Thunder, Portland the Suns I think. I agree with you it's partly age but I just think we have way too many excuses. Both the players and the coaches need to get together and figure out whats going on, because friday nites collapse can't be just blamed on youth and injuries, at some point they are gonna have to take responsibility for the silly mistakes and lack of focus.
Exactly the teams I would have picked. The Thunder have top 10 talent even without Westbrook, and are stumbling a little without him. Portland had great talent last year, but no bench. They solved that this off season. Phoenix is certainly a surprise, but the twins are both having career seasons along with Bledsoe. Frye has been pretty good also. Sometimes things happen in the NBA like the Rockets 22 game win streak. Everybody eventually returns to around the mean.
I agree, If Eric Bledsoe didn't go down, the Suns might be sixth place without a star and they can still go on a run and do it, even with their injuries and youth. So we need to strengthen the bench and stop the excuses and find a strategy that works for our players. I would have loved to kept Marcus. I was happy when Garcia was re-signed but that was before I bothered to look at his career 3's he is right on line with NBA average(I thought he was way above). We all know that Morey's not done, hopefully we can get Dunleavy to replace Garcia, sign Bynum and ship Asik out for something of value, those are my wishes anyway.
Its all tied into bad coaching: The Twin Tower experiment and the Beverley experiment were disasters. The Beverley experiment may be an ongoing disaster. The line-up experiments lead to all the other problems of familiarity... Etc. we also have one of the poorest in-game x's and o's coaches in the league.
Sigh. Yet again I point out that the TT experiment was an organizational directive and not a coaching decision. Les and Morey had to know if Asik could play next to Howard. That didn't work and the Asik situation is currently a mess. The Bev experiment? What the heck is that? There is no, and I mean NO evidence that McHale is anything other than above average at X's and O's. Look up all those huge data studies I have posted.
All of those teams have core's that are more experienced by at least a year than us. Batum is young but has been in the league for a while. And guys like LMA and Matthews are in their prime. They also have been playing the system for a while. Phoenix isn't all that young. People forget that outside of Bledsoe and the twins you got some experienced guys on that team. And you can't compared anyone with OKC - Durant has been in the league for 6+ years, and they have mad talent. We have the youngest core - you take out Howard and none of our starters are over 25 years old. None of our players have been on this team for 2 full seasons outside of Parsons. That's ridiculous. We're younger and less experienced in playing together than any of those other teams. And I am surprised you put Phoenix up there - they are only 6 games over .500. Not exactly tearing it up.
Phoenix was not even expected to make the playoffs this year. We have two All-Stars and they have none, they are only two games behind us and if they go on a run they can over take us. They have 15 losses and we have 14 they are not as far behind as you would think. They shouldn't even be that close and they have a new coach and everything. If they didn't lose Bledsoe they would most likely be in 6th place. Even with our youth we shouldn't be losing to the teams we lose to because we have the talent. Atlanta without Horford, Sacramento and they just got Gay not too long ago. My point is every team has excuses I understand we're young but if we keep playing like we have been we could excuse ourselves out of a playoffs spot or right into a first round exit. We could be in 8th spot by the All Star game and what will be our excuse then? Keep in mind I was saying this when we were in the 4th spot. I'm not a NBA Coach or GM, none of us are but it seems like the Rockets need to change their strategy and the bench needs to change quickly or it's gonna be a rough season. Everyone knew we were young before the season started and everyone said we were contenders and we would get second round at the least but this team doesn't even look like a second round team right now. So anyway let's hope for better strategy and a better bench by or before trade deadline. A little change in strategy bring in Dunleavy, Bynum if possible, get rid of Asik and that should be enough to win a playoff series or get homecourt.
You do not feel that the bench will more than hold its own when Bev (and Lin going back to the bench) and Asik get back will hold its own? Phoenix has had three players racking up career numbers. Reversion to the mean. It will happen. The Rockets have three new starters this season. Chemistry, that stupid word which really means the ability to anticipate your team mates moves and positions on the floor, will improve. The Howard post game is showing definite evolution. Harden, after suffering from ankle problems seems to be in a seek and destroy mode. Parsons will hopefully be back soon. Perhaps Asik will return soon. So is there some room for optimism?
1a. Wing Defense 1b. Ball Movement 3. Injuries 4. The lost value of Asik (whether it's with him playing or scoring another asset)
My optimism comes from the fact that we have Morey as a GM and I'm excited to see what this team will look like in the future. I just wish he would do something sooner rather than later because I want to win this year and we're running out of time. Asik can't be trusted to earn his paycheck and Beverly/Garcia/Casspi can't seem to shoot well enough for this system. If we stay the run and gun Rockets we need personnel who shoot better than 35% from three, otherwise we need to find a new coach and see what they bring. I will say something good about Mchale, he seemed to be generally upset when Morey traded his shooters (Patterson, Morris) and even though we got Dwight out of it, it hurt the team shooting wise. We need to replace Delfino, Patterson, Morris with people who are above average shooters, they should get us going despite the turnovers. If you take better shooters and put them with Dwight's defense then we should be a top 4 WC team this year.
Harden is in his 2nd year as a starter, and Howard is well a vet who clearly isn't the same player. Those are your two superstar leaders. Everyone else is very inexperienced. Parsons is a 2nd year starter, and Jones is a 1st year starter. Lin has barely 2 years under his belt with heavy minutes, and PBev has less than a year. It's unrealistic to expect this team to be at their full potential as they are still learning to play with one another. Phoenix has had longer to gel. So has Portland. Just give it time man. Big mistakes are when you bring in mediocre talent that's experienced - sure they will get you a few more wins, but often you stifle the growth of younger guys or lose guys who will be good in a year. We aren't going to win a ring this year. It's not going to happen. The thing about this team is how they improve. Have they gotten better since the start of the season? Absolutely - so you are better off just letting it continue for a while. I wouldn't make a deal until the summer. Unless it is a total no brainer.
Defensive rebounding is a major issue. It is extremely demoralizing to be scored on after playing great defense but failing to secure the rebound.
This team has a lot of problems, but their transcendent talent level has carried them to 10 games over .500 in spite of their issues. The Rockets do not rebound well on the defensive end. The rebound is how you end the defensive play. We guard pretty well as a unit, but do not end the defensive play in a rebound consistently. Injuries have also been crucially important this year. Asik wants to play, and more importantly, the coaching staff wants him back, but he has been out and is monumentally important to the team's success. The same applies to Lin (who's been in and out), Harden, Parsons and Smith. Beverley is the most expendable of our injury concerns (he's by far the worst starting PG in the league, and is an overrated defender). the lack of playcalling on offense is, on the whole, beneficial because it makes the team tough to guard. Ironically, it's when the team tries to run set plays that they commonly struggle. Last night vs WAS, the offense truly died in the 4th when they tried to force-feed Dwight in the post in 4 or 5 consecutive possessions. When he catches post touches in the 'flow' of the offense, the team plays well. Familiarity and chemistry are something that is looking better and better, but is also stunted by the injury problems. this team needs to get healthy by the end of this month so they can go in to the stretch run with a known group of guys. Turnovers are not an issue - OKC was 29th in turnovers the year they went to the finals. Pace and non-set playcalling also contribute to turnovers, but those can be overcome with energetic transition defense and growing familiarity with teammates.
Why can't we all just appreciate the season we're having so far? We're doing pretty solid if you ask me.
