[ClutchFans] Trade Deadline won’t be able to fix all of Rockets’ problems

Can't blame you, Clutch. Hard to work up the motivation to watch these guys play much less talk about them.

 

Excited about another Podcast. Hopefully there will be some good news to talk about...

 

Great post Clutch!

But depressing

 

I'm surprised Clutch that you are so down on Capela. He's still very young and I feel like asking him to play power forward next to Dwight is out of position for him. The conditioning, looking out of sorts, are all things young players do. Even though this is his second season, he really didn't have much of a season last year. This is more like Rookie+. Perhaps by "blue chip" prospect you mean that you'd trade him for something great, which I guess is fair, since there's no guarantee he'll ever be more than a good big off the bench. He's the one young guy though I'd like to still watch and take that gamble.

I also feel like I want to give Dmo another look. I'm curious what kind of contract he'll get this summer. When he's healthy he's awesome, but he hasn't looked right all season. Perhaps this could be a blessing in disguise and he'll be able to resign with the Rockets at a price less than what everyone thought he'd command before the season started. I really doubt he'll ever get over his rebounding problems, but I still think he could be a great off the bench instant offense big at the very least.

I'm with you though, I'm done with Terrence Jones. Might as well trade him before the deadline because I see no point in resigning him this summer. There is just not a whole lot you can do with someone that erratic.

But as you said, in a way these are all secondary problems. It starts and ends with Harden. If he can't be held accountable to be ready to start the season and play defense competently, any version of the Rockets with him as a featured player is going to fall short of championship expectations.

 

WCF appearance was a pretty good ride for me in retrospect. But, I really hope we get out of this debacle and get back into contention sometime soon. It should be pretty clear at this point that we need a GM and a good coach who work together to put together the right team. So far we've blamed the coach and a franchise player. We've got the GM and another franchise player left to go through, but it looks like time is running out.

 

Thanks for the write-up, enjoyed the read.

Yes, 'the coach'. Who is The Man who can coach the hell out of a team, and there's a lot of hell to exorcize.

Forget the heft of Harden the poor mix of Dwight, their apparent on-court disdain (off-court, too?) for each other, there has to have been something in that locker room that turned WCFs to (me hoping for a 9th or worse finish, except when I'm watching and rooting) this.

Coaches don't get canned 11 games into a 3-year extension.

If the answer to the head issues is known please share.

Where is the next Carlisle (let alone Pop or PJax)? Would Kobe command the bench? Would we collectively puke?!!

 

I would have no problem selling high on Capela.

If the Rockets trade Dwight, that means the this team is pivoting and any parts and pieces can be moved towards the new direction.

 

I think Clint will be fine once we put him at his natural position full time.

 

J.B. Bickerstaff will still be the coach until the summer, so yeah there's one large problem that won't be fixed.

 

kind of depressing. #PursuitIsOver

 

Well we can't trade JB so of course the deadline won't matter

 

Is he in shape now?

I hope he didn't pack on some lbs during the break.

 

If the Rockets trade Dwight they need to try and snare one of Denver's three Euro bigs. They're not still learning to play basketball like Capela.

 

of course it will. ryan anderson, channy frye, or teague and horford will magically get everyone to play defense, get the coach to learn the game of basketball and instill a system, and rockets will finally stpo looking like a ymca team.

had they not hfired mchale, all they'd need to do is play harder and everything will magically click.

 

What a great analysis, agree 100%

DD

 

Great work as usual Clutch.

Only thing I will disagree with is Dekker. Nothing to see. Just another scrub

 

Sums things up, Clutch. Your comment about Capela was a bit of a surprise, but I admit to being sick and tired of the guy missing free throws. Wouldn't be bummed if he helped us get a nice part of the puzzle. God knows, it's a hell of a puzzle.

 

Great read as always Clutch! Pretty much agree on everything, but looking to trade Capela. I like what I've seen out of the kid, and hope his raw skills can be refined.

Granted...when your team has 2 bigs who can't hit FT's....our bigs can certainly make us want a change....the hack a Clint and hack a Howard...

EDIT: Pretty much what Deckard said....

 

great summary Clutch, couple of things

when did the front office start placing a premium of shooting.....the three, paint and free throw strategy has been on place for a while now, and when actually have we had guys that can make threes and free throw at a high percentage.....unless of course premium means quantity.....

related this is when will they focus on either (or both) smart players or players that play hard....the warriors gm has said they focus on talent and character when recruiting/scouting, perhaps DM needs some analytics for character

I can't fathom how much Ariza has fallen off the cliff defensively, Howard has been declining for a while and Beverly has been dreadful defensively for two seasons now so no surprise with him, maybe with Ariza he has just been beaten done by the inability of the others to defend....

 

Clutch, I agree and unfortunately I've been feeling this season has been lost for some time.

It's really crazy to think that essentially the same team plus Ty that made it to the WCF, are in 9th place after the All-Star game.

But with that said, DM has three choices...

- Stand pat or minor adjustments. If he intends to retain Dwight or hunt bigger fish in the off-season (Durant) this makes sense. By not making the play-offs we stay in the lottery and have huge cap room to re-construct the team.

- Make a few significant deals. Trade folks like Ty, Ariza, TJ, etc. This could posture us for picking up some potential or picks and waiting for the off-season to solidify the next #pursuit.

- Blow it up! Trade Dwight, Ty, Ariza, Brewer, TJ, Brewer, etc. Look towards the future and collect assets to play around Harden, DMo, and Capela. Might be hard for Les, but this season has to be killing him already, why not pull the bandaid and let teh scap heal over the summer?

I think I'm for #3. Let's quit messing around and do it. Obviously, the market may prevent this option, but it would be nice to build from our building blocks.