Harden probably sees Coach thibs sitting right there ripe for the picking who got him playing the best ball of his career and winging it to send a message to morey. He was just western conference player of the week 2 weeks ago....we know he's got it. It's mchale who doesn't. He's sick of bailing out this baffon of a head coach.
Find an anti-players' coach. A "players' coach" almost always just means a limp dick who's too afraid ever rock the boat. Mediocrity always ensues. Basically, find someone who's not an ******* but demands only the best every time from his players and will not hesitate to bench ANY of them for crap playing. Said coach must also be empowered by upper management to do this, or it's worthless. Said coach should also be allowed to run the team his own way. He shouldn't feel compelled to comply with Moreyball, a statistical idea that doesn't pan out in individual games with inconsistent players. And, of course, this probably hasn't got a chance in hell of actually happening. The only way I could see anything like this is if the Rockets just completely collapse this season and don't come close to making the playoffs. That actually seems like a fair possibility. So, maybe a truly awful season is what's necessary to smack everyone over the head. If so, so be it. They're not going anywhere this year.
My thinking is that there are too many things to fix right now that the prospect of finding our way out of this by fixing EVERYTHING is psychologically daunting. We're asking them to fix all aspects of the game in 2 days of practice and suddenly look like a completely different team the next game. Maybe we should focus on one aspect of the game that: 1. We can hold the team accountable against 2. Expect to see results reflected in the next game's performance (regardless of w/l) 3. Might have the most impact on the game's outcome For the next few games our team should gauge wins and losses based on solely the effectiveness of our transition defense. Rebuild our team's confidence based on whether we are getting stops. Defense builds chemistry. Defense requires the team being in sync and communicating. Defense requires effort. Our offense will come along eventually. We have too many skilled players for it not to. But while it's not there, teams are killing us on points off misses and points off turnovers.
1. James doesn't play D, he sits 2. Let Harden run the offense, James off the ball until late in 4th qtr 3. Do not play T Jones or Harrell with D12, clogs the lane. Only if Tjones or Harrell starting hitting over 50% of shoots from free throw line 4. Trade Jones and Harrell for a really good stretch 4... Andreson... Pelicans 5. No D, no play
That's a good idea. Have a goal like get a number of steals and stops and accepting only a number of points per quarter. Whoever doesn't play defence no matter what's his name gets the bench. We lose anyway at least let's lose by playing defence. Also have a training camp-like double practice until the defensive system becomes second nature to every player. My other team the Bucks that sucked at defence to start the year did this. What about the Rockets? Did they have hard double only defence practices? I didnt' hear anything about that.
Not a fan of Morris. This is been discussed quite extensively in other threads, but he's a mid-range guy that can't hit the corner three. A PF that shoots baseline jumpers isn't going to fit well or move the needle much. I'd take him if he gets bought out, but not in a standard trade.
