Pablo Prigioni is one of the most underrated players in the Association. We should've re-signed him on the same deal he got from the Clips. He would've been much better for us than Lawson.
Its also over-aggressive offensive sets. Four guys on the baseline at the end of an offensive possession doesn't give you much room to defend the fast break if you miss or turn it over.
With benefit of hindsight, obviously, but at the time we needed the money to bring Lawson in because it was thought he would make us better, not worse.
No, we didn't need the money. We traded for Lawson. Could've signed Pablo to a minimum salary deal. Wasn't about the money. It was about "upgrading" from Pablo to Lawson. We wanted the roster spot for another position because James wanted Terry back.
Rockets feeling positive after going 3-2 on long road trip By Jonathan Feigen Published 1:35 pm, Sunday, March 13, 2016 The Rockets began and ended their road trip with losses, but said the three wins also showed progress as they head into the final month of the season. "We're in a good place right now," Rockets guard James Harden said. "The games we lost, we let slip away. In both games, they got off to big leads, we had big deficits and had to try to find our way back. Finally, we go home. It seems like we haven't been home in a couple weeks. It's going to be fun." The Rockets begin a three-game homestand Monday against the Grizzlies and play the Clippers and Timberwolves before road games in Atlanta and Oklahoma City. They faced large first-half deficits in the losses in Chicago and Charlotte, but that is not unusual. They have not outscored an opponent in the first quarter in any of the past 16 games, going 8-8 in that stretch. The loss in Charlotte, in which the Rockets allowed 125 points, represented a step back defensively. But they felt they had made improvements on that end that showed on the trip. "We talked about it after the break that we had to be better at that," Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "We were scoring points. We can do that with ease. But if we wanted to win, if we wanted to make a change, we needed to defend. All of our guys have been committed on the defensive end more. You can see it. We're flying around, the deflections, the extra effort, better on the defensive glass, that's where our mindset is now." We shall see JB starting tomorrow
DD, Prigioni was a terrible defender, Papa was basically not an NBA-caliber player; Smoove was a good defender but he almost negated that with his awful offense and shot selection - and D Mo playing C probably contributed to his back injury as he is really a 4. If you're dependent on that combination of players for success you're asking for disappointment. This roster needs a major overhaul in terms of synergy, and we need a coach who can maximize that synergy (like Adelman did for a few years.) Most importantly, we need someone who can coordinate the defense because Ariza isn't a vocal leader and Harden isn't going to do that, and Howard just pouts instead of directing traffic. You guys saw the Chicago game? Every break, Butler is breaking down the defensive rotations for the other wings. We need someone with that kind of IQ and passion on D. Communication on D isn't that hard - I mean, within a few minutes you can solve it in a pickup game, how is it that hard to solve it as a professional with coaching and front office there to pick the game apart for you? It takes a lack of intelligence but also a lack of effort and a general failure to give a damn to have a defense this sloppy despite some excellent individual defenders (Bev, Ariza, Howard).
We're bad defensively due to system. Nice video, thought perhaps you could have highlighted the 'switch on every pick' problem. Too often we switch when we don't need to, and leave ourselves mismatched for an easy hoop. The weak side help is a system issue, lack of communication from the coaching staff. Honestly, give us the same roster next season, but a coach, and we would see a 50% improvement. I'm hoping for a fairly drastic roster overhaul as well - but really the defensive play calling is terrible.
Rockets main problem defensively is effort. Period. Teams don't just regress like that with mostly the same players unless something mental has occured. Prig is, at best, a 3rd string PG. He's old, can't defend, and shot horribly (.278% 3PT) for us both regular season and playoffs. He showed nothing for the Rockets to think, "hey, maybe we should keep this guy". He's not underrated, he's just is what is at this point of his career.... an end-of-the-bench player.
It's not even open for discussion. Pablo has been better than Lawson has this season. We should've kept him and not traded for Lawson.
OP loves DMo and hates Harden. DaDakota? j/k :grin: Seriously, I agree that defensive system is more important than individual defender. But you still need smart defensive players with adequate physical tools to execute the system. Guys like Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes aren't just good individual defenders but also have high defensive IQ. These players have big picture awareness. They aren't just aware of the man they guard but see the whole offense develop. That's why they are never out of position and are always at the right place. Sometimes I don't know if we are having crappy system or having low IQ defenders who don't know how to execute it, or both. Brewer and Beverley may have good individual instinct, hounding the ball, playing the passing lane, etc. But they may not have the intelligence to execute a defensive scheme properly.
Oh, you're speaking hindsight. In that case, thus far, the Rockets shouldn't have traded for Harden or Howard. Shouldn't have traded for McGrady or drafted Yao. Prig isn't underrated though. He is who he is... an end-of-the-bench player. What more do you really expect from a 40-year-old?
Agreed with your post. Regarding the bolded, there's no need to wonder if our players are smart enough or blame the system.. it's the same team as last year. DMO has played fewer games, but Howard and Beverley have played more. Rockets simply aren't playing as hard as they could. And it's been that way since Game 1.
This is evidence of the utterly worthless roster the Rockets coaching staff has to work with. How lazy can one team, a group of "professionals", be?
He is underrated. He wasn't valued above Lawson. He was a key part of our rotation last season that made it to the Conference Finals. Prigs is a guy with a career STL/TO ratio greater than 1. While Lawson's STL/TO ratio is less than .55. A/TO ratios? Lawson 2.87 Prigs 2.92 efg? Lawson 50 Prigs 56 Prigs has been underrated for his entire NBA career.
Prigs also averages as many fouls, 1.6, for his career as Ty in almost half the minutes/game. But really, comparing fouls, STL/TO ratio, etc are just nitpicking when you consider... 1. Prigs can't play as many minutes at his age as Lawson. Rockets were looking for a starter. 2. Prigs shot and defended poorly as a Rocket. 3. Performance-wise... Lawson had maybe *the most* unpredictably, notorious seasons in basketball history. <--The main reason we're even talking about this right now. Pablo is a smart player and he's had a decent NBA career considering he entered the league in his mid-30's. He didn't do much for us last season. Terry at least shot a good 3PT%.
Maybe by others, but he wasn't underrated by McHale, last year. He became a key part of our rotation that made it to the Conference Finals
