With the game starting out rather slow, memories of JVG stagnant offense came flooding back in with the same starting 5 as last year. I thought one of the biggest acquisitions this off seasons was the signing of Rick Adelman as our coach. We couldnt have gotten a better coach for our roster, except for maybe Phil Jackson, in Adelman we had a proven successful veteran coach who presided over one of the most effective and entertaining offenses in the last decade. Like the kings in their prime, we have an offense with an elite post presence(Webber),a strong combination of perimeter players(Bibby, Christie, Peja), who scored points with easy transition points and executing a beautiful motion offense. Coupled with their good defense, they were an elite team, 2nd to only a Lakers team with Shaq in his prime, and a pre- ego explosion kobe. The coach was suppose suppose to take our team to the next level, but it seemed very little has changed as our season opener grinded along. Adelman was using the exact same starting lineup Jeff "Can do no good" Van Gundy employed, was playing a very short veteran rotation and excluded a highly hyped Francis from the rotation, who like Bonzi didn't put in the same work as the other players and showed up out of shape. How can two different successful veteran coaches be so stupid and make the same mistakes? (For the record I was and still am a supporter of JVG, But Adelman is better) After watching most of the game and having a lot more time to think about the outlook of the team, several things are becoming clearer. I mean how much tweaking is needed to a team that won 52 games last year, despite not having their mvp candidate center for 34 games and having a bench who featured Juwon Howard and Luther Head as the first two off the bench. We won 52 games without Yao for a large period of time, with the worst bench in the league and while ranking 29th or 30th in transition points. So whats RA to do? Should he change a starting lineup that was statistically the best last year? RA is a veteran coach and won't panic or make a snap decision after one game. Like Van Gundy, RA went with the same starting 5 that was much maligned last year in crunch time. Why might he do that? Because its the starting 5 that knows how to get the ball to our two super-stars the best during crunch time. But with our significantly improved bench the starting lineup isn't looking all that bad. Couple that with a new system that gets our players some easy baskets, a system that seems to be benefiting yao the most. Even though Yao looked pretty bad in the high post, he was significantly less winded at the end of the game, had a couple shots on the move and had a lot of his shots one on one. This new system is going to take a while for the players to get use to, so they're going to look pretty sloppy for a while, we as fans just have to accept that fact and not complain after each game(like thats going to happen). So what can we expect for the remainder of the season? Barring any injuries, don't expect our starting lineup to change for a while. Even though I have very real concerns about Rafer being our long term starting point guard, he just fits the best with Yao and Tmac right now. Remember it took a couple seasons for Sacramento to run their offense to perfection, and its going to take a large of chunk of the season just for the rockets to look comfortable in a motion offense. Our weaknesses with JVG, namely having a stagnant offense that was too predictable, ranking the last in the league in transition points and having the worst bench in the league has been fixed or is the process of being fixed under RA. With Yao back healthy, I expect those improvements along with our great defense to maybe net us 56-62 wins this season. Is it enough to take down the big 3 this season, maybe, maybe not but its definitely a step in the right direction.
Yao only looked bad because he had no one to pass to, and the movement was stagnat. It will improve as we get more familiar with the system.
I think it is too early to make any assesment. I really want to see the team play against Utah. That is the kind of team we need to beat in order to be considered contenders. After the Utah game I think we will have a better idea to evaluate the new system.
sometimes players looked lost and everyone was just standing on a single spot. I remember Chuck Hayes had the ball for like 8 seconds with no one moving at all. However we got T-Mac open looks and easy baskets so it's a work in progress too much turnovers though
OGK mentioned in his game notes that our players often lost in set plays last night, and Yao's interview with sohu confirmed it. There is going to be a learning curve, no doubt about it. Like Will's post pointed out, at times we will have JVG's ball going along with RA's plays. Also, as SamFisher pointed out, there are going to be strech we play JVG's offense and RA's defense, and that's not a good thing. But what matters to me is how we match up against the 3 powers and Utah. BTW, James was in there cruch time last night. So it's not the exact 5 as last year, but I suspect that was because James shoots FT better than either Hayes or Wells. Oh, well, he choked. Our guards under pressure, faulted last night, that's not good.
At first I thought it was crazy that Adleman didnt call a timeout after the Lakers tied it up with time running out in the 4th quarter. JVG would have called TO and drawn up a play for sure. Adleman just trusted his players to take the ball up the court and make something happen, and it worked out beautifully. Props to Adleman, Battier, and the rest of the team (minus Francis)
its all about being familiar with the system. I expected it to be sloppy in the first few games but we have nowhere to go but up. everyone's still look lost.. and our to's was waaaay too high..
We're still playing 3 on 5 basketball on the offensive end when u start Chuck and Rafer (1-6, with that ugly A floater). Chuck hit the bottom of the backboard on a free throw. Give me a break. I like the team because of the talent coming off the bench in Scola, James, Bonzi, Head, Dekembe, Snyder, and yes Steve. That's the difference period.
To be fair... our bench looked better than our starters in the new system. There were many times that the starters just crumbled in pressure and decided to abandon the system.
Another big difference is that JVG would not have asked players to foul in the last play. I think RA did the right thing sending Battier to foul Kobe as soon as he got the ball.
umm, no matter what you think about jvg's offensive set, noone who saw the rockets play last year can say vg didn't know how to foul. this is beyond biased
1 game is way too early, but 2 games should do it huh?? Let's just say that even one month may be to early. Eventually the players will get used to the sytem, but until then I'm sure everyone has their two cents. I reeeeally hope that we beat Utah, but memories of last season's opener still haunts my memories.
if rockets do beat utah, one can hardly say the rockets are contenders, there would be 80 games left. if rockets do lose, then this board is going to crash. it will take time to learn the new offensive set regardless of what the outcome will be against utah.
When you have two D-league, no-offensive-game players in the starting lineup, it will be always true. Adelman needs to find a way to put at least a winner in the starting lineup.
