Thought I'd like to open a thread specifically dedicated to our starting lineup. If there is one major criticism I have it's with his starting lineups. Lately it's been this insistence of starting Nwaba. He is a major negative on the offensive of the court and I believe his energy and defensive intensity is best used against 2nd units. What would your starting lineup look like? Personally I'd roll out Wall/Dipo/Tate/Tucker/Wood with the first sub being EGO for Tucker.
You can't start Nwaba & Tucker together. 2 single digit scorers makes you start the game playing 3 vs 5, and puts you in a hole early. It was the same when Harden was here. Tate is even shooting better than Nwaba now.
I'll be honest. I'm not in love with Nwaba, either. Wall / Jones / Brown Oladipo / Gordon / McLemore Tate / House / Nwaba (Yes, I'd prefer House to Nwaba at this point) Tucker / Tate Wood / Boogie
8 starting lineups in 12 games. Came to coach Westbrook/Harden Started with Wall/half-assed Harden Wall’s been out; Oladipo just arrived (until he too is gone) House been out (who knows what the hell is going on there) Let him get a healthy team (if possible) but yes, send Nwaba to the bench. @ Portland: J. Harden · D. House · D. Nwaba · P. Tucker · C. Wood @ Denver: J. Harden · D. House · D. Nwaba · P. Tucker · C. Wood Sacramento: J. Harden · D. House · P. Tucker · J. Wall · C. Wood Sacramento: E. Gordon · D. House · P. Tucker · J. Wall · C. Wood Dallas: J. Harden · D. Nwaba · P. Tucker · J. Wall · C. Wood @ Indiana: D. Cousins · J. Harden · D. Nwaba · P. Tucker · J. Wall Orlando: J. Harden · D. Nwaba · P. Tucker · J. Wall · C. Wood Los Angeles Lakers: J. Harden · D. Nwaba · P. Tucker · J. Wall · C. Wood Los Angeles Lakers: J. Harden · D. Nwaba · P. Tucker · J. Wall · C. Wood @ San Antonio: S. Brown · B. McLemore · J. Tate · P. Tucker · C. Wood @ San Antonio: M. Jones · B. McLemore · J. Tate · P. Tucker · C. Wood @ Chicago: E. Gordon · D. Nwaba · V. Oladipo · P. Tucker · C. Wood
Yeah Nwada has not lived up to expectations. Let's wait til everyone comes back I personally think we do Wall, Dipo, House, Tucker, Wood. Yes I said House. Houses height and hustle provides some help on rebounding. You have to start tucker because we have no choice
Nwaba played for the Bulls before, maybe Silas thought he'd be motivated? In any case, right now Mason Jones has decidedly outplayed him and deserves to start at PG if Wall is out. Right now we have a growing problem with our backup C. Tucker is on the trade block and Cousins has a ways to go before he can be a meaningful contributor. Simply amazing that we traded away Jarrett given how much he fills a void this team actively has.
Nwaba needs to be used like we used Corey Brewer, or Mbah A Moute. He is disruptive and good in transition, but is not a starter on a team that needs movement and multiple ball handlers without an ISO star.
I understand why he tried to go with nwaba as good as Tate has been , he’s a rookie and rookies are generally foul magnets.
I wonder what is your expectation for a D/G leaguer whose undrafted and first signed to play for LA D-fenders , then played for several lottery NBA teams just because they needed to have a body to fill up the roster, and then the last game he played before joining the Rockets, he teared his achilles.
When you need to discuss the important role of Nwaba in the Rocket starting lineup, I think it basically summed up the current state of this franchise.
You do real disrespect to Prince Luc by comparing him to Nwaba and Brewer. Pre-injury Mbah a Moute was a force defensively, and was a good 3 point shooter. I'd love Nwaba to get to that level. Right now, Nwaba is a one dimensional player (and his defense alone isn't nearly good enough to justify putting him in a lineup). At least Brewer was like 6'9"... Remember when Darryl used to draft a bunch of tweener forwards? Would sure be nice to have that problem right now. Right now the problem is there aren't any bigs at all, except for two centers. I'd kill for the days of Pat Pat, T Jones, Parsons, Motiejunas plugging in at forward. Playing the whole game with 4/5 of the lineup being 6'3" - 6'6" isn't going to cut it.
S*** like this, the questionable rotations and substitutions in that Chicago game, and House-Wall-Gordon mysteriously missing games bring out the conspiracist in me that thinks we’re lowkey tanking.
Can we get a fully healthy team first before we go judging the lineups he has to play? Silas has had to do an incredible amount of juggling to start this season, due to James wanting out, injuries, and the trade. I mean c'mon man, give the guy some time. Nwaba is a backup G, to bring defense and energy with the 2nd unit, but right now he is one of the few healthy players we have. Patience, ya'll do know we rebuilding this thing right?
I want us to start Cousins Wood Tucker Dipo Wall Brown Nwaba Gordon Jones Tate off the bench. Trade House.
I don’t think Nwaba should start but I sure do like his energy off the bench and I think he deserves time. Looks like I might be in the minority on that even..
Just thought I'd point to something I read earlier today in @The Cat's column in USA Today's Rockets Wire. Since the Harden trade, "the Houston Rockets have had the No. 3 defensive rating in the NBA, allowing 102.9 points per 100 possessions." That's pretty darn good, to put it mildly. Only the Lakers and the Clippers are ranked ahead of us during that 7 game span, and since Wall returned we haven't lost a game. At that end of the floor, I'm feeling the improvement, for sure. https://rocketswire.usatoday.com/20...g-james-harden-houston-has-nbas-no-3-defense/
This is where I’m at too. I like House, but I don’t think he is part of our long term plans anyways. Might as well give that time to guys who are going to grow.
