I would give them an F, except for the play of Cato and Yao. The Rockets have just looked bad because: 1. They are so soft fighting across picks and so slow switching off picks. They give the opposing teams alot of wide open looks. 2. On offense they are very slow to get the entry pass into the center. The inside/out game works when you get the ball inside early in the shot clock. The ball needs to get down to the center within 3-4 seconds of crossing the time line. Go right to it, the way you feed Shaq or Hakeem or Ewing. 3. Transition defense has been half hearted. 4. Van Gundy has experimented alot with combinations. Its time to make some roster cuts and focus on a starting day rotation. 5. No one except Cato and Yao seem to know where their shot is in the half court offense. I am not sure what the options are myself. After watching the Hornets game I cannot figure what is suppose to happen other than Yao gets the ball 12 feet from the basket. 6. Jeff Van Gundy gets in players faces during time outs. I'm not sure if that is good or not. I just don't know. But he obviously feels there are some major breakdowns happening, or else he is just a very angry person. WOW- I don't understand why the team looks so out of it. I believe Van Gundy knows how to coach. I beleive this team knows how to play. Are we this confused about the "new system" ? One thing I am starting to believe that we have scorers but not enough pure shooters who can fill it up. Our shooting percentage has got to be horrible. We miss alot of good looks at the basket.
The shooting % wouldn't happen to be about trying to get EG and Nachbar some confidence in their game?.. why not give the reins to some of the underachieving players, the main players (Yao, SF and JJ) all got 50%.. JVG's just messing with the team, let him do what he needs
The problem is that we are running out of time of getting a real game together. While other teams are running plays with a rotation, we are see who can play. Practice time is running out and soon it will be game time. Are they ready? My answer is no. New coach? So does New Orleans and they looked much better last night. I hope it gets better but right now we look worse than last year.
You should be grading against an expectation and what is that expectation exactly. Right now I can count four very solid-to-special offensive options: Yao, SF, Mobes and Taylor. These guys can score 18 - 30 points in this system on any given night. I can count four very developing-to-solid options who can give you 10-18 points on any given night: JJ, Pike, EG, and Cato. I expect Mooch and AD to be in that group and possibly Boki. Offensively I have seen enough to give us no worse that a C at this point. Heck those Ming Dunks alone are clear signals what this offense is going to do this year. Defensively I would give a D. I have not seen a person to hang with R. Lewis yet. The roster does not seem to have a Tmo on it. He is the kind of guy with the height and quickness to stick with Lewis. Probably EG may have to help out there. The 5 and 4 spots are solid-to-special if you have the following five at those positions: Yao, Cato, Amaechi, EG and MoT. The pg position is of some concern as it remains the one without a clue, it seems. SF, in particular, has to show up and that has nothing to do with coaching change. Those positions have JJ, AD, Mobes; so all is not lost just yet. Finally it should be noted that if you had seen the Spurs in the preseason last year, you would not have said you were looking at the next NBA champs. This team is undeniably talented and as the lights start going on, the results will be special.
I expect the Rockets to beat the Hornets Play as good as the Hornets Win on the home court Look improved over the previous 3 losses Get the ball into the post earlier in the shot clock Have a better outside offensive set Hustle back on transition defense And switch off stronger on the pick and roll defense. Other than that I am not expecting much from the team in preseason. Seriously, I hope they get it together, I am very concerned about how we are going to be playing on opening night. And apparently from his remarks in the paper the coach shares that concern.
Good points, rhester. But keep in mind we are still learning the new system. We're not hitting the open shot right now, hopefully that's just players trying to get a feel for the offense along with plain ol' preseason rust. I think the shots will start to fall eventually. I don't think JVG cares about winning preseason games as much as whipping the vets into shape and getting long looks at marginal players (ie. Boki and Moochie). I don't think the Rockets will charge out of the starting gates this year, but once the team starts "getting it", I look for a good run that will put us in the playoffs for the first time in 5 years.
I had no idea is was possible to play as bad as the Rockets played last season, but they proved me wrong.
DONT expect a Miracle! JVG has an enormous task and it wont show before the mid season. JVG wants to get his guys to play Team Basketball, getting this to happen is going to take more than an arm and a leg and a possible roster change.At least we now know that JVG has his eyes wide open and there will be no favourites.
Man, four games and we cannot score or win. This is more than a little disappointing. Our guys look like scrubs out there right now. I understand about all the combinations, but it is about time to tighten up the starting line-up and get them all on the same page. Does anyone else sense a really slow start to this season? --R2G
I'll start caring in the regular season. As for now, I'm glad that these little mistakes are being made now so we can iron them out before the games count.
Enormous task? Overcoming his average coaching skills Seriously, go look at the schedule. If "it doesn't show before the mid-season," this team is dead in the water. They need a solid lock on the seventh/eighth spot by mid-March. After that the schedule goes ridiculously road-heavy, and keeping pace will be a challenge.
They are starting with a brand new system, a brand new coach, and a brand new philosophy. I agree that pick and rolls as well as post entries need to improve, but can you really expect more when playing your starters 25 minutes or so after 2 weeks of preseason? Agreed. We need to get back down and match up quickly. One thing to keep in mind is that as our shots start falling more, there will be far fewer transition opportunities for the opposition. I disagree here. This is the best time in the preseason to get the new guys evaluated. This is also the part of the preseason where we are learning a brand new style of play. Time to solidify the rotation is after the 5 day layoff (I see it as a mini training camp) between Thursday's game and the 22nd. We will have 2 games (Denver here and then at San Antonio) to get our rotation set and to see where we are for the beginning of the season against Denver. EG is getting shots off (and he will start making them, too) and SF is shooting (albeit not within the system). I don't see this as much of a problem given that we are installing a new system and evaluating the 10-15 spots on our roster. GOOD! When someone blows an assignment, they should get ripped. It takes time to learn how to do things in a new system. Patience, grasshopper. And most of our players are either new to us or new to the system. Those shots will start falling and JVG will look like a genius. Personally, I give the team a C+. I would like to have seen some more improvement a bit quicker, but I am happy that Yao is getting the ball more this year than last and at times, the ball movement is fantastic. Defensively, we have a ways to go, but JVG will get them there. EG had 3 blocks and Yao had 2 in a combined 54 minutes of play. We will be fine.
Really getting beat and it being preseason is not the crux of the problem I see. The play of the team is well under the talent of the team. After 4 games together we stink. Bad- Are we going to keep losing by 20+ pts.? Have we even been in a game yet? Have we stopped any team defensively? The preseason is not that important except the results so far make us a bad team. We should have better progress at this early point in the season. Van Gundy is disappointed, I think we should be also. Not because we hate any one player, but because this team is stinking it up, underachieving. At least I pray that is it. Imagine this---- Van Gundy comes out to the media and tells them no excuses, we should be a playoff team period. Translation: I have talked to all my key players during the summer and they all made excuses for not making the playoffs, well I let them know right there I will not stand for excuses. Winners don't make excuses, losers make excuses and I am not going to put a bunch of losers on the court. No excuses, I will coach this team based upon performance, no reputation, hype or we should made the playoffs is going to cut it. Van Gundy- "Put up or ......."
Nah...this won't be a flop. This will be the first time these guys learn to play basketball, instead of playing streetball. The worst player among the 15 guys on that team could smoke any one of us. But they only win in the NBA as a team. And you are only a team when you pass the ball. Give them 2 months. Once the first win streak comes in, they will buy into the system. I ain't saying they'll be championship quality, but they should be 5 or 6 in the West. But, man, ain't it nice to see a coach who actually coaches, doesn't make or take excuses, and has the balls to go head-to-head with the supposed star of the team?
I think this one is intentional. It reminds me of this quote from Mo Taylor (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/rox/2143849): I get the feeling the guards are supposed tp look for easy opportunities before getting the ball into the post.
Maybe the guards are being told to look for the drive to the basket first. But both Yao and Cato are working hard for low position as soon as the guards reach the 3 pt line. If I understand the execution of the inside out game you get it down low quickly, if you don't you cut off the time to kick it back out and execute on the outside due to the shot clock. When we fed the ball in to Hakeem he would sometimes pass it right back out re-position and get it back with time on the clock. This sometimes is all it takes to get the double team off the low post. I am not in a panic about preseason. I don't think it means that much. I don't like the way the team is playing. They arenot doing much anything right on offense. You can't let any system break down to one player hold the ball or dribbling and then forcing the action. JVG addressed all this in his comments. He is showing some frustration. So it's not a stretch to see it that way also. He is a good coach. Will this team come around. If there is no mutiny. I think we will and we will be very good. I love the make up of this team. We need some seasoning, but we also need a much more intense effort, better execution of the coaching staff's plan and some intensity on both ends of the court. Give it to Yao, he is doing it. Give it to Cato, he is doing it. I haven't been disappointed with Moochie's and Boki's efforts either. They are just limited by talent.
