I am right here Van Gundier. You can talk to me directly. And of course I see that about DMo. He's improved tremendously over the off-season and he had a good preseason but only slight improvement since then. DMo said he is not improving on the bench. His coach Dean Cooper said DMo just needs to get out there and play now. What you in your rose colored glasses fail to see about McHale is that Asik and Smith were injured and the only guy on the bench who could play backup center was DMo. DMo is and always has been a better option at the 5 spot than TJones and yet McHale put in TJone over DMo. I do not even want to discuss doghouse or not. The fact is TJones is not a 5. If you can't see that playing Jones over DMo at the 5 is a mistake than the only thing that will help is to take off those rose colored glasses. There are a lot of instances like that DMo over Casspi, Casspi over Garcia, etc. That's not the point, nor is it that DMo didn't improve of course he has but you won't ever here me say DMo should play over Asik at the 5. Just open your eyes and look at the last few games, McHale has been playing DMo late in the games. Over that course he has shown ups and down. Tjones has improved over the year while DMo was getting few minutes and many DNP's. What has changed to make McHale put DMo in late in the 4th over TJones. The game before last he looked kind of crappy and yet he played more in the 4th than TJones. Last night he wasn't amazingly impressive and yet he played more minutes than Jones. He is the first guy off the bench these days even before Lin. Perhaps he has improved slightly since he demanded to be sent down to the DLeague but not much. Most of his improvement was very apparent in pre-season. His excellent defensive play against DIrk happened first in the preseason. There is no reason why McHale did not play him earlier more consistently and DMo did not go from DNP specialist to the number one sub off the bench in one month. That's not on DMo that's on coach McHale. And as much as your rose colored blind you of seeing that to argue anything against that is just stupid. This post is not meant to take away from McHale's great job as of late. I am impressed and hope he keeps up the great work. Just Carl Herrera is stubborn that's all.
Show me a set play at the end of a quarter/half/game where the other team was trying their best to lock us down, yet we still executed. Then I will begin to give McHale props. Don't tell me when a playoff series begins that you think McHale will be able to outsmart the other team's coach, make the right adjustments when necessary. McHale is the guy, after all, who captained the greatest 2nd half meltdown in NBA history. No team no matter how talented has been so shut down by another team, no matter how good the other team was. That was historic. I am still in the Fire McHale camp. Isn't Chris Finch the guy we are supposed to be grooming? Bring him on board, let's see what he's got.
-Looking at the Rockets +/- numbers with DMo or Jones at the C position, it is not clear that DMo has in fact been a more effective C. DMo has had some good stints but also some very negative ones. Of course, the usual caveat of small sample size applies here. But even looking at recent games, it isn't clear that DMo is a better option at the 5 than Jones or even a good option there. There are still stints where DMo would sub in at the 5 and the team would immediately give up easy buckets due to DMo's mistakes (fouls, being out of position to challenge, etc.). He hasn't been a complete disaster but let's not pretend that he's revealed the kind of ability that settles the debate about him. Whether DMo or Jones is or will be a decent center is very much an unanswered question. Both these guys have good moments but both are still mistake prone. Both need to make many improvements if they hope to be upper echelon guys in the NBA. - DMo got minutes the way many players got minutes: a couple guys in front of him got injured and he's the next guy on the depth chart. His skills didn't go from zero to hero and the coaches also didn't suddenly see how nice a player he was (and he isn't that great right now, just overall competent enough to use without killing the team). It's just the usual NBA process-- working to prepare for opportunities, opportunities arises for random reasons, and you get to show what you got. No different than how Jeremy Lin wound up starting for the Knicks, how Chuck Hayes ended up with his NBA career, or how DJ Augustin went from waiver fodder to almost the best offensive player for the Bulls. A lot of guys are ready and able to compete in the NBA for a while before they actually get a shot to do so.
According to NBA.com Clutch stats, based on games within 5 points with 5 or less minutes remaining, the Rockets are 8th with a 15-10 record. According to the same stat, if you change it to within 5 points with only 2 minutes left, the Rockets are 6th in the NBA at 13-7. Teams better than the Rockets here? Spurs, Heat, Blazers, Pacers, and Grizzlies. McHale has this team playing basically where they are, which is the 7th best record in the NBA.
1. Game winning plays vs. New Orleans came to mind-- Houston twice ran actions that resulted in a 1-2 pick and roll forcing a switch. Harden scored on smaller defenders Brian Roberts and Austin Rivers (the latter one was where Rivers stumbled badly reacting to a Harden jab step). 2. As others have mentioned, HOU actually made the more dramatic and successful tactical adjustment in the playoff series vs. OKC. The Rockets went very small (going with Delfino and later Harden at PF) after losing game 1 badly and this shifted the next games in favor of HOU as Scott Brooks was slow to react (and stuck with Perkins too much). In the end, OKC and Durant's talent won out, but the Rockets coaching staff was quite ready and able to make impactful tactical adjustments needed in a playoff series. 3. Not sure why you don't like the Rockets tactics but want to replace McHale with Finch. Presumably, if Finch had good ideas about tactics, he would have shared it with the rest of the staff. Are you suspecting that McHale is getting good advices from the assistants but actively rejecting them?
Your arguments are old and borderline ridiculous. Quit looking at stupid stats and watch the games. If you won't listen to reason at least listen to your beloved coach. He no longer uses TJones at the center spot at all. Don't bring up Asik I am talking in the last month, since DMo's request to go to the DLeague was denied. Asik is our backup center so do not get that twisted but DMo is higher up the totem pole than Jones. Jones is closer to a 3 than he is to a Center (edited: not 4). I think Harden makes a better defensive center than TJones. The other night DMo and Lin played bad the first half yet coach stuck with them the second half. How do you explain that in the reasoning you use. You can't. Listen, I know you absolutely will not change your opinion even when the truth is b**** slapping you in the face but maybe if you just agreed to disagree and said no more it would be more pleasant for you.
Dmo's defense in the preseason and early regular season was nothing short of atrocious, even with his recent improvement and minutes, he's still pegged by synergy at 1 ppp, making him the 364th worst defender in the nba with over 25 possessions defended, there aren't even 364 players currently suiting up on every team combined in the nba. Good post defender, lousy at everything else. This is where a lot of the improvement has come from, as a lot of these were conceded from fouling, he showed way too much on the pnr, he overplayed his man especially with switches, where he would hip check his opponent, wouldn't use his size and width on drive penetration. He's still copping a few of these calls on reputation (Gary Neal for example), but he can't be blamed for that, and it will come down. Even his offensive game has been lousy (Jones is at 1.03 PPP, Dmo is at 0.85), and his post game has been producing less points than Jones' (Jones produces a higher PPP at every single thing except offensive rebounds), and it's not like either of them face the double team army like Dwight does. Does he have more potential than Jones in the post? sure, but we aren't in a development phase here, it's produce or bench, and his numbers were playing out as badly as a those without the red tinged glasses were seeing.
By your analysis Coach should be fired for playing DMo. Really you guys got a step away from the computer and quit reading these stupid stats so much and watch the games every once and a while.
You're right, if people would just watch and pay close attention they would have seen that Dmo did play good in the preseason. The decision not to play him early in the season was Mchales mistake. I'm happy that Mchale is playing him now, and that gives me a little bit of hope that Mchale will continue to improve as a coach.
Lol, I like the rotations. They can seem strange/different/unorthodox, but when I think about it, I not only see what he is doing, but I tend to agree with it, too!
DMo's defense was so bad early in the year that he would sometimes literally have the back of his head facing where he needed to be. He just wasn't ready and I'm sure this is what held him back from getting more minutes. A lot of McHale's criticism comes on the defensive side, but he has also strategically made some decision to maximize what he has there IMO.
D-Mo has definitely improved and plays smarter and much more in control. Still, my opinion hasn't changed at all - he is not a 5 in this league (and neither is Jones). If Asik is still on the team after the deadline and Jones is balling, he might not see many minutes if any. The nights when Jones doesn't produce he has the chance to earn some more minutes.
LOL. You think throwing out some jargons makes you an expert talking down to some dumb average joe fan? If you don't see how our defense is deficient, then using those terms to defend your beloved coach just means that you are no better than him. Okay, if you don't like the word "system" how about schemes? How about strategies? How about game planning? How about instilling some fundamentals of playing team defense? BTW, I never said that McHale had NO defensive systems. What I said was I worried about his defensive system (or whatever word you want to use) more than his offensive system.
Given this kind of talent on the team, I think 67% is underachievement. Check some of the closing games (like the one let Bev shot a off-balance 3, like the one let Parsons dribble out the clocks and many others), the tactics McHale deployed were definitely NOT championship level.
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Again the point is not if he is a 5. The point is, he is a better 5 than TJones. And on that matter McHale must agree because since DMo's removal from the doghouse (last DNP) TJones hasn't gotten anymore minutes at the 5. As for your second point TJones was 19-9 against Phoenix and DMo still played 7 minutes in the 4th. TJones produced and got benched. What's up with McHale. You can go back and forth with this and throw out stupid stats and say DMo has gradually improved and gradually earned more minutes but that is the kind of BS line that you and Mr. Van Gundier keep throwing at the wall that just doesn't stick. Look at the reality. DMo played a good game against Memphis. Everyone on the team agreed, including Howard and Harden, who respectively said DMo played great and DMo was the reason we won. And after that he did not earn ****, nada, zero. He precedes to get 4 more DNP's over the next 8 games and averages 4 minutes per game over that same period. By the way 4 min pg is about his season average up until the point. After he demands his emancipation to the DLeague he suddenly averages 20+ minutes per game over the next 12 games. That's coming off of 2 DNP's. What did he do differently to deserve that? The answer, NOTHING! F%$#king NADA! The WHAT thing he did that should have earned him more minutes happened 8 games earlier. And what that earned him from McHale was 4 more DNP's over the next 8 games and an average of 4 minutes per game during that stretch. Wow, someone forgot to let the dog out. Since he has been removed from the doghouse he has averaged 21 minutes and the Rockets have gone 9-3 and are on a 5 game winning streak. Oh and when DMo plays 25 minutes are more the Rockets are 4-0. How's that for some meaningless stats that mean a lot more than some of the other stupid meaningless stats that some guys are throwing out there. The bottom line is DMo helps us most nights and should have been taken out of the doghouse earlier even though he still makes some boneheaded plays. If you watch the games you'll see that. Buy League Pass Carl.
Dmo has learned to stop reaching and just stand tall - he is the tallest player on the Rockets, bigger than Asik. Just him standing there is intimidating - and he is getting more touches in the post. I really hope we hold onto him, I like TJones a lot but I think Dmo has a higher ceiling. DD
If you're right he'll be fired after the playoffs. Until then shaddup, there's no way you could possibly know that...
