Just a few thoughts on the team and where they are at this point in the season. Better Than I Expected The teams youth and lack of experience has been discussed many times but it's worth repeating how amazing it is that they are as good as they are this early. Out of their 15 wins, they have quality wins against Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York (twice), Boston and Utah. Thats almost half of their wins against play-off teams. These teams can be called pretenders, non-contenders etc... but it does not matter because they are still supposed to be better than a team full kids that have only played together for a couple of months. The Rockets are not supposed to be able to consistently beat play-off teams yet but they are doing just that. I think the Rockets will be even better after the all-star break than they are right now but I would not be shocked if they hit a wall at some point since none of them have ever started a full season. The Next Big Test The Rockets have not been very good against the West (3 wins - 10 losses) or on the Road (3 wins - 7 losses). Young teams normally have a hard time getting wins on the road and between now and the end of February the Rockets will only have 8 games at home vs. 15 on the Road. The nice thing is that almost half of those games will come against the east. The Eurostep It looks like James Harden starts at the top of the key and is at the rim in just 2 steps for a lay-up or a foul. His first 2 games as a Rocket were so good that I think a lot of us just expected he would have those type of games every night with out needing any adjustment to his new team at all. He kept his scoring average up but his shooting percentage certainly dipped for a while. But during the month of December he has really turned it on averaging 27 PPG, 5 APG, 5 RPG and 2 SPG on .451 FG% and .340 3Pt%. Plus he is punishing opponents by getting to the free throw line almost 11 times a game hitting almost .920 FT%. I still have to remind myself that this guy is only 23 years old and will not be 24 until next summer. Jeremy Lin and James Harden CAN NOT Play Together Well, at least that is what it looked like up until the last couple of games. But after the Knicks and 76er games maybe we are finding out that statement is not true. Against the Knicks they combined for 50 points, 11 assists, 14 rebounds and 4 steals. Against the 76ers they combined for 51 points and 13 assists. Two games do not make a season but I think it shows what these two can do when they both play well together. So why are they being successful now? I think it's multiple things. First, I think Jeremy has just improved his offense. I don't see Jeremy just settling for the 3pt shot. Jeremy is catching the ball and moving into his comfort zone to take a few more shots inside the arc, he is driving to the basket with more confidence and finishing with great efficiency plus we are seeing him and Harden develop some chemistry. We are starting to see some 1 - 2 pick and rolls executed with efficiency and success. I think what really needs to be stressed is the fact that Jeremy has been consistently good since the first Knicks games. Since that time, Jeremy is hitting almost .500 FG% and .380 3Pt%. He has gradually become more and more aggressive to what we have seen the last two games. He has made this improvement in his game with out sacrificing the rest of his game. Jeremy's defense is solid, with regards to Harden who is the teams best player, Jeremy is the teams best ball handler. Plus he is playing almost 33 minutes a game and only averaging 2.7 turnovers a game. I'll take that any day of the week from my point guard. Point Guard Position Settled For Now Jeremy Lin has settled in as the starting point guard, if there was any type of debate on the subject it should at least be quiet now. The great thing about the debate being settled is that Tony Douglas has turned into a really nice back up point guard. The guy is just a pest on defense and has turned into a reliable offensive option hitting .533 3pt% over the month of December and averaging 12 PPG off of the bench. While is no where as good of a passer or floor general as Lin his ball handling is pretty good. He has turned into a guy that can come in and be a turn up the tempo on the game. I can't believe I'm typing this but I'm loving the way he is playing off of the bench. The Curious Case of Carlos Delfino Maybe it's just me but I cringe every time this guy steps on the floor. He is a streaky 3pt shooter that just drives daggers into the hearts of the opponents when he is on. The problem for me is that he is not on enough. When his shot is not falling (which is a lot of the time) he aggressively makes mistakes that makes me want to kick the hell out of my TV. He is a turn over machine when he has the ball, the stats might not support this but from watching the damn game he makes more bad passes that either turns into a steal, gets tipped and causes the rest of the team to get out of position or just flat out looses the ball because he dribbles too high. Change's I Would Like To See I would like to see Pat left on the sideline. I like the team with out him. I think Marcus Morris is better at stretching the opposing teams defense, I think he is a better rebounder (although still not good) and I think he is a more skilled player. I don't want Marcus to be the permanent starter but the starter until our permanent starting Power Forward is developed or acquired. I would like to see Donatos Motiejunas inserted into the rotation. He definitely needs to get more strength but he at least makes a conscious effort to box out for rebounds and he clearly has the most advanced post skills by a lot. Plus he is a legit 7 footer and has range out to the 3pt line. Who loses minutes if DMo is inserted into the rotation? PPat and Delfino going away would make me happy. Let DMo, Greg Smith and Tony D be the primary players off of the bench with Marcus Morris moving over to the 3 when Parsons is out. Let the minutes for the 9th player in the rotation be divided up between who ever is left on the bench based on match ups and whoever is in foul trouble. You Know Nothing Jon Snow! Yep, it's been proven time and time again that just maybe we as fans don't really know more than the coaching staff or the front office. Fan is short for Fanatic so it's our jobs to knee jerk, call for players like Donatos Motiejunas to be inserted into the starting line-up when he may not be ready, over react to wins and big performances from players like Chandler Parsons. After all it's what makes keeping up with the game so much fun. The truth is I was hopping for Marcus Morris to just go away prior to the season, I was wrong. I was hating the fact that the Rockets kept Tony Douglas since I did not think he was NBA material, I was wrong. I thought Jeremy Lin could use time in the D-League to work on his jumper, I was wrong. Yep we will all thump our chests when we are right but more often than not the coaches and front office has known what they are doing. Daryl Morey said that this team would be better than most thought. When so many of us thought this was a team of ill fitting parts and mostly undersized power forwards Daryl Morey saw something else and they are looking like a bunch of parts that are starting to fit together like a puzzle. At the very least they are a lot of fun to watch and at the most they are a legit pay-off contender with a legit superstar even though they are the youngest team in the league. The next couple of months are going to be very tough but I'm looking forward to watching them and as a fan there will be times that I will knee jerk so bad that I just might break my own jaw but as a fan I make no apologies. I love the way this team has been put together and can't wait for the future.
Good summary. I think the NEXT BIG TEST portion is the most meaningful comment, from a team perspective. Sample size is still too small given the uneven balance in home/road games. Cancelling that out is Lin. If he can keep up his play of 75% of Linsanity, then the team is infinitely better, clearly. But on the whole, better sooner. Asik maybe deserves a special mention. Not amazing anybody, but better than I expected - heck, from an ability to just play 31 mpg that's more than I expected. Many bigs struggle with conditioning, etc. and considering how big a jump it is for him. But he's a steady steady presence in the middle, if not spectacular and not as big of an impact defensively as I hoped (though I have supreme confidence with a solid overall defensive scheme he's still the supreme + defender he has been historically).
You forgot Omer Asik...one of the biggest surprises for me. We knew Lin and Harden could play good, but Asik and offense in the same sentence? I remember seeing a lot of negative posts here when Houston acquired him...
I completely agree on Asik, the guy has been much better than I expected. Great rebounder, defender and while he still has consistency issues scoring he is much better than advertised. A true double double machine.
I was most surprised/pleased by TD's usefulness! I think last year he was given too much to handle - but put the guy in a well-defined role (be aggressive, defend, and push the pace) and Douglas becomes a useful NBA role player! WHO KNEW!?! Amazing. Gotta say the guy fits really well next to either Harden or Lin as a shooter.
I love this post and would rec you if I could. I also totally agree with you on the Next Big Test, as well as the team hitting a wall at some point. In fact I think Asik is near to hitting that wall, which is why I think they brought in DMo and Jones, and why I'm so happy that Smith is stepping up. With this, you have Asik, Smith, DMo at center, and sometimes maybe play Smith and DMo at the same time (Smith under the rim, DMo as stretch 4). You have Morris, Jones, and DMo at 4, which would spell Parsons so that Parsons might only have to play at the 3 instead of his insane minutes where he was playing 3 and 4, depending. And giving that wall, I'm really glad that Lin and TD sorted themselves out when they did because that means that Harden gets more rest, Lin from Harden's playmaking duties, and TD for the spot up three. AND I'm glad to see that both TD and Parsons are stepping it up with assists and minor playmaking because that also relieves some pressure from the facilitating guards. (I consider TD more of a combo guard or SG than a PG) So with hope, the January roadtrips shouldn't be UTTERLY fubar, though frankly I'm still bracing myself a little. The game against the Grizzlies should be a good measuring stick, come to think of it.
At times, I think this is the TEAM of 'WHO KNEW!?!' Harden can be a starter, Asik has offense, Lin didn't implode, TD has use, Parsons looks like a first rounder, GREG ****ING SMITH, Morris proving his worth, TJones stuck behind Unibrow, DMo and being a 7ft 'stretch center'. Pft, next thing you know they'll somehow make better use of Aldrich and Cook and Patterson. (Or make White functional. #SHOT)
Maybe D'Antoni makes everyone who doesn't fit his system look like trash (he did just say recently that he wanted Gasol to shoot more threes -- LOLOL). Still, I'm surprised at Toney's good shooting. Even though we've known for a long time that he isn't a great playmaker, I thought he lost his shot too. Must have been his shoulder or confidence issues. He's streaky though so he may fall to earth a bit. I'm happy to see him do well; I thought he'd be out of the league after his contract expired. It's also nice to see the friendship/chemistry between Lin and Douglas -- a lesser man would resent Linsanity and all the hoopla over Lin.
I am happy that TD has actually found sort of a role on the lineup. The handful games where he stepped up in the 4th and actually drained a couple of 3s in some closing out games was a joy to see. I dont think anyone saw him pulling any kind of positive role out for the team, but he did and its awesome to see. This lineup is still young and like everyone said, sample size is a waiting game. Gotta see how it goes. I remember reading earlier there were comparisons to morey's choices like billy beane in moneyball. Weren't the As losing a lot of games in the beginning and everyone was like wtf is billy beane doing? And those games in the beginning were just sample size and the coaches and beane getting a read on what potential they had and how they could tweak the lineup? Maybe the rockets are slowly doing this...only roughly 25 games in we're seeing signs of improvement. I'm not saying their all of a sudden going to start winning a hundred games in a row but the coaches and everyone are slowly meshing and tweaking things.
^^ And how strange is it that they both came from the Knicks, after practically being run out of town.
The next big test really is just a few nights away in Memphis. We almost beat them early in the season. It would be a great win and the next stepping stone. I suspect Lin will have to be more reliant on his jump shot raer an just driving to the basket at will like the last two games. Also tony Allen will limit harden to some extent so the rest of the team needs to step up.
I agree. TD really surprised me. I am just so glad that he and Lin both find their niche in the game and are beginning to do really well. This is the best possible outcome I could imagine for the PT competition. I think with D-Mot and T Jones gradually developing their confidence and game experience, we will see a rather deep and dynamic team of Rockets.
Great post. Agree with everything you said, especially about the next big test. In a way I'm glad we're having our toughest stretch while the team is still gelling. There's going to be some ugly games, but it'll be better for us down the stretch. And playing against some tough teams on the road is going to help the team with their development. But yes, this team is definitely better than expected. We're 8th seed right now when everyone was predicting that the Rockets would be the worst team in the league. And I've grown to really like TD. If he ever gets traded I think I'm going to really miss him. In the Knicks game, Tina Cervasio said that in his interview, TD told her that his slump from last season was largely due to his injury and the subsequent shoulder surgery, so I guess that explains his shooting woes. While he still makes me cringe whenever he plays PG, I'd take him over Delfino anyday as spot up shooter.
25 games in and I have seen a grand total of 2 games. Thats right 2 GAMES COMCAST AND ROCKETS FREAKING 2. Streaming in pixelated ridiculousness doesnt count. carry on
have you been hiding under a rock? League pass is blacked out in houston. The monopoly where I live doesnt carry comcast. So I cant even get it if I wanted to pay for it. Just like you its a catch 22
