TNT crew says Rockets aren't legit contenders; Howard isn't a great player.

The Rockets have a 14-12 record in the West... that's not gonna cut it.

 

This seems to be an annual issue for us. Good record against the East but average to bad record against the West. I wonder why that is. It doesn't bode well for playoff success.

 

Well, as of now, I can't say I disagree. The Rockets as they are playing now are not really championship contenders. They are a young team and a work in progress. They are a playoff team, but not a contender.

 

He got a couple of phantom calls from the officials unfortunately. It's gonna happen some games, which is why having someone like Asik is so important.

 

I thought this was an interesting article on Dwight Howard, written before the beginning of the season and appears to hold true at this point of the season:

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/58672126/

Dwight is not a great post-player but from the games I've seen him play this season (and in previous seasons), he seems reluctant to engage in what he does best - PnR. Instead, he insists on demanding the ball and attempting to establish himself as a post player. Yes, he has worked with McHale and Hakeem to improve his post moves, but what we need to realize is that it is doubtful his skill would improve drastically at this stage of his career. It's unfortunate, considering the talents we have on this team that could benefit from just employing simple pick and roll plays.

 

yes its Lin's fault that no one contributed in the 2nd half. you are absolutely correct. bev would come in and give us that missing 50 points. did you also find a cure for cancer yet?

 

In the past I think the Rockets were outmanned against the West in terms of their overall talent but they were scrappy and played hard every game, mostly running into trouble because the better teams had a higher gear they could shift to when they really felt the pressure to win. So yeah, they took care of business against crap teams but struggled against the good ones, putting them right in the middle of the pack every year.

This year's team, though, I think has the talent to beat good teams on any given night but the chemistry isn't coming together (you can tell the players don't trust each other or the game plan when they're pressed) and it's made worse because the team doesn't play with much urgency. Really hurts on defense, especially. Even when the Rockets win, they're frustrating to watch because they don't value possessions (everyone is turnover-prone, many ill-advised shots and passes), disciplined offensive teams make their heads spin on defense, and they don't seem to have a system on offense they can rely on to get easy shots when momentum turns against them. Everything is pulling teeth. It's like an ugly flashback to the Stevie Franchise era.

 

On the plus side... games like this take the sting out of the whole Comcast debacle. I've adapted to not being able to see most games.

When you have your 2 backup centers sitting (Asik for a long time), plus your best defensive point guard missing for the game, you can't expect miracles. It is true that OKC also has injury problems but it's harder to definitively judge the team's status without consistent playing time for the roster as planned.

One ingredient that seems missing in the limited games I've been able to watch, is I don't see a sense of focus (urgency, if you will) in their play. If the game is coming easy they look good, but when they have to grind they don't seem that focused to me. That helps all around when trying to gauge their performance. That was the most telling comment by Shaq after the game... "You've got to really want it." That, I don't see, as a team. Just like 7 feet can't be taught, the hunger and drive of a Jordan or Bryant, apparently, can't be transferred, either. Too bad. I'm sure that is frustrating for McHale. Did he play with passion night in and night out? You bet. (endorsed by C. Barkley as the toughest player he played against) Does he wish he could put that into his players heads? No doubt. The reality? It can't be taught, but caught, like a disease. That is an intangible effect of a player like Beverly. When he's out the team demeanor suffers. Any one player can definitely inspire and affect his teammates -- a la Bobby Sura. (And I think the famous quote by Thomas Edison, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration!" can be adapted to this whole desire/passion perspective in sports.)

I have often thought that film sessions should be a teaching moment to try to get players to think like the coaching staff, and maybe some do. When the defense changes and takes away what was successful in the first half, there should be automatic adjustments in the players' heads that shouldn't require a post-game film session. These things should be correctable on the fly. Sometimes, though, if you don't have the personnel to implement the changes, your hamstrung. That may be part of the problem, too.

Howard should be good enough for a team to be a contender. How is it that he is better than centers on most other "contending" teams, and the Rockets can still be labeled as "not true contenders?" That implies the lacking is elsewhere, not the center position. Chemistry? Third scorer? Defense? The TNT crew seemed to agree that the team is not a defensive juggernaut. Whenever I've seen any team become aggressive with an "in-your-face" type of defense, it almost always creates problems for even the best offenses. So why don't teams play that way on a regular basis? I don't know? But I think that is why we like Beverly's defense.

The TNT crew assessment isn't completely right, but mostly. The Rockets are a work in progress. Most contending teams have more than one season together with their basic rotations. The Rockets don't. I'm willing to give them more time to improve in all these areas.

 

That's what people have been saying. We always beat the push overs but fold when pressure picks up.

 

Right, dumber than someone who wanted to draft Vince "my game did not translate to the NFL" Young.

Read your own signature, idiot!

 

What people need to take into consideration is that nobody in this league is playing inside out anymore...Dwight has never played in a system where he ATE first....Shaq averaged 19 attempts in Orlando and LA....why? Because the TRIANGLE was run through HIM and HIM only no matter how much Kobe b****ed about it....

You will notice that there have been games this year where McHale said **** it...and went through Dwight...sometimes Harden was out...and Dwight got 17- 20 touches...even with missed free throws...Dwight usually had 30 plus points and 15 plus rebounds....but McHale has to keep Parsons, Lin, Harden Happy....this is a shoot first and not play defense kind of team....nobody should be surprised at the outcome...

Dwight is not Shaq...he is not Hakeem...but this narrative about Dwight not being a winner and not becoming the man is growing real old...Dwight is not the reason Houston is loosing...he was not the reason LA lost last year...The man is averaging 11.3 attempts a game....there is no way he can be a truly dominant center with such few touches..his lack of touches has nothing to do with his skill set or mind frame....and he is being ASKED to set screens...the same way he was asked to do so in LA to placate Kobe...no center of Dwights caliber should be asked to set that many screens...Notice Kenny was alluding to this last night...

The system in which Dwight is playing is not conducive to a center...the man is still rebounding, he is still a top 5 defensive player in the league...the only thing he needs to continue to work on in his free throws....Dwight is the only guy on that team that plays defense...and he has a coach who does not have the balls to tell the rest of the team that the offense will be run through Dwight for large stretches of the game...if Phil was coaching this team....its a wrap....

 

Don't confuse triangle offense VS inside ISO or outside ISO. Freestyle coaching.

 

this has been said on this forum by many people.

However, people would not believe it. They are blind to it.

Instead of listening to what other people say they should try to actually watch games and come up with their own analysis of how good a player is.

I'm not saying Harden and Howard can't reach greatness. They simply aren't there at the moment.

 

right on point.

 

we never were contenders even on paper before the season started
howard was supposed to be a great player for us, but he's been playing like an average all star.

this roster isnt gonna get it done. i thought good enough for the 2nd round, but now im not even sure about that, too many problems. most arent hard to solve. even when everyone's healthy, the team gets lulled into one on one basketball.

starts dont come by easy so i dont wanna trade dwight or harden. next season we'll see if harden starts playing more team ball on a consistent level. if he cant do that, sry but i want him gone. by next season hewould have plenty of time to figure out how to play within a team. 2015 is supposed to be big with fa's anyway. i hope mchale is gone too. he was good for the rebuilidng phase, but that parts over. he's not supposed to be the ehad coach. dont mind assistant

all we can do now is enjoy the rockets right now. some good games, some bad games, some head bashing games, w/e. playoff locks for the next 2 years

 

Disagree on Howard part. This team needs to play Howard as a central piece on both ends. He won't qualify for this league if you put him playing at 1.

 

Love Barkley, but he's not exactly objective when it comes to the Rockets.

 

I can't wait till when we DO win the championship we are only going up people then I want dwight to say on national tv F you shaq and F you Charles he won't do it but something along the lines of when KG said what can they say now or when lebron said hate now I want dwight to do that when we are holding up the trophy

 

Barkley can kiss my donkey's ass!

 

Howard is definitely not the problem, it is the system that is in place because it sin' maximizing the team's potential. We are getting out coached on a nightly basis