I've never said that I wanted to get rid of Adelman, that doesn't mean I'm not going to question his coaching. Also thats one thing ive been pointing to which is the exit of Landry moreso than ariza. Landry battle downlow with energy and passion. For how good Martin is at scoring, along with defense, that is one characteristic he lacks. Plus when Landry was here, he was one of the top scorers in the 4th. How's Martin doing in the category? Makes that trade a little lopsided in retrospect (even though we were desperate for a true 2 guard at the time.)
I've been saying since we got rid of Artest that that move would come back to haunt us. He was the heart of the team, he gave the team swagger and toughness. Instead everybody hated on him and Daryl Morey ran him out of town because apparently he only wants boyscouts who look good in statistical models. Well, now we have the team Morey wanted and it sucks. You can't be a good basketball GM if you don't account for toughness, heart, and swagger. This isn't baseball, a big part of the game doesn't show up in stats.
I thought that's what Shane Battier was here for. Toughness. Heart. Swagger. For all the love he gets, Battier IS the heart and soul of this team. He is the standard to which all Rockets must aspire. To hell with whether or not he can compete at this level and give your team an advantage...and a chance to win. As long as he (and a few other players) just give it that "good ol' college try"....well... ...who cares if it doesn't win? Battier was voted onto a college All-Second Team for the last decade by Sports Illustrated recently. Maybe Battier should have stayed in college .....
I don't see the Rockets pull an 05' Astros. Unlike the 05' Astros, the Rockets don't have the star talents to pull a turnaround like that. This is a mediocre team if it's at full strength. With so many injuries we are a bad team.
That team never existed. Tmac couldn't handle sharing the spotlight with Artest and his body kept breaking down. Yao-Artest-Tmac hardly played together. And why do you have Ariza and Artest? We got Ariza b/c Artest chose to leave (even though the crappy 1 yr offer from Morey didn't help Ron's decision).
I may be going off on a limb here, but I think that at the point last season when the Rockets were 20-13, they would be a team that would no longer sneak up on other teams around the league, and that has carried over into this season, which is why they're not starting off all that well. Rocket opponents know the weaknesses to exploit on the defensive end much like what they figured out last season when Yao is not playing. I could also say that last season's squad overachieved as well.
I just hope that people understand that basketball has to be somewhat physical. The T-issue is a big misnomber and probably hurts the game so much. Rockets used to be referred to as a physical team. But some regular had fouls are considered T or flagrant fouls.. I almost think some billionaires should get together and build a new league without ridiculous rules.
bu bu bu but i thought t-mac was the only rocket player without any heart! lol! all the t-mac haters eating crow now!
No cohesive chemistry. It comes and goes. This leads to lack of identity. But there has also been a lot of lulls where there has been a lack of ball movement. Too much standing around. Some of the problem is as mentioned here and in other threads. Other teams know how to take away the scorers at the end of games. No one on the court demands a double team, without Yao and/or Brooks. Martin, might demand one, if there was one more with him on the court. But as is, it's a whole lot easier to shut the Rockets down at the end of games.
Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry have yet to play together this season!! Lowry is arguably one of the best sparkplugs coming off the bench in the league, his the one that brings the fight and the guy that changes the tempo of the game and makes everyone on the bench better(including Courtney Lee and Chase Budinger). What we need, and I know I sound like a broken record player, is to get healthy. Hell just getting Aaron Brooks out there would allow us to send Lowry back to the bench, giving us back one our biggest strengths against any team ... our BENCH! Which has been non-existent this year..... --RB
technically, they both played in the Denver and New Orleans games. Doesn't mean either played well. They both played though. But true, they haven't been on court together yet.
huh??? Tmac was great when he was healthy. .but look at Tmac now.. how can tmac eater be eating crow if the dude is the 9th man off the bench and plays 9 mins a game??? The tmac haters are not eating anything but popcorn and enjoying the train wreck that is tmac.. oh btw im not really a a tmac hater.. I dont like the guy but i hope you he bounces back since he was one of my favorite players in his prime till he started to open his mouth and cry about everything
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA get off of Von Wafer, he was a flash in the pan! your talking about a guy who was thrown off the bench during a play off game for arguing with the head coach! he wont amount to anything untill he matures. Artest was never going to be here long term!!!!!!!!!! The heart/leadership of the team has been Battier, Yao and others who lead by example through there work ethic.... Some leaders yell and scream others lead by example. The maturity of those around them dictates how affective they are. The team is still fighting, just not as a one. All the guys are pulling in different directions, trying to do to much, infighting, it shows in our inconsistancy. we need to pull it together for a couple games and play with discipline on both sides of the floor.
