Sorry, in the above post meant to say bad defenders can't become great if a coach yells at them. Everyone can get better, but my point was that average players have low ceilings, expecting them to play above their limits is silly. This Rockets team has a bunch of guys being asked to do things that go way beyond their roles, and the results speak for themselves. Kyle Lowry is not a closer. Kevin Martin isn't a closer. Luis Scola isn't a closer. Adelman has to use them as such because it's all he has, which is why we look terrible at the end of games. Get a real star/closer who can create his own shot and playmake for others and you'll see different results.
I still want to know why we went for 2 at the end of OT when we are down by 3... We make 2, quick foul. Very rarely does the ball end up in a bad FT shooter's hands at the last seconds, so they would've made their 2 FTs. Then we'd still be down by 3...
Uh...no... that's not what I was implying with my response. It's not like the team has a bunch of crap players. The team has some good talent but not elite talent. However, it can't be denied, even by some of the most adamant Adelman supporters that a lot of his strategy has cost the team legit chances to win down the stretch. Like I said it's starting to mirror his last days in Sacramento and when it comes down to it, its about wins and losses. Sometime change needs to occur to get better, whether it's player and/or the coach. This team as is will not go anywhere. I hope the Rox organization rights this ship before it completely sinks because you can tell this current group with each tough lost is losing more and more confidence.
So Adelman has nothing to do with the game being close in the first place? The players just did that on their own and then Adelman came in and messed it up for them?
Please list the playoff teams in the West you think we have a more talented roster than. The reality is we have the 9th or 10th best roster in the West, and that's exactly where we are in the standings. We can beat the terrible teams, and we can't beat the good teams. We aren't underachieving, we're exactly where an average roster like this should be, and considering the injury to Brooks, you could make a case we're overachieving. I've been saying it since the off season, this isn't a talented roster at all, I'm not sure why so many people here keep wanting to hold on to the idea that it is even as the evidence mounts that it isn't. We have a bunch of average players and no legit prospects. And please don't tell me Jordan Hill and Patrick Patterson are legit prospects, at best they have the potential to be good role players, nothing more. The last time Adelman actually had a team with good players (Yao, Artest, healthy Brooks, Landry, Scola, younger Battier), the Rockets won 50+ games, won their first round playoff series, and took the Lakers to 7 games. He didn't have any coaching issues then, did he? I doubt he will come back next year to coach a team that is obviously without direction, but it's mind boggling that people think he's the problem when the roster is just not good.
That's why I mentioned the absence of superstars. At one point I really wanted Pat pat to come in because he's got pretty good court awareness and his defense is actually pretty good. I mean obviously he'll screw up now and then (cuz he's a rookie) but the fact that their pick and roll was tearing us apart (not just this game), we may as well stick him in. I'm not saying Adelman should get tough on them but seeing how our defense has greatly digressed over the years (and yes I know we're missing Yao) we need some sort of improvement. If not Adelman get one of the assistant staff to get them work on something. It's not just that either but our rotations has been pretty awful and it seems like the players has that "oh he'll pick it up" (meaning teammates) mentality. This also applies to our offense as well. It just seems like we have no game plans or at least consistent game plans at all.
Sad sad time to be a Rockets fan...scraping for wins just to remain in contention for the 8th seed and a first round exit. No real youth to watch grow and potential realized, just a bunch of peaked players (scola, martin, brooks, battier, lowry) who are not good enough.
Tonight was everyone's fault. I do blame RA a little bit, but the fact is the players didn't make the plays down the stretch. As much as I love Lowry, he doesn't need to be taking that shot at the end of the 4th quarter.
Of course our defense has gotten worse over the years, we don't have good defensive players anymore. We used to have a starting lineup with Ron Artest and Shane Battier, two of the best wing defenders in the game, and a 7'6'' guy in the paint. Now we have Kevin Martin, take out Artest and replace him with Kevin Martin, arguably one of the top 10 worst defenders in the league, and take out the 7'6" guy and replace him with a 6'6" guy and you are seeing the results. No amount of coaching is going to turn Kevin Martin into a good defensive player and no amount of coaching is going to make Chuck Hayes a foot taller.
The fact that the games are close and that the Rox are able to build big leads in the first place shows they have talent, BUT, the pattern for this current group has been when the other team starts making their runs like a lot of NBA teams are capable of doing, the Rox players, and Adelman it appears, go into a panick and Adelman fails to substitute properly to offset other team's adjustments. If AB is healthy, I don't know why he wasn't in there during the 4th and OT. Adelman continued to allow Lowery to shoot fadaway prayers, circus shots, etc. Also the desperate Jefferies sub late in the 4th on West was a FAIL. I don't know. Don't get me wrong, I kind of feel for Adelman given the circumstances (injuries to franchise players Yao and Tmac) but he is starting to have the look of a befuddled coach right now.
I strongly recommend you get League Pass and watch other bad teams play. Getting leads and blowing them is a very common trait of bad NBA teams. They do it constantly. It's what separates teams with good players from teams with bad players. It's not something unique to the Rockets. Bad teams blow leads, and the Rockets are a bad team. Yes, Adelman, a guy who has been coaching for decades and has coached in the Finals against Michael Jordan, paniced in a regular season game against the New Orleans Hornets. Great theory.
i think adleman isnt the only one to blame. isnt elston turner our defensive coach???? wtf has he been telling those guys that makes them so horrible on D? and he wonders why he isnt a head coach yet! kinda wish he did get some gig somewhere else so we can sneak in jvg as an assistant. adleman offense+ jvg defense= bad ass team! :grin:
I was at this game unfortunately...I'm so numb to this foolery now. Go up by 15pts then end up losing the game. Wish I got a dollar for everytime something like this has happened within the last 5 seasons
Like I said in my original post. The Rox, like Adelman's previous Kings team, is starting to have the look of a mediocre team going bad. Losses like tonight don't do much to stop the downfall. My stance is it may be time to go in a different direction to right the ship. I look at a lot of basketball by the way. But anyway, it's late, I'm out.
I have never been so embarassed before as Rox fan, well except when we were starting moochie, oscar torres and etc when cat and steve was injured, we ended up with Yao. We ® practically letting teams blow through us disectting our invisible D ... heck even with Chuck back, we ® still halpless. We sure could use Tmac back but we as a fan always judges everything too quickly and takes things for granted .... If we waited, we could have kept Landry still and sign Tmac for vets min. I bectha he could have done done something, kmart scores but hes no playmaker, cant create and disappears in crunch time .... Flame suit on and ready, heck our season ® over regardless big free agent acquisition, at most we ® 1st round victims again.
The only problem I had with Adelman's rotation tonight was how he used Hill, Jeffries and Patterson. He started out with Hill and Patterson for the second unit but yanked Hill early and went with Jeffries. Then in the second half, he kept Hill on the bench and went with Patterson and Jeffries, only to give them limited minutes. I realize none of the three were giving the team much, but it just seemed like Adelman's juggling around made it more confusing than it should have been. I'd like to have seen him stick with a steadier rotation for the backup bigs.
Nice to see Ariza is still missing 1 out of every 2 he shoots at the free throw line like he did when he was with us. I don't understand how his free throw percentage is not 50%. Maybe it's the And1s and technical shots he makes. lol Another tough loss. West killed us again and Jeffries gets posterized by David West at number 7 on ESPN top 10 as I type this. Great performance by Lowry. He made some great decisions and finishes on the fast break and was attacking the basket like he used to. 16 point lead SMH.
They were up 16. They ****ing stopped playing. Coach can only do so much. These assholes keep blowing games.
Nah, Adelman is smarter than u guys think... he knows to pretend to win but when he sees his players get a 16 point lead..he starts tanking mode. thats why we lost. its because we wanted to lose. celtics 07 stylez
