We all have been begging for Cato to have a monster game and earn his money and he did tonight not to mention Francis had a triple double and Mobley goes for 42 but we still lose. This has to be one of the worst Rocket teams in recent memory.
I think, despite their record, that they are on the verge of becoming a good team. Of the 30 games they lost, almost two-thirds were by 6 points or less. They are in just about every game up to the end. They just need to a little something to get them over that hump. To make the playoffs, they need: 1) one more impact player (who can provide rebounds, strong inside presence, consistent shooting) 2) a line up and rotation that isnt constantly juggled (in other words, fewer injuries) 3) keep steve from ever getting injured or headaches. They get that and I think they are in. When eddie gets more experience and bulk, he'll be an absolute terror to other teams. so despite their horrible record this year, I think they can move forward very quickly.
What Valio said... Our record is horrible, but it is the result of just not playing well in the clutch. Or at least, better than our opponent. Part of the problem is the offense seems to lose any aggresion down the stretch, and settles for bad shots, or are forced to take a last second shot. Defensively, I think we do a half decent job in the clutch. The last problem we have is that Rudy puts in the worst imaginable lineups during crunch time. TMo was horrible tonight, yet he got to finish out the game. It seems like every night, we can point to poor offensive execution, and bad substituting for our losses.
That's the way Rudy has always been. Last year, his fourth quarter lineups featured Matt Bullard and Kenny Thomas instead of Hakeem and Taylor. The year before that, Rudy went with Bryce Drew and Devin Gray. Rudy does not understand the concept of the starters playing in the fourth quarter. Ridiculous...
Rudys tanking it again. No coach will ever do all these multiple mistakes unless it meant getting something in return.
This was brought up by Charlie Pallilo, who I generally consider is a pretty straight shooter in regards to the state of Houston sports teams. He stated something similar to the effect that the Rockets are not a bad team. Due to injuries and lack of a stable rotation, the team has not found its groove. He also mentioned that they were one impact player away from being a playoff team. Granted it was HIS opinion, I was beginning to feel as though this team might not really have a future with its existing stars and started to fall into the trap of thinking about trade scenarios. I don't know if Mo Taylor is the impact player that the Rockets will need to get over the "final 5 minutes of a game" hump. But I have been quite impressed with the way this team has fought to stay in games up to the end.
Right now they are real bad, they have individuals who can play, but as a team they are terrible. They don't share the ball during crunch time, their defense is the worst in the league, and their offense is too predictable. They are hanging in on talent alone, if they ever LEARN how easy basketball is when the ball is hopping around then they will explode. DD
I am asking myself that how many coachs had NOT been fired or been publicly criticised when his team lost so many like Rockets doing. Rudy must has real strong relationship with the org.
Rudy has been in this organization for 31 yrs and has won 2 championship. That's the only reason why he's still here. His time is winding down.
Originally posted by leebigez Mo Taylor and impact shouldn't ever be used together. LOL!!! That's funny............
You're mistaken. Rudy will be around as long as he wants to. What, is CD going to fire him? LOL. Les Alexander would never fire Rudy or CD. He'd get run out of town if he did.
I think the problem is that the Rockets seem to act like after they've scored a go ahead basket they can stop playing defense. Why was Kittles able to get that far in toward the basket late in the game. I've seen it a million times this season not only at the end of games but anytime the Rockets take a lead. They immediately either don't get back at all on defense, or they play soft defense and allow the other team to penetrate and get an easy shot. Then they try really hard again on offense and do next to nothing on defense. Sure, when they realize they are down and need to make a move their defense gets better, but never for a sustained period. Another question about last night's defense in particular: Why fall for Jefferson's fake time and time again, when he doesn't have a consistant outside shot? They fell for it and he drove close enough to the basket and scored way too much. It was nice to see Cato have a good game, and the team fight back from a big deficit, but as usual they relaxed on the defensive end as soon as they had a lead. I think it's not so much that certain pg's are that great at controlling the tempo as it is that the Rockets don't stop the opponents when they push it after a made a basket.
I Think the people of Houston at this particular time are sick of looking at this brand of basketball. Check out the attendence. I believe for the most part, the fans want a change for the better, if it means getting rid of Rudy, so be it. I don't believe Les Alexander is going to allow Rudy to stay if this team doesn't get into the playoffs, especially going into the new arena. He wants to fill up that place and a losing team will not draw too well. The truth is the team sucks to watch and it's mainly because of Rudy's system. Before the injuries this season, this team was horrible to watch and benifted from a soft schedule early on. Rudy's days need to be numbered. You can't even call the Rockets a team right now, it's five individuals out there on the court. Comets basketball runs a ring around Rockets basketball right now. In keeping with the topic of the thread, the Rockets are not as bad as their record indicates, it's the system and overall lack of commitment and disipline on both ends of the court. And I don't think it's going to get better until someone else is coaching this team to instill some discipline out there. This style of coaching wasn't needed for the championship Rockets but it's need for this bunch. Call me Rudy hater or whatever, but coaching wise, more and more I'm starting to feel he is not the coach for this team.
Exactly. I mean does anyone not believe that Rudy is semi-tanking? I mean he is not dumb to the point where he would leave one of our best shooters in Griffin on the bench late in the game. But I dont get what you mean by "tanking it AGAIN"? When did we tank last? I must have missed it.
I see... And last year all that improvement the team showed and a better record than anyone expected happened because of a season long 'soft schedule'? When the team was healthy they won, when the injuries stacked up, they lost. The fact is that with the injuries they've played some really soft teams and still lost. While there is more than just one reason why they play so poorly this year, I think injuries have more to do with it than anything else. Last year when Rudy was running basically the same system, and they were winning, it was fine. The fact is with all these injuries and different lineups nobody is going to be able to get into comfortable rhythm with their teammates, it wouldn't matter what system Rudy was using. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve a part of the blame, because the whole team does. But trying to blame it all on the coach in a year when you've had your starting PG, SG, C(only a few games), PF(probably the whole season) SF(probably the rest of the season and the pre-season as well) all out for injuries is a cheap shot at Rudy.
Cato is still not an inside threat all the time. He is merely a beneficiary. Let's move Rudy up and get a young college coach if we have guys who want to run a helter skelter offense. Hell why don't we just bring Steves Maryland coach in. Cincinatti? I don't care I just want to see movement, a pick and roll. We should have Eddie at the three posting his man up. Something different besides the couple of plays every team in the league can prepare for. I really wish we could atleast bring a young college coach who can bring something new school to the table. He doesn't have to be the coach but an assistant to be groomed to take over.
I am so sick and tired of people bringing up last year. The Rockets had an okay season, but still was a lottery team. I'm sick and tired of people using injuries as an excuse for what's going on this year. Yes injuries have really been a pain in the ass this year, but my argument against Rudy is I'm sick of the system he is running. It's horrible, and that is a major reason why this team isn't worth watching. Even when fully healthy this team has major issues. No this team is not the most talented team in the world but I guarantee if this team had a better coach and system, it would be MUCH better than it is now. Now I truly believe habits have formed on this team that will be hard to break no matter who else would come in here as the coach. Rudy has implented and allowed this bad style of basketball to go on for too long. It's really starting to set the team back for the future. This team is going to have to go through a learning process of how to play as a team before they can get anywhere, and the longer they are allowed to play this style of ball, the longer it's going to take for that process to occur.
I was merely talking about Cato's production last night. As far as coaching let's judge Rudy by what he's done when he doesn't have one arm tied behind his back(injuries). With a healthy team he got them excede expectations last year and at the beginning of this year. Let him play most of the season with a healthy team before deciding it's time for him to move on. That's really not fair to the guy who's put more than three decades of work into the organization. I wouldn't mind bringing a new college coach in as an assistant who's specialized at teaching fundamentals of defense maybe, or ball movement or some of the other Rockets weaknesses to help out, but I'm not going to write the guy off because this season as fallen apart. I can't blame it all on Rudy when we've lost all five starters due to injury at various points of the season. Some of them for extended periouds of time. Given those circumstances how can anyone expect crisp ball movement, defensive rotations, and a minimum of turnovers? The injuries may not be the only problem, but I also don't think it's fair to fire a guy when he hasn't had his full arsenal to work with for any length of time.
