I believe that yao, tmac, rick, and the rest of the gang will have a good chance to become a better team than what they were under jvg. I really think most of the forum-ers here just are a little too new to the game...sure u can look at my post count and make fun of me but i prefer to go by the number of years i've been watching nba basketball and that has been awhile...here's the thing, whenever u get a new coach with a new system, it's gonna take awhile to get used to it...sorry that's the way it is in real life! players are going to struggle until they really find their way into the system. the coach is gonna learn what he can do with his players and the players will learn what they can do with the system...but at the start, it's gonna be messy, and it is messy...shouldn't that be expected? look at most major offseason coach changes in the nba...it's gonna take awhile...the biggest problems we have to work on are: 1)defensive hustle 2)when to shoot/when to drive (when yao is at high post) 3)PG spot ---> enough said 4)yao ---> we are definitely not using him to his fullest potential, it's way too obvious...i mean we saw him the past 2 years under jvg...he was a beast, and this year he has temporarily regressed because he's trying to find his way into the system (and get fair calls as well) and the coach is trying to figure it out for him...we all know who the best center is in this league, and even if we have to go a little slower than what rick wanted in order to get the most out of him so we can win, i'm sure he will figure it out in time...meanwhile stan van gundy is perfecting his system over in orlando, with dwight howard dominating the rebounds and getting 23 ppg off of only dunks and layups...dwight is damn good, and may be the best center in 4-5 years, don't get me wrong, but he has no offensive game other than brute forcing his way thru for a dunk or layup, however he looks way better than he is right now because of stan van gundy's system and how it is working...YAO THE BEST CENTER THE NBA CURRENTLY HAS, AND THE ROCKETS AREN'T USING HIM RIGHT...yao is a much more refined player, with many great skills, a basketball IQ, and a work ethic that dwight will strive to have for a long while, and when under a system that he is comfortable with, he is blatantly the best center, better than shaq, dwight, and whoever else, we know this for a fact because we saw this in the latter half of the 05-06 season and especially the first half of the 06-07 season (up until the injury, and he was pretty out of shape looking in the playoffs, obviously wasn't up the full speed)...however he isn't be used right at all as of now...yao and rick will eventually figure it out, and get yao back on track to his 25+ ppg and 10+ rpg and along with tmac, who seems to have a good grip on it all, we can have a team and a system that can win, with the league's best overall swingman and the league's best center leading the charge with rick on the sidelines. anyways i believe in the rockets...do you? everything needs time, and a month isn't enough.
why does the a-man gotta spend time tryin to figure out YAO...can't he just call JVG and discuss his abilities over dinner?
i honestly don't know...jvg knew how to use yao but the rest of the offense was to stagnant and we can't win win tmac and yao doing all the work...adelman has to figure out how to have an offense where tmac and yao are utilized to their full potentials WHILE having motion in the offense.
i said it in the preseason, and i've maintained.. the rockets will pick up the offense by January, and once everyone is at the same level in that sense, they can figure out their rotation for sure. Until then, I'm not going to worry.
Currently, no. Unless people change their perspective, this team is going no where. T-mac is playing with no passion, and he is affecting his teammates to act in the same way. I don't know what the hell is Rick Ad. doing, this team lost its defense completely, the team has no discipline, horrible offense. Yao is playing just as bad as t-mac, instead of trying to complain about the refs, the calls. You need to know that you got to change your perspective, you gotta to be dominant, you gotta to show that you want it on the court, you gotta demand the ball. When you are being dominant, the calls will come. You talk about leadership, and being a leader, maybe you ought try to be like one. But I am afraid Yao's characteristics limits his chance to become a true leader. I think the role players are alright, they are what they are. They are following coach's plans, Yao, tmac. They are in a slump now, but if Yao and t-mac change their altitude, the role players will follow. Their shots will go in.
Right now I don't know if I believe in them. Any "believing" that was built up by beating Phoenix, Utah, Denver and San Antonio has quickly been overshadowed by losses to the Lakers, Memphis, Sacramento...and struggling with teams like Milwaukee, Charlotte and for 3 quarters against the Clippers. I want to believe and get wrapped up in being an optimistic fan, but until I see a consistent dedication to playing hard and playing smart on both ends, this team's going to struggle. JVG didn't accept this...and now Rick sits there.
i think we can be better than last year, but how much better ? my honest gut feeling is that it won't be enough. i doubt we get a top 3 seed at this point, and that is something we DESPERATELY need to get out of the first round. so once again we will be in the same boat we've been in the past couple of years. we'll be a 5th or 6th seed and have to play utah, dallas, phx, or san antonio in the first round, and most likely lose again. though i do feel we match up pretty good with san antonio, we've only played them in the regular season, who knows if we'd even have a chance once the playoffs came around. our best chance is against utah, but since yao will still get abused and be largely ineffective on both sides of the floor its likely we'd lose again. we are still pretty much the same team from last year im sorry to say.
Agreed. Even *if* we make the playoffs (right now, not a given), we'll be facing teams that will win four games before we do 90+% of the time. I don't know how many can stomach another non-playoff year or first round exit.
oh yea, we may not even make the playoffs, which would REALLY be disappointing. of the top 8 right now, our best chance is to catch the lakers but they are such a scrappy team we might not. golden state is on fire, they are 17-2 in stephen jackson's last 19 regular season games going back to last year, if they stay healthy i wouldnt doubt they could finish as high as 6th, maybe even 5th depending on how us and denver pull it together.
When we were 6-1 Adelman didn't know what he was doing. My bad we are not 6-1 now we are 9-9 because Adelman changed his cough... cough philosophy and the players started to listen to Adelman. Here is another one Adelman is not tough enough and doesn't demand enough from the players like JVG. JVG was so tough during game 7 against Utah that he yelled the whole game and was so loud and dramatic... why didn't he get a jersey oohhh he is the coach. He lead that team really well from the sideline too bad the players couldn't tough it out on the court. Maybe if Adelman can do a flip in mid air and jump so high that he collides with both championship banners, while flying over and also grabbing Olajuwons blocks banner down and throwing it over Yao giving him a blanket party... maybe Clyde Drexler can join and help toughen up T-mac by putting on his championship '95 ring and back handing him in the face so hard to where he is not crossed eyed no more and his new found vision is attacking the basket every play and everytime he tries to take a long 2-pointer he sees 1995 in gold and red covering the rim. That would help this team good and then we can give Adelman coach of the year for being so tough.
jvg was a really good coach for us, no doubt i really liked him, but adelman might be, he needs more time than one month to prove it tho...i mean he ain't avery johnson.
