ESPN: "McHale has tough job balancing wins and DH's health"

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Fixed it for you

 

Will I respect you, but what front court depth do we have exactly?

TJones has proven to be a mediocre PF with no jump shot, no defensive awareness, and a tendency to shrink in big games. He is what he is.

Dmo has a bad back, but even when healthy is a mediocre PF/C combo with terrible rebounding skills, poor rum protection and overrated post skills (the moves are nice but the actual scoring comes and goes).

Capella and Harrell are rookies who play with a lot of energy but are still a bit lost when it comes to keeping track of where they should be.

Hayes is old and slow now

Decker is bench or RGV fodder.

Given our rebounding and defensive incompetence when Howard is out, I don't see the current small ball lineups as anything more than a temporary bandaid to cover for all the injuries.

My point is - we need a reliable big to rebound, defend and score some points. Right now, we don't have this at all - everyone is either perpetually injured or not good enough.

 

It's TMac 08-09 status. It sucks.

Honestly he looks really unathletic out there despite having a nice game.

 

The sooner Capela develops the better off the Rockets will be. And to that end, Capela just needs to play and get that experience.

Everyone looks at Howard and talks about his defensive presence in terms of rebounding and shot blocking, but one of the biggest underrated aspects he brings defensively is his "mind." Basically being able to call out defensive assignments. That communication. And you only learn that through practice and court time. So Capela needs to learn that. Same with Harrell.

 

Yeah for real.

 

McHale limps to this day because he played something like two straight years with a broken foot, so I bet he understands.

 

this is also why we need DMO back. DMO can provide starting F and back-up C Minutes when Howard is out, and probably do more than just hold down the fort.

 

AND we owe dwight 23 mill next season

 

Let's see how the next few months pan out before we start frowning at that prospect. At the very least we might be able to trade him for something of value, Beard is still young. I think he has a lot more games like Wednesday in his future.

 

I love that Dwight is talking about pushing Clint Capela. I don't think he would have been talking about Greg Smith. I think he believes in Clint's potential. That's great.

 

If Dwight really cared about his body to the extent that he says, he'd cancel most of what he has going on and work on correcting his posture, especially during the summer. Maybe he's just ignorant to how much work he needs, but what is being done now, is clearly not enough. We can blame the Rockets staff again, but he's only under their supervision for a certain amount of time. He's got to sacrifice some of his personal time and put in more rehabilitative work.

 

Some of that is just the natural decline with age. I don't care if he ever gets back to orlando form, he won't, but if he is healthy and able to contribute there aren't very many centers who are better and attainable.

 

You are assuming several things here:
1) You are assuming this issue can be corrected so easily
2) You are assuming that the Rockets have identified this as a solution.
3) You are assuming that they have informed Dwight that this is the preferred route.

 

It's not so tough. You're coaching basketball. You're not logging tall timber.

 

He's 29, I know he won't get back to Orlando form and I would be satisfied with his output being similar to last game on a nightly basis. I'd be thrilled.

We don't play after this back to back until Wednesday, if he's really hurt he shouldn't play in any games. If he can play in some, he should play in all. We don't have the luxury at this point.

 

you guys would hate the next coach just as much

 

1. I dont think I am assuming that at all..thats why I said he needs to devote more time to it, because it's not an easy fix. You have to override old habits with new ones. It takes time, you can't just work on it during the season and when there is practice and expect it to stick.

2. Rockets have definitely identified it, from what I've seen and gathered from what is put out on social media and Periscope.

3. If they're working on it, then I'm assuming they've spoken to Dwight and explained why they're doing what they're doing. It would be pretty unprofessional on their part not to.

 

Sorry but you cannot build chemistry or momentum when your second best player is missing every third game or so. I want Howard healthy and I know he HAS to be healthy in the playoffs for this team to advance but he needs to play every game even if it is for only 20 minutes. All this "is he playing tonight?" BS is going to do is throw the team off on the court and I guarantee it will spill over into bad feelings in the locker room.

This is going to be a circus if it continues.

 

Glad he's so concerned about life after basketball while still collecting that 23 million.

This is the same thing with Adelman and Yao when the Rockets were trying to impose minute and playing restrictions for an important player on the coach. I'm not sure they understand how challenging it is for the coach to implement.

I'm astounded at how unprepared the Rocket FO has been for this season in regards to their frontcourt situation. DMo was injured, we knew that going in. Howard is always injured, we knew that going in. We're supposedly trying to win a championship this year. Yet we spend all summer trying to sign KJ McDaniels? We ignore the 4-spot again, as we have in every off-season since Dwight signed. And McHale will continue to take the blame for it.