Every coach has one, a player he knows he can trust, someone that will do his bidding on the floor at all times, regardless of the results. Coaches love those guys, they will play them to death, even if it means they lose a bit more because they are so confident in their system etc, that they will say it was just an unlucky night. A good GM will recognize this trend and will step in and force that coach to go away from his comfort food and play some other more talented players that may not have the experience, that may not run the system to perfection, but may just be better for the team overall. Sure they are a bit out of control, but their talent levels are higher, and thus present a different challenge for enemy combatants. Normally teams have 1 such player, the Rockets....do not....they have 3 of them. Chuck Hayes - A great gritty player, someone who will get in there and grind it out, and has worked on his midrange game. Coaches love this guy, but it blinds them, Chuck Hayes is at best a situational player, someone that should be brought on as a defensive stopper in certain situations, he should never see the floor on a consistent basis, he is just not good enough to stay with longer more athletic players, he can't get his shot over them and too often they can jump over him on the other end for a rebound or a great look at a shot. Chuck Hayes is a LOW post defensive beast, most teams now days do not have many low post scorers, and when you ask Chuck to guard multidimensional bigger players, they go through him like a hot knife through butter. - Chuck needs to sit, and move further down the rotation. Shane Battier - Another player like Chuck who will do the coaches bidding, and will contest shot after shot, and play smart defense etc. The problem is that Shane is clearly slowing down, and his defense is not what it once was, and while he is still a valuable guy to have, we have 2 younger more athletic players behind him that need more playing time in Courtney Lee and Chase Budinger. I have always defended Shane, but it is fairly clear now that he has become comfort food, and if anything his minutes need to drastically decrease so Lee and CBud can play more and contribute more. Brad Miller - It is clear that Rick Adelman loves the nifty passes that Brad Miller makes and so do us fans, however, he has been terrible on defense, and rebounding, and he is no threat at the rim at all. Once Yao sits down it is a layup drill at the rim. Some fans will blame the perimeter defense, and they do share some responsibility, but the truth is the new rules make it very difficult to stay in front of your man on the perimeter, no touching and allowing all those guys to carry the ball make it very hard....so you need a deterent at the rim, and Miller and Hayes are NOT it. Now the question becomes, what do you do? Do you continue to let the coach run with the guys he is comfortable with, even though pretty much everyone else can see his reliance on these players is costing the younger more athletic guys playing time, and the team a better chance at competing with faster, younger, teams? Will Daryl Morey be able to step into the coaches office and tell Rick whom to play and whom to sit? I am not sure DM has that in him and can make that call, so if he can't what is the next best thing to do? You take that comfort food away, you trade the players he likes and force his hand...... Sometimes coaches get too comfortable and it is up to others to put a little crazy sauce on their pancakes....that time is now. The Rockets rotation is far too big, and players that are good, young and athletic are getting meager minutes while older -less talented - players continue to play over others that should not be. Sit Shane - play Lee and Bud more Sit Chuck - play Jordan Hill more... Sit Brad - play Hill and Dampier more Shrink the rotation down to 9 guys, you can not run 11 guys out there and make it work..... DM has done a good job of building a deep roster, but that doesn't mean Rick has to use all of it......and someone needs to take Rick's comfort foods away from him because frankly there are better, younger, more athletic options on the bench. DD
i agree with chuck and shane, not so much with brad just yet. i would like to see alot more of hill and chase on the floor together.
When gater and i were critical of the method by the great one, we were accused of not knowing metrics. I can agree that i dont know everything associated with it, but I know what i see in basketball. Even the Pistons had players like rasheed who at any point could be the best player on the court regardless of position.
Me too, they work very well together and you can see the chemistry. Hill should be the first big off the bench.......and Brad Miller should be competing more he is looking really lazy out there right now, especially on defense. DD
It is easy then, trade away all these players, so Adelman has to play the others ones, as he's more familiar with them than the traded back guys. He did start Brooks after we traded away Rip.
This is a great example, they traded away Adelman's comfort food in Alston and forced him to play Brooks. If there are people that are interested in Shane or Chuck then it would probably be a great time to let them go in trade now. Of course he was, and I agreed with him.....you just can not play too many players.....now maybe Adelman can be a little stronger and sit some people but I think he is in gridlock with his mind right now.....he has analysis paralysis....too many options. Why play Chuck Hayes last night, when Jared Jeffries is a much better perimeter defender on Harrington.....sometimes coaches make dumb mistakes. DD
I agree w/ you Rick needs to change something up and we need to practice some defense. Giving up an average of 122 ppg is unacceptable. Rick needs to play the young more versatile players that can defend. Lee needs to play much more…in his 13 mins he did a great job forcing turnovers into fast breaks and hit down the open shots. Hill got Into foul trouble with some questionable calls and Rick didn't put him back in till 1 minute left in the game. All in all Rick needs to swallow his pride and play the young guns and understand there growing pains and don't take them out let them fight through it. Plus weren't we gonna play the youngs more and save mins for the veterans?
That is entirely my point, either the GM forces the issue, or trades away his comfort food to make him play the younger guys. DD
Once they found out Yao was out for the year, they should've traded shane and let the option play out on chuck especially after they made the trade to get jeffries. It would have been better to get Hollins and sessions for 7m combined vs 5.5m for lowry and 5m for an old system player like miller who cant defend in space. I think they can come out on the other side and turn thing around, but this is not a win now roster and it never has been a win now roster no matter what morey tries to tell anyone.
Agreed on Chuck, I was shocked they kept him when his option expired. I thought they would let him walk or try to sign him on the cheap. This is a case of the GM caving in to the coaches comfort foods.....and not a good sign, IMO. DD
The biggest problem isn't these "comfort food" players other than possibly Miller (who I have been against bringing in from day one). How the **** can the the two best defenders on the team be the problem on a team that gives up 120+ a night? The problem is an overall absence of a commitment to defense and a back court that is absolutely horrible defensively. One of those starters has to go (everyone knows my choice because I think his attitude has become contagious). What's most frightening is this is basically last years team yet the blue-collar attitude on defense is gone. They got lit up at times last year but it wasn't because of lack of effort. This year, most of them don't even look like they care and the ones that do are overwhelmed trying to erase the mistakes of the others (yet somehow they get a thread dedicated to benching them...go figure). This is on the coaching staff and the GM. That much I will agree with. I just don't think the problems are the one indicated in this thread.
You missed one. Aaron Brooks. He needs to sit down for a few games and get his head screwed back on straight. He needs to play within the system, and not think he's T-Mac. Dakota, your dumb idea of sitting shane and chuck is the reason why you have no credibility. This team more than ever needs experienced veterans who can defend. Shane, and Chuck need to play. You don't ever sit them down. Their replacements Budinger and Hill are too green and can't defend. You asked what the identity of this team is. We're not JVG's team of old. We're also not Adelman's Sacramento team. We're a little bit of both. And this is why this team is struggling. We are forgetting that JVG part. Remember 08-09? The team that had defense yet also played a little of Adelman's offense? That team went to the second round and challenged the Lakers. Last year, the team forgot about JVG and won only 42 games. This year, the team is completely neglecting the JVG side. Half Court offense when Yao is in. Defense. Grittiness. Heart. Do guys remember this at all? If we try to be all Adelman Sacramento, we will lose even more games this year than last because JVG guys like Battier, Chuck, Yao are worse off from age or injury. Getting Brad Miller was a big mistake because he's going to eat up valuable cap room space while offering very little. They should've just waited to sign Dampier.
They certainly are trying, they are just not talented enough to make a difference. I like both Chuck and Shane, but the coaches play them far too much, Chuck is just too short, he is at best a situational player, someone who goes in against post players like Pau Gasol to shut them down. But you can't play Chuck against better taller athletes especially if they have an outside shot because Chuck can not stay with them. And Shane is being asked to do way to much.....you can't ask him to guard Ellis, he has no chance, he is also quickly becomming a situational player, who can play against good matchups, but gets owned far too often these days against better, quicker players. The GM needs to force the coaches hand, when the coach is not strong enough to do it himself. Coaches are creatures of habit, they will play what they are comfortable with MORE OFTEN when teams struggle, someone needs to hit the reset button on Adelman, and that is DM's job. Hill should be on the floor a lot more, Lee can do Battier's job on defense against quicker players and offers a lot more on offense. Time to take away the pacifiers Daryl ! DD
Dadakota. Please learn to read. I didn't question your credibility. I said you have No credibility. Big difference.
I know you believe you know something, and some of your posts have been ok. But all you do is defend Yao Ming, like he has no fault in all of this......step away from the Yao love and you will see what is ailing this team. We are in between last years squad and the one from the year before that. There is no identity, and we have too many one dimensional players, and a limit on Yao (which hurts our ability to develop any cohesion). If you keep coming into threads and picking fights, you will just be ignored. Now you have some decent points, try discussing them in a more respectful manner and you will get the same. DD
Great analysis DD. Now, would you be open to a Carmelo Anthony trade? I agree Chuck and Shane should sit down and good point on Jeffries should have guarded Harrington. But over the past 2 years it seems like RA is just a stubborn old man. I dont know what it will take for him to break out of his "comfort food" zone, but whatever it is, it has got to be quick. I mentioned this before, the 04-05 team started out 6-11. I believe that was the second best team we have had in the last decade but I think this team assembled could be far superior to that one. There is no need to panic at this point. I will push the panic button when we are 8-10 games under .500. But you are correct. The rotation needs to be fixed and I see us winning against NO as well as SA. They always play well at the SBC center.
