By far the biggest and most monumental reason(s) of the demise of our defense

that's what Morey said in the recent radio interview.

And too bad coach Rick is not excited about Yao's return. I understand that. he thinks we got it all figured otu by beating the Lakers.

 

Wow, since we are putting words in his mouth, he thinks you are r****ded too.

The return of Yao to near full strength and the emergence of Jordan Hill should help the defense alot. Just don't expect it to happen right away. Yao is so far away from being that impact player and Adelman knows that.

 

I think that what meh posted is true, but I also think it is a question of mindset of the coach. I have little doubt that a JVG coached team would play better defense, even without Yao. Of course, they would also score a lot less points as it would be a totally slow-paced game, but you would see a lot of 85-81 or 74-82. Whether that is desirable or not is of course up to debate.

 

This is why it is baffling to me that they did not try to get Sanders or Whiteside, both shot blocking bigs.

I know they thought they could pick up a big in trade or in free agency, thus the Fesenko and Dampier discussions.

But those are reliant on others decisions.....I like Patrick Patterson, but he is at a position that we are talented and strong already, why not go get a guy in a spot that we have a need, someone to learn behind Yao, to push Yao in practice and to play in case Yao goes down?

I think Morey's biggest failure as a GM has been the inability to go out and get a shot blocking center.

Sure they got Brad Miller, but they know that is a temporary fix, and it is not a solution for the future.

To me, they should have taken Sanders, or bought a pick for Whiteside....at least be developing someone in case our big guy's body just blows out again.

DD

 

Yao and Mutumbo don't have anything to do with the Rockets' awful transition defense.

 

hahaha

 

I think the Chandler trade could have been huge, he wouldn't have been the offensive guy that Miller is but defensivly he would have helped out a lot along with rebounding.

 

yeah, everybody's r****ded here, including coaches and players except you though.

 

No. Just you

 

I am not just r****ded. I am an old r****ded fart.

 

Wow dude... i couldn't agree with you more! I've been saying this all along too!

People were dogging on how bad AB's defense was last year, but you see even with Lowry, we're better, but certainly not leaps and bounds better defensively!

Rockets last year ranked 25th in Points allowed in the paint.
Rockets in 08-09 ranked 4th in Points allowed in the paint - Yao played 77 games that year.
Rockets on 07-08 ranked 5th in Points allowed in the paint...this one...with an old, beat up McGrady who many also said was not a good defensive player. But, we had true BIG MEN... YAO (until he got hurt) and then DEKE.
Hoopsstats.com

Rockets this year are ranked #10 in points allowed in the paint - with an improving Jordan Hill and Brad Miller (not a defensive player but big enough to clog the paint).

I know Points in the Paint doesn't describe the defense as a whole but i think its a major factor the plays into our lack of defense.

 

That's why not finishing the deal with the Wizards last year was such a failure, we could have even made the playoffs last year if we had Haywood.

 

Exactly......also half-court defense rotation, help defense (especially in the paint) and overall effort.Unless we ar talking about D. Howard (which we are not) defense is a "TEAM" effort and shouldnt be put on 1-2 players back. Everybody needs to be full in with it,period............You can place responsibility on players and the coach because of this......Its a team sport and you take the good and the bad as a team.When the topic of conversation is "Team" defense especially!!

 

What is sad is...........

Many fans want Yao gone but we than have posts that talk about how much we need him back because of his impact "If Healthy"

lol

 

We also had the personnel at that time to be able to play the slower paced style. We had a healthy Yao and McGrady under JVG to play the half-court offense. So while we didnt attempt 2nd chance points, we were able to chip away defensively and pound opponents down low offensively.

I think coaches change their philosophy by looking at their personnel, whether they're on offense or defense. A coaches greatest strength should be to be able to adapt to their players' capabilities.

Take the Spurs for example.. Since 2006, they have never been better than 14th in points scored per game, and never worst than 3rd (except last year, they were 8th) in points allowed per game.

This year they're 12th in points allowed per game and 4th points scored per game. Greg Popavich has adjusted to his team and what they're good at by going more uptempo even if it means that the opposition will score. But at the same time, they still have the personnel to be able to get a defensive stop and get a rebound in crunch time because they have size down low (that's what she said :grin: )

 

*sigh* The irony! lol

 

It is not sad at all, it is practical. With the salary cap limitations, you can not have a guy taking up a large portion of the cap and not be able to play and still be successful.

So a lot of fans are just ready to move on, and get someone younger, and more important healthier....

If Yao was healthy or deemed that his injury history was in the past, no one would feel that way.

It is because of his size and work ethic that he is so successful, unfortunatly those are also some of the same reasons his body keeps breaking down.

I am in favor of keeping Yao, but at a VERY VERY reduced rate.

DD

 

Good post, DD. Morey's inability to get a shot-blocking, rebounding demon has run for the past 2 years. There were legit 7-footers to be had, but for some reason or another (perhaps Morey overvalues our players and asked for too much?), that has failed to materialize. Hence, we are back with playing a 6'6" center, again.