On this board we have talked a lot about what is wrong with the Rockets, whose fault it is, who is playing hard, who is dogging it, who is favored, who is really hurt and who isn't, but it is clear that we have not talked enough about solutions to those problems. Whether or not you believe in the same problems I do, I would appreciate it if each person outlined what their perceptions are, and what they think should be done to fix it. I firmly believe this team can compete, if they get their minds and bodies right, so I am going to start with the problems I see, and then suggest what the team needs to do about it. 1. Adelman and Morey running a loose ship. 2. Tmac not playing with energy 3. Artest taking games off 4. Yao not rebounding with enough effort 5. Which offense is it? Rick's or Tmac & Yao's? 6. Chemistry in the clubhouse These are the main problems I see, from my perspective you may see something different. Here is what I would do. ONE: Have a meeting between Yao, Tmac and Adelman to discuss what they are all feeling. At the end of the day, Tmac is a great talent, Yao is an awesome talent and Rick is a great coach, what can each of them do better to make it work? To me, it looks like Tmac is a little upset that he is getting called out and is having to adjust his game, while Yao seems to be getting the offense adjusted for him and Adelman is not doing it for Tmac's game. Someone needs to be honest with Tmac and tell him that he is so good that it is easier for him to fit into any offense, but that Yao is limited, and needs to play on the block, it is not about adjusting against Tmac, but adjusting for Yao, to utilize his strengths, and that Tmac's strengths can still be utilized by playing Adelman's system. I do not for one second believe that it is beyond repair, they just need an active plan to get together and work this out as men, and come out UNITED. It is up to these 3..along with Morey to get it right. I am upset that Adelman has let it go on this long, a person in charge of the clubhouse needs to be more proactive in a case like this, particularly when their is no clear leader ala Jordan. It can be worked out, it just needs to be done with honesty and care, these guys liked playing together once, they can again...they just need to be honest with each other, and get to work. TWO: Look to make a trade to upgrade our roster at a position of need, particularly PG. To me there are 2 tradeable pieces, Battier and Artest. I think Battier is more suited for a Tmac and Yao team, so I would look primarily to what the team could get for Artest, he is still a star player, and he has an expiring contract. To me, with the emergence of Von Wafer, we have too many wings, and their skillsets overlap. We need to move one of them, and Artest makes the most sense, and it firmly places the team back in Yao and Tmac's hands. Maybe an Artest and Luther for Hinrich type of deal could be made. THREE, Make some MINOR adjustments for Tmac on offense. Rick has made tons of adjustments for Yao, make just a couple for Tracy to where he doesn't feel he is the only one sacrificing his game for the team. Should Rick have to do this? No, but sometimes making small concessions will get your better results overall. I think Adelman needs to give a little bit here, to get Tracy back in line. FOUR: After the meeting between Adelman, Yao and Tmac, come to a conclusion as to what is expected of them and everyone then have a team meeting where that outline is presented to the entire team. This is what the leaders have agreed on, and this is what is expected, it is an agreement between men, and leaders, and will be adhered to. Tell the team the bickering ends NOW, and let them all speak their minds too. Get it out.....move on.....go out as a team afterwards, have a team dinner, build up friendships as well as chemistry....apologize where necessary, make pledges as well. FIVE: Hold players accountable for their actions, after the meetings, have everyone sign an agreement saying they are in the boat.....and rowing the same direction, but make it clear that any deviation will be punished "IN HOUSE" and not in the media....protect your own, but punishment will happen. Make sure they know that the team believes in each of them as individuals and team members. But accountability starts now. And take the court and start playing hard, and whipping up on lesser opponents. This to me, is what needs to happen, what about you? DD
wow ... not sure I agree with ALL your solutions, but glad to see you post in a proactive rather than reactive perspective, with good ideas. All the PANIC POSTS on this board have become SO boring, and almost totally killed the spirit here. Thanks, DD. I agree that most of the solutions should involve collaboration within, not shipping everyone out. If the experiment doesn't work, then we can make changes in the off-season. It would be insane to trade T-Mac at this time, IMHO, with his value so low. He needs guidance, motivation, focus and leadership, which I'm not sure he's getting. Your suggestions are excellent regarding Tracy. Last year, when he went out with injury, and the rest of the team adopted Adelman's system with success, he came back with respect, and fit in, which was a big part of the streak. Somehow, we need to see that again. Also, I think T-Mac has to stop this inconsistent playing time. He either needs to stop for awhile, or play through the pain, so the team knows who will be on the floor every game. Yao needs a lot more shots. They have GOT to get it into him with high percentages. I don't want to trade Artest. He hasn't had a chance to play off the bench behind Battier. To be honest, I believe Battier's injury has had a bigger negative impact than any, since he really functions as a quarterback for this team in many ways. Once Battier is consistently playing again, our team will improve signficantly. But, we need Artest's tenacity, and once he knows his place in a consistent lineup, he'll be a huge asset. I know Keith Jones is supposed to be one of the best. But, there's just flat some kind of problem here. Morey should use some of his MIT future thinking, and add expertise for keeping everyone healthy. Hire the doc who did the miracles on TMac's back. In my opinion, the Rocket players need more support and applied expertise in physical and psycho therapies. If Hinrich is available, I'd love to get him with Head and something else, but not lose Artest, and we just don't have the assets otherwise.
Nice post, DD. Shocked me a bit with the keeping of McGrady, lol. 70 percent of the BBS would trade him away. I like what you have there, though. I didn't know there was actual bickering going on in the lockerroom. Either way, I like the way you created a solution to it, also. Nice post.
my solution goes like this: 1) adelman and the coaches need to bring some structure back to practice. we have the type of players that are used to very repetitive, mechanical drilling like they had under jvg. imo the reasons for poor execution in late game situation stem from the lack of structure and repetition in practice. 2) trade tracy. include whoever you need to include from the rotation to ensure you get productive players back in the process and don't destroy your cap situation. 3) depending what parts you get back, examine what type of identity would best suit the new team. and stick to it. that way when the chips are down you are saying "time to play defense" or "time to run a half court set" and not "well, lets make something up and hope it works".
GREAT THREAD, at least you didn't wrote Trade T-Mac...I am shocked 1)I like 5th point. Really which offense is it? T-Mac's or Rick? Should Rick put the ball in T-Mac's hands and just say make plays, or should he give Yao and T-Mac easier shots...? 2)I expect Adelman to be tougher. He can't allow that. You feel like you can play: play every game and play HARD (especially T-Mac) You can only play in one game of back to backs or you are gonna chose the game you are playing in? Thank you. Sit until you are ready to play as well as you can in EVERY GAME. 3)Give Yao and T-Mac more shots, MORE SHOTS.
I'm still just amazed that THIS came from DaDakota. Such positiveness. My goodness, lol. I like it!!! I guess it's amazing what winning 3 straight can do, including beating the celts and finally blowing a bad team out, I guess. I would like to see a way for our big 3 to all play together. It would be SWEET to have a more consistent pg, though.
W'sup DD There is so many thoughts as to what is the problem. Mental, physical, included too much or not at all, minutes, injuries, rotation..etc.etc. 3) I was lead to believe that Artest has an injury that was supposed to keep him out. After learning Tmac decided to not play he came up to play and actually re-injured himself more. 4) Yao simply stands to close to the rim for boards. He isn't quick enough to react for the long rebounds. But you cannot ask him to spread farther because if its by chance a short rebound and the opposing team gets it being closer to the basket its usually a auto basket. The same reason Yao usually doesn't meet his opponent mid range. He cannot leave the paint. It just leaves that area so open afterward. 5) Honestly Rick needs to adjust his line up for Yao. He is a higher percent shooter. Like you pointed out he is limited and Tmac should be able to adjust to anything if he is that good. But Ricks offense doesn't match Yao period. 6) Cant do anything about chemistry until everyone is healed up. Only got 2 games down when everyone was healthy.
I agree with everything except number 2. I would rather take my chances on a below avg. to at best avg PG in Alston and keep a star in Artest as opposed to trading away a star for, imo, an avg to slightly above avg PG in Hinrich. Artest can take over a game as we saw in Utah and gives us much needed toughness. Yes he hasn't been great in our offense but the All-Star break will help us tremendously. We can get our players some much needed rest, get healthy, and have a full line up for practices to right the offense and find the best way to use Artest. And as much as I hate seeing Luther on the court, if he could just stand in one damn spot and shoot the ball, im all for it. When he tries to do anything else he becomes a turnover machine. It seems as though his spot has been taken by Wafer (thank god) so Luther would just be a throw in in the deal anyway which makes this deal really Artest for Hinrich which imo is not a good deal at all. My question is with Brooks emerging, can we not stand pat for the season and let our guys gel?
Sit tmac for two weeks, oh wait, it just happened..... http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=160730
Personally, I don't think tracy has a problem with yao or the offense as much as he do with some of the surrounding players. I think adelman also has a problem with some of the surrounding players because he can't run the offense he's accustomed to running. Tracy is a smart guy and he looked at adelmans offense before, there are a bunch of scoring chances for him being a wing, just ask clyde. I do think something needs to happen. They say if you can't change the players around you, change the players around you. Rafer,Hayes,head, and Battier have to go to run this offense if that the goal. We've talked about this before and tracy is the pg. First tracy needs to be able to have confidence in his movement. Alston is a terrible sg which is what he plays when tracy is in the game. Shane is a terrible offensive player who is basically a bigger version of head. Head is the 1st tweener that can't dribble and get his own shot. Hayes is a great positional defender but is a terrible finsher and offensive player. My sig says what I would do, but if I had to trade tracy, I would. If I had to trade yao, I would also. Like you, I think they're grown men and can work it out. Since we've learned that Tracy is out 2 weeks. now is Yao's time to get this teams some wins. If you look at it, even without Tracy and Ron, this team has more talent than the one that played well after he went out. This is Yao's time, its either step up or shut up.
True, Artest is one of the few tradeable pieces, but he seems to have a very positive impact on the team. I would be hesitant to let him go. I am sure meetings have already been held. Surely. I think the team will have to ride this one out. I doubt there will be any major changes this season. Good post, though.
ok, the real problems are the lack of health and adelman's coaching style. everything else are just symptoms. adelman, unlike jvg, is a coach that gives his players a lot of freedom. he lets them play out the roles on the team and balance things out. when the team is down and not playing well he expects them to work themselves out of this situation. he's just there to give basic instructions and for the fine tuning. the health problems that are causing the constant changes in the rotation for almost every game are the worst problem adelman as the coach he is could have to deal with. with all that stuff going on there's just no way that the team could play with consistency. so, basically, the rockets are still in a stage where the roles on the team aren't played out. they haven't figured out how to play as a team on offense and they couldn't gain any confidence because of it. don't blame it on t-mac. don't blame it on yao. don't blame it on artest. well, don't even blame it on adelman. blame it on the health issues. with all that said the solution is pretty simple: the team needs to get healthy and get some confidence and consistency. that's all. all those trade-t-mac-for-a-bag-of-chips, rafer-alston-is-garbage or yao-needs-to-dunk-the-ball-like-dwight-howard threads are just useless. you just can't pick a single player out and put the blame on him. basketball is a team game. this team has the talent and the coaching staff to be a major contender for the next 2 years. they just need to get (and stay) healthy for 10 - 20 games to get on a roll. the schedule is getting easier as well. just believe in our players and support them. the symptoms will be gone when the problems are solved.
So you think health is the only real issue? It may be, what do you think the organization should do about it? And if you are correct, then shouldn't they do a better job of managing the team and expectations? DD
You lost all my respect there. You have a p***y on your team and your talking about trade away Battier and Artest? You caved in DD
Not at all, I think trading Tracy would be very hard due to his contract, and you don't want to hamstring the team beyond 2010 with bad contracts. If the right deal comes along and you can get a Brandon Roy or Lemarcus Aldridge or another budding superstar, then you roll the dice and trade Tracy. But I think teams would be looking to do a Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol deal, and it is better that they hold onto his contract for next year instead of moving it this year. I just think it is easier to trade Artest and his expiring deal, and I have never felt he fit in to the team, and that we have bigger areas of need, primarily PG. DD
This is by far the best post I've ever seen during this problematic period of time for the Rox. Bravo! DD. I couldn't have agreed more!
Any reason why you have to call a grown man a name? I guess it was asking too much for you to put down your video game controller and talk about it like a man, right?
How about benching McGrady for a couple of weeks? Last season the Rockets really came together when he was out and the offense clicked. Then when T-Mac comes back he'll be forced to fit in or spend even more time riding the pine.
