As much as I'd love to put this season on the coach, Morey or even Harden, it is not. This whole thing starts with Leslie, all the way down to the last rotational guy in Thornton. To me the whole Rockets organisation needs to take a good look at herself and make some tough decisions soon but at least in the off-season. This is how I think we ended up here and hope we can have a good discussion, because of course I could be way off, but I think I have a pretty good idea (regardless of my angry rambling in game threads ). So Leslie has been quoted on several occasions since the McHale hiring that he always wanted to be a run and gun type of team. He said something along the lines of "we are going to run for the next 10 years". I specifically remember the 10 years. It was mentioned a lot in threads back then. Leslie has also stated how we are one of the most entertaining teams with our style with 3pt shooting, running and attack the rim. This is where Mr. Morey gets his hand in of course. I'm not sure who is responsible for influencing the other. It might be that Leslie sat Morey down, said he wanted to play a run and gun style and he needs to find the stats to maximize that style. It could have been Morey who said we need to start becoming an up tempo team with the lay-ups, FTs and 3s nonsense. Who knows. All we know is Morey likes control and have a lot of say into the next man in line: the coach. The way Adelman was let go was far from ideal and Morey, maybe Leslie too, did him dirty. I give Adelman his due and also wouldn't want Morey mingling with my coaching, trading guys while I'm trying to win games so I can keep my job etc. McHale was then hired as a puppet, a guy who has respect around the league and is well known so would maybe bring in some nice cash for Mr. Alexander. Once we got Harden, things should've changed, but we kept the course. McHale stayed despite his teams losing down the stretch, having undisciplined players, lack of a system of accountability, a defensive identity and team ball. Now the defensive identity is something that despite what run and gun might imply, needs to be there or else you cannot run. It's very simple. Morey has brought in a lot of talent, but somehow we do not maximize that talent and our coaching staff seems clueless how to use guys. Morey has failed to bring in the deadly shooters and the defensive stoppers. Instead he seems to be going for guys who are good in some defensive statistical category, like Brewer and Josh, or have potential like KJ, who can shoot the ball in a handful of games a year. I cannot really fault Morey here, because he just tried to get Brew for McHale I reckon and he has some skills and not everybody you want is available. Also, it probably doesn't even matter who we have, since the defensive system and plan has been the same strategy for years and we have too many guys who are not disciplined so one or two defensive guys will not change that. We have Howard and Ariza, arguably the best defensive center and SF, and we still are pathetic. I do however think we can fault Morey for forcing this sytem and this puppet coach on the team and then not following the blueprint when it comes to personnel. The biggest problem though is discipline and accountability. Since we got so reliant on Harden, it seems we do not have a system or just not the discipline to follow it since Harden does what he wants anyway. If your star player does not buy in or refuses to play defense properly, the whole system collapses. Especially when it's as weak as ours. We have not been that successful and unfortunately in hindsight, winning that Clippers series was the worst that could happen to us. It probably made the whole organisation thinking that we're on the right track, just need to tweak things here and there and we can win a championship. People on here also quickly forget how utterly pathetic we looked in the first 4 games, we downright quit in at least 1 game and looked like a team that was giving up, falling apart and just not a strong-minded group with the right mentality and killer instinct. Then we showed some fight in game 6 and morally crushed the Clippers, but outside of that 4th quarter, game 7, game 1 & 2 vs. Warriors which carried over from Clippers series, we just tried to outscore teams again. The whole of last year was just a determined group of guys who believed in themselves and it started with Harden's confidence and defensive mindset after working with Thibs and them for the Olympics. We did a lot of great things without Howard so somehow the guys bought in and followed behind Harden. This year, we have heard that several players are not happy with Harden's attitude and our players have looked uninspired, careless and got McHale fired. J.B. is the better option simply because he does things a bit differently and was willing to change more, but the way we tuned out McHale was a bad sign of things to come. We are still undisciplined, seem not to care too much about winning or losing, Harden has not shown any changes etc. Not sure if Ty is a distraction and if there are problems between Howard & Harden to a point of two separate groups or whatever, but it wouldn't shock me. So what are we to do? Firing J.B. will do not much good at this point. No point in arguing what should've been done. To me it starts with the whole organisation, again from Leslie all the way down to the last man off the bench, and really evaluate how we do things. To me, while the idea of running and gunning for 10 years and how entertaining we are can just go back inside Leslie's head and stay there. Also our philosophy of lay-ups, FTs and threes fine and all, but when you do not have the personnel to shoot FTs nor the right coach to get players in the right positions or on the court even to make threes + implement a defensive mindset first, don't bother. A new coach is something I think 99% of people can agree on. Morey as a GM, no matter how good he's been, should be evaluated too because if he stands in the way of a guy like Thibs, then he can just go. Another is that we seriously have to see if we go forward with Howard and Harden. So what you guys think?
We just need a coach who can get them to play D every night, that is what keeps you in games and wins championships.
Hahaha good one. But yes, that's what I did, I spelled an ENGLISH word correctly wrong. Stay on topic please.
I keep hearing people say this team needs discipline and accountability. But, I keep hearing this about other teams also, all around the league. Look people, this isn't high school or college ball. Today's NBA is a place where the star players are the most valuable commodity, and the players know it. The superstars know they aren't going to be benched. Coaches don't hold players accountable, players hold players accountable. The great teams almost always have a superstar player that's a great leader with a strong work ethic. That's what Morey should be looking for. Players hold players accountable.
Good point. So what do we do since Harden doesn't hold himself accountable and Howard is also a bit iffy in that department? Just accept it and ride it out?
I'm with you OP. The correct spelling is organisation. Btw the title makes it seem like the franchise is evaluated to be sold. And as for what we do, I think we need to incorporate a coach and a system.
i mean,,, when you say "schedule", do you pronounce the "sch" as in "school" or as in "detlef schrempf" the player?
I personally pronounce it as school but it's wrong? I dont' know lol. I'm the wrong person to ask In english language another thing is written another thing is read. You basically have to learn it by heart how the words are pronounced. That's the most difficult part of the language otherwise it's pretty easy.
Every cog in this machine is flawed - we got to decide where this org is going.... Major changes are needed
