Well first of all, I know that there aren't better graphs available online but I really dont' think this graph is good. It's misleading because it's not weighted with playing time. If a team lets go of their third string scrubs that barely got any playing time and adds other third string scrubs and then adds two rookies that barely take playing time except in blowouts it will show in this graph as losing more than it's the REAL impact. On the other hand a team if it loses ONE player if that player is a starter that will take 30% USG that is a huge blow to continuity and team balance even if in the graph it will show only as a 3%. Secondly...in reallity when you see a team in the court what do you specify as the importance of continuity. For me it is : TRUST, players are more comfortamble, usually speak more in defence from the beginning of the season, LESS TURNOVERS, because they know each other better, they seem also to enjoy playing with oneanother more. Also teams with continuity usually take less time to click together and respond better in slumps. All these things, I dont' see with the Rockets at all. The opposite. So no matter what Morrey said all the bballreference's graph says the picture of the team on the court is not one of a team with much continuity.
Deuce very well said and very astute post, agree 100%. I think DMO will help the team when he gets healthy and over time finds his basketball rhythm, but the team goes as Harden goes and I guess the thought of bringing in Lawson was to not rely and throw so much on Hardens shoulders. The coaching staff has been a huge disappointment as we all know and hopefully they can turn this around. I remember in game 6 of the clippers series Harden sitting on the bench while Smith, TJ and guys like Brewer brought them back from the brink of elimination, I myself at times did question Hardens heart.
bulkatron, you have to see the defense. While Capela is doing well for a second year big......we need so much more defensively down low than what he is capable of giving us right now. Especially when we're not getting steals, turnovers, etc. from the perimeter and we are relying on the bigs inside so much more this season to be stoppers down there. Capela has been somewhat exposed this season with the terrible perimeter D and the lack of a great defender (Smoove) playing alongside him.
You know what we're missing the most and it relates to Dmo? I know you gotta know what I'm about to say holic? More Tjones.......lol just kidding. But really what we're missing is the high pick n roll up top with harden and dmo were dmo would set the pick harden would either take off to the hoop for a layup or slip dmo the pocket pass and dmo would always make one dribble and hit a player on either corner for a wide open 3 or take it to the hoop himslef. That play was ran atleast 15-20x a game with great success (we ran it a lot with jsmoove too) it's the best play in the playbook because our two best passers always handled the ball (harden,dmo,smith) Our offense sucks because we have no real passers out there but harden which is crazy to think about. We actually had more playmakers last year than this season and that was supposed to be the difference with ty. I think ty will play much better when dmo returns because when harden slips dmo the pocket pass dmo can hit ty while the defense collapses giving ty a lot of room to attack the paint and create for himslef and Howard or capela depending on whos in.
no question we are missing DMo/SMoove's playmaking ability. They were both very good at it. WHICH MEANS WE'RE MISSING HAVING TERRENCE SITTING ON THE END OF THE BENCH!!! GRRRR!!!!
Smoove was a good defender, but he also tended to gamble. Capela's problem is a lack of awareness, something which seems to be improving steadily. He also tends to foul a lot, something Smith was especially guilty of. Again, I am not arguing with you that Smith was a net positive last year and a huge boon off the bench, especially when the bodies started dropping due to injury. But I don't see how he even fits in the equation of how well the Rockets are doing now, given that he opted against taking MORE money to be a Rocket. And, unlike you, I am not convinced he would remain a net positive to this team, as evidenced by his behavior in LA. There was order last year and it seemed like Harden was turning into a genuine leader. All that is out the door. It allows people like Brewer to revert from a solid bench contributor to one of the worst wings in the league.
I'm no basketball savant like you, Rainmanholic, but I'm pretty sure churning the roster won't result in that continuity you seem to care so much about.
I want to know about this. I was p*ssed as hell when we didn't bring Josh back, and I blamed Morey. I would really appreciate learning the real reason. How can you communicate this to me?
Josh Smith is a consummate professional & I hope retires a Rocket...So did he. He loved McHale, was best man at Dwight's wedding & had great chemistry with Dwight, Jet & Brewer...Money wasn't an issue, his role wasn't an issue, neither was location. Put 2 & 2 together... The 'real' reason for Josh Smith leaving the Rockets may never come out, because Josh, with all of his faults, is a consummate professional & wouldn't want any negative press to effect his buddy Dwight...plus real men don't kiss & tell.
The real reason isnt know to bballholic. Oakdogg you are a poster here for a while I cant' believe you still fall for his bs when he plays the insider. It's always like this : I know the reason but I won't share. Please dont' waste your time with such crap.
I love the part in Jessica Jones when Kilgrave asked the neighbor why she'd say such a thing and she replies, "it makes me feel important." Decent show, not as good as Daredevil though.
Your posts are all muddled. First of all you opened by saying you dont hold losing smoove against Morey but then your last part says we can't ignore losing the 3rd best player for nothing. Well which is it? As for your question, the answer is the 3rd best player shouldve been Lawson, which is why we traded for him even though he made 12M a year. Obv that hasnt worked out as anticipated but he was supposed to be the 3rd banana. Finally the Rox do have continuity, most the players from last year are still on the team thats what continuity means. If you wanna argue we overpaid for Brewer and Bev fine, but thats outside the scope of continuity you shouldve titled your post and reworked your points accordingly.
Morey is very similar to the buffoons that manage the Redskins. Knows nothing about the game other than trying to get the best available talent together. He has yet to figure out fit...
I am not convinced Smoove would have remained a net positive either. But there was no risk in signing him for one season. And I am convinced Morey and the Rockets wanted him back. And there's no question he'd have started practically every game for us this season so far and he'd be averaging 35+ minutes a game here. So it all funnels down to something other than role. Didn't say I cared about continuity.....did I? What I said was Morey made a big deal about continuity in re-signing our guys. My point was that it's hard to have continuity when the third most important player signs elsewhere. The continuity Morey was talking about was the continuity of the team that went to the WC Finals. That team had Smoove as their starting power forward. My point was when we lost Smoove and we didn't replace him with a similar player on the roster, a 4/5 who was a defensive difference-maker, there was no way we were going to have continuity. It's not mine to communicate. There are other posters here with their own connections. They can tell you if they choose to do so. That's their business. I wouldn't do that to them. I'm just glad I've got good relations with some of the better posters here where we can share information privately. LOL. Jealouc, eh? Both. There's simply more to the story than what's been told. Think logically and figure it out. The Lawson trade transpired after Smoove left. If Smoove would've still been here when we traded for Lawson, there would have been much debate over who the 3rd banana was. No. We don't have continuity. We're 15th in the league in continuity of minutes played. And that's probably going to get worse yet. My point was and is that continuity is not important when you don't have a championship roster. When we lost Smoove and didn't replace him we lost our possible championship roster. I could make the argument that the old rotation (Harden, Howard, Ariza, DMo, Bev, Smoove, Brewer, Capela) plus Lawson could be a championship roster. But when Smoove left and we didn't replace him I knew this wasn't a championship roster. We're short a difference-making big defender. And now we're discovering that Lawson isn't all that, at least not yet. Simply false, Liberon. Morey knows this game very well. You and I may not agree with everything he does but he's proven he knows the game.
No I'm not jealous of someone making a fool of himself by playing the insider. Also the c is in the cyrrilic alphabet not the greek . Pretty basic knowledge that doesn't need some inside sources.
