No drop off in shooting throughout our backcourt.. and even to PF when needed Little to none drop off in defensive intensity with ariza and bev setting the tone from the jump Much improved team.dynamics from last year.
After watching preseason I am having difficulty understanding why Morey didn't get Charlie Villanueva signed. He signed a non-guaranteed minimum salary deal with Dallas. He'll be in their rotation and he's gonna be a great floor spreader for them. Does anybody havea clue here what happened? Did the Dallas players recruit him away? I simply can't believe Morey didn't have a contract offer on the table for him.
If the team defense improves this season then the rockets will be a load come playoff time period. Defensive coaching is going to be huge factor for the season IMO.
What's alarming to me is that we have less play-making than last year. The pre-season I remembered the most is when our offense got completely shut down against dallas with Smith, Cannon, and Johnson at the point. Smith - Forgot how to pass. Johnson - Not a point guard. Cannon - Shoot first. Verdict still out for him. Basically, we have 1 1/2 playmakers on this team with Harden and Papanikolaou. That's scary.
Umm career .440 FG% with a .343 3PT%, including .250 last year. Or if you want to look at his last full season in 2012-2013, he put up .377/.347/.551 FT% splits. Look he doesn't appear to be terrible, it's only the stats that kill him. Can Carlisle turn milk into gold yet again? Maybe, but McHale certainly can't, and KPap was the better bet which is why we really turned Charlie away to be honest. I don't regret that decision one bit and will be laughing my ass off watching Dallas fans hope that their team can turn a bunch of retreads into a somehow solid bench.
Those are better shooting percentages from distance than any of our bigs. And no team needs a shooter at the 4 worse than we do.
basketballholic: I don't care if he's absolute garbage, if he's tallish and can shoot 3's I love him!
You're gonna hate him this season when we play Dallas and they are picking and popping us to death while our young PFs spend another season"developing".
I would like to see DM pickup Quincy Miller!!! He can hit the 3, pass and play "D". SURE HE GOT CROSSED BY IGGY BUT IT'S THE NBA.....and MJ got crossed, so it happens to everybody. I think with him, Papa, Jet/Canaan, Black and DMO it would make a good bench.
He suck! He hasn't changed since he left the last time. Which concerns me, as to why would Morey sign him. He still doesn't have any semblance of an offensive game, nor can he shoot free throws and he's still 6'6"....which is too short for a center.
Charlie V might be nothing special but the Rockets can use a big guy who can space the floor for Harden and Howard's work in the paint. Right now, the team basically has to go small to create space. None of their bigs really shoot well enough from the outside to force a hard close-out.
Someone like, say, Omri Casspi? Is there any reason to believe Charlie V is better than Casspi right now?
Quantify that please. How many pick and pop J's does CV have to hit against us for you to give that donation?
My thoughts are pretty simple. Howard and Harden if healthy will completely dominate the stat sheet. No more parsons = no more worrying about him filling up the stat sheet so he can get a big contract (I don't blame him). Harden seems to really have mmatured after this summer and can tell is being more of a VOCAL leader. Getting up off the bench and getting pumped. Telling guys good job or what they should have done. Honward seems really focused. Think they could both be starting in the all star game and I think we can get to the second round.
