TNT crew says Rockets aren't legit contenders; Howard isn't a great player.

I got this in my rep from some coward who isn't man enough to debate me in the forum:

Firstly, Howard is maturing and showing a lot of improvement this season. He can definitely win championships and cement his place in history.

Secondly, Mchale might be TRYING to create a cohesive unit, he just has absolutely ZERO idea of how to go about it.

 

The entire Rockets team laid an egg in the second half, absolutely nothing worked. The same players and coaches that were responsible for the 73 points in the first half, were responsible for the 19 points in the second half. Hopefully the Rockets will use this game as a learning experience and they can improve.

A few thoughts. Earlier in the year the TNT crew was saying that the Rockets offense needed to flow through Dwight and that he should be getting 15+ shots per game. Now they are saying Dwight isn't a great player and that you can't build a team around Dwight. They say that Dwight needs to just be a complimentary piece, not necessarily the focal point of the Rockets offense. I think the TNT crew is seeing what many here are also seeing.

Dwight is just not able to dominate in the low post on a nightly basis. He does well some nights, but poorly other nights. Some of the blame for Dwight's struggles goes to his teammates when they fail to get the ball to him. But, mainly Dwight is just is not a great low post player.

Dwight turns the ball over too frequently, he gets in foul trouble, he can't shoot free throws. He just has too many weaknesses for the Rockets to try and build an offense around.

Unfortunately, the Rockets have gone all in on Dwight. Morey is convinced that Dwight is a superstar and we are going to build a team around him.

If the Rockets don't make it out of the first round of the playoffs, then McHale will probably be gone. However, I don't think a coaching change will do much good as long as the offense flows through Howard. I think the offense looked better last year with Asik playing center.

Maybe the Rockets will figure things out and put the pieces together, but in my opinion Dwight has too many weaknesses to be the focal point of our offense.

 

I agree!! Yes, we have a limited window and we do need a better coach. Also, Howard should be used primarily in pick and rolls since his post game, for the most part, is atrocious. I highly doubt we could ever play a consistent inside-out game, like we did with Dream, with Howard in the middle.

 

Exactly.

You have Omer pitching a fit, sitting at home eating Chee-tos. Maybe Morey won't make any trade involving Omer that brings back a contract going past 2015. So Dwight has no real backup. And he's getting tired of having to cover for the matador perimeter defenders whilst the other team arm-wrestles him into double-fouls and double-technical fouls and such.

As much as I like some of the individual players, they don't mesh, and McHale doesn't have the ability to make it happen. Someone in this thread put it well: as a playe rhe was from an era / team where the players could summon that will, know-how, fire.

I can only hope such embarassing losses will force Morey's hand (probably not now, but in the offseason) about a coaching change.

Maybe Morey can pull that rabbit out of a hat and move some players (Asik? here's looking at you, kid) for that third star/almost-star. But it's clear listening to Morey and McHale that they're thinking offense first, offense second, and offense third. And that gives me pause.

To be honest? We need a Rondo to match with Howard. And Harden, great as he is (on the offensive end), maybe along with Asik and other spare parts, could net us so much of what we SHOULD have on this team. A real point guard. Two-way players.

But it won't happen, and I'll just have to sit back with the rest of you and watch McHale sitting bleak-eyed on the bench waving the players helplessly along ("run, guys; push the ball, push!") because he really, truly, indubitably has no clue how to coach a team.

We need cohesion. We have incoherence.

I got the same thing the other day. Maybe jtr?

If someone's gonna neg-rep you just for disagreeing on something, and not even put a name to it, yeah, it's fairly chicken-s***.

 

There is no argument there. TNT was spot on. Is it time trade Lin yet? Do we need to suffer mediocrity for another era instead of trying to get a ring.

 

I agree with you about McHale...

But Howard is what he is and what he's always been. He's a great athlete but he's not a great basketball player. If you go watch the finals between Orlando and Lakers _ you'll see the same 5h!t going on then that's going on now. He came with a buyer be warned label and the Rockets still brought him.

 

The very notion that Shaq is jealous of Howard is laughable at best. Shaq was 5x the player Howard was and ever will be.

 

Put a peak Shaq instead of Howard in this game and he would score 30-40 points at the minimum. What kind of superstar gets outplayed by ****ing Perkins? What a ****ing joke.

 

A champion contending team has an identity. If ours is a 3 point shooting team..then forget it. We are not going anywhere. that might work in the regular season with crappy teams to get you a decent record but u will get shut down in the playoffs.

I dont get to watch the rockets often but every time I do...all I see is iso ball. Everyone is trying to break down their defender instead of playing team basketball. Pass the ball..and the defense will break down in coverage!

I am still not sure if everyone knows howard is on the team.

 

I can't stand Harden. Everything about him. He plays hard when he feels like it especially when he dribbles the ball out and jacks up a bad shot with the shot clock running down.

I don't understand why the Houston Media is so scared to asks the obvious questions to his face (or his teammates)

I am not saying its only Harden's fault but he is clearly not living up to 'Fear the Beard' potential and effort he showed most of last year...

Obviously both Harden and Howard have pretty big egos, with that in mind I don't think McHale is the right coach. He just doesn't have the balls to call out his star players.

granted this is probably an angry knee jerk reaction but after the astros and texans years I really need the Rockets to turn it around. lol

 

Problem is that you are blaming Lin when no one outside of Jones & the bench played semi-decently.

Lin, Harden, Parsons, Jones, Dmo - all those guys have a ton of room to still grow. Why would you blow that up when the team is in a state of flux.

Plus Garcia has really been awful. Why we took him over Delfino is beyond comprehension.

 

Can't feed him or get him in rhythm when he gets too many fouls early

 

Somone Mchale only fan lol?

I don't agree with you about Harden though. He just needs a coach who will old him accountable. The only danger is that two seasons of pandering by Mchale might have given him an entitled attitude. But he is young and can mature like Howard has this season.

Must be frustrating being Howard when other players don't even TRY on defense.

 

SHaq and barkley are right in their assessment but I don't think they are dissapointed in Howard, they are enjoying the fact that he's only good and not great.

 

What we need now, is a passing-first PG, like Rajon Rondo. Period.

 

Did the TNT crew say any thing that we do not know? We can not fire or trade Howard anytime soon, it is up to the coach to figure everything out, is it?

 

I've never thought they were serious contenders this season. This is still a young group, with the exception of Howard. We're very talented, but their IQ and effort on a night to night basis leaves a lot of room for improvement. We still don't do very basic things like feeding the post, or stopping the ball in transition. Hopefully this is something that can be corrected the more this group plays together.

 

Sometimes watching Dwight, he just seems to move so slow in the post and you can just see the guy defending him gearing up to block his shot. Or you can see the help man coming in to block his shot

 

Yes, first Barkley claimed that the rockets should blow out the OKC after the first half, which was even questioned by Kenny. But the result was that the rockets lost the game, then the crew can have all reasons to say anything for the rockets

 

It's hard for them to step up when they were on the bench most of the time. When they were still on the court, we were up by 12.