And this is the ONE thing we know for sure. Adelman may be slipping, I think he is. Throughout his career he has been called out for his mysterious rotations and substitution patterns. Admittedly, he doesn't have alot to work with, but I don't believe I have ever seen coaches call time outs when their team is in the midst of a breakaway score. I don't believe I have ever seen a coach come up with end of game plays as goofy as I have seen this year. Maybe Morey and Adelman are not on the same page. Maybe Morey's strategy is not working. Maybe Morey will come up with a miracle move that makes everything better. But maybe the the Rockets will just remain mediocre. This we do know, they are in no man's land right now, mediocre, not bad enough to score big in the draft, not good enough for the playoffs. This really stinks, and I promise you, many fans have already found other things to do.
I read a quote that made some sense, Morey is like someone in a store with money to buy, but no one is selling. It was said due to the uncertainty of what the new CBA will contain. I still believe that we are only a player or two away from a deep play off run or even a title. We have the support / complimentary players, just no one to support or compliment. We were built for Yao, all in and got delt a bad card. Do you fold? Or do you man up, stay in the game until you can get that ace to give you the full house you desire? If the ace doesn't come, (by trade dead line or in off season) then look at the options again. Tanking is NOT an option, we are not the clips, kings, wolves, Bobcats or raptors... we are the Rockets, heart of a champion, and champions don't tank. Especially when there is no Duncan, Shaq, LeBron or even Bogut in the coming drafts. Think how many games Kenny Smith, mad max, Horry, Thorpe would have one with out Olajuwon for a full season. Tanking is fools gold.
What a naive answer. Morey has built a team that would have been successful around Yao. In addition, Morey has built a team that would go into maintain mode if Yao had to miss some games. In a sense, his mathematical formula is working because we are average with out Yao. Consequently, had Yao miss a game here and there our team would have been able to maintain and win on average 50% of the games. Unfortunately, the worst case scenario occurred... Yao got injured and was out for the rest of the season. I bet you that Morey, as a GM, listened to what the doctors had to say. They probably said that the chances of re-aggravating the injury were possible but unlikely. So he decided to take his chances and stay put. I don't blame him because I would have done the same thing. The truth is that we may not know the whole story. But to me...it appears that the formula is working because we have survived what many teams would not be able to do. In a nutshell, I don't know how you can't be that impressed with his results.
I think Morey has several contingency plans should the most immediate plan fail .... Adleman may not like the options after 1 but , not a lot anyone can do about it including Morey. It takes two to tango and he hasnt been able to find a partner. Plan 1 is to make a move that gives them a chance to win it all this season. They are still within reach of the playoffs and if you get in you've got a shot. It wouldnt take a whole lot of change to make this team into a real contender instead of an also-ran. Plan 2 is to make a move that makes them contenders for next season but I think this only comes into play if they fall far enough out of contention that its not reasonable to be able to catch those teams ahead of them. Plan 3 is to clear cap space for the 2012 FA class or make the neccessary moves to aquire those players targeted prior to the trade deadline of the 2011 season. But this means we get another year like this one and the previous .... Plan 4 blow it all up cause we failed to executecute any of the above. No one in the orginization from the top down to the fans wants anything less than option 1 or 2 to be the case but its hard as hell to find the pieces this team is missing. As we've seen over the past two seasons , still having the same hole in the middle. Maybe we've been spoiled as Rockets fans because we've never really gone an extended period of time without an elite big from Elvin Hayes , Moses Malone , Akeem and finally Yao .....
Exactly! Can I get a witness! Well said mate. I'm glad some of the tankers aren't in charge, or have any influence, we'd be rebuilding, blowing it up, trading for picks & young talent forever...every time there was a 2 game losing streak you'd hear " this isn't working, tank time, let's trade our top scorers for draft picks & project X...." lol. Yes we need to address our biggest needs, pull the trigger on a good trade, but not jump the gun. Our current situation is like the monopoly board game, we have 2 red & 2 orange properties and are just waiting for someone who is willing to trade us the missing peices we need to help put us back in a position of power. Sooner or later it will come, good on Morey for not accepting just anything, and waiting for what we need. The tankers would give it all away for a get out of jail free card, water works & a railway station
I really hope you're not talking about the Laker game with the first comment. And Adelman draws em up as good as anyone at the end of games. Have you not seen the last two games? I have to question what games you've been watching.
The questions posed here are the reasons I don't even watch games anymore. The uncertainty leaves you feeling... empty.
Well, you can add our continued fascination with Anthony Randolph to the list of rumors that completely boggle my mind. Unless the Knicks are including 40 lbs of muscle so the dude can play center, at least Terrence Williams would have a new buddy at the end of the bench. Again, not trying to be critical of Morey. Just trying to figure out what the hell's going on here. Trading for another first round talent to fight for the 10th man spot isn't exactly my idea of direction.
In light of Clutch's potential trade target report, it appears I might have a better idea of what Morey plans on doing with this team. For starters, it seems those suggesting we're merely collecting assets and trying to win games are correct. I still have no idea of how Adelman fits into the puzzle beyond this season, but at the very least we get the idea that Morey will continue to improve this team slowly with the idea of eventually parlaying all his progress into something big. With the lingering uncertainty of what a new CBA brings, I wasn't so sure about how willing we would be to take on big salary. Clearly, that's not a problem since acquiring Nene or Granger outright involves absorbing salary -- and not only that, but a Cousins/Monroe/Favors type isn't getting dealt individually. Anyone of these prospects involves taking on significant salary so I think it's safe to assume that's not an issue. Overall, I just can't wait for the trade deadline to come and go. Whatever happens, good or bad, I just want to happen already. We're currently a team in limbo. After the trade deadline we should have a better idea of how management hopes this team will look like down the road.
