in transition and spot up, but even when spotting up, his release is slow as hell and it’s been brick city from him for weeks Capela depends on Harden for like 90% of his offense I can go on and on...
They are 1 dimensional because they never get to do anything except watch Harden ISO possession after possession. The team is too Harden dependent which lowers the ceiling of the team's performance.
If a center doesnt cstch a pass then the turnover goes to the guard that threw it to him. Just fyi on mclemore point you made.
We need to make a system around the players on the team, instead of forcing the system on the players who don’t fit.
I hear movement would give then "easier" shots. Open threes are not easy So What is the easiest shot for each player???? Rocket River
want more versatile players? stop settling for borderline nba players bc you can offer them the min. and stop advocating for the Thabo's who can't even get off the bench
I disagree with this. They have chances to do something, but there skills are limited. I know you see PJ get a ball outside of the corner and he misses badly shooting a wide open 3 from anywhere besides the corner, he can get a rebound in the paint and he immediately turns away from the goal to pass it back out (too small and un-athletic to finish in the paint with taller players). House cannot create for himself at all, bad handle and can't finish in traffic. Ben is best and most comfortable at pull up 3s, once he goes to penetrate he looks bad. Rivers can attack and finish OK at times but we saw all the missed layups in OKC and Memphis and he is a spotty 3 pt shooter at best. I just call it how I see it. None of our role players are capable of getting us some easy baskets from time to time. They aren't long athletes that can handle the ball and finish in the paint. So when they get the ball, they just don't have the skill set to make plays. It's as simple as that. I think House and Ben should be backups to a new starting SF and we need a backup PF with length that score in midrange and in the paint. WE NEED NEW FORWARDS!
Symptoms of a supermax contract. Remember Lebron, Kd, Duncan took paycuts to win it all. Hopefully our supermax stars can get it together and generate all the offense for these otps. It is what they signed up for after all.
Remove layups Remove 3s Who would be a 40% shooter anywhere else on the court? At volume. Rocket River
lmao Are you really surprised that the role players are inconsistent and one dimensional? That is the only type of player Tilman allowed Morey to target. He wasted trade assets. He wasted expiring contracts. He didn't expand the Westbrook trade. There were quality role players to be had, and Tilman didn't want them because they were too expensive. Sure, some have worked out okay (McLemore, Rivers), but that's just because Morey is good at his job. Imagine if he had a real owner who let him compete... To get quality role players, you must pay more than the vet minimum. If you are not willing to do that, you are stuck with guys like Thabo and Tyson Chandler and Chris Clemons who will never help you win.
Daniel house is a 0 dimensional player. He used to play well but ever since he got all those injuries he hasn’t been the same. It’s like Luc after his shoulder injury he was never the same. N then he reinjured it and other injuries. I
What do you all expect from a bunch of veteran minimum contracts ? 9 of them on the roster and that's with an open roster spot.