It's obvious that outside of James Harden there is no other player on this team that can command a double team, create his own shot, create shots for others or carry an offense. Is that Howard's fault? No. This is 2015. The league is now guard driven and pass oriented. The Spurs avgeraged 30 assists per game last season on their way to a title and the Warriors are blowing through that mark on the way to the playoffs. The Rockets? The Rockets are still thinking its 1998 and that Howard is a post threat. We need a playmaking, ball distributing PG and we need Howard to abandon the notion that he's a legitimate second option. Without Harden this team is not a very good half court team.
I agree. We don't need a superstar. Just an all-star caliber PG. Ty Lawson is my pipe dream. Also, I still think Howard is a star. Defense and rebounding along with 18 ppg, which I think may be bumped up come playoff time like last year.
Yes. This is obvious. While Parsons clearly wasn't that he also was clearly more of an offensive facilitator than Ariza... Which is why offense was better last year and why you see the offense better with Brewer on the court. Dragic would be perfect hence the love affair with him. But it's up to Morey to find that guy. The Harden-Curry MVP race is funny when you consider Curry wasn't the best backcourt player on his team last night or the last week. Good luck saying that about the Rockets. In the meantime is like to see McHale change his rotation a bit. Either Bev or Ariza need to go out earlier, being replaced with Terry or Brewer. He can keep overall minutes the same but needs to change distribution a bit.
From what i see in the first half last night, i think our half court offense needs to be retooled, because there is just too much standing around, bigs need to set more solid picks, ball needs to move around more, and less ISOs, GS is getting lots of easy shots, second shots, because of ball movement and player movement and of course, our poor offense resulting in 17 fast break points for them in the first quarter, combined with our 30% sth shooting, it's a recipe for disaster. Getting a guard who is more offensive minded and has better ball distribution skills like Dragic is good, but we also need to have a better scheme rather than Harden ISO, and low post play, we need more spacing of the floor, right now if harden can't drive and kick and post up is not working our offense looks really bad and results in bad defense
It's very easy to know early in the game if Dmo or Dwight can take his defender. When it's obvious either can't make his shots, we need to abandon that ploy and play motion defense. The post offense is still good to give some rest to Harden and keep defenses honest. But it has to be through DMo, not Howard. Coaches just don't know how to coach the 2nd or 3rd option after the opponent takes away the 1st. Players are so unprepared. But really, they're professional players. They can't talk among themselves and strategize on their own, or suggest something else to the coaches???
Positioning Bev and Ariza for those corner 3s just leads to no transition defense. Who is the designated transition defender? No one. Harden is not that quick. Bev doesn't have the handles to break down the defense. He's so slow in setting up the offense. Bev has to go to the bench.
GSW has gotten so much better. I don't know if last year's Rockets even with Parsons could beat them. So many teams have gotten better--Atlanta, CHI, WAS, NOP ... And Howard, it's just sad to see him play nowadays.
A star would be nice. A pass first PG would be nice. But two guys like Parsons and Dragic on the court together would be just as effective. Anything to take the pressure off Harden or Beverley - whichever player is penetrating at the time. The moment Brewer, Terry or Ariza try to attack the other team has already won the battle.
Howard earns his money in the PLAYOFFS and is a SUPERSATAR, but we do need a better scoring option that can create his own shot and dish the rock when needed. Ty Law, Dragic or anybody along those lines would be great! I like Jeff Teague personally...
What's another star? Do we need another all star? Hell no Do we need another ball handler? Yes Look at GSW who everyone is raving about or even Atlanta Hawks. GSW have one all NBA guy in Curry and perfect role players around him with great chemistry and a good coach. Hawks don't have an outright All NBA player but have great pieces, a great coach and good chemistry. Teamball, coaching, a proper system, getting players to buy in and putting the players in a position to win is what it is these days. That is why I don't get the infatuation with having a big 3 or 3 all star players as a minimum that Morey is always preparing for.
Wait are we talking regular season or playoffs, haha. I'm joking... But I mean obviously the Rockets would have swept them in the regular season only to lose to them in 5-6 games... But yeah definitely agree with you, obviously there's another half left and things can change fast in the NBA, but this first half is making these new teams look like the real deal.
If Dwight earns his money in the playoffs and is a superstar, then why has he never won a championship? Why couldn't he get us out of the first round last year? Dwight is not the kind of player you want to handle the ball in the final minutes of big game. He turns the ball over, he's a poor post up player, he's a Poor free throw shooter. He's just not the type of player that will carry a team to a championship. He is declining. And with his contract, he is probably untradeable.
To add, I really hope Howard gets passed this knee injury, because if not, I'm worried he's not going to be able to step up in the playoffs like he has in the past. They need to figure out what's going on and rest him if needed, if it's microfracture I hope they try all other options first, because that surgery can be a real mess.
I agree with op. Dwight needs to play a glorified Tyson Chandler role. It's a guard game and we need to find a running mate for Harden. Dwight needs to be 3rd option at best.
Are they really all stars or is it a case of the WHOLE being greater than the sum of the parts? Besides Millsap, no one else on that roster was close to being an All Star last year.
