Still to early to judge or really evaluate the team... It has to be after the all-star break. This team has not been playing together long enough. They are just now starting to understand their roles. That answer also goes with the OP's question about McHale. No coach or player is above criticism, but my question to the OP and to Roxxy is why are you just singling out Bev? Is it because McHale has decided to start him over Lin? Just I stated above each player has to understand his role and with a lot of great scorers you have an opposite team mate who's a good defender.... Lewis Lloyd - Mitchell Wiggins Isiah Thomas - Joe Dumars Andrew Toney - Maurice Cheeks. It's really hard to have a shooting pg and sg on the floor at the same time, you have to have balance. The problem with Lin and Hardin on the floor at the same time is both have to have the ball in their hands and that just want work. Especially now that you have Dwight and Asik down low to establish a low post game. So the argument with Bev starting doesn't make sense, since it's all about chemistry and how they play together. The argument about McHale doesn't make sense, since you need to give it time. McHale has made some questionable decisions, but at the same time the team is playing pretty good. So again i'm trying to understand the point of this thread? T_Man
In the OP's mind McHale cannot be criticized now without the LOF tag being thrown around. The fact that he's constantly referenced Lin's minutes, benching and this "immunity" only happening since Lin's been here has caused others to point out that the OP isn't disguising his true intent very well. That and there are at least two other threads dedicated to criticizing McHale.
Does it concern anyone that our starting PG Patrick Beverly had only 2 Asts in 33 minutes against a bad Hawks team when the Rockets did not have Harden and Lin on the court. Beverly was the primary floor general running the offense and he manages only 2 Asts and 7 points on 25% FG while our third string PG Aaron Brooks once again light it up with 21 points on 7-12 and 4 Asts on only 27 minutes. Why is McHale starting Beverly and giving him this many minutes over Brooks and Lin? Especially games Harden isn't playing. Brooks is a vastly better spot up 3-point shooter as well and I see him being more of a complement to Harden's game than Bev. Especially when Harden is not in the lineup.
McHale's faults does not just start and end with starting Beverly over Lin and Brooks. It has to do with his inability to make Harden and Parsons try on Defense. It also has to do with his inability to adjust his game plan when opposing coaches makes adjustments.
Exactly beating a scrub team with Howard (best center in the NBA), Parsons (up and coming good player), Brooks (former MIP who still got it) doesn't deserve a pat on the back. If the Rockets wasn't playing a scrub Eastern Conference team it might have mattered that the Rockets starting PG only had 2 asts when he was the primary ball handler and floor general. How is Beverly able to get this many minutes when this team has Brooks and Lin especially when Harden wasn't in the lineup. Beverly is the worst, maybe 2nd worst after Felton, starting PG in the whole NBA.
I didn't say Harden is a chucker. Learn to read. I said Harden is a volume shooter and he is. Durant is also a volume shooter which is also true. Those are 2 of the players who shoot the most in the whole NBA. There is only a few players in the league who shoots as much as Harden.
He's not untouchable, it's just the criticism related to Jeremy Lin is unwarranted, and tbh, ludicrous. There is no fault in starting Beverley over Lin, it was the right thing to do, it continues to be the right thing to do. The shonky perimeter rotations on the other hand...
I 100% agree. McHale is an avg coach. He is hardly the best and not the worst. He is avg or below avg which means Rockets fans should be allowed to point out where McHale is failing and need to improve. We did that to JVG and Adelman. We did that for McHale his first year here but all of a sudden now he can not be critic anymore which needs to stop. That is the point of the thread. When people come to McHale's defense, like he is perfect, for pointing out obvious coaching errors that makes no sense.
I don't think the rookie for all intents and purposes Patrick Beverly should start over Brooks. Beverly is the worst or 2nd worst starting PG in the NBA. Brooks' 3-point prowess matches up better with Howard and Harden. When Harden is not playing that makes it even more obvious the worst starting PG in the league Beverly should not start those games.
LOL... you are super salty about Bev. His role on this team isn't floor general, as Harden and Lin share those duties. His role is spot-up shooting and on-ball defense. Teague had his worst game of the season by far tonight with Bev on him, as evidenced by those stats up there you're choosing to ignore.
Teague only played 25 minutes today. If being a defensive specialist with no offensive game and almost no ability to run an offense and dish out an asts when James Harden is not playing means you should be the starter then I guess the other 29 NBA head coaches don't know what they are doing.
When Lin and Harden are healthy, Bev doesn't typically need to run the offense. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a single coach in the NBA who would base his starting lineup on what weaknesses might arise if/when his starting playmaker and secondary playmaker/6th man are out on the same night (which is what you're suggesting, in an extreme reach).
Teague only played 25 minutes and took 5 shots today. How many points is he supposed to score? He normally plays 33.5 minutes and takes 14.3 shots.
I think you're too focused on position titles (i.e., PG vs. shooting guard). Harden was out today, so Lin started in his place. When Bev and Lin start together, Lin typically runs the offense -- so why would you need AB to do that? I'm not sure what's confusing about that.