Who here was impressed with the Rockets starting 5? And who wasn't?

I'm sort of scared for Beverley. I know things are going to get heated several times this year and feuds will be made against him.

 

Some people around here have just made up their minds that they are not going to like D-Mo, regardless of how he plays. Figuratively speaking, they have their arms crossed, their foreheads wrinkled and their heels dug in.

D-Mo could play like Dennis Rodman, Charles Barkley, Dirk Nowitski and Karl Malone all rolled into one, and some people would still say they want Terrance Jones to start.

Fortunately, coach McHale does not appear to be of that sort of mindset. It appears he is committed to playing whoever will help the team win the most, which is as it should be. And for now, that appears to translate into starting D-Mo at the four.

 

I thought D-mo was horrible on defense. Too weak to guard PF like Davis, and too slow to defend guard like Rivers. As of now he's a liability on defense and can put the team into foul trouble very quickly.
As of now, I don't think neither Jones nor D-mo is ready to start the 4 full time yet. McHale might have to put Parsons or Casspi into that position.

 

First of all, I'm impressed with what I've seen of the rotation players.

One thing about the Bulls caught me; because basically their offense is DRose. So I was struck by the (semi-blasphemeous thought) of the possibility of (if the Asik-Howard tandem works out) starting a lineup of Asik-Howard-Harden-Lin-Beverley. Which... no Parsons.

But, you get glorious rim-protection, Noah has to pick his poison between guarding the big men, Beverley guards Rose, Lin distributes like he did when Asik and Smith were in the lineup (during when Parsons and Harden were out with injuries), and Harden wrecks his usual havoc, and Parsons glues the bench together.

 

lol at beverley having more talent than lin

 

Hell naw. Young Bev ain't scurred. And he's got a whole crew of youngsters who got his back. I hope he continues to stay in people's grills all day long and if folks get upset, id swear allegiance to any and all of the players who back him up.

 

I'm really interested in seeing Omer in the starting 5.
I believe the benefits on D will offset the spacing and scoring issues on O.
Frankly, I think with the proper schemes and movements, adding Omer to the mix should not harm the offense significantly.

 

I would like to see Casspi starting with our Big4 on our next game.

 

DMo needs to go.

 

I feel the same way. I think TJ is really good a player, but he somehow did not flow inside the team. I had the same feeling with MM last season, but later on, MM got much better. Hopefully TJ would improve soon.

 

DMo is getting JVG'ed? Or are you saying the DARM is replete with JVG'ers?

 

Its interesting that people here are overlooking something that is so important for that starting PF to do with the other big 4 that D-Mo did extremely well the other night-

Passing and MOVING the ball.

That ball movement is so, so important to the flow of their offense, and what we saw is its going to be very important for the basketball to be able to move the ball inside-out to draw double teams, and break down the defense.

So while D-Mo didn't do anything too flashy, missed a couple gimmes at the rim that he usually makes(chalk it up to nerves), didn't hit any 3's (actually didn't need to cause he was still able to MOVE the ball for an open shot), and still had a few hiccups with his team defense, he actually did do something that impressed me very much, and gave me alot of hope for him being able to fit in very well with the big 4.

Jones obviously looked like a more dynamic scoring forward, but he looked like a scoring forward that needs touches, and doesn't pass & move the ball to the key components of your offense.

However, I think that both Jones, Casspi, and maybe even Garcia (at the 3) will also be given a shot to start during the preseason.... like many people here have already stated.... its just one game.

But D-Mo did do things that did look really good with the starting unit.

 

over analyzing one pre-season game. We don't know exactly who would fit better with the starters at the 4 position. Some people were doing this last season and what happened, DMO got sent to the end of the bench.

Both players has their weaknesses and I hope they improve. We shall see who McHale goes with after the pre-season. I think Asik will be the starting Center and Howard the starting PF. Even though it would be best to bring Asik with the 2nd unit.

 

The starters were impressive in our 1st pre-season game. Some bench players played not too good. But overall the team played great. I can't wait to see Asik and Garcia. Wow our team will be very deep this season.

Lets Go Rockets!!!!!

 

Coaching staff has already said in interviews that the ball this year will be out of James Harden's hand to allow for a freer-flowing offense and for Harden to focus more on D. With Lin this works, but no so much with Beverley.

 

man, Lin's gotta focus on his D too, give it to Dwight to man the point

 

Unfortunately, DMo doesn't rebound the ball very well, defend very well, isn't a notable shot blocker, gets into foul trouble easily and can't shoot the 3 all that well, either.

He's a terrific athlete in search of a position.

I DO think he will be very attractive as trade bait as his upside and age will be easy to sell.

I like DMo, but his weaknesses are unacceptable for a starting 4, esp. for a stretch 4.

 

OKC players in particular are going to target not just Beverley, but rockets players in general for several choice cheap shots.

The larger problem, therefore, is that Beverley's style of play may put several rockets players at risk for retaliation.

Bev knows what he's doing is dirty, but he's getting a ton of burn and his PR value is higher than ever.

 

This is a list of player mental mistakes from the game. I don't think it's fair or necessary to criticize effort-mistakes, that is making the right play just not executing it.

D-Mo: had at least 3 open shots from 3-point range which he passed on.

Harden: one of the most annoying tendency by Harden 2 times one of the bigs set a pick and he doesn't use it by dribbling, just stands there and waves off the pick. If he doesn't want picks set when he is iso-ed at the 3-pt line, he should tell everybody because that wastes time.

Lin: didn't get D-Mo one fg.

Brooks: stepped out of bounds twice.

Jones: he must not be practicing his shooting enough because he shot 3 shots very badly, including one 3-pointer that went in & one FT.

Howard: had his shot blocked 3 or 4 times (debatable if that is a mental mistake), 2 goaltendings, delay of game technical, arguing technical & a couple of times he had the chance to set a high pick but just walked right past it. Another time he set a pick but didn't roll to the basket quickly.

Team / Coaching: I dislike center-centered basketball, always trying to get the ball inside. It is boring to watch and proven not conducive to winning. It's why Rivers & Morrow outscored Harden & Parsons 47-32 in fairly close minutes played. It is worse when the inside player always fights for position or it is hard to get the ball to him because that eats up time. If the entry pass isn't going to lead to a shot, for whatever reason, the post player should set a pick on the perimeter, but Howard didn't do that once. You can not waltz up lazily to picks either because the defense will see it coming. If Howard doesn't want to run the pick and rolls properly, the team should utilize D-Mo who has the ability. Howard will also lose minutes to Asik for this reason because the offense will run smoother with him setting the picks & not clogging up the lane. I am not very optimistic about this system. A very large reason for their success last year was the system. This team may be more talented, but a system that is not as good this year could mean a team that is not as good. The comments made by the coaches basically have been they want to run the same offense as last year. Well, Parsons was almost invisible against the Pelicans. If that is because of Howard, I don't think it is good for the team. Who is the better player offensively I don't know, but one of Parsons' strengths is play-making. Howard made a few nice passes from the post, but I am skeptical he can facilitate the offense consistently as well as Parsons, because he slows the game down too much.