Let's camp out here, because it's deeper than that even. As I recall, no team has won a title in a very long time without a player at least in the first team or second team all NBA.... More than just an all star.....UNLESS THEY OVERCAME THAT TALENT GAP BY DEFENSE. In 1989, the Pistons didn't have one player named All NBA...1st, 2nd or 3rd team. They won with defense. They were not a particularly good offensive team at all...but they overcame the difference in talent by defense, and defense alone. I've never seen a team do that with offense, and I'm pretty old. In 1990, they won the second of their back to back titles. They had only one guy on the All NBA Team...and it was Dumars on the third team. I'm unaware of any other team that won a title with either: 1. no player named to any of the All NBA Teams....or 2. having only one player named to an all NBA team, and it was the third team. They did it again in 2004...they had one player, Ben Wallace, who was second team All NBA. He was on that list SOLELY because of defense. He averaged less than 10 ppg that season. That team overcame a huge talent gap....with defense. I don't know if what they did can be replicated. But in my lifetime, I've seen talent overcome with defense to win titles....I've never seen talent overcome by being an average to poor defensive team, but with a great offense.
you have to at least be "good" defensively if you want to be a real championship contender. d'antoni has NEVER prioritized defense. past players who played for d'antoni have come out and said the man doesn't prioritize defense. even in losses d'antoni would talk about how the rockets didn't make enough 3's instead of addressing the defense. he is what he is at this point. he can construct a high powered offense but in the playoffs when you need stops (especially when his offense gets figured out) he's not the guy for it.
I'm not sure I agree with the narrative that D'Antoni has never prioritized defense. For much of the regular season and most of the playoffs, we were a decent to above average defensive team. Not the best, but certainly not the worst by a long shot. Here again you have to play with the hand you're dealt. D'Antoni did a fine job this year I think, in large part by giving Jeff Bzdelik the space to implement a defensive system out of nothing compared to last year.
i didn't say we were the worst, but they need to be better than average to above average, especially when 3's aren't falling. he's never been a good defensive coach and no amount of assistant coaches are going to change that as long as he still determining how much time and effort in practice goes into the finer details of defense.
There's some crazy stats out there that point to the lack of parity in the NBA. For example, every NBA Finals since and including 1999, so with this year it will be 19 - with the exception of 2006 - has included either Duncan, Kobe or Lebron. And 06 was Shaq and Wade. So obviously if you go back 8 more years, then in the last 27 Finals (including this year), you've had either Duncan, Kobe, Lebron, Shaq, Hakeem or MJ. 6 player, over 27 years, where at least 1 was in every Finals. So, more than defense, offense, rebounds, yada yada, it's just a 1 guy drives everything type league. The plus side is there is some parity in there when you factor in the Mavs, Heat, Warriors, Celtics (with KG, Pierce, etc.), Pistons, Hakeem, and then the list of runners up which include AI, Miller, Ewing, the Nets twice, the Cavs, the Magic, the Thunder.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
It's all about balance.... an All defense JVG team wont win - and I doubt an all offense MDA team will either.... the game is played on both ends of the court... Idk why people focus so greatly on one and not the other... the 2-3 points you score are worth the same 2-3 points you 'let' the other team score... The whole harden cant be expected to play D bc he has to do so much on offense always irked me... guess what, if you put in the effort on the defensive end, you wont have to put in as much on the offensive end...lol It's about acquiring talent and finding points of differential and exploiting them... If you're a better 3 pt shooting team - you lean to that... If you have a defensive beast down low - you cover the perimeter and push the other teams offense inside.... but you have to have a semblance of balance - or you're just a one trick pony who Pops is gonna b**** slap - lol! get the most talented guys you can get, and draw up the gameplan based on your strengths, while trying to mitigate your shortcomings... as opposed to deciding your gameplan, and then trying to get the guys that can implement it... Of course, that's all assuming we are trying to win a championship... whereas I think Les just wants an exciting brand of basketball that puts fans in the seats... for all the good that focus has done him... lol
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE] Great points...and my post wasn't meant to infer that the Rockets should do anything differently, necessarily, because of the points I was making. It was only to say that, I understand how people from my generation would say defense wins championships...because that was seemingly so in nearly every pro sport I followed growing up, including the NBA.
To me, it just seems like excellent defense should be something that EVERY team strives for, independent of offense. It's not the only factor in a win, but it seems like it's THE foundation of a good team. Furthermore, I don't see why you can't teach everyone on the team how to defend well, young or old. Even if the second unit can't score worth a damn, if they can keep the bleeding to a minimum while the scorers rest and also wear out the other team, they're being useful. Plus, good defense leads to fast breaks, which used to be a major component of the Rockets' offense. Then, you build an offensive strategy around your extremely explosive star. Something that you can adjust multiple ways when different approaches aren't working, so that you keep scoring on one end while you are stopping scoring on the other end. THEN, you figure out where to upgrade on the team itself, so that whoever's coming in can immediately start using the talents you bought to their full potential. So, make the ENTIRE team the best damn defensive team you can by teaching them and not letting them get away with slacking. Then, make sure your offense as a whole isn't hindering any good players you have or might want to get. Defense may not take you all the way by itself. However, you want to make sure you're doing everything can with what you have, and if you're still not winning after that, THEN you have a legit "talent gap." The Rockets, to me, regardless of who they're putting on the court, seem to be not reaching their full potential because of lackluster defense, small and tiring rotations, and inflexible offense. Unless you bring in a dominant leader on the team that won't put up with that, anyone you bring in will be affected by the rest of the team's problems.
As have I - I, too, have never seen a team succeed with such a poor defensive approach. That's why I found it odd that the Rockets skipped over all of the hot coaching prospects and hired MDA given his recent track record as a HC. I get that was basically Les' call so that's why I reserved all judgement on this team until the playoffs. And the playoffs reinforced what I thought about MDA's approach not being a workable one if you're depending on it to get you to a NBA championship. So the Rockets are basically where they've been for most of the past 17 years which is sort of stuck in the "good but not great" category. They are committed to MDA (for now) which means that Morey will (again) shuffle the deck on players while they double-down on MDA's approach - all the while with hope that this time things will turn out differently.
so wait a minute. We give a coach ONE YEAR to either make the NBA Finals and/or win the championship or he's out? is this your plan for the next ten years, one coach after another, one-year trials to see if they can win the championship in the first year or else they're gone? I think some of you guys need to take a break from dwelling on the Rockets for a while. It's not healthy for you.
I agree with this. I'm not ready for them to move on from MDA. I think Harden needs another all star caliber player. Not sure who that will be or how we would acquire him.
I don't think we had a bad defensive approach, we just didn't have the personnel. And we were often tired, gassed, lost our legs etc.
Who said that the rockets are trying to win a championship? Les really wants an exciting brand of basketball that puts fans in the seats, so he can make more money. Of course everyone wants to win a title, but this team is not going to win one with Les. Les got what he want this year, he may extend new contract with current coach after this year. There is no a way for Les to fire the current coach, but Harden can do something to change the direction if the team is going to struggle, who knows.
Guess he's gonna have to do more than offer an exciting brand of basketball & $1 beer, cream soda, hot dogs & candy.
bring in legit defensive coach like jvg and harden would average 11 boards along with 9 assists and 26 ppg... along with 2 steals and a 1 blk per game and have his first 30 per season, thats all hes missing now
