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The Players Made It Clear: We Don’t Believe

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Nook, Sep 12, 2020.

  1. Nook

    Nook Member

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    Les Alexander wasn’t a perfect owner. He didn’t pay the luxury tax, he wouldn’t allow Morey to rebuild and he could have thin skin. One thing I will give Les is that he for the most part stayed quiet and his best trait was he knew when a coach or players quit. He knew when to take chances and he didn’t care what toes were stepped on. When he brought on Daryl Morey he was bold and he knew “it” wasn’t working. When he fired McHale, he could look at how his players played and tell that something needed to give. He brought in D’Antoni when his GM was trying as hard as possible to shift him towards a young assistant named Silas. He went as far as to get Lionel Hollins agree to be an associate head coach for a year. Les typically didn’t make signings or trades for pure ego.

    Overall D’Antoni has had a very good tenure with the Rockets. He kept the chemistry strong and he had the Rockets going deep into the playoffs. If not for an injury to Paul, I do believe he would have won a title.

    Having said that, it cannot be any more clear that it is time for Mike D’Antoni to move on. There were signs during the regular season that some of D’Antoni’s flaws were becoming a problem. The Rockets were being exploited in certain match ups and changes were not made, not during the game, but over the course of several games. To his credit, MDA did make changes that worked as well. However since the bubble it hasn’t been good for the Rockets, and especially MDA.

    I could dwell on the decision to play Westbrook in a meaningless bubble game. However, what stood out to me was the lack of adjustments made in the Thunder series. The Rockets over the course of that series started to stop playing the way that lead to success. I saw players like McLemore not getting the time they typically would have. The Rockets stopped going to the line. That was a deliberate decision by Donovan in how he had his team defend the Rockets. Yet, MDA did not adjust. The Thunder made adjustments in how they defended Harden and other than a few changes the Rockets didn’t counter. The Rockets/Thunder series dragged on and there were few adjustments. The Thunder made further adjustments to defending Green and then Westbrook. The response from MDA was to play harder. The Rockets won the series against the Thunder because of Harden and just having too much talent.

    Then the Lakers series happened. Frank Vogel is a very hard working coach that studies a lot of film and stresses defense and adjustments. Most importantly he gets his players to play hard for him. He isn’t an offensive genius and he doesn’t promise easy solutions.

    The Rockets series against the Lakers was a perfect storm of failure. The Rockets adandoned their game plan by the second game of the series. The Rockets showed the Lakers could not beat them when the Rockets played fast with 3’s and got out and in transition. Yet, other than a few quarters when they got desperate from falling way behind, they failed to play their game the rest of the whole series. They just went out there gladly playing the Lakers style as if they were oblivious. That is coaching, and that is a failure to see the bigger picture and putting your team in a position to win. Further MDA didn’t go back to the rotations or patterns of what worked for the Rockets. There were no adjustments made (yes, nothing significant) as he just marched them out there. He didn’t make adjustments with Westbrook (who was the worst starting player on the court on either team this series. He was outplayed by Rondo/Caruso). MDA said “play harder”. He didn’t use the House situation to bring his team together. The players knew MDA’s job was on the line and they didn’t play harder, they didn’t look like they believed that they could win or what their coach told them.

    James Harden received a lot of negative press for this series. He wasn’t the problem, he made plays and he did what he was asked to do in the system. The problem was the coaching was poor and it was clear the players knew it. Game 5 was an embarrassment.

    Daryl Morey is a very good GM. People forget he built this team without having the ability to tank. That is extremely hard. The Clippers and Lakers and Celtics all had lottery picks from which to build. The same for the Warriors. Morey also hasn’t had the luxury tax and hasn’t picked a single coach since joining the Rockets. He now has an owner that shoved Russell Westbrook down his throat. Daryl Morey knows how to build a team. He even knows how to build a culture at the executive level of the organization. He however doesn’t or isn’t capable of building one at the basketball level beyond being smarter than other teams. The Rockets need to hit a home run on their coach hire. They need to spare no expense on assistants and bringing in people with the same vision. I am sure Tilman will pick the next coach but that will be a mistake.

    What I do know is that if the Rockets “just make a hire” and not someone that can mold the basketball side, this whole situation will not work. This cannot be someone that Tilman “likes” or someone that “is safe”. This needs to be someone that has vision on in 12 months Harden will want to win elsewhere, Morey will be gone and Tilman will be complaining about a hot mess on the floor for years to come.
     
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  2. HP3

    HP3 Member

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    As long as Westbrook is here, no coach can fix this.
     
  3. amaru

    amaru Member

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    This needs to be "sticky-ed" to the top of the board. There are many problems but the absolute best decision the Rockets can make at this point is to allow MDA to walk. That doesn't mean he's a bad coach, but he's clearly not the coach to get them to where they want to go. This is the second series in a row in with MDA was out coached. Donovan smoked him, he just didn't have a James Harden.

    Have you heard anything about what the Rockets were thinking about possibly bring MDA back? @Nook
     
    #3 amaru, Sep 12, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2020
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  4. fchowd0311

    fchowd0311 Contributing Member

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    Harden can carry a team and still have severe faults such as being extremely stationary and easy to double. Why can't you acknowledge that? They aren't mutually exclusive premises.
     
  5. amaru

    amaru Member

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    I was shocked when Westbrook said that he's "basically just running around out there" after one of his stinkers. How can a coach allow his the highest paid player on his team to NOT KNOW WHAT THE HELL THE TEAM IS TRYING TO DO OUT THERE!?!?!?!
     
  6. Nook

    Nook Member

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    How is that in reference to anything I said? Coach D’Antoni has said that he likes teams doubling Harden, especially away from the basket because it creates spacing for the other players on the court and open shots.

    James Harden isn’t a perfect basketball player but he certainly isn’t the reason the Rockets lost to the Lakers. James Harden can have poor shooting nights that really hurt and still can have sloppy turnovers late in the game (although he has improved on this; he had a game against OKC that was poor in this regard).

    The Rockets need to add a more detail oriented coach that has strong leadership qualities. I have no reason to believe it will be an issue with James Harden as he has done what his coaches have asked him to do and improved some area of his game every season.
     
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  7. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    Never stop working.

    [​IMG]
     
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  8. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    Because the system only exists for them role players who are supposed to make shots and drive.

    Superstars in MDA's setup can do pretty much what they want, they listen to MDA but much less.
     
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  9. Nook

    Nook Member

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    @Nook[/QUOTE]
    Keep in mind that the statement by Morey is self serving in that it means nothing really other than possibly putting MDA at ease. Also if I remember correctly the statement was made after game 1 against the Lakers where the Rockets didn’t played the style of play the Rockets wanted to play... that was before the Rockets and MDA spent 4 straight games not pushing the speed of the game or shooting 3’s.... there is no defense for MDA suddenly deviating from everything they were trying to do.
     
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  10. amaru

    amaru Member

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    That could be that. But from the way Westbrook made the statement, I got the impression that MDA wasn't telling him anything and that he would have welcomed some feedback.
     
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  11. SamFisher

    SamFisher Contributing Member

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    Meh, given that society is crumbling around us while the players are trapped in an Orlando menagerie for us to gawk at, imma give everyone a free pass, even you Till and Pat. **** 2020.
     
  12. fchowd0311

    fchowd0311 Contributing Member

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    I'm suspicious that Dantoni is just covering and masking Harden's flaws rather than believing this is the best way to play. Remember Dantoni prefers a 10 second or less offense. He's adapted to Harden.
     
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  13. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    Well said, it was entertaining, now curtains fall and we should continue fight for survival.
     
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  14. DaDakota

    DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

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    At least House got laid.

    DD
     
  15. amaru

    amaru Member

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    To be fair, Harden adapted to MDA as well. Remember Harden's initial surprised to being named PG? But he went along with it because MDA felt it was the best way to win.
     
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  16. Nook

    Nook Member

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    I agree. First, Westbrook had been on the Rockets all season... he shouldn’t have let himself get into that position ... but after it became clear he was struggling he should have been pulled aside by his coaches and they should have worked on things with him.

    This season it felt like a lot of things were thrown together. The coaching staff was cheap because of the owner. They basically passed on all the elite defensive coaches because of money and the players could not adapt to Turner.

    If Tilman wants to win, he doesn’t need to get involved with trying to get Westbrook and then go cheap on assistants.

    For example, tomorrow the Rockets need to reach out to Alvin Gentry and see if they can add him to their staff as an associate head coach. Doesn’t matter that they don’t know who their head coach is; get Gentry in the organization because he is a top 5 assistant in all of basketball. Gentry also makes adjustments unlike some others. The Rockets need to our spend other teams when special assistants are available.
     
  17. baller4life315

    baller4life315 Contributing Member

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    @Nook, as always, great stuff.

    Your posts have always been on point.
     
  18. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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    It was a total top to bottom dominating defeat for the Rockets, but when your best player is -29 for the series and is just generally playing poorly with consistent low effort the team has a huge problem.
     
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  19. amaru

    amaru Member

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    Oh I'm not absolving Russell of any blame, but it's literally the coach's main job to ensure all of his (or her) players are on the same page. If the head coach isn't doing that then what the hell is he (she) doing?

    But yes......a lot of this is on Tilman as well. He really came in a screwed this up.
     
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  20. Nook

    Nook Member

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    Maybe, but Harden has worked hard and has been successful at improving other parts of his game that were flaws or criticized... so I have no reason to believe this one point would be in different.
     
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