Talent - no more excuses, the Rockets have enough.

I like your breakdown of the players, though I don't consider turnovers to be a weakness for Tracy. He's only averaging 2.4 turnovers a game, and last year was the most he's ever averaged (3.0). If anything, I'd say his ability to create shots without turning it over is one of his strengths.

I'm disappointed that we're not getting anything from Mike James or Steve Francis. Those were the biggest additions, talent-wise, of the offseason. Brooks and Scola look to be solid additions to the rotation, but I was hoping for more.

 

Or PG, Good Post,...

But maybe we could package some of our "talent", for someone a bit more legit if you know what I mean.....

 

Yes DD this is the basic philosophy of a good coach! One who can blend all the individual talents into a team. Most coaches find it a difficulty, Rudy was great at it but JVG wasn't. When Coach A stops trying to make Yao into the second coming of Vlade, such a misuse of talent, I hope that he will be able to also blend our talents. Also McGrady need to buy into this concept, it is needed , especially so that Scola and Brooks can develop.

 

TMAC's weakness is not trusting his teammates and always wanting to give them the fish and not let them learn how to fish.

 

Certainly we have some talent, but what title contending teams are we clearly more talented than? We are the only team in the league that only has 2 players averaging double digits in scoring. We should have enough talent to be better than we currently are, but whether we have enough to be more than first round fodder again remains to be seen.

 

You forgot 1 person:

Rick Adelman---weakness: coaching

 

MJ & SF have been almost complete busts so far. They don't qualify as talent, yet. Shane is only shooting 41% and appears to be a player in decline. Bonzi hasn't been the gangbuster many thought he would be under Adelman. His shooting and TOs are unacceptable. Tracy is still soft as tissue paper. Putting these and other factors together gives one a sober outlook for the future.

IMO, we need a roster shakeup to turn things around. As long as Chuck and Rafer are starters, we have little chance for a successful season. There are too many talented teams in the Western Conference and our margin for error is thin.

 

well put DD and i agree that we have a top 5 team in terms of talent.

and while i won't make this a FIRE RA post, i am VERY dissapointed with how the team has gelled thus far.

another poster in a different thread (don't remember) made a great post in that maybe RA has been EMPOWERING yao and tmac or as this poster put it: "putting it on them" to win games ala phil jackson.

i have been used to the JVG micromanagement (not that it was my favorite, but it won games). RA proves to be VERY different. maybe i've been wrong in that RA needs to be given more time to work his magic.

in the long run maybe by RA "putting it on the players" the rockets will win big in the long run and it will pay big dividends.

if this team doesn't turn it around (meaning elite) by mid-season next year, then the yao-mac duo will have run its course and this team will need be blown up.

a few of the losses i have seen so far this year (to terrible teams) have been VERY DISSAPPOINTING. this team has looked lost. we rarely saw this with JVG for more than a few minutes, under RA this team looked lost for complete halves.

the talent is there, which is why i have been critical of RA. what else does he have in the bag? have we already seen it all and he's just waiting for the players to catch on? HOW MUCH TIME DO WE GIVE HIM?

 

I disagree with the weaknesses for batman.
he has shown he is capable of both dribbling and creating when he needs to.
yesterday, with TMac out, he did both. scored first 7 out of houston's 10.
on some plays, he played point in bringing ball up

 

I expect us to play better than we have, because we played better with less talent last year, but to say we are loaded seems to be an exaggeration at this point. It seems that much of our on paper talent has not panned out in both Steve Francis and Mike James. Many fans projected those two to be the starter and back up respectively, and now both are completely out of the rotation. Our hope for the rest of the season seems to be pinned on Brooks and Scola continued developement or a big trade at this point. That's of course assuming that both Tmac and Yao can get and remain healthy which has been anything but a given.

 

Name your top 5 teams in the NBA in terms of talent so we can see where you fit the Rockets in.

 

I am not convinced that this team has enough athleticism or shooting.

 

I do not think they have enough talent, and they are not playing hard like last year to overcome their limitations.

On top of that, they are not using the strengths of their best player (Yao) to the maximum. He is not getting enough in the paint shots.

 

well we could split hairs all day. there's teams with talent who don't win, but my opinion?

talent-wise i would say:

dallas
chicago
san antonio
golden state
houston
utah

all of these teams are stacked. i consider boston real close in there somewhere because of their nucleus, but they have NO DEPTH.

did i forget somebody?

 

I would actually disagree with this and add them into the mix. How much depth is really necessary... 8 men deep? 9 men deep?

Boston has a solid starting line up..

Rondo
Perkins
the big three... Garnett Allen and Pierce.

then you have Posey, Big Baby (who has been an early suprise, I thought it would take him longer to contribute), Eddie House, and Tony Allen..

how much more depth do you really need?

Edit: I would also add Toronto in to that deep mix. Practically every guy on that team has the ability to step up and be impressive. The main problem with them is the only one that does it consistently at this point is Bosh.

 

Detroit????????
New Jersey????
Portland???????
LA Lakers??????

all are teams with talent

 

tmacs ONLY real waekness is shooting a long jumper with 20 seconds in the shot clock. we can live without him taking it to the whole all the time but when he starts jacking up 3s its really a momentum shifter, if he's hot it can lead to a blowout our way if hes not it can lead to the opposite, its too much of a gamble, he should just stick to the offense.