ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Nuggets 12/28/2020

The “full sentence” squad will be our death lineup. My little cousins told me their parents got a hole in the wall repaired at their new house, but the HardWood floors still need some work.

 

This should be the starting lineup:

Wall
Harden
Gordon
Wood
Cousins

I do not want House starting anymore. He's simply not good enough. Tucker can be a good rotational player, but he shouldn't be playing any more than 20 minutes. Gordon hasn't shot consistently for a while, but I do feel he's a better defender than House.... and he can contribute more on the offensive end. McLemore is probably our best spot-up shooter, but he sucks on the defensive end. I do have my doubts about Wall and Cousins staying completely healthy.

I want to stay positive and say we have a chance of winning the championship, but I honestly don't see it. We'll definitely be a tough team to play.... due to Harden, but our role players and defense simply isn't good enough.

 

To me the issue isn’t the ceiling because the ceiling is as high as any team in the league.

The question is what is the likelihood of the team reaching close to the ceiling and that is a lot lower because of the uncertainty of Harden’s future, injuries and the personalities on the roster.

I am not worried about the offense or defense of the backcourt. The defense will be excellent with Wall well above average, Nwaba is excellent on and off ball. Gordon is healthy and will do well. Harden seems locked in to me as well. Lots of depth as well... arguably the best overall guard situation in the league.

My concern is the interior defense and lack of a long wing defender at the three. Wood isn’t good defensively with Tucker next to him and no long 3 to cover him mistakes. Now the Rockets CAN likely fix that in trade and use Tucker, maybe Gordon and they have picks to add a perfect defensive complement to Wood... but do the Rockets use those draft picks without Harden staying? Is just adding a perfect complementary 4 enough? Do they also need a 3?

These are the questions that concern me.

 

I saw my pretty cousin drill a hole in the public bathroom Wall and then she swallowed my uncle’s hardwood until she choked.

 

That’s only four players though! I admit house should be benched but it’s hard to squeeze Gordon or Nwaba into a sentence.

 

Someone else brought it up earlier but I really wonder how much the MDA offense contributed to House and his production.

Even on defense the dude looks lost many times

 

One thing Pistons fans did say about wood that was hush hush about cause of his scoring, His defense is horrible

 

House has a habit of falling asleep on the defensive end at key times. He's the reason why CJ had a wide open shot the other day.

 

Start Nwaba over House.

 

Call me a skeptic then.

Because Harden will get frustrated with this hybrid defense like he did with Elston Turner.

I say re-hire Bzdelik and allow him to modify switch everything depending on personnel.

If anyone can make hybrid work in spurts (switch everything has to be base defense, 70% min) it would be Bzdelik, who has earned Harden's trust.

 

Nwaba would be great off the bench. House just needs to take a seat back for now. May take a few weeks until Silas figures out his rotation.

 

problem solved

 

Wood was -2 on the court tonight in 37 minutes.

He was visibly one of the only bright spots defensively despite lapses. He and Nwaba.

Harden was just terrible on D. So was House and the bench.

House has never been this bad on D before. I highly doubt he regressed. This will take more time than I thought. I’m not gonna be here to spam in the mean time. I have to chill the **** out and wait to see how they look on the home stand after surely a lot of practice, film study and a healthy team.

Silas is disturbing though with these drop schemes.

 

Honestly....if its gonna be bad defense anyways. We might as well have EG in the starting lineup.

 

Agree sans the last part. Give him time. He is a rookie head coach basically, who had to handle a disgruntled superstar, covid, less gametime, not having a full roster and not having a full team practice in a week or so.

if in 20 games there’s still no improvement to be seen, we can start complaining. For now, I’m happy with taking the positives out of a terrible situation.

 

Well we havent seen it yet but maybe Wall/Harden/Nwaba/PJ/Wood is one of our better defensive rotations....depending on who the other team's 5 is.

I agree Wood gets bullied by the bigger 5's (Jokic/Nurkic) it seems

 

Wood lower body and core need to be seriously strengthened up. Not saying bulk up heavily but do more squats and deadlift because he gets pushed around to easily for a center.

You don’t necessarily need to bulk up to get stronger but do more lower body and core training to get more strength through you’re hip and lower body. It will also help his first step and make him quicker .

 

This is facts. That half a second he fell asleep cost us the game. His ONE JOB was to not leave the hottest player on the court smh

 

They were definitely scatter braining things out there. Keep in mind Silas is still finding out what these guys can do against real competition. You are right on all points. The thing is the defense will get better once they get an identity. They dont have anything yet. Remember last season wasn't it the second game in Washington when they gave up a 147 points be patient

 

Right now the Rockets could likely deal Gordon and House and a couple #1 picks for Aaron Gordon and Mo Bamba. That likely fixes the defensive issues the Rockets have inside and both should be excellent at masking some of the liabilities Wood has defensively with his lack of bulk.

Aaron Gordon and Mo Bamba also would really help rebounding. Bamba wouldn’t slow down the offense too much as he can hit 3’s and pass well. Gordon can switch really well defensively.

However such a deal would leave no assets for future trades and do the Rockets dare trade draft picks when Harden could be dealt soon?