DM has a good idea of what is plaguing the team. Point blank, we can stop paint from drying and/or a 12 yr old AAU squad from scoring. It is painful to watch a team that can't get stops, is it the effort and/or coaching. We play the same defensive strategy no matter the team, we switch all pick n rolls. Can we please have some variety in how we defend (Switch, Trap, or Fight Through). Offenses know exactly how to attach us, put James and Dwight in the PnR and watch our D fall apart. DM: Unfortunately our defense is very porous and poor. Again it a tool that is there and obviously Drummond is a poor shooter and it helps us. 790: When you are looking at the team, you are always looking at a macro view. From your macro view 44 games in what is so different this year compared to last year? DM: Primarily defense has been a big dropoff and that is something we continue to work and we got good ways to go before we are where we want to be. Offense has worked to get better. Offense can make the playoffs and win a couple of rounds 790: Is it strategy, is it effort, is it a combination of both? We all feel for you. It's been tough DM: We are a volatile group. We are a volatile group last year and lot fo that volatility worked in the positive direction last year and this year a lot of volatility ahs worked in the other direction. It has been frustrating we haven't made more strides.
Well that's equally delusional because right now the Rockets are playing almost all the time against teams who haven't prepared specifically for the game or have had made special adjustments and have watched a lot of flim sessions. But in the playoffs the opponent will have. And our offence isn't anything that special either. It's not like we have great pays or great ballmovement or elite shooters out there. And in the end defence wins playoffs and championships. The only way to acquire a young star is to find one before he breaks out, someone who is not a very high pick and his team will be willing to part with without serious compensation. Any ideas? And I don't think that Bev has great market value because he gets too often injured all the time and in almost any other team he would be a backup off the bench.
That little hack a Drummond stunt might cost Bickerstaff his job. Les hates hack a whoever strategies. He's all about entertainment. That's why he was so excited about Morey implementing fast paced basketball. Les' beef with JVG had a little to do with how boring the games were.
funny thing is the strategy worked at the moment and houston took the lead. but their defense sucks so bad that it didnt matter in the end and it evened out.
If a team is willing to part with a youngster without serious compensation then he's most likely not going to be a star. I'm talking about guys that have already shown something, that are already players on both ends of the court, they're already star-level players that may level off at that level or get better. Guys like Smart and Oladipo to name two. A guy like Hezonja who is a rookie but who fits our system perfectly and he's already got star potential on both ends of the court. (possibly Noel as well) Any of those guys is going to require assets, a good amount of assets to acquire. I'm all for doing it simultaneous with moving off the long-term salaries of Ariza/Bev/Brewer. Everyone should realize by now. The BEST CASE scenario for this bunch is a low playoff seed and probably a 4 or 5 game first round exit at the hands of the Warriors or Spurs or Thunder. We aren't good enough to even compete for 4 or 5 in the West with this bunch. It's simply not going to happen. So, which would you rather do....ride this bunch to an early first round exit or go for it....get these long term deals out of here....get different pieces in here...and see if we can make a run ..... or not? If we can't then go to the lottery and get another asset, and then use our cap space to retool this team during the summer. EDIT: In lieu of not being able to acquire a young star, if we could move out Ariza/Bev/Brewer/McDaniels salaries along with a few other assets (not including DMo), for Rubio and other expirings/non-guaranteeeds then I'm for that also. That move would also increase our cap space next summer and maximize our re-tooling efforts in addition to changing the dynamic here of Harden totally dominating the ball, which is a style we are never going to win a championship with as well. (I'm going to write a piece on this at some point, maybe this summer.)
I would hope JB doing a mediocre job coaching overall will cost him his job. If the team continues to hover around .500 the rest of the year and he's back next season, I think we can write off this organization as unserious about winning.
I wasn't saying I agreed with Morey, the offense has been terrible and I believe all the turnovers and missed shots are big reasons for our defense being as bad as it is.
I agree for the lookout for this team the way things are now. One disaster after another. And whoever thinks this team can go far in the playoffs with such crap defence is delusional. There's no way around it. Without defence at least average you go nowhere. Ariza is heading the wrong way and who knows if it's just a slumpthis year. He has plenty of miles in his body more than his age would suggest and plays too many minutes here. As for the young stars I disagree because for example last year before the playoffs a team could have traded for CJ Mcollum without sending out serious assets before he started breaking out in the playoffs. Middleton could have been had for a second rounder two years ago. Even the likes of Reggie Jackson was traded for very few assets last deadline. But Noel and Oladipo and Smart won't be traded from their teams for underpayments. And looking at the Rockets assets we DON'T have what it takes to get any of them. Hejonza if only Skiles has input on the GM decisions will be traded prematurely. BTW in my opinion Noel will be traded very soon, maybe even this trade deadline or the summer. And also in my opinion Smart doesn't have any star potential and neither has Noel or Oladipo. These guys can be at best third bananas.
Morey as a GM is good, but the way he handles his business and persona lately is downright embarrassing and I love it. He's getting what he deserves.
I agree with this. I have NO idea who'd be interested in Bev at this point. I think he's overpaid and injury-prone. Will listen to offers . . . Also agree about Capela. Overrated and a train wreck around the rim. But I just don't see a magic formula of how to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic when Problem Numero Uno is still your lazy-assed, defensive liability shooting guard. And I say that as a big James Harden fan. Until you get him to hustle, your team is going NOWHERE.
during a HOU-POR broadcast last season, drexler of all people actually commented that mccollum was under the radar and going to be a player in the league.....so i'm thinking if he knew, then probably the whole league already did
based on morey's quotes the past week, i get the feeling that he knows he is on the way out. and thibs coming in as coach and gm seems like the direction les would move in.
We can't trade Harden at this point. We have to move out the other guys. Hopefully that shakes up Harden and causes him to understand defense is important. (I'm sorry but my guess is Harden wants to simply outscore everybody ala the old Alex English/Kiki Vendeweghe Nugget teams or the D'Antoni Suns teams. But those teams ALWAYS went down in the playoffs when they came up against the Lakers and other teams that played the game both directions.) We've got to blow this team up and go after guys that will make Harden's job easier since he's never going to be a great defender anyways even when he's trying. We've got to have an ace defender at the 1 and either the 1 or the 3 has to be a great playmaker as well. Neither of Ariza nor Bev qualify on the playmaking angle even a little bit. They're both BAD PLAYMAKERS. It's not that they aren't good playmakers. They're both BAD PLAYMAKERS. If we're going after a big time scoring/playmaking three (Durant or others) in free agency then it means so much more that we need an ace defender at the 1 that will dish it like there's no tomorrow. The time is now to go after a really good perimeter playmate for Harden. And if Harden doesn't accept it then we can get a trade working for Harden next season or during the summer where we can maximize return for him and move to a new era in Houston. Harden cannot and will not ever win a championship doing what he's doing now.......dominating the possessions and trying to be the lead playmaker while leading the team in scoring. Harden just isn't that good of a playmaker himself. He's way too turnover prone. And he's our #1 playmaker by far. We need a primary playmaker that makes Harden and Howard look good, keeps the turnover count down, and dishes a ton of lobs to Dwight and a ton of open looks to Harden where the D has to dive out to him and he can take it to the hole. Harden can get plenty of PnR action to the rim playing as the secondary playmaker when the primary playmaker is off the floor. His scoring will increase which is what he is best at. His offensive efficiency will increase. His career will be elongated. And our team turnover count will go down. We'll be an even more efficient offensive unit. And we'll be better defensively on the other end. Get Rubio in here and give him the basketball....please.
By "volatile" I wonder if Morey is looking for a code word to say "lazy". Harden is in DGAF mode. He just doesn't give a F.
"Volatile" in math/science terms tends to mean not steady...unpredictable. I assume Morey is using that type of definition. Best part of that was Morey saying he hasn't been getting much sleep. Sounds like he's working the phones and watching vids non-stop.
Harden cares about offense but he is inconsistent on both ends of the floor. I applaud his effort last night though
I dont think we need to trade or blow up this team. we need to identify the issue and solve it. We all know it starts with Harden with his lack of effort on both ends of the floor, mainly his D. Yes, his offense is great but there are times when he just taking way too many ill-advise shots. It takes the momentum out of the team! Someone needs to tell Harden he is partying too much outside of BB. At his age and time he should be focusing and concentrating on the big picture. People would say that's his personal time....crap. With the amount of money he is making, dont you think he should be more concern with his outside "work" life effecting his work life? Being a professional NBA player, doesnt mean showing up 8 to 5 to work, then leave everything behind you once you hit 5:01. This is his way of life as a BB player, he should be focused.
