Our system relies on shooters knocking down shots, as said before our roster on talent alone is solid on paper, but our system stretches players out of their comfort zone...Our stars need to be surrounded by deadeye shooters or we need to find a new offense
We added a healthy Beverley, Ty Lawson (in exchange for non-NBA players), an improved Capella, healthier Dwight Howard and possibly Motiejunas to a team that went to the WCF. The talent is level is "solid with a hole or two."
I saw the first answer and voted A because I've been saying that all year. Then after I voted I read answer B and that is actually more accurate lol Ahh well.
We have the talent - they simply are not utilized properly... D12 #4 ALL TIME on fg % - gets <9 shots a game... despite showing he can still go off for 28 or 36 points... Harrell is always in the + for his court time - can't get consistent minutes... and its our weakest position... yet Brewer gets his minutes.... JBB's rotations suck and he let's Harden do whatever he wants - unchecked... a recipe for disaster...
The talent is there to make run like last year but as Morey has alluded to, guys aren't playing as well as they can, and as Jet alluded to, the chemistry is terrible.
Average individual talent. Terrible working-as-a-team talent. Terrible 'chemistry'. Terrible fit. Daryl: Screw chemistry, screw fit, acquire the best talent possible, regardless of "fit", hope it comes together! Spoiler The 16 teams ahead of Houston in league standings WARRIORS Stephen Curry Klay Thompson Harrison Barnes Draymond Green Andrew Bogut ------------- Shaun Livingston Leandro Barbosa Andre Iguodala Brandon Rush Marreese Speights Festus Ezeli Anderson Varejao ------------- Ian Clark Kevin Looney James Michael McAdoo SPURS Tony Parker Danny Green Kawhi Leonard LaMarcus Aldridge Tim Duncan ------------- Patty Mills Jonathon Simmons Manu Ginobili Kyle Anderson Boris Diaw David West ------------- Andre Miller Rasual Butler Matt Bonner Boban Marjanovic CAVS Kyrie Irving J.R. Smith LeBron James Kevin Love Tristan Thompson ------------- Matthew Dellavedova Mo Williams Iman Shumpert Richard Jefferson Channing Frye Timofey Mozgov ------------- Jordan McRae James Jones Sasha Kaun THUNDER Russell Westbrook Andre Roberson Kevin Durant Serge Ibaka Steven Adams ------------- Cameron Payne Dion Waiters Randy Foye Anthony Morrow Kyle Singler Nick Collison Enes Kanter ------------- Josh Huestis Mitch McGary RAPTORS Kyle Lowry DeMar DeRozan DeMarre Carroll Luis Scola Jonas Valanciunas ------------- Cory Joseph Delon Wright Terrence Ross James Johnson Patrick Patterson Bismack Biyombo ------------- Norman Powell Bruno Caboclo Anthony Bennett Lucas Nogueira CLIPPERS Chris Paul J.J. Redick Wes Johnson Blake Griffin DeAndre Jordan ------------- Austin Rivers Jamal Crawford Paul Pierce Jeff Green Luc Mbah a Moute Cole Aldrich ------------- Pablo Prigioni Alex Stepheson C.J. Wilcox Branden Dawson GRIZZLIES Mike Conley PJ Hairston Matt Barnes Zach Randolph Brandan Wright ------------- Mario Chalmers Lance Stephenson Tony Allen Vince Carter JaMychal Green Chris Andersen ------------- Jordan Adams James Ennis Jarrell Martin Marc Gasol CELTICS Isaiah Thomas Avery Bradley Jae Crowder Amir Johnson Jared Sullinger ------------- Marcus Smart Evan Turner Jonas Jerebko Kelly Olynyk Tyler Zeller ------------- Terry Rozier RJ Hunter James Young Jordan Mickey HEAT Goran Dragic Dwyane Wade Luol Deng Chris Bosh Hassan Whiteside ------------- Josh Richardson Gerald Green Joe Johnson Justise Winslow Josh McRoberts Amar'e Stoudemire ------------- Tyler Johnson Udonis Haslem HAWKS Jeff Teague Kyle Korver Kent Bazemore Paul Millsap Al Horford ------------- Dennis Schroder Kirk Hinrich Tim Hardaway Jr. Thabo Sefolosha Mike Scott Mike Muscala ------------- Lamar Patterson Tiago Splitter Walter Tavares MAVS Deron Williams Wes Matthews Chandler Parsons Dirk Nowitzki Zaza Pachulia ------------- J.J. Barea Raymond Felton Devin Harris David Lee Dwight Powell Charlie Villanueva Salah Mejri ------------- Justin Anderson Jeremy Evans JaVale McGee BLAZERS Damian Lillard C.J. McCollum Al-Farouq Aminu Ed Davis Mason Plumlee ------------- Brian Roberts Gerald Henderson Allen Crabbe Mo Harkless Noah Vonleh Meyers Leonard ------------- Pat Connaughton Luis Montero Cliff Alexander Chris Kaman PACERS George Hill Monta Ellis Paul George Myles Turner Ian Mahinmi ------------- Rodney Stuckey Joe Young C.J. Miles Solomon Hill Jordan Hill LaVoy Allen ------------- Chase Budinger Glenn Robinson Rakeem Christmas Shayne Whittington HORNETS Kemba Walker Courtney Lee Nicolas Batum Marvin Williams Al Jefferson ------------- Jeremy Lin Jeremy Lamb Troy Daniels Tyler Hansbrough Frank Kaminsky Cody Zeller Spencer Hawes ------------- Jorge Gutierrez Aaron Harrison Michael Kidd-Gilchrist BULLS Derrick Rose Jimmy Butler Mike Dunleavy Taj Gibson Pau Gasol ------------- Aaron Brooks E'Twaun Moore Tony Snell Doug McDermott Bobby Portis Nikola Mirotic ------------- Justin Holiday Cameron Bairstow Cristiano Felicio Joakim Noah PISTONS Reggie Jackson Kentavious Caldwell-Pope Tobias Harris Marcus Morris Andre Drummond ------------- Steve Blake Reggie Bullock Stanley Johnson Anthony Tolliver Aron Baynes ------------- Spencer Dinwiddie Jodie Meeks Darrun Hilliard Justin Harper Joel Anthony ROCKETS James Harden Patrick Beverley Trevor Ariza Josh Smith Dwight Howard ------------- Ty Lawson Jason Terry Corey Brewer Terrence Jones Donatas Motiejunas Clint Capela ------------- Sam Dekker Montrezl Harrell KJ McDaniels
I asked this question in an earlier thread: Who are our two best offensive players other than Harden? Who are our 3 best defensive players? Now compare your answers to their counterparts on the better teams in the league. The fact is that we have several players who's strength is suppose to be defense but for whatever reason they haven't been very good defensively this season. As a result we are playing multiple rotation players that are average to below average on both sides of the ball. That's a problem.
I think my biggest complaint about the roster is the lack of consistent shooters... Moreyball can work but not with guys that are just bad shooters and mediocre defenders. And I think our passing needs to be improved James is a great distributor but you need someone else like a pau gasol to space the floor from the inside with his passing from the post.
Everybody keeps pining away for all our role players to be pure shooters. What is the problem with this team? Offense or defense?? As cool as it is to think of pure shooters on the offensive end, Steve Novak and Troy Daniels are not going to get it done on the defensive end. We cannot afford to pay for role players that are knock-down shooters AND decent on defense. Only way you do that is if Dwight gets paid like Duncan, and that is not going to happen. Golden State and San Antonio have a BIG advantage, b/c they have top players getting paid well under market value.
Wasnt a fan of bringing back Bev, Brewer, JET. Need to see more out of Capela, unless he's been injured he should be better. TJones isnt very good. DMo has been hurt. And not a fan of Dekker pick so need to see something from him. Like James and Dwight. JBB isnt ready. But theyre still the Rockets so I watch/root/hope.
Pesky Pomeranian!?? I LOLed hard at that one. Funny but hits home pretty hard. Rockets need to play Ariza at SG and bring in a true shooter/3&D wing. Maybe Putney could play that role. Or a PG that is a younger version of Terry. Lawson should be amazing coming off the bench but the guy is a shade of himself. Give him a drink already or send him packing. Rather have McCallum right now. Rockets lack of perimeter & transition D is as much to blame as the lack of offense (when Harden sits). Maybe need to feed the post and play more PnR again. Dwight doesn't even get touches when Harden is catching his breath on the bench, SMH. Instead its ISO for TJones or Ariza. Crazy.
Hard to say since there was so much regression: Lawson was a 16/10 PG who now looks like trash. Capela was a developing big man with good hands, hops and defense who now looks like he hit a wall. Jones was showing great talent but just fluke injuries and now just looks like trash. DMo flashed amazing talent in the post and improved shooting from deep but can't get healthy. Beverly as a backup would be above average but as a starter who's regressed defensively...blech Brewer started off godawful but has been positive in the last month or so. About the same as last year maybe slightly worse. Terry and Smith have been much worse. Thornton is now gone and KJ and Harrell are glued to the bench. Ariza seems about the same. In summary we are getting next to nothing from the role players other than Ariza and just recently Brewer.
Team can't shoot the ball well, doesn't rebound, gives up a lot of assists, easy buckets, doesn't pressure 3 point shooters. And that's just our defense. There is no way a team with only 3 or 4 guys capable of hitting a jump shot consistently on the entire team is going to be a competitor in today's league. Harden, Beverly, Terry, and Ariza are the only one who can nail a shot with any accuracy. Then you have Capela and Howard who can do damage inside but only if the previous 4 gets them the ball. Everyone else is just deadweight. Except Dmo maybe.
