Coaching Staff P - Good job integrating all the new pieces together so far. C - Needs to do better managing players' minutes. This goes back to the Yao days when they played him to injury. Lin P - Smart basketball iq. Underrated rebounder. He's a good finisher in the paint. C - Camps out more than last year, he's not good enough of a 3 point shooter to do that. I think this has to do with the lack of conditioning. Has problem guarding faster point guards. Harden P - A GREAT playmaker. Players well off the pick and roll. Better overall player than Martin, this was a steal. C - Can do a better job giving up the ball when the shot isn't there. Has problem guarding faster guards. Patrick Patterson C - this guy is GARBAGE. Where's Carl Landry?? Should be a separate thread for this. Asik P - Might be the best rebounding Center in the NBA. Better individual defender than what I expected. Comes off the pick and roll well. C - Not sure if he has a back to the basket or face up game. You would assume that's given being a European. Parsons - This is really a solid bench player forced to start. Perhaps we should start Delfino? Moving Forward P - Good solid pieces in Lin, Harden, Asik. Coaching sets seems ok so far. C - Missing their energy players, Von Wafer, Pops MB. Need a better back up pg. Too much camping and watching Lin/Harden on high pick and roll, players needs to cut more to the basket.
Parsons and Pat make a great 2nd unit. I agree, let's see what Delfino can do with the starting lineup. Maybe then he wouldn't feel the need for jacking up so many rushed 3 pointers
Chemistry Chemistry and Chemistry. We are a ridiculously turnover prone team, and turnovers are huge signs of chemistry issues. The Rockets are not only the youngest team in the NBA, but has had the biggest roster change in the NBA. Only Chandler Parsons is the veteran starter on this team, and he is only in his second year. Asik, Lin and Harden are all new comers. As the Memphis commentators pointed out yesterday, the Rockets really don't have any set plays yet. Everything we are running are basics, and that's to be expected of any newly formed lineup. Hence, Delfino saying our "offense is too predictable", because right now it really is.
ill give mchale some credit tonight for staggering lin and harden. but first ill address when they were sharing the court. when harden is initiating the offense why is lin left in the corner? he isnt a spot up 3pt shooter. when the ball will reach him he has to run a baseline/side pick and roll. that is not his game. he needs space. he needs to be up top. If you look at the Knicks Kidd/Felton pairing is they are both up top when the offense is initiated and they can both create (either one) or drive (felton). after the initial action kidd can leak to the corner if felton is handling or kidd can find someone on a backdoor cut if the ball is swung to him. houston having 2 elite pick and roll players (as well as good passers overall) to keep the defense guessing is a huge advantage. especially one being right handed (lin) and one left handed (harden). they should be positioned in a left/right wing (in an inverse to their dominate hand) hockey type setup up at first then switch the sets to keep the defense guessing. as far as when harden is without lin. they subbed lin for delfino. so he is the defacto point. he NEEDS to push the ball more. harden has a quirky “laid back” game which i love. though he needs to understand (or the coach need to tell him) they are a young roster who needs to push the pace. if he can get down early and the rockets get into their offensive sets quicker they will be way more efficient. he’s too slow getting the ball up… as far as the question on harden being a #1 option. does machale call plays for him? is he just freelancing in a weird way to be the “man” (hero ball i guess)? why is he in isolation so much? he’s not melo or kobe (while i dont love that type of game they are better at it)..he is a great pick and roll handler who can draw fouls with the best of them. push the pace. spread the flour. high pick and roll. attack. mchale should know what he has. there is no reason because he’s the #1 option that he has to be taken so far out of his game. modern nba defensive are so smart and they love when a player like harden is forced into an iso/mid range game (especially one whom isnt accustom to it). having 2 players in lin and harden if done right can pick apart the modern “strong side” or hybrid zone schemes if done well. push the pace. spread the floor. high pick and roll. corner 3s. attack. i guess you can pick apart the roster and the Rockets don’t have the players to do this. it might be true. but delfino needs to be defended on the perimeter. parsons shot well last night (i like him alot). maybee one of the multitude of power forwards can contribute (Jones). asik is so good on defense and the boards i cant fault him. the fact he kinda looks like a huge Judge Reinhold makes it hard for me to critique him as well. Credit to a friend of mine for being fair in this critique.
We need some post threat and a backup PG. Delfino is a better backup SG/SF. Parsons, I don't know whether we should bench him, he could be a more dynamic version of Battier. Is Turkish really European?
Jones looked good in the preseason I am surprised he is not getting any minutes. We need more consistent rebounding from Patterson. K. Faried killed us on the offensive boards in the Nuggets game, so we need better boxing out and rebounding at the PF spot. As mentioned before we live or die with Harden's shooting. If Harden has a good shooting night we win, a poor won and we lose. Hopefully we will have some exceptions when he has a poor shooting night.
It doesn't need to be that way at all. He needs to give it up if he's not shooting well. He's not Kobe or even Melo yet.
Agree with most of your assessment. Unfortunately we seem to have incompetent coaches who are not utilizing the talents of our players correctly.
And most of the rest of us in Texas. Perhaps a shrinking fan base will get the Rockets attention. Maybe not, they were the ones that signed up for this "screw the fans" approach in the first place. I can't imagine them being so stupid as to not see what was coming. I take that back. Considering thirteen seasons and only one play off series victory, yes I can.
