Only in one of the L (Portland) Butler and adebayo played. In the 4 L butler and or Bam were injured. In 2 of the 5 L Miami had a 8 player Rotation
I think there's a chance we make the playoffs next year but it will depend on how we spend our money in free agency. If we get linear improvement from all our young guys and we add some high impact players I wouldn't be surprised if we fought for the playin next year. But it all depends on FA. We would need to add difference makers.
Interesting reading the rest of EG’s comments. He directly called out iso basketball. He’s calling for more ball movement and better defense. We know those things are about mentality and effort more than anything else. It’s clear the coach has lost the team and his system isn’t working. Isn’t it objectively time to reevaluate things and make some changes?
What system though. Teams that have no set plays default to Iso because it's the easiest thing to run and takes no brain
Great Article Are rebuilding Rockets showing improvement or not? It's complicated. Jonathan Feigen, Staff writer Jan. 2, 2023 Gift this article Share this article Comments Eric Gordon recently declared the Rockets have shown no improvement this season. But whether they've gotten better or regressed is complicated. Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer The Rockets had cleared the bench for a third consecutive game, and it was not to let the regulars enjoy the final minutes of a win. They ended the year with losses in eight of nine games. A particularly dreary New Year’s Eve loss to the Knickswas the sixth straight at home. None of that provided the gut punch that would come with one, short postgame sentence. Asked whether he had seen any improvement since the start of the season, struggling veteran guard Eric Gordon did not equivocate. 6 MONTHS FOR 99¢ ACT NOW “There’s no improvement,” Gordon said. It was red meat for those in the listening audience wishing to view the season as a failure as it moved from 2022 to 2023. But as the Rockets headed to Monday’s rematch with the Mavericks, who had sent them to one of those discouraging losses that informed Gordon’s mood and assessment, evaluating whether they have improved or if they have improved enough is considerably more complicated. Putting aside whether the Rockets as a whole have improved, individual Rockets clearly have. Kevin Porter Jr., K.J. Martin and to some degree Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun are better players this season than last season. Usman Garuba, who missed most of his rookie season with injuries and illness, is the team’s plus/minus leader on the strength of his defense and rebounding. Beyond that, if this season’s Rockets could play last season’s Rockets, this season’s version — with the same 10-26 record as it began the new year — would be a heavy favorite. This despite that last season’s team included Christian Wood, a proven NBA scorer, Jae’Sean Tate, who is the tough-minded glue the Rockets have desperately missed because of an injury, and Gordon, who played on a very different level then than he has this season. Gordon’s assessment, and any evaluation of the Rockets, can be prisoner to the moment. If the Rockets were to be judged after wins against the Bucks, 76ers and Suns (twice) they would have been thought to have been greatly improved. At least one expert on the subject, Eric Gordon, said then they had “turned the corner.” If they are to be judged by the two weeks since, they seemed to have made another turn, going around the bend and back to where they had been before — or worse. “Losing hurts,” Martin said. “It hurts for anybody. But having an understanding, it takes time, and you just have to stick with it and relay that message to the new guys, that’s all you can really do.” As with all snapshots at any point of an NBA season, zooming in too tightly at any particular moment can be misleading. The Rockets reached the point in that ‘turned the corner’ stretch that they expected to win much more regularly than they had. But at the start of the season, when they faced the incredibly frontloaded schedule in which they never played in the same city in consecutive games for a month, they played almost unfailingly hard. They started 1-9 and were 3-14 before they started a five-game home winning streak. But even when losing, they were a hard-playing, tough out. They have not been that in the nine games since the second win Dec. 13 against the Suns. Losses piled up early in the season. Bad losses have come in recent weeks. “We’re just learning still,” Sengun said. “We’re so young. We’re sometimes losing bad and then we (defeat) a big team, doing good at the end of the game. We’re so young we can lose our focus sometimes. We’re going to get better.” Beyond that, while showing improvement on shortcomings along the way, most have flared up again, leading to the “no improvement” frustration. The Rockets are the NBA’s most turnover-prone team, as they were last season. But they were cutting down on turnovers, averaging 15.8 in December before the final three games when they averaged 17.7. Their averages of 17.4 and the 21.6 points they allow per game off turnovers are the most in the NBA. Porter’s average of 3.7 turnovers per game is tied for the fifth-most in the NBA. But that puts him in good company. Joel Embiid, James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Trae Young average more. Ja Morant, Luka Doncic, Paul George, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant round out the top 10. It is typical for the player that handles the ball and triggers the offense most often to lead in turnovers, as the Rockets saw in the years with Harden. The Rockets, however, pile up turnovers throughout the rotation. They are not Harden playing with Trevor Ariza and P.J. Tucker. The Rockets’ defense similarly improved, and then slumped. They were ranked 15th defensively in the first two weeks of December. They have ranked 24th since. They were 28th to start December and rank 28th overall this season. The Rockets were 20th last month, indicating that there was some improvement but that was a low bar to clear. The Rockets are greatly improved at defending at the rim compared to a year ago. But the defense, though impacted by other issues, has trended the wrong way again. LATEST SPORTS NEWS Colts starting Sam Ehlinger at QB vs. Texans in season finale Are Rockets showing improvement or not so far? It's complicated. Breaking down Houston's No. 2 ranking in AP basketball poll Cliff Gustafson, who won two baseball titles at Texas, dies at 91 Alabama QB Bryce Young, LB Will Anderson declare for NFL draft The shooting has collapsed. They have made a league-worst 44.3 percent of their shots. That was misleading when they began December ranked 15th in 3-point percentage. But even including the Rockets’ good stretch, they made just 30 percent of their 3s in December. The poor shooting has also damaged spacing, contributing to the turnover issues. The rebounding has gone from a weakness to a strength, providing the quick, easy answer to whether there has been improvement. The Rockets were 28th in rebounding percentage last season. They are first this season. They are second in second-chance points scored per game. There has been individual progress. Porter and Green are scoring more and more often make plays for teammates than last season. Sengun still struggles but is less of a liability defensively and is less prone to foul trouble. Martin, a relative veteran in his third NBA season, has become much more consistent on both ends. Yet, overall, steps forward seem to bring steps back. Recent losses to Dallas and New York showed that they cannot be solid in some ways and horrible in others — transition defense against the Mavericks, ball control against the Knicks — and still compete. Mercurial progress might not be unexpected. The NBA is not about what teams and players can do but what they can do consistently. Young players and teams are inherently inconsistent. The Rockets play the youngest rotation in the NBA with nine players 21 years old or young. They rely on six rotation players in their first or second season. “We’ve just got to focus on every day, coming into practice, getting better, listening to what the coaches have for us and going out and playing hard,” Martin said. “If we go out, play hard, play the right way, we can live with whatever outcome comes. “I feel like defensively, we’re way better than we were in the past. Offensively, we’re better also and we’re still learning. We have a lot of guys on this team, it’s their first year. I have to have understanding that they’re still learning. I’ve got to think of where I was my first year when I was playing. That’s all it is: guys learning the NBA game.” To have a goal to play hard enough to live with the results seems to be a return to where the Rockets were to start the season. That could indicate a lack of progress. Or it could mean that even if they improved in some ways, it was not enough to stray from the original, simple goals for the season to play hard and get better. They have 3 ½ months to be able to truly answer if they have.
Dude, why can’t u get your team back in transition. Why don’t your players pass the ball? Why do we have little to no offensive structure? Why is our best and only veteran questioning your coaching in the press?
improvement or not just fire this man! of course there is some improvement...and it would be even greater improvement if silas werent here lol
Gordon trying hard to get traded lol. It’s funny he complains when he’s a sht vet for these guys to mirror with his nothing defense, 30 foot attempts and power yelling after every drive. Get this fking guy outta here. Go find a better vet for these kids.
Top 10 in turnovers but can't carry the team as well as those in the top 10 equal recipe for a losing season
The least Gordon could have done was call out that said player to light a fire under his a$$. All he did was ruin the locker room chemistry. Gordon probably didn't want soup to b thrown at him
