Wow! Nice post. I have my moments of frustration, and I still don't understand the starting lineup and Rafer, but I fundamentally agree with you.
Ya keep telling yourself that despite losses to Memphis, Miami, Sacramento, Toronto, and the joke that was the Philadelphia game.
I completely agree with denniscd. Most fans are predictably impatient and just want to see wins and will suggest almost anything to see that happen. I didn't expect the Rockets to be playing as badly as they have been lately, but I did expect somewhat of an adjustment period. You don't go from running 4 years of simple JVG offense to a more complicated read and react motion offense in one training camp/offseason. As both Adelman and Morey are finding out our personnel so far don't fit as well into adelmans system as we thought and Morey is going need some time to find some personnel that do. An NBA franchise isn't a toy that you can make quick fixes to, you have to make well thought out moves and give time for things to work themselves out. Quick fixes and big trades are always sexy(not to mention rare), but looking at the NBA, not many teams have had substantial mid-season changes and continued to be successful(Probably since only bad teams do these types of trades). Off the top of my head, only GSW and Denver(when the hired george karl) made big season changes and were successful afterwards. I rather give Rick Adelman, a coach with a career 61% winning percentage, and Morey some more time to make some minor changes before blowing up the team after less then half a season.
when rox trade rudy gay for battier, it is said rox is in win-now mode when the offseason ends and this season starts, it is said "it's time" when rox fails at game 7 vs. Utah, jvg was fired for not being able to lead the team deep in playoff now all of a sudden, you ask rox fans to be patient, to give 2 full season ... Are rox fans born to be manipulated? !!! I don't give a damn what's our record in regular season as long as we are top 8 in west. But in playoffs, Rox has to win a series, or it is a total failure. I want wins in playoffs! and I want it NOW! And for that purpose, I can be patient, but only for 82 games!
It will be the same every year until everyone realises we need some consistency around here. We need some committement to the decisions we are making.You can't just whine and complain and come up with all these wierd notions of coaches such as CALVIN freaking MURPHY and start threads with fire a first season coach who has over 700 career wins has taken 2 teams to NBA finals took the kings to 8 straight playoffs after 25 games. Adelman should be given opputunity to turn the team around,his credentials fit the bill,how can we be so freaking picky when we haven't won a playoff series in 10 seasons. The core of Yao and T-mac haven't been able to crack it in four of those 10 seasons. Fans act like we have been winning like the spurs the past 7 seasons and we should be elite team but fail to see that the core group of Yao and T-mac have failed when they were in comfortable positions to advance.Up 2-0 going back home against dallas lose the series,Game 7 at toyota center against the jazz lose the series.This core group have had big time oppurtunities and it wasn't all jeff's fault either and this seasons slow start isn't all rick's fault. It's time to start looking at the real problem and that is Tracy and Yao ming. Do the two have what it takes together to advance.Do their games mesh when the going get's tough.Maybe it is time to trade one of them because it aint the coaches,It wasn't jeff's fault and 25 games into the season it aint adelman's fault either,adelman get's all the 10 year post season balme and he's been here 3 freakin months. He can't be the probelm why Tracy and Yao can't be dominant together, the probelm is waaaaaaaaaaaaay deeper than RICK OR JEFF.
I think JVG did the best and got the best out of the team of players he had.... problem is....we talk about all the player additions... but would guys like SF have come over... if JVG was still the coach... as for RA... I fear putting your 7'6 big stiff 15-18 feet from the basket... inorder to give more shots... to a chuck happy star... who shoots more 33%fg games than 50%fg games.... and to a bunch of scrubs... who missed wide open shot after wide open shot... last year.... thinking our scrubs... actually have the energy and talent to play his system... spells a long long year... and another early round exit....
Give him two more months. I still believe that if we get hot in March and April, we'll make noises in the playoffs. If we can't get into the playoffs with a fairly healthy roster, then Adelman has failed.
I thought this team was going to win NOW? 2 seasons isn't gonna cut it. Tmac and yao isn't getting any younger.
We gave up rudy gay so we could win now, what a joke that was. I blame management, they've made one bad mistake after another. Sometimes I feel like any fan can run this team much better than they can. Can't be much worse. How many of you guys woulda let go of gay??
Count me out. If I were the owner, he would be home for Christmas now! He appears totally clueless to me. I don't think I have ever seen a NBA coach appear so clueless. This is not about a system, this is about taking control of a team, winning the confidence of the players, and winning over the fans. He has failed on all counts. Give the job to someone who at least looks like he knows what's going on.
I don't get what you are so spoiled about.52 regular season pipe dream games and a quick 1st round exit. He's been here 2 months and yo uwant to fire him now a send home for christmas and then what.Hire larry brown or maybe you can convince greg popvic to quit the spurs or bring in Rick carlisle. It has taken 25 games for the players to understand that 2 on 5 doesn't work. It was hard for them to accpet this because they were condition for 4 yeasr to play a certain style and human nature they were fixed on what they have been doing 4 years.This team wass given to adelman with flaws. They don't know how to win, they are condition to play 2 on 5 and the talent level was maximaized to play abobve it's talent threshhold. They brought in some new pieces to mesh in some of the parts fit some come to find out didn't fit. Rick has found some chemsitry with his second unit with brooks and head who work well with each other.The schedule is about to be easier. The wins should just start piling up and come playoff time they should be ready because they compete on a high level with the good teams so the rythym should start forming second half of the season. Adelman is a respected coach around the league who has a extensive resume and a coach who had several different teams who wanted him their coach. He should be given a little patience to right the ship. The responsibility in my opinion isn't the head coach, the so called star players need to take the intaiative and bare some of this load because it aint about the coach anymore after 4 seasons. We can't keep blaming the coaches liek they are supposed be the star players
dennis, while I completely agree with your premise regarding Adelman, how many seasons do we have to give Yao and TMac.... or even Rafer and Battier???? the parts need to fit....
you wont get more value for tmac than he gives you. yao would bring you more value in a trade than he is worth i believe but will never be traded due to financial considerations. what is rafer going to bring. last year you could have had maggette for battier straight up but morey and cd turned it down
So what makes you think we can achieve postseason success the way we're playing? You can preach playoff success all you want, but that's just counting your chickens before the eggs hatch. We're going NOWHERE right now. So if it worked in the past, why doesn't it work now? OH! Maybe it's cause the coaching is inferior? That the greater talent that Morey has assembled can't be "maximised to play above its talent threshold" by the coach as you put it. Speculation based off of not even a 5-10 game sample. Wait a minute. Just plain speculation. For the record, if we don't "compete on a high level" with the teams with inferior talent, we have ZERO chance of "compete(ing) on a high level with the good teams" come playoff time. Losses against Memphis, Sacto and for f***'s sake PHILLY has told me that the team, for some reason, does not come out to compete against inferior teams, which is NOT a problem we've had in previous years. Wow, what an out of the world notion of management you have. We lost last season because we have no bench, and ultimately, if Head and Howard played up to their regular season abilities, we win the Jazz series and we trounce the GSW. JVG was fired after that not because of inaptitude, but because Les had Adelman waiting in the wings and JVG "took too long to give his commitment". Well, Les got his man. So JVG was definitely not fired in full part due to playoff failure. The coach is supposed to be the manager of the team the GM has assembled. He's supposed to make the most out of his players, and give the players at his disposal the best chance to win games. Stop looking at the box score and start watching the games. So often, the team looks CLUELESS out there. And the coach does nothing but twiddle his thumbs. If the players, who proved that they can get you wins in the past, can't perform now, on who should the onus be on? Get off Adelman's jock and start using some logic, friend.
My thoughts on denniscd's suggestion are located in my signature. Whatever happened to win now? BTW, I also think that Adelman looks either clueless and/or apathetic. I doubt that he's clueless, but could it be that he's lost interest and passion in coaching or has this always been his demeanor? Even though I was young, I think that during his Portland days he would show a great deal of emotion on the sidelines.
Come playoff time, if the Rockets are sitting at home talking about how much the team will be ready for next year, then all of Adelman's history of success will mean nothing to the Rocket's fans this year!
You seem very pessimistic about Yao and Tmac. I would much rather be pessimistic about Rick Adelman since Yao and Tmac are going backwards instead of forward.
