No problem in letting the rookies earn their minutes. The smarter ones will get more minutes. I was hoping to see Lamb playing better than he has shown so far. Jones is the best right now,out of the rookies. D-Mo will come off the bench for sure. Royce will probably end up in the D-League until he is ready.
Yeah, people always complain about how they don't want to be like the 6ers or Pacers- teams that make it into the playoffs but will not win the championship- but I think we've forgotten how much fun playoff basketball can be. Our years of mediocrity (and of first round exits) have jaded us into thinking like Bobcat fans.
I am saying playing time for the rookies will be earned. A lot of people seem to think that the rookies will play no matter what, and we will either sink or swim with them. A noble idea, but I don't think that will be the case. As much hoopla as the amount of rookies we have on this team gets, I doubt more than 2 or them will break the rotation this year. Just like the case of Marcus Morris and Parsons last year, you get to play when you prove in practice that you contribute to winning. By throwing them out there just for the sake of "seeing what happens", it does a disservice to the rest of the team who bust their ass everyday, a disservice to the fans who paid good money to come to games, a disservice to the coaching staff who hold all the players accountable. And it breeds a culture of losing and entitlement. Enabling and pampering to rookies is what losing franchises like the Kings and Bobcats do. I think we will bring them along the right way, and if they don't get to play right away, there is only one thing they can do to change that. Get better.
lol at the thought of tanking for the 1st pick. you purposely have to be worse than the bobcats...is that even possible? and we all know that the first pick is going to orlando. let's just enjoy the games and worry about draft picks later. Before you know it Lex will privatize all rockets games just for members of Lex industries. =/ so enjoy while you can.
Let the chips fall where they may. I'm not going to 2nd guess what the coaching staff decides to do, just enjoy the wins and lament the losses. But it sounds like you're being cautiously realistic and there's nothing wrong with that. Just don't let it keep you from enjoying the games, win or lose.
My thoughts on your points 1.) I agree that the Rookies will not see a ton of minutes unless they can prove they can help us win. The other options is we are not winning and we trade some players off to make some room. Jones and Lamb I believe are the most 'ready' so they will see the most time. 2.) I do not agree with this. At least based upon what I have seen. We gave up too many open threes and too many rebounds so far to be a top five to top ten defense. The season will tell but I do not see it. 3.) I think Lin will win us some games as he becomes our closer. However, at this point Lin is high turnover guy so I think some of that will even out. 4.) I do not think we are tanking. Rather I see us in shuffle mode. We are going to shuffle through players accept Lin and Asik and see what we have. Just about any off these guys are expendable to truly make the team better. I think we are between 28-42 wins. I know that is a huge range. But we have tons of questions. Three starters that have really never played an NBA season as starters, the looming issue with Kevin Martin (To trade or not to trade...), what I saw as far as McHale making second half adjustments, the changes that other Western conference teams made to improve their own teams,etc. I am hoping for three things out of this year. 1.) Are our starters really starters or do we need upgrades? Patterson, Parsons, Asik, and Lin all need to prove that they can be starters next year and the year after. 2.) When we a bucket who is on the floor and what do we run? I imagine that it will be high pick and roll. Lin and someone... but what does it look like and who are the players on the floor. 3.) When we need a stop... who is on the floor? Who do we have faith in to get that rebound, block, or draw that charge? Asik I am sure will be there... and Parsons might as well... who else Jones? Forbes? Douglas? Livingston? If we can answer those question the season has been a success. Then we have a direction. The one Twitter reference we need #RedNation Fierguard Bleed Red Rockets Red
You aren't really breaking any news by saying that this team is too good to tank. Vegas has already laid that out there and I think we all know the 28-30 wins predicted isn't close to what is needed for a top 3 pick. Do you really feel like Livingston and Patterson can contribute to winning? I don't. Delfino and Douglas actually have some potential to be decent. Delfino has actually logged significant minutes on good teams, but Douglas is coming back from a train wreck of a season and I can't see him being a major contributor over Lamb. How exactly did PPat and KMart become plus defenders? In my eyes Patterson's defense has only looked "plus" because we were comparing it to Scola's defense. KMart will always be atrocious on defense. You don't need to distort reality to prove a point. Also, just relax a bit when you call Asik a DPOY candidate. He is looking to be a great acquisition, but I think you have forgotten how dominant DPOY's really are. We will not be a top 10 defensive team. By helter skelter you mean unreliable. And are you really calling Jeremy Lin a rare player? I like the guy's game, but let's not go crazy here. Maybe when he stops turning the ball over 5 times a game I'll agree with your point about him learning to let the game come to him. One would think that your narcissistic posting style would stop after your Marcus Morris debacle, but it hasn't. It's pretty amazing.
My first reaction as well! ;-)- I agree with this sentiment, but for a different reason than some might have. If Morey can land a superstar at the deadline using Martin, of course he's gone, but if not, his expiring contract helps us with cap room after the season's end, regardless of our record. So sure, he might stick around... maybe, maybe no. Predictions are fun this time of the year, but the truth is that we have little clue as to how good a team we have. Looking at their ages and experience should give us one hell of a lousy team, but some breakout performances from a couple of the young guys could change everything. It'll be a gas looking to see what happens.
All we need is BrooksBall and his "playoffs?!? No way!" thread and we will be in the finals in no time.
I've always said we had the talent but just the coaching was suspect. Hell, even Mchale is surprised. No self esteem ass coach.
What people aren't comprehending is that tanking isn't a guaranteed victory - and furthermore having an entire roster of young players doesn't imply that you MUST lose. Winning helps development and still leaves potential for a breakout stars, which is the TRUE goal.
