I created this thread not to complain but to seek understanding. Understanding in the sense that I really have no idea what this team's trying to do so I'm appealing to those out there that do. Are we trying to win? Do we still feel making the playoffs is a possibility? Are we playing for the future? Is Adelman a part of that future? Are Adelman and Morey even on the same page? These are all questions that I don't think any of us not in the know are capable of answering yet they seemingly haunt us as we try to tackle this year's upcoming trade deadline. I sincerely and genuinely hope the Rockets front office is both: A) Confident in which direction they’re planning to move in -and- B) Both the coaching staff and the front office are on the same page. Personally, I find this team's lack of direction to be a bit annoying. I get the vibe that Morey is all over the place with this team and as a result he and Adelman are at odds. As I see it, we're employing one of five possible strategies at the moment: 1) We're stalling until the trade deadline to see what's out there, 2) We're willing to 'rent' a Melo type because we feel we're 1-2 moves away from being able to win now, 3) We're willing to 'rent' a Melo type because we feel it's worth it even half of a season and we think whatever S&T deal we can get to deal him this summer is worth it, 4) We're playing for the future and will look to deal Scola/Martin or 5) Any combination of all the above It completely boggles my mind NOT knowing. And that's just me. I can't even begin to imagine what's going on in Adelman's head at the moment. Let's look at this from Adelman's perspective: you're 64-years-old and in the last year of your contract. At this point, you're unlikely to be interested in a 2-3 year rebuilding plan. Logically speaking, winning NOW seems to make the most sense for you, right? Yet here you are plagued with uncertainty and an overall lack of direction from the franchise. Not only that, but there's also the possibility of the constant speculation having an adverse affect on team chemistry and cohesion. Bottom line: I'm just a fan and I get the vibe my coach and GM aren't on the same page. I have no inside knowledge nor can I definitively back up any of my claims. I'm just calling it like I see it. We need to pick a direction already. And as far as coaching goes, finding an upgrade to Adelman is next to impossible. Going in a different direction is one thing but I'd be quick to not alienate the best coach out there NOT named Pop, Riles or Phil. My apologies if threads of this nature have already been created. Mods please merge if necessary.
we are trying to win can't you tell? RA is just trying to find consistency from the same fail line-up and squeeze offense that never existed from hayes,lowry, and battier at the same time every time.We are witnessing epic coaching
RA is doing the best he can with what he has. I hope Morey can get him something RA can work with to get the team into the playoffs. Need a true C and G/SG that can defend and run the offense.
baller4life315, I wish I could speak intelligently over your concerns, but I have the exact same thoughts and have for weeks. I am completely clueless as to what this team is doing and trying to accomplish. I also believe that RA is frustrated with redundant talent, it's making his job very difficult. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if he and Morey are at odds somewhat. I hope we have some answers as to what the Rockets are trying to accomplish after the trade deadline has come and gone. For all my years being a fan I have never been this confused as to what direction the team is going, and that's including the long stretches of lean years we've all gone through. Here is to hoping Morey can show us something when things seem bleak.
We are trying to win. The Rockets don't have a center. Losing hurts the Rockets in trades so they are pretty much stuck unless they want to sell low and buy high.
The team is made up of solid, but one-dimensional role players. Our identity is John Doe or <to be named later>. It's certainly not the Rockets I know.
There is no identity crisis. This is Kevin Martin's team: High efficiency offense (though can be inconsistent), not very good D. Goes to the line a good number of times and launches lot of 3s. The team looks pretty much like Kevin Martin. And there is no "crisis" as to what they are trying to do: they are trying to win games and add talent. They just haven't done it very well so far.
Maybe not a crisis in the very sense of the word, but there's definitely some confusion as to which direction this team wants to move in, IMO. One week we're talking about trading Martin-for-Gortat while the next week we're hearing about our willingness to rent Melo for half of a season. You know, which is it? One trade is for the long-term and sets us back in immediate talent, the other seemingly positions us to compete now. I'm sure there are hundreds of trade discussions GM's have behind closed doors that I know nothing about so maybe I'm reading too much into this by thinking the rumors we do know about (i.e. Martin for Scola, Brooks for Flynn, Martin/Scola to NJ) seem to indicate a path Morey is leaning towards. And if you break down each trade or transaction Morey has made individually , it's rare where you find one where we come out on the losing end. He's consistently added talent so to suggest he could 'do it better' might be asking too much. After all, his biggest downfall as GM so far is his inability to complete the Bosh deal -- something that was a bit of a home run proposition in the first place. That is, unless you're still PO'd about drafting Dorsey (2nd round), Brad Miller (poor decision but not terrible) or Ariza (gone already).
This is exactly what they are doing. Morey has said numerous times they always look to win, there is no such think as tanking. And they have done a good job of adding talent, the only probclem is we lost a lot of talent suddenly and unexpectedly because of injury so the net result has not been winning. Expect the same course of action that has happened the last 3 years. Slow collection of good pieces and a chance at the "prizes" when they become available. For those that think we are going to trade everything away for a chance at a top pick, think again, its just not going to happen. Maybe confusion on the fans part, but the organization has a clear direction. All the rumors you hear are other teams calling the Rockets and us shooting them down. You never hear about what Morey is doing before hand. He said so himself in a recent interview. "Teams like dealing with us because we are very good at keeping a lid on things"
I wouldn't say it's not working... his calculations hedged the fact that Yao would be playing this season. Statiscally he rolled the dice and basically crapped out. For what we got, I say we're right where we should be.
I disagree that this is Martin's team. He sat out pretty much the whole 4th against Utah until his final game winning shot. How many times has Martin not played down the stretch in the 4th? A freaking lot. If this was Martin's team, he would be our go to guy late the majority of the time. This team does have an identity crisis, because of the redundant talent and no one has stepped up consistently to take on the leadership role of the team. If this team had direction you would see RA have a solid rotation, which he does not have. For once it's too many Indians and not a chief or two.
The only fact we know is we have a huge 17m hole this team was built around. That is a huge monkey wrench.
Going in order of your questions all of these answers are IMO 1 - trying to win? absolutely were are trying to win, problem is that the team is just not that good at the moment. There are some promising pieces and other not so good pieces and some unfortunate injuries that hurt the structure of the team, but I would refuse to believe that an entire team would give up wanting to win..maybe a player or two but these people are competitors and even if its just winning for pride they will win for pride. 2 - Personally its hard for me to see it happening but the schedule will get easier after the all-star break and the team can win some games in a row to get back into the hunt, the problem is that they'll have to hope other teams start faltering down the stretch. They MUST win any remaining games they have with the teams directly above them, portland, memphis, phoenix, denver. Losing those two games in the first week to portland was killer for this team. They also MUST not lose any "gimme" games against the Cavs/Wolves/Nets of the league -- Also any potential trade at the deadline could change all of this too -- this team could easily be a playoff team IMO if they had some length inside to rebound and block shots..maybe thats just what this team still needs to make a run. But IF they get in I really dont see how they will get past the first round though. 3- This should be the course of action as soon as Yao went down for the year. The team has plenty of young guys with potential (Patterson, Williams, Smith, Budinger, Hill, Brooks, Lowry, Lee) Morey has said though that by making the playoffs you increase the perceived value of your own players across the league. I find this is true but at some point you sort of have to find a line where getting experience and developing the younger guys will better set up the team for long term success over playing the vets where the short term success would be greater. With Yao guys like Smith, Hill, Patterson probably would not have seen the floor of course. As a fan its easier for me to accept not winning when its the young guys out there going through growing pains over not winning when playing all the vets but still falling short because we are missing that piece(s) to really be a good team. 4 - Only Rick knows this for sure, maybe only Morey and Les. Its hard to say, Rick is one of the best coaches in the league but if the team moves forward in a rebuilding phase does he want to be a part of that? It seems he is best suited to help a team that is starting to get it all together make that next step. I dont know if he will want to just take over a purely young team and coach them. Also factor in what Les/Morey's expectations were of him (factoring injuries to Tracy and Yao) as Rick met, exceeded or failed their expectations. If failed, who would they look to hire to replace him? I feel Rick has met if not exceed expectations given the circumstances he has had to deal with so Les and Morey would offer an extension but would Rick want to stay in Houston is the bigger question. Right now I do not think he will want to. 5 - They are on the same page in that they both want the team to win. I think it would be foolish of Daryl to not consult with the coach when making roster moves of significance. I think at times Daryl would prefer the coach to play certain guys that would better "showcase" them (much how JT played a few games before switching lockerrooms) and I think Rick wants to play the guys that will help him win the most games because thats what matters (and the only thing that should matter) to him. I am sure Daryl may prefer to see some guys get more playing time and others less but I think he is also smart enough to not question the coach and his methods. I think one of the good things about Daryl is he is one of the few GMs who did not play in the NBA or coach before so in a way while he knows a lot about the sport he still shows some deference to guys like Rick. Unlike Riley who is could just toss the coach out and come down and coach himself. Now to your general feeling its hard but to feel that as a fan. I've said it several times before the absolute worst thing for a team to be is mediocre. There is no real way up or down without a stroke of luck. The Lakers were mediocre after they traded Shaq but they were able to get a top 15 player for nothing, in fact by trading a guy that hurt their team in the process. Seattle/OKC had some luck in landing Durant and then Westbrook. I mean the team cant "tank" even if it would want to it has too many good players to do so, but the team needs more talent to compete. Right now the Rockets are as mediocre as they come. I think its more of a problem this year than last year because of expectations. Last year no one really had much to expect so being mediocre was tolerated (though hard to deal with) and we got Patterson for it (who i do like a lot) but this year with Yao coming back and all there were expectations of having a top team in the west again but with Yao going down very early and other injuries to Brooks, Miller, Hayes that pretty much wiped out that notion. And we're back to where we were last year, mediocre, maybe a little worse but still mediocre. Its more frustrating now because its about 1.5 seasons of this. Factoring its 1.5 years of mediocrity after having probably its most successful season in over a decade (Maybe with Yao and Deke we beat the lakers who knows) The team does lack an identity and I think there are 3 ways a team can have one. 1- offensively -- this team is good on offense, but they arent the phoenix suns, denver nuggets or golden state style of offensive where they will just outscore you to death. This team scorer the ball a lot but it lacks the complete barrage of firepower that some of those other teams have to keep throwing at you. They dont play as recklessly either. So while the Rockets this year are a better offensive team its hard for me to think "well we are going to outscore this team easily tonight" because its not always the case 2- defensively -- this team cant play defense at all a lot of it has to do with lack of size and some terrible defenders (martin, brooks, scola, miller, budinger, hill) only so much the average to good defenders on the team can do to sort of mask that. So no way is their identity defense no way at all. 3- The Superstar -- lastly a team can identify itself through its superstar..we dont have one so thats out of the picture. Also its through the team's superstar do fans get the most connection. Its a star driven league and I think a lot of issues is that we dont have a star to root for anymore, havent had one in 2 seasons. Fans hardcore to casual tend to root for the stars more - the stars create the excitement and buzz for the team. They lift the team up and pull wins out when the team has no business of winning that night. I mean look at it what one of these 3 categories do the Rockets fit in to say this is who they are? At best its offensively but even then anyone who watches this team see it still goes through far too many stretches where they fail to execute and score for long periods of times. Going off of that I dont think the team has an identity partly because it doesnt have the proper blend of players. Too much talent in the backcourt and nothing in the front court. The Rockets have played 51 games so far the most in the league (the Hornets have also played 51) as of today (not including tonight's games) lets say that this year the 8th seed has to be 47-35 (last year OKC won 50 games as the 8th seed). Right now they are 4 games behind Portland for the 8th seed - probably better to say 5 since I believe Portland will own the tie breaker. Memphis is right behind Portland which makes tomorrow's game against the Grizzlies that much more important to win and get the tiebreaker against them. The Rockets this year are 3-17 against the current set of playoff teams (i could be off on the 17 it could be 3-16 but we've only beaten the Lakers, OKC and the Jazz once this season) that really doesn't bode well to try to make a run. If lets say the magical number is 47-35 that means the Rockets would have to go 24-7 to close the season out which is at a 77.4% win clip which is at what Boston is playing at right now (only the Spurs are better) They have 8 games before the trade deadline Memphis @Denver Minnesota Dallas Denver Philly @Det @Cleveland They MUST go at least 6-2 preferably 7-1 (expecting a loss to Dallas and possibly @ denver) which would put them at worst 29-30 (hopefully 30-29) at the trade deadline. And lets say its 29-30 then whatever trade happens if its for "win now" then they have to play at a higher winning percentage 78.2% (18-5) to get to 47-35...and of course that 47-35 is just a guesstimate on my part for the 8th seed if its an even better record than it makes it that much harder. These next 8 games though will play a lot in deciding the direction the Rockets go in though IMO...if they go 4-4 or worse I think its time to call the season a loss and start developing the young guys, trade away larger contracts for young prospects, picks and cap space...if they go 5-3 (pref better) then they may try to make that push to make a run at the playoffs this year because if they do make that push and they do get in they will be playing unbelievable ball and would then be a tough first round opponent for the Spurs or Lakers. uhh pretty sure i went off on a tangent there sorry guys
All those saying the team is "trying to win", I disagree. The players and coaches are trying to win with the team they have, but the front office is more trying to get by than trying to win. Waiting for the right deal to come along is not trying to win.
Morey's Plan at the beginning of the season was to get Yao healthy and then have him as the anchor to content to a championship. Basically try to redo the 95 championship, only this time it was meant that a Yao gets into gear the second half of the season and not a trade like it was with Clyde. The piece that Morey acquired and/or nurtured were meant meant to be trade bait for another Star to complement Yao, they were not designed for a super star trade. This plan died a quick and painful death with Yao injuring his other foot. Morey now has to try and retool his plans, and had a month and a half to make that work. Thus, it really isnt much of an identity crisis, but rather rescue/salvage the rest of the season mode. My guess is that getting Carmelo before Yao went down as a sort of dream scenario, but he wasnt betting on it. He was betting that Yao would be healthier. Is that a mistake? Hard to judge after the fact. Now, getting a superstar is a much bigger priority then before, but superstars dont grow on trees and an available superstar is a once-in-a-blue-moon event. Morey has to deal with the hand that the rockets have been dealt.
Interesting point and very well could be the case. Personally, I believe 'where there's smoke, there's fire'. It's unusual for Morey to tip his cap so I fully expect something surprising (good or bad) to happen at the trade deadline. My prediction of what will happen falls somewhere in between the obvious and the unexpected -- if that makes any sense.
Every team in the league would be in the same position if they lost players of Tracy and Yao's caliber. There is no reason to call the franchises commitment to winning into question because the fact of the matter is the Rockets are in the process of shifting eras and a period of "irrelevance" is inevitable. Just be thankful that it hasn't been totally unbearable. The important thing is to remain loyal and keep cheering for the hometown team.
It's not at all about questioning the team's desire or commitment to winning. The bigger point is trying to figure out what this team wants to do with the roster since the trade deadline is quickly approaching and we know there's going to be changes made. It's about that and trying to figure out if Adelman fits into this puzzle beyond this season.
