Yesterday I was looking at the scores from all the games and i got a bit concerned. I don't want to jump-the-gun, but we are not taking these games as serious as the other teams. If you look at the scores from yesterday and previous days, there are no twenty point blowouts. Everyone seems to be serious about getting team (really starter) chemistry going. It seems we are doing the opposite. I just wanted to know if my brethern thought the same.
...and, how many of these "games" that you observed involved teams implementing a NEW offensive system, with a NEW coach, and several NEW role players who plan on having SIGNIFICANT playing time this year? My guess is none. At least these guys are giving it their all when they're on the court. The ONLY things you can criticize about it pre-season is lack of effort.
No. Cavaliers beat the Pistons by 20...Pistons are better than the Cavs. ? Right now...I am not too disappointed. New coach with new system...if we lose today's game...maybe my opinion will change! We better win tonight! Not too concerned. First game...our starters only played like 15 minutes while Blazers played their starters like the majority of the game. We were trying out different players. Second game...none of our starters played at all. We lost by 20...but we were close most of the game. Third game...we could have won that game if we didn't let Moochie play and kept our starters in the 4th quarter. MAYBE we could have won. But it's just preseason! We don't have Piatkowski, Taylor, and Adrian Griffin. They are very important for our team. This is just like tryouts for nonsigned guys.
Well ericdwj, you did say that "we are not taking these games as serious as other teams". You stated that everyone is taking their games seriously but we aren't. Those are accusations and apparently your beliefs. Sounds like Nick disagreed and gave you some good points to consider as a counter. He didn't attack you - just your observations. Ball's in your court ericdwj... defend, attack, do something... don't just call him stupid.
If you're just looking at the scoreboard, how is that worthy of starting a new thread? If you don't want responses like mine, either explain your "reasoning" for bringing up this point (besides just saying "I looked at the scoreboard") or don't say anything at all. I'm still trying to figure out how you can make an "interesting point" by saying, "I looked at the scoreboard and saw close games." Even two teams with scrubs and bad play can have close games.
Yeah, but on average the preseason games aren't like that. What about SAN vs. Pho., Celtics vs. Ind., NO vs. Mav, all these teams are contenders in their respective conferences and these games were descided by 5 points or less.
You two must be cousins, that's sweet. But my point was made, that's why you responded. I asked if people were concerned, not that i watched every game. My friends and I were discussing the same point, I thought it was interesting so I posted it.
Why do we even care about pre-season? With a new coach, it's all about experiment right now. We played parts of the game with some really funky line ups (3 guards and 2 centers lol). It's preseason, who cares if we're being blown out by 20, 40 it doesn't matter. Start ringing the alarm when we go 0 -3 in regular season.
If you've seen the preseason games, you know they are taking their games serious. Scoreboard, stats, scores equates to seriousness? The rockets are changing their whole direction and trying to learn new offense and defense. Right now they are in the learning stage; getting a feel for Gundy and their new teammates. Numerous times in the previous game, the rockets would work the ball around but not know who to take the shot. This is just part of new teammates and system. The fact that they are learning during these games shows just how serious they really are. I'm excited that they are actually being taught. They just have to get use to each other and the system. IMHO it's just a matter of time. We've got 18 days. We should be able to gel enough during that time. What's got me concerned though is Eddie Griffin's last game. In order for us to win games he needs to be able to make those short 5-10 foot baskets, especially if hes going to be used on the inside more. Overall Eddie looks really good but that last game did concern me a little. Other teams have the head-start on us because we are in effect starting over our "game" but we have more preseason to shorten that gap. It's just a matter of time. I for one am not concerned with their seriousness.
Now, Lord Dunk and Nick you have raised an interesting point. This is supposed to be a site where the Rockets fan can display his/her opinions without the sarcasms. Being a fan doesn't make you an analyst, it makes you someone you wants to support your favorite team. I think that the sacasm in clutchcity are sometimes unwarrented. This is a problem for the fan. Have you noticed how many people end their posts with .......now you guys can bash me.......or something to that effect. It's a problem. You nor Nick answered my question, you were to busy trying to a pun. Instead of trying to protect a reply not worth protecting, try finding one where a genuine fan is getting ragged on a fan's post.
Don't be a jackass man, DoD was trying to give you some much needed advice on how to go about making and defending opinions here.
Nick, if you look at both your post and ericdwj's post, you two are both proving the same point... no need for sarcasm, ie. quoting single words, but feel free to continue because this is an open chat. The rockets are playing lazy... I'm not too mad about it because I don't want anyone else to get hurt in a partly meaningless game but it's frustrating to watch them when they don't even try. Almost feel like doing something better with my time until the season opener because they are playing like it's an open house practice every game instead of an exhibition game to practice against other teams. Nick, being blown out because you are lazy has NOTHING to do with a new system bro... there isn't any way around it. When you get lazy, you get blown out... that's partly why we've been blown out by every team we've played. And the scores lie... we deserved to lose by more but made lucky shots every now and then. ericdwj, stop being so defensive. Roll with the responses you get because Nick was clearly not bashing you bro. Doc of Dunk, I call you stupid and wave my private parts in your general direction! lol Princess Bride jokes never get old...
I understand what you are saying completely. I just believed that the more time the starters (and I know Yao just got here) have to gel the better. But it is true they are under a new system, new coach, ect... i just hope the learning curve doesn't go into the season. And in my opinion stats and scores are serious in preseason, because this is where coaches can see who works and who doesn't. Preseason is for introducing and fine tuning, 20+ turnovers sparks concern so why doesn't a 99 to 100 score do the same.
hehe. A message board is for mostly opinions and sometimes a small bit of facts mixed in. You made a broad opinion and had little (score) to base your argument on. IMO Nick wasn't even attacking you, he was attacking your broad opinion. This place is all about opinions, speaking with our mind or sometimes ignorantly speaking with our emotions (we've all done it). Why the big deal over an argument being shot down? DoD explained your options, refute, reply, agree, or give in. It's definitely not personal, especially not hiding behind user names. Just keep on posting and stop giving a $#@# about your rep, this place is all about opinions. Who said this place was about no sarcasm??! We're talking about sports? We're prideful sob's right? We're sports fans. We're rockets fans. Sarcasm is part of pride and sports. Who gives a #@#@!?
eric, we all get along pretty well here. Much better than on other message boards. DoD didn't say anything that deserved this kind of response and, frankly, you're kind of asking to get kicked here. Try and relax a little bit. To address your point, JVG has made it clear he puts a much bigger premium on practice than preseason games. He's also made it clear he doesn't feel they've had enough practice. He said before the preseason started that one advantage to having a bunch of games early was that it meant he'd get to practice more when they were done. He's not the kind of guy to make excuses, but he's also not focused on stats or wins in the preseason -- he's focused on wins in the regular season. That's why he held Yao out of the first two games and held all the starters out of the second one. Further, during the third game, he pulled the starters when we were still in striking distance. Later he said one good thing about losing that game was that poor performance wasn't rewarded. When I read that I thought, hmm, I bet he went to the scrubs both to give them extra time and to make it less likely the team would be 'rewarded' for a poor performance. Let him get some practices in before you get too worried about performance. Even more than in other seasons, this preseason is meaningless. JVG's not playing these guys to win now -- he's playing them to win when it counts.
come on DLS, seriously though... you sucks... lol (inside joke) I even watched two of the preseason games with you and we were laughing at their lack of effort, let alone busting out laughing everytime boki got the ball or got scored on. Steve casually dribbled the ball up court, the guy cleanly picked his pocket, and he barely even flinched!!! he just slowly stopped and watch the guy. Then slowly walked back to bring the ball in again... and I swear he looked like he wanted to yawn. He's one of my favorite players and I'm not bashing him or the team, just stating what's happening. I'm too tired to type anymore examples. They are not giving 70% out there at any given time during the game... (the last game they started to show some effort) but the teams they play seem to be giving at least 90%... most of the time untill they file in reserves. Scales or however you spell it, and that white guy with country hops are the only two hustling.. well... boki's technically hustling but he's just flat out fun to watch... is he really the one with the shooting touch??? lol
With this I close. Broad is the path to destruction, and narrow is the path to righteousness. My points were honest and true. I'm just saying what needs to be said, and believe me this is water under the bridge. I do apoligize for calling Nick stupid it wasn't neccessary. Everything else I meant.
The thing is, I don't see "laziness" out of this team at all. If anything, they're expelling TOO MUCH energy trying to impress either the coaching staff, or their new teammates. They showed a tiny bit of fatigue in the last game, on rotating their defense to the outside shooter, and perhaps they screwed up a little as well... but I'll let the fact that they're still running full practices on game days (something they WON'T do in the season), and they're still grasping JVG's INTENSE conditioning regimen, speak for itself on the fatigue. As for the "controversy" that's going on here... if my comments came out as sarcastic eric, I'm sorry. I just wanted to calm down the people who haven't gotten a chance to watch the Rockets this year, and let them know that their poor performance is not because of a lack of trying, or that there should be serious reasons for concern. In all my years here, I've never had a negative run in, nor have I gone out of my way to "bash" somebody. Trust me... if somebody's out to bash you, you'll definitly know when it happens. Just don't bash DOD in retaliation, or you might get the boot...
Until the season starts I'm usually really relaxed about the play and all. Once the season starts I get intense about what's wrong or right about our team. Obviously we all hope they gain their chemistry in time for the season. I'm sure alot of us are concered over this point of learning in time. Just not about seriousness. No concern over 99-100 point games? Exceptionally low minutes for starters in game against portland and seatle. Not having Yao. Not knowing each other. Our scrubs playing ( moochie a scrub? ) Still learning, defense included. Some positives though, execptional defense by JJ, doesn't look like we will miss too much of Posey since we have Jim Jackson. Steve being unselfish. Eddie's physical growth, looks like a big change from last season. Oh I didn't even mention Yao being a monsster this year!! I think the only concern we could have would be being ready in time for the season. ( And no more injuries! Mo and Pike....get well soon)
