It's halfway through the season, and we're fresh off yet another embarrassing loss to a bad team, but let's try to take an objective view of the team, the roster, the season so far, and the season to come. Let's start with the team. Overall, I think the major learning of the first half of the season is that the discipline of the team breaks down when Yao is not playing. When Yao is in the game, there is a more structured feel to the way the team functions, and the rest of the offense becomes taking advantage of the opportunities created by passing, distorting the defense, and passing some more. Without Yao, the offense does not have a "system". We've seen what happens when the offense is just "let Tracy create". We've seen enough of the Artest Iso show too. We've seen rafer and brooks jack up a lot of bad shots early - but all of this is because seemingly without Yao, nobody really knows what to do, or how the ball and the bodies should move. This confusion also translates into some loss of defensive fundamentals. It's almost like when the players "know their roles" and "play their roles" on offense, they are able to stay disciplined defensively as well. Perhaps its because it reinforces the team concept and encourages commitment, but it has happened consistently enough this season that I am comfortable saying it is a reality of our team. The roster. You all know that I want Daryl to trade Tracy. I don't think Tracy (or AI) knows how to play with good teammates. They are the type of players that can make a terrible roster look good because they can do so much, but at the same time make a great roster look bad because they dont know how to let anyone else do anything. If Tracy is not moved, I would ask him to take a lesser role. Perhaps he could come off the bench, and you could start battier and artest instead of battier and tracy. Regardless, I think the Tracy show needs to have a much reduced role on this team in order for the team to function within a team basketball concept. Ideal case scenario for me is to be able to move Tracy for a solid defensive/passing pg. And while it would be unpopular, I think it would be in the best interest of team chemistry and cap flexibility to move tracy. besides mac, I think the roster is fine. It's not worth moving artest since he's affordable, expiring, and you'll need a strong wing presence if you lose tracy. Your bench is still a strength, and aside from an ideal-case situation where you are able to add length at the 4, there are not any other glaring holes in the roster. the season so far is a disappointment, and i dont think theres much of a way around it. it appears that the locker room is not united as it was last year. the team concept is failing. there are insinuations of poor practice habits, poor effort, poor leadership, and i am not sure if Rick is the right kind of coach to guide the team through these rough times. I think a disciplinarian could have really helped prevent many of these issues from growing into the dysfunction we've seen this year. Basketball, at its root, is about trust in your teammates and their ability to make good decisions. People miss shots, people turn the ball over, things go wrong, even with the best teams. but the difference between the rockets and the best teams is that the best teams assume that if they pass the ball, the person who gets it will make a good decision. that if they play hard, work hard, and devote themselves to the team, everyone else will do the same. that clearly is not the case here, and we've seen it with the lack of late game execution, lack of attention to detail, lack of helping the helper, and general lack of interest on the part of some of our key players in doing what it takes to win basketball games. the season to come will totally depend on what is done at the trading deadline. if morey is able to unload tracy on some unsuspecting team (damn you Isiah for leaving the knicks) then the rest of the season is looking up, as the single largest source of distraction and chemistry problems will be gone. if not, then the ball falls in Adelman's court. He must, must, must understand that the team needs to come together somehow, and start playing team basketball again in order to win consistently. When the rockets have played well, we all know that they can go toe to toe with anyone, and stand a good chance in a seven game series if they stay committed and united. The good news is that unlike previous years, the rockets do not "need" to get a high seed to have a good chance of advancing in the playoffs. In my mind, there are only two teams to avoid in the first round: the lakers and the spurs. every other team in the west has major flaws, exploitable flaws, just like the rockets do. It is my firm belief that the rockets have the second most talented group of players in the West. The success or failure of the second half of this season, and a potential playoff run, will be about attempting to convert a talented group of individual players into a team. if they are able to, honestly, the sky is the limit because they could be ridiculously good. if not, then, well, it'll just be like every other year since 95.
