What is the biggest recent fail by the Rockets?

Note: I'm not trying to troll or anything, just curious.

A 56 win WCF team doesn't just fall off a cliff to 0.500, playing some of the most unwatchable basketball ever seen, especially a team that is supposedly stacked like ours.

This team is a failure, plain and simple.

So I ask, what is the biggest recent failure of this Rockets' franchise? There is a poll and explanations below.

1. Not Getting Lawson to Gel in with the Roster:
For this season, this is probably the biggest failure. Lawson was supposed to be the piece to complete the puzzle. If he played like anything close to what he is capable of, this Rockets team should be completing with the best in the league.

Obviously, this has not been the case. Lawson has been terrible, and while it is on him as a player to play the game, we did not do a good job at setting him up to succeed. Too many times this season, especially early on, Lawson was pulled when he made one mistake or didn't even get the chance to play the game. What kind of system is that? Pull a player when he makes one mistake? It is compounded because everyone was playing like crap to start the season and yet it seemed like Lawson was the only one that was disciplined for his mistakes. I mean, Brewer was the worst player in the NBA to start the season (arguably still is), yet he was allowed to make mistake after mistake. Just doesn't make any sense and now I think we are seeing the consequences of that failure. Lawson is playing so timid that he is afraid to make any kind of mistake. We took a top 15 PG and turned him into the next candidate for Chinese Basketball.

2. Not Getting a Proper Swingman Backup:
When Brewer first got here, I remember being so happy that we finally got suitable back up for Harden (and Ariza). At the time, both Harden and Ariza were playing >38mpg and there was no way they would survive the season if they had to keep that pace up. But then I saw how much he struggled to shoot and how erratic he plays and immediately became weary of him. I was a little concerned when we resigned him this summer and his play this season has confirmed that concern 100-fold. Brewer cannot be the 6th man for a great team. He is a good player to bring in at certain situations, but that's it.

Ever since we got Harden, we have not found a suitable back up for him. We tried so many players and nothing has worked. James Anderson, Jordan Hamilton, Troy Daniels, Robert Covington, Reggie Williams, Corey Brewer and Marcus Thornton have all been disappointing and failed to provide sufficient back up minutes for Harden. How hard is it to find a real back-up swingman? Obviously, for this Rockets team, damn near impossible.

3. Not Finding Good PF Play:
I will admit that I will be fair with this one. The Rockets were so close to signing Bosh and Dmo has been hurt but still, our PF position has been a joke. 3 years of mediocre play from the PF position. Its even worst because the West is FULL of amazing PF that consistently burn us.

Is it really that hard to find at least a back up PF that can help rebound and defend good PFs?

4. Not Incorporating Howard into this Team Well Enough:
This goes beyond this season but its mind-boggling that we have rarely used Howard effectively. I understand that Howard wants to post up but how hard is it to run pick and roll more often? It was so obvious that pairing Harden and Howard together should have been so easy since their strengths are both in pick and roll, yet 3 years later, they rarely even run it anymore. Just doesn't make sense.

And even when Howard is doing good on the post, this team does not know how to throw post passes to save their lives. How is that even possible? They had the two most dynamic post players in NBA history in practices in McHale and Hakeem, yet they do no understand post passes? What a joke.

5. Not Prioritizing Coaching Enough:
This might not be the best point but look at where the Warriors and Rockets were after the 2014 season. Both were young up and coming teams that had the talent but there were questions if the coaching would be enough. Warriors made the change and look where they are now. We didn't make a change and look where we are.

Of course, it helps that the Warriors have an all time great team but the Rockets were consistently dominating the Warriors before they made their coaching change with basically the same teams. Not saying that we have an all time great team (we don't) but great coaching took a good team like the 2014 Warriors to the highest level, and what have we done?

6. Too Much Reliance on the 3, but No Shooters:
I know that with Morey-Ball, shooting anything close to league average from 3 still means that you are playing efficient basketball but this team over relies on the 3 but have no shooters! We haven't had a shooter on this roster since Troy Daniels, and he was in the dog house more than on the floor. Before that, the only shooter I can recall the Rockets having is Carlos Delfino. That's it. The three point happy Rockets are relying on career 36% three point shooters to hit threes for them while everyone has at least 40% shooters.

I just don't understand why we have Brewer and Jones taking three pointers when they are terrible 3-point shooters? Why can't we find someone who can shoot somewhere close to 40% from three? Other teams are taking Morey-Ball and actually putting shooters in positions to take those shots and they are feeding with points.

 

After watching this game, coaching has to be the biggest fail.

JB and his stupid rotations have lost us so many games. Does he even watch the game he is paid to coach?

Unbelievable.