[ESPN] Rockets' fall this season no reason to bash Morey's analytics focus

Yeah, it doesn't look good considering the circumstances, but if you put in the context...

JVG was signed to be HC after Rudy T has to resign. JVG while not an elite coach was still well regarded with his time with the Knicks. The Rockets improved under Houston, but Houston had extreme trouble getting out the first round so he was canned for another respectable coach in Adelman. Rick is one of the most winningest coaches of NBA history having good runs with both the Blazers and Kings. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have too great of a roster and after losing Yao Ming it was clear that Houston wouldn't be competing for a championship anytime soon. Rick was willing to return, but of course we know the story.

So with Rick not returning and the team lottery bound Houston decided to enter a rebuilding era with Parsons, Asik and Lin as out centerpieces. Of course much after we signed our rebuilding coach in McHale we acquired Harden who drastically changed everything. Finally, McHale was fired, and instead of trying to sign a head coach right off the bat we let JBB be the interim. I honestly wouldn't even consider him out HC since he isn't. He's just temporary. Not defending the coaching hires. There have been some miscalculations for sure, but it's hasn't been terrible.

Simply naming 4 coaches without context is such a sh!tpost.

 

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe the Spurs also wanted Morris, but when he was taken Khawi was their back up.

But that's not what you were getting at, was it?

 

You left out so much.

JVG was let go because Les wanted a more up tempo brand of ball so we brought in Adelman - whom I thought was perfect for this team, unfortunately he and Morey didn't see eye to eye - and Morey forced an assistant coach onto his staff, which of course he knew Adelman would refuse so we ran him out of town and hired McHale a horrid coach, IMHO.

DD

 

Agree. If you look at the two top teams in GS and SA, GS drafted Curry, Barnes, Thompson, Green, Ezili ect and the Spurs drafted Duncan, Parker, Ginobli, Leonard ect. Obviously when the Spurs drafted Duncan many moons back they completely tanked to get that pick but both teams pretty much built their core players through the draft. Swinging for the fences armed with ipads in the weee hours of early free agency is sure exciting for us Rocket fans but has it really payed off over the years?

 

RA ran into a big problem: players are getting dumber. Players he had at Sacramento actually understood his system. Players today barely know the rules (hence why we see people still foul an off ball player with less than two minutes in the game left). RA's system is amazing, it's just today's NBA player won't buy into all the time. Give Kerr some credit, as complicated as their movements are (and borderline illegal) every single player buys into it. Every player knows the plays, and every guy runs them. We need to bring in a coach, and them back him when he has disputes with players. Management and coaching needs to have balls.

 

Adelman was a better coach than JVG.

 

That's why I said there were some miscalculations, but to be fair it's my fault for not explaining better.

JVG was fired because we missed the playoffs, and we wanted to play a better play style. Was it fair, no? The next hire was a better coach though like you just said so it's not even like it was a bad decision. It's also why I said Rick was willing to return, but "we know the story." "We know the story" refers to everything you just said. Of course Rick was better than McHale.

Still, it's unfair to say McHale is a horrid coach. He's definitely not a championship material coach. Not even a coach you'd want to lead you into the second round the playoffs. He's what I call a rebuilding coach. Someone who gets a not very good roster and is given the task to get the guys to play together as best they can, learn under him, and become better NBA players. A mentor and a teacher.

For example, his first year with us, the Rockets finished 34-32 which isn't impressive, but you have to take account of the fact that he no training camp. It was a lock out season. The season started December 25th. He also had to coach a disgruntled Kyle Lowry. His best players were rookie Parsons, Luis Scola, Martin and Dragic/Lowry. He did his best after taking over Adelman's team months later and we barely missed the playoffs by 2 wins. We finished that season 2-7 which shows his inexperience of a coach, but also shows that the Rockets were still in contention of making the playoffs with a "horrid" coach and no all star players. That to me shows that he's not "horrid." Definitely not the best, but not "horrid." It's similar to what Terry Stotts did this season

After that the Rockets went on and improved, but his again his coaching deficits showed in the playoffs in 2014 and in part of the second round of 2015. We weren't expected to beat the Thunder and we weren't expected to beat the Warriors.

Not a "horrid' coach. He's not a championship level coach, but he can definitely do well on some young team like the Bucks, Nuggets, Kings, Magic, and ect.

Still, if you believe McHale was "horrid" then you are definitely entitled to your opinion and you can laugh your butt off when the next team hires him to be HC and he manages to lead the team to 40 wins.

 

My guess is one crazy Morey fan will come out soon and say Moreyball won championship in Warriors and Spurs, Rockets will be next.

 

That may be your perception but it has no basis in reality.

Teams are easily taking away our inside layups and dunks? We finished the year #2 in the league in dunks (trailing only OKC) and we were #7 in layups (Trailing BOS, ATL,MIL, SAC, OKC and DEN).

They easily took away our 3 point shooting? We took the 2nd most 3 point attempts in the entire league. We also took the 3rd most open 3 pointers in the entire league (Trailing only ATL and GS). We get 23.6 open 3s per game so how do you figure that teams are "easily taking them away"?

If you believe that teams easily took away our dunks, layups and 3s then how did we manage to finish as the 6th most efficient shooting team in the league this year?

You're implying that we have no shooters, correct? So if we're the 6th most efficient shooting team then it either has to be the system or the shooters. So which is it?

We had a ton of problems this season but getting open shots certainly wasn't one of them.

The other two efficient shots that the Rockets value are fast break points and free throws. We scored the 3rd most points from the FT line (behind Min. and Tor) and we were 7th in Fastbreak points (trailing GS, OKC, ATL, SA, IND and POR).

I'm not sure how you think teams are taking these things away from us let alone doing it easily.

 

Sam Fisher already tried that.

DD

 

lol, thanks, DD. I knew someone will jump on that.

 

Kind of like Riley - Stan Van Gundy - Riley - Spoelstra ? Another trending in the wrong direction. Who won the most titles in Miami though?

Glad you included the interim coach in the Houston list..

 

Morey isn't going anywhere (yet), so arguing over it is a waste of time.

 

When searching FOR diamonds in the rough, remember that beauty is in the eye OF the beholder.

Not all eyeballs ARE seasoned equally.

The best eyeballs have different tastes.

Chemistry is not an exact science ANYMORE. It is a lost art form!

Even when a womans' assets are very figuratively PPPING out of her stats page, one man's 10 is another man's 7.5.

 

SVG did not win title in Miami, but he is a very very good coach. It took him only 2 years to turn the Pistons into a playoff team.

 

Yes, that was my point. Thanks for reinforcing it.

I don't think that any rational person or DD would say that Spolestra is anywhere near the coach that Stan Van Gundy or Pat Riley yet Spoelstra won more titles in Miami than the other two.

The post was meant to show how meaningless DD's "trending in the wrong direction" quote was. Miami went from Hall of Fame coach to very very good coach to Spoelstra yet it paid off with 2 titles.

 

Agreeing to coach a team with Howard 2.0 helps too. I agree that he is a good coach but he doesn't go to Detroit without Drummond.

 

That's because they use empirical formulas to fit the data to what seasoned eyeballs conclude. It's the same way they fit global warming data using systems of diff EQ's and sophisticated techniques like grid enmeshment to 'fix' the output to the real world data.

The chicken with the eyeballs came before the eggheads though in this circumstance.

 

Coincidentally, I watched Moneyball for the first time the other day. It was interesting to do that after having had a really friendly conversation with Paul DePodesta not long ago, and having a friend who is introducing the moneyball concept to football (soccer) as a general manager in England. Watching the way his character was portrayed (and acted by Jonah Hill) in the movie (which, as DePodesta said, was exaggerated, as he did not meet as much hostility in real life) made me think of how some people talk about Daryl Morey here. Eyeball test, etc. yada yada. Yes, some of these statements hold some truth. But I think Daryl Morey is far from being "only" a stat geek. He also appears to be a very good negotiator - didn't give out many bad contracts (a few, but these might have come because of Les or the coach at the time). Just an all-around smart guy, and, as I find, very likeable.

People are just ungrateful.

This season we just didn't have any chemistry. That needs to be addressed and Daryl Morey needs to be given the freedom to completely revamp this roster, around James Harden.

I trust Daryl Morey more than anyone else to get us back onto the path of success, and, hopefully, title contention, which is really all that matters.

P.S.:

Spoiler

 

This sums it up pretty well for me.I think the Rockets need to have a talent advisor. Let morey in advance submit a list of players he is thinking about drafting or trading for and let the advisor tell him the pros and cons of each player like if he has a good work ethic or not, or if he just shows up and does the minimum. Or if he can't take flying in a damn airplane, or parties all night. Royce bewell still pisses me off. Let les hire a dective firm to do a little work if needed. But get a wise talent evaluator please.

And above all a strong coach who will set players on the bench including Harden if needed with out any flack from the front office. Is Stalin or Hitler available.