Only the 2nd time in NBA history......if it happens again that would be a miracle. I can see 7 in a row fairly easily coming up, but that might be fools gold. DD
you will always find your scape goat. First it was getting rid of JVG to solve all the problems, now that things are the same or perhaps worse, you find someone else. If it wasn't about VSPAN getting more time, it's now about wafer. Forget the fact he tends to disappear in crunch time and he blows defensive assignments because he doesn't know how to rotate...forget that and just say hey, if we trade t-mac and artest, and start wafer we'll win a ring. You have no clue man. You act like you are smarter that JVG, Adelman, Morey, and everyone else combined. There's a reason Wafer doesn't get as much time as you want. Because he still makes a lot of bone head decisions and is still learning. I think this team will be fine. Right now, they are underacheiving, but that happens...teams struggle. Boston lost a bunch of games and thier fans didn't go apepoop. Our record isn't atroicious, we're in the middle of the pack and for an injury riddled season that's not half bad. I see improvements each and every game...so I think this team can gel. But one thing you have made perfectly clear. you will not stop whining until you get everything you want.
But DD Von Wafers mistakes on defense have offset some of his nutting up. Wafer+Landry= Brainfreeze on defense.
It doesn't solve all the problems, but it helped us win 55 games last year, and the team was a contender until Yao went out. I am a guy who believes you reward playing time based upon CURRENT performance, currently Wafer has been better than Ron and Tracy...if it ain't broke...don't fix it. These are my opinions. Nothing more, sometimes they are right sometimes wrong, this is an internet message board, it is a place for discussing things like that... You did get one thing right though, I am smart. And other than talking about ME (one of my favorite subjects BTW), what do you think about the thread and the identity issue? DD
Yeah, Rox has identity issue, but more importantly, I think it's because they failed to enforce their "core philosophy"... Adelman runs motion offense, which has certain philosophy how players move, but some players in our team loves to play one on one, which isolate all the other 4 guys in the play, that's two very contradicting philosophy right there... How can a team succeed if they still fail to implement the basic? How can a player adjust if the philosophy changes from day to day, from 3rd quarter to 4th quarter...? I personally blamn this on management and coach, they need to have the guts to sit their star players and get the basics to their nerves, even though they are only making 10-20% of those players' money...
We need to become passionate about defense again. I guess those of you that credited Adelman and discredited the JVG influence are eating crow about now...
our identity SHOULD be defense. now all anyone cares about is what the offense is doing. defense first, the offense will take care of itself after we get some set rotations, chemistry, and work into some sort of rhythm. i just hope people around here aren't giving up on this team yet. history has shown us this rocket team will pull it together before the playoffs, and with the talent we have we are going to be trouble for anyone we face.
Funny. I was thinking the other way. I thought our defense sucked because we kept moving and switch our rotations. I think defense will take care of itself after some time playing with all our players. Offense in the other hand... this is something the team can do right now! They can start moving. If Tracy or Ron have the ball, move! They are willingly passers (most of the time). If I was a role player, I'd start doing something to get their attention. This team will go no where if we expect Tracy and Ron to change their habits by them self. No going to happen.
I think it's more of a confidence issue. The team is putting way too much pressure on itself and not having enough fun. They need to loosen up...there's this albatross around everyone's neck now. It's no wonder we tend to play better against better teams and worse against poorer teams...because there's more pressure with the weaker teams in a close game than the better ones. We're suppose to lose to the lakers, celtics, and detroits on the road. We're suppose to beat the Knicks, Pacers, and PHilly. That didn't happen. 3 loses all because of poor 4th qtr execution. That's not an identity issue - it's a choke issue - it's a lack of confidence and an excess of tightening up. The good thing is that this can be corrected. The bad thing is that the Rockets need a shrink to do it.
Triangle offense, great ball movement. Good interior defense, questionable perimeter defense. Very athletic front court Best player in NBA at the wing Crafty PG Hall of fame Coach Who won multiple championship deadly shooters athletic wings/foward Best player in NBA at the wing Rockets: T-mac: It is my team, these are my guys. It is on me. Rockets can go as far as I take them. It is on me, if we don't pass the first round, it is on me. After the loss: I was tired. I did what I could. If you look at (my stat), I performed. I always elevated my game in the playoff. If you look at the players I used to play with, they are not even in the league (anymore). I am not getting enough touches. I am back! No I am not, I am still hurt! To all the haters, you can jump off the wagon now. But I am back, I promise you will be back on the wagon. Rick Adleman: I don't know what happened? Yao Ming: I don't know how to play. Rafer: Selfish Basketball Scola: What is with T-mac"? "Not Good" Artest: Tru Warrier with bad shoot selction. Sit until All star break
They have it NOW, but the spurs had manu ANd tony out for an extended time. they already had a thin rotation to begin with and their "scrubs" along with TD kept them going and they managed a very good record. That's swagger/confidence. They didnt think "oh no were screwed" or panic, they just kept playing like they know how.
it can, but its not the only way...plenty young teams that don't succeedd time and time again and don't know what to do have gone into a contender's hom floor and beat them. That's swagger. I think in this case, the difference is if your confident you think you can go and execute your game plan, which i think the rockets know they can, but swagger not only brings that, but also the belief that your better and will be better that night. The rockets, especially tmac, say it all the night, "we just need to go out and execute, play our game". Well, they can go out and shoot 55%, get everyone involved, shoot feee throws, etc. their whole game plan, but they can still lose the game. That's because confidence is about your self, your team, but swagger is about knowing you or your team is above everyone else. When you feel like that you take it to a team, you don't sit back and hope to stop them, you KNOW will stop them. The rockets only believe they can "play their game", they don't believe their game is above everyone else's though.
Dood, Parker missed several games and Ginobli was out for some time, but there big 3 have played with each other and won multiple championships for years. The rockets with just Yao and a bunch of scrubs won alot of games as well. Who on the rockets team is saying were screwed and panicking. The rockets have been ravaged with much more injuries than the spurs this season, its not even close.
Who can't play as a team? Aren't they T-Mac and Ron? We have to need an ID B/C both of them like to play isolated basketball.
What does the multiple championships have to do with how well they played without manu and tony? Oberto was out, guys who were there for the rings like Barry and Horry aren't there anymore. Bowen and finley are running on fumes. They have new role guys that play big minutes. Their game plan may have been perfected over the years, but it's new and inexperienced guys who had to go out and execute it. Why did they do it so well? Because the coach, TD, and a lot of the organization have that "yeah we got this" attitude. when did Yao and a bunch of scrubs win a lot of games?? Last year when they won 22 in a row? Yeah, because they had that belief that they were better. Boston came in and KNEW they were better and ripped them apart. I'm not saying any erocket literally said they were screwed or panicking, but thats they way they play. When they lose another lead and look around in disbelief, that's "oh we're screwed, again"...when they start jacking up bad shots and going away from their game in order to get the lead back, that's panicking. I wasn't comparing the rockets season to the spurs' season, but rather trying to show how their attitudes influence their play, however, if you do want to compare them directly, the spurs have done much more than the rockets with a lot less. They are not as deep as houston, not even close.
Guy, the Spurs had one of their worst starts in recent memory. They did not have the injuries that the rockets have had to their key players this season no matter how much you want to spin depth of the rockets. The rockets had a brutal schedule at the beginning of the season and have played 6 more road games then the current spurs while hurt. Get off the panick button.
