[Chron] Player-by-player Recap

Player grades from the Chron

But first, here's my take on the players and the season:

A switch needs to go off in our important rotation players' heads collectively that they want to win the championship more than anything. I think Dwight is close to that point but the rest of our guys are still too young & not fully mature.

• Parsons' aim is to get his big contract so he'll be less of a glue guy until then.
• Harden is about having fun and not yet fully focused.
• Asik wants to be a starter and even though he played an unbelievable series, he wouldn't have pouted at the season's start if he was 100% serious.
• Lin is habitually doubting himself and trying to fix his game so how can we expect him to contribute to top notch team play?
• Jones/Motiejunas are still improving their own play and trying to become consistent, same as Lin
• Our wing bench players are trying to prove they belong in the NBA to earn another contract.

Beverley may be the only one playing for the team at the moment.

To hope for the championship as fans, we first need to see the commitment from our players. We'll know it when we see it. They definitely weren't committed this year, proven by the fact that Sampson left before the playoffs. They talk big but I don't honestly believe that they're wanting it bad enough yet. They all want to "get better" but those are individual goals, not a group goal.

I really think talent is not the issue for this team, and that Morey has more or less done his job. We need to find the key to get the players focused and set on the same goal. Whenever they do buy into the championship goal alone, is when our perimeter guys will start playing the kind of defense that we all would like to see from this group.

=======

Anyway, here are the summaries from the link. They are pretty high all around given that we were a 50+ win team for the regular season. Harden didn't get his A though. He deserved it for regular season play, but obviously not after the playoffs.


Omer Asik

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $8,374,646, guaranteed

Comment: Asik began the season wanting out, let his frustrations boil over when he was removed from the starting lineup and struggled early in the season. But he was outstanding when he returned from a stubborn injury, especially late in the season when Dwight Howard was out and in playoffs.

Grade: B

Patrick Beverley

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $915,243, unguaranteed

Comment: Beverley went from unknown to respected pest to among the top defensive point guards in the league. He was a good complement to James Harden as a ball mover and shooter, if not a consistent scoring threat.

Grade: B

Isaiah Canaan

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $816,482, guaranteed

Comment: Canaan had an outstanding season in the D-League, which was all that was expected. In brief stretches with the Rockets, he struggled, but he was drafted in the second-round to be a project.

Grade: B

Omri Casspi

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $1,063,384, unguaranteed

Comment: After a promising start, primarily as a range-shooting four, Casspi fell out of the Rockets rotation completely, never quite filling the enormous void as a backup small forward.

Grade: C

Robert Covington

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $816,482, unguaranteed

Comment: An undrafted free agent, Covington was the D-League Rookie of the Year and D-League All Star game MVP. He never picked up a place in the Rockets rotation, but offered a promising rookie season under the circumstances.

Grade: A

Troy Daniels

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $816,482, team option

Comment: After setting all kinds of 3-point shooting records in the D-League, Daniels, an undrafted free agent, was a show-stopper in the post-season in Games 3 and 4, including the Game winner in Game 3. His D-League days seem over.

Grade: A

Francisco Garcia

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $1,316,809, player option

Comment: Garcia is among the Rockets’ most respected locker room leaders, but given the Rockets’ lack of wing depth, they needed more, especially in the post-season when he fell from the reputation.

Grade: C +

Jordan Hamilton

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: Free agent

Comment: After a promising start following the trade deadline deal, Hamilton faded and lost his place in the rotation.

Grade: C +

James Harden

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $14.728,844

Comment: Harden will almost certainly be first- or second-team All NBA and among the top five or six MVP candidates. His regular season was that good, even with his frequent and glaring defensive lapses. He dropped off badly in the post-season, however, where he knew players at his level are measured.

Grade: B +

Dwight Howard

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $21,436,271

Comment: Howard was brought in to take the Rockets much farther than just to six post-season games, but he stepped up big-time in the series, scoring, defending, rebounding and leading. The season was a disappointment; the star was not.

Grade: A

Terrence Jones

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $1,618,680

Comment: After playing rarely as a rookie, Jones took over as a starter and had a solid season. He had a tendency to go from making great impact, especially at home, and then disappearing. He could be a difference-maker, but given the wealth of power forward stars in the West, might not be the answer as the starter.

Grade: B +

Jeremy Lin

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $8,374,646

Comment: Lin moved to a sixth-man role where he could look for his own offense more freely, but he often struggled to be that assertive. Still, he was solid through most of the season, if not quite the instant offense force of the bench he seems capable of being in the Rockets offense.

Grade: B

Donatas Motiejunas

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $1,483,920

Comment: Motiejunas had his moments and brings great energy, but was often overmatched defensive. That kept him from the post-season rotation, and pushes him to a third season needing to turn his offensive skills into reliable production.

Grade: B -

Chandler Parsons

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: $964,750, team option

Comment: Parsons has come so far it sometimes seems that he ought to do even more. He was the Rockets third-leading scorer, had a strong playoff series and was the glue throughout the season, as the Rockets without him demonstrated.

Grade: A –

Josh Powell

Spoiler

2014-15 contract: NA, unguaranteed

Comment: Powell stopped by for the last game of the season, the only game in which he played.

Grade: Incomplete

 

All true. We had more covered up holes than many thought going into the post-season.

 

If the organization was locked in with a confident chance of getting through the western conference finals, Sampson would have stayed to coach our defense. The organization being locked in is a product of the players being locked in. That's how I went from A to B.