That's what I was thinking last night - put some shooter's in - have Barry and Von Wafer out there - maybe even Head who has come thru at the end of regular season games - then Have Tmac try to penetrate or dish on the way to the basket. Having Yao out there to set a pick is stupid.
It's from having a tough coach who won't settle for lackluster play or BS from his players. Popovich will yell at every single player if he feel's it's warranted, including Duncan. Can you see Adelman yelling at anyone? I know each coach has a different style, but having laid back leaders at coach and among the Big 3 is just asking for other teams to have the advantage in an aggressive, tough-nosed game such as basetkball. Someone like Popovich would have this team playing its very best, whether he had to bench people or make them play team ball and to the best of their abilities. That would make a great reality TV show - where the Texas Triangle teams trade coaches for a month.
How am i spinning their depth?? The spurs had TWO of their 3 main guys out. what did the rockets have? TWO of their 3 main guys out. Who did the rockets have to help out Yao? Scola, landry, wafer, rafer, with ron and tmac coming in and out. Who did the spurs have helping duncan? Bonner, finley, Mason Jr, Hill, Udoka, with Manu and Tony NOT coming in and out. the reason they had such a bad start was because they started by playing dallas, portland and dallas. Houston played OKC, dallas and memphis. that's irrelevant to my argument, but relevant to yours. As for a tougher schedule, don't you think having a deeper team and having ron and tmac trade days off counts for more than playing at home versus away?
that all adds to the swagger/attitude i'm talking about. It does help to have a coach who will yell at guys, but in actuality, Pop going psycho and yelling isn't the key for them, it's the calmness they have, knowing they'll do well. either pop or TD was asked recently what was the key to their success, he said it was the humor, the joking around, that easy going attitude. It keeps them calm and ready. And why can they afford to joke around? Because deep down, they all know what to do and know they will do it and succeed. A few weeks ago the announcers were talking about a game where Pop called a time out, it was a close game, and i guess they were making comments at each other, and Pop asked TD if he though he thought he could coach/design the play better himself, and TD said yeah, so Pop handed him the clipboard and sat down...TD went on to design an effective play and they won. Why can Pop do that? Because he knows they believe not only that they'll make a good play, but that they'll be better than the other team and will win, he's just there to keep them in check those few times they deviate from their game.
Totally agreed. Why we always lose to those weak teams? the major differences between great team and weak team are talants and system. Great teams have top talented planyers who can make chance in no chance so the team can score in difficult situations when weak teams couldn't. Where most of the difficult situations come from? It's defense Without good defense, weak teams can easily score in the game, that makes the rockets so difficult to win and so easy to lose. Coach Adelman has to be responsible for that. I like his offensive system but I am so missed with JVG's defense system. JVG's team was much more disciplined and concentrated
I am amazed with all that disciplin and concentration by JVG's teams that they couldn't win in the first round. Come on people...the good old days were not all that great. Until this team goes YAO centric, it will struggle. DD
The talent level of today's Rockets team is far superior than the JVG teams. Like how you fail to mention that.
and the tmac teams had more talent than the SF3 teams Rocket River in fact . . .every year tmac been here . . people have been saying the current team has more talent than the previous years still the same results
No it isn't...not when you consider that Yao is not as good as he was then, and certainly TMac is not the same. Throw in a hobbled Battier, and the talent level is about the same. The role players are better...but the stars are worse.... DD
call back JVG is impossible, but call back the defense spirit and system is sth the management and coach should do
They got to the first round which may be more than you can say for this vastly more talented bunch that is looking more and more lottery bound at the moment.
They may hit the lottery, but they are not vastly talented. Tmac is a shell of his former self. Yao is not as good. Shane is much slower. This is an "On Paper" team.... Right now, I would probably say that JVG's Rocket teams would whup up on the current team because of the health of Yao, Tracy and Battier. DD
Most of JVG's teams featured prominent 20+ game absences by Yao and Tracy so that "not fair injury!" dog doesn't hunt. But anyway please try to argue that Padgett, Head, Hayes, Howard, V-Quit & Bowen as the supporting cast is better than even a half-strength Artest, Landry, Scola, Brooks, Wafer. The fact that Chuck Hayes was a starter at PF speaks volumes about how much less depth those teams had.
Exactly. With Chuck as a starter we were playing 4 on 5 on offense which put more pressure on Tracy or Yao. We really didn't have a backup poing guard. JVG didn't really give VSpan or Lucas a chance to prove they could play. Rafer had to play 40 minutes every single game, when he was hot and also during his 2/15 games.
But the argument was not about DEPTH, it was about team talent. I would take a healthy Yao, Tmac and Battier over the depth of this year's team. The Rockets team that lost to Dallas would smoke this year's team. DD
And Adelman is on pace to do no better than JVG. I think Yao is better now than he was during the JVG era. T-mac is still recovering from injury - he's not the same player today, he may never be the same player that he was, but he certainly will be better than he is today. The improvement shown last game was very encouraging - both in his physical prowness and his decision making. Battier will get better too as the season goes on. And JVG had to deal with injuries as well. So I will have to firmly disagree with you. You throw in Scola, Artest, Landry, Brooks, Barry, and Wafer on those teams as bench players when JVG had the likes of Mike James, David Wesely, Jon Barry, Luther Head, Ryan Bowen and Scott Padgett and you can say with a strait face the talent level is the same? Give me a break.
The team that lost to Dallas struggled in the regular season as well until after the all-star break. I bet this team has a better record thus far than that team, or at least very close. I would take this team over that one.
