I think everyone should understand that I'm not making excuses, I'm giving reasons. There's a difference. Personally, I never thought that JVG's overall plan was a good one. I loved the defensive tenacity, but he seemed to be a coach living in a different era of basketball - one that is clearly passing this team by. Adelman is trying to change that, but they are assigning a completely new system to the same starters and a WHOLE bunch of new role players. It's complicated and too many fans, IMO, think it is easy.
I think its the inconsistency that kills me. They can be tantilizing good on a night against an elite team and equally bad against the scrub teams. It also concerns me that no one outside of Yao and T-Mac can be countd on most nights. The big 2 went for 69 against the Kings and we lost in the 4th going away. Let 2 players do that on most other teams and they route the Kings because the other guys give you something. Not many teams have an entire group of guys shrink on such a regula basis as the Rox. Truly perplexing and frustrating beyond words.
Yes I've considered this, but these are the very reasons for frustration also. We really don't know and may not know this season if a new coach, new system and new rotation players will eventually be an improvement, much less get us to the NBA finals. From what we have seen so far there isn't any significant reason to feel worse or better about the team because we don't know what is going to happen. The fact that we made changes means we are going to have to wait to find out. It is frustrating to be a playoff team with an identity and a direction and now find yourself patiently (hopefully) waiting to know if we are taking a small step forward or back. If we finish in the lottery I am sure alot of fans will melt down. But generally I think if we make the playoffs again this season most of us will hold hope high going into next season. If we go deeper past the second round this season you won't find much JV junk posted anymore. I think if our expectation is to win a NBA championship under the Tracy/Yao team then we are going to continue to count each season as important steps. 1994- that first one came as a shock to most of us who have waited so long. But it also taught us how small those windows are open for a team to win it all. If it isn't about the NBA championship then, the ride is a little easier because we just want a good team and I think with Tracy and Yao healthy we should have that. I personally feel that this team will be good. I don't feel we are any closer to a magic season that puts us into the finals. That is frustrating. But I think it is supposed to be that way if you expect to win it all.
Beating SA,Utah,and the Suns are really good wins and honestly somewhat surprising. I'm not the least surprised to see the Warriors run us out especially on a back to back but we should been able to beat the Kings and possibly Memphis too. A new system does take time but we have to tighten up defensively and improve our ball movement otherwise we will just see Yao and T-Mac taking turns scoring or an implosion on the days when one or both of them are off.
There's plenty of talent, I am not even arguing that, and it's enough to be 'competitive' with the best in the league. That doesn't, however, mean that we have the right talent in the right places/positions. Bottom line is this: you can only have five players on the court at the same time. Having your talent 'dispersed' among four or five different players who are one-dimensionally good is not the same as having all the right talent vested in one or two players. Catch my drift?
I suppose that if I actually saw some sort of a structure in place that the players were trying to adapt to, but having a hard time, then I might not be so worried. But really, I just the same team, playing weaker defense, and confused about the rotation. I see the same old TMac, still settling for the jumper, playing with no heart. I will say that Yao is being used differently, but is that a good thing? All I know is, Adelman better make it to the playoffs. or else.
the main problem with rox is that we hardly find a guy who can come out the bench do a consistant job, when we 6-1 Mike jame is doing that job, but now? nobody, when we see a team is good, they always have a good six man , who can score 15-20 night in and night out, spurs MANU, dallas terry, suns baboslo..... we have more talents than any of past five years, but still searching the right one, i think wells, james, fransis, are all capable to be that person, one thing is they don't have enough touches. and that is all about when teams have two superstars, it is hard for rest of player to fit in the role especially those player who can be the at least second option. RA try to bring "share basketball to rox" , it is never going to happen. so we have to focus on developing one third option, IMO the player should be Scola, once he become a threat, it will free yao then TMC. so, RA, give some design play for Scola, he is more than capable to become a star player.
Agree with you on this. But the effort level has also been lacking in several games. You can't explain that away with the new system. I think the players will eventually learn the offense well enough but I'm questioning Adelman's ability to motivate our players. This teamwide lackadaisical attitude must go and I blame it on the coach.
The starting 5 has been mediocre at best, no question. Perhaps, as you've been saying, they are a poor fit for Adelman's style. I would be surprised if there isn't a change or two in that starting lineup by the end of the season. Rafer and Chuck are most likely to be replaced. Last season, that starting 5 outscored the opposing lineups faced in 31 games, and were outscored only 10 times (28-6 in the regular season, but 3-4 in the playoffs). That's not bad, and it's probably why Adelman is reluctant to change it right now. So far this season, however, they have outscored the opposing lineups faced in 7 games, but have already been outscored 8 times (7-8 record). Here's how that record compares to some other notable starting fives in the first month of the season: SAS, Parker-Finley-Bowen-Oberto-Duncan: 9-4 DAL, Harris-Hassell-Howard-Nowitzki-Diop: 3-1 PHO: Nash, Bell, Hill, Marion, Stoudemire: 5-2 UTA: Williams-Brewer-Kirilenko-Boozer-Okur: 8-6 DET: Billups-Hamilton-Prince-McDyess-Wallace: 5-1 BOS: Rondo-Allen-Pierce-Garnett-Perkins: 11-2
I don't really care about records this early in the season. But I see some bad signs. First, no game is well prepared from beginning. Last year, Rox starting five had the best +/- because they usually came out and got a big lead. They prepared better than mose of the teams. It's no longer the case, our starting line up is much worst compare to last year. 2nd, in so many games the Rox players just gave up easy points after easy points without even trying. I have a feeling that the lay ups we gave up so far is almost equal to half of the season last year. Players showed no passion or no interest to play hard in some of the games. Last night's game was just one of those. In some games they showed they can play tough D, but in other games they just didn't want to play D. Attitude and preparation are really problems right now.
Since not many unexperienced fans (aka rookies) have given their opinion on this thread....ill give mine. First the patience issue: I think we (at least i do) rockets fans have plenty of it, but you also have to know where to draw the line; I mean '95 was our last championship and i don't know about you guys but for me 12 yrs its a pretty long time. Take the spurs fans, for instance, it seems like they only have to wait 1 yr ( 2004 & 2006) and they can get very impatient. The good thing is if you believe in stats i guess spurs ain't winning it this year. Second the new players- Mike James-To this day i'm not quite sure why we got him back. He had one magical season with the raptors and the rest of his career has been mediocre. He shouldn't start but rather be our 6th man and provide some energy and quick scoring when needed. 15-25 mins. Luisito scola- Decent forward as or right now and great potential. Definitely needs to start and get some touches. 25-30 mins Brooks- i guess we drafted him b/c he was the best available. needs to play a bit more to try and develop him. 5-10 mins. SF3-Looks likes hes finding his way into the rotation. He needs to start ASAP or at least get some pt when the other team is in foul trouble so he can drive it in. I also think he is good for business since he still has plenty of fans. 25-35 mins Coach RA- I still believe his an upgrade from JVG, however he needs to show more passion and heart perhaps it will rub off on the rest of the team (tmac). Also he needs to speak out against the bs fouls called on a nightly basis on yao. Lastly, better d must be played perhaps look at some old video tapes from last year, it shouldn't be that hard to find them. I'm not asking for his head....yet. The Rafer issue- Its simple.....trade him. For what you may ask? Anything i say. It's time-Rockets
I think I am *more* frustrated with the hysterical ninnies around here. A lot of people watch two quarters, or read a yahoo box score and they are trading and firing at will. If we are a .500 team this time next year then I think the spazzes will have a point, but I have to view all of this based on track records. Rick Adelman and the players on this roster have won a lot of games in the NBA. I trust them. The sky-is-falling brigade have almost never made a salient basketball point. I get frustration, I get passion, but I don't get the mania to start redundant threads to b**** about this, or that player, or coach when the sample size is just too small to make any conclusions that mean anything. I also think all of this rah-rah, sis-boom-bah motivation talk is silly. This is the NBA. Van Gundy (much less Phil Jackson, or Popovich) never does that crap. The moment Joe College comes in there to fire up the boys, watch how long he lasts.
Nobody's saying it's easy...but this team has enough talent to win consistently along the way, and there's no reason the Rockets can't win while learning. Learning a new offensive system doesn't excuse the losses to teams you should beat. It doesn't excuse the cardinal sin of leaving the man with the ball defensively. It doesn't excuse not being ready to play. It doesn't excuse not playing with passion. It doesn't excuse not closing out properly on your man. It doesn't excuse consistently leaving your feet on shot fakes, etc., etc., etc. I think there's still time to figure it out...but that doesn't mean you get excused for losing to mediocre teams that don't have any business being in the same gym as you.
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As stated, my issue isn't .500....heck, I voted 52 wins in a GARM poll and felt that was optimistic. I don't have time now to "dig" into the list above...maybe later...But offer the following "wins" as evidence of my lineup reservations... LAL 95-93...Yao and McGrady 55 points - 57.9% UTA 106-95...Y&M 58 points - 54.7% POR 89-80...Y&M 41 points - 46.9% SAS 89-81...Y&M 40 points - 44.9% MIL 104-88...Y&M 49 points - 47.1% CHA 85-82...Y&M 70 points - 70.6% DEN 109-81...Y&M 57 points - 52.3% LAC 88-71...Y&M 50 points - 56.8% PHX 100-94...Y&M 49 points - 49.0% That's a pretty bad "dependency" trend for a team supposedly learning an offense. They don't have JVG's defensive schemes and Adelman's offense thus far requires massive outputs from BOTH Yao and McGrady. We can surmise Adelman's reluctance to change things...but I find the trend alarming.
The "give it time line" is wearing really thin. If the truth be told, the CD era set the team back years. Bad trades, bad contracts, bad decisions add up and take forever to overcome. Now the team has two highly paid superstars and can't really afford much else, I see us caught in the "Timberwolf syndrome." By NBA standards we have a budget supporting cast, and some are grossly overpaid. Short of moving TMac or Yao, I don't really see a way out of this. The best team in the last ten or so years was a group of guys having their last best year (Sura, Barry, Wesley, et al). I see potential in Brooks and Landry, but they are buried on the bench. I see potential in Scola, but he is getting very few minutes. Alston is a joke, Hayes is more of a novelty than a "real" starter, and Battier seems less effective in Adelman's system. Bonzi and James have been disappointing, and Francis looked like he was never going to play. Compared to the leading teams in the West, our supporting assets aren't the greatest, but what's worse, they are being poorly utilized. Exactly, what are we waiting for?
Sorry, there is no excuse to lose to the Kings. The worst defensive team in the NBA without their best player. You can talk all you want about new system, new players, no calls, blah blah blah. Point is, we had chances to win the game and never did. Seriously we're suppose to be title contenders and we lose to the Kings?!? This better be a case of "its still early in the season" because we can't much more of these.
I think Shane will find his feet in this system. Its clear to me and his early comments before the season that this system will take forever to learn and we won't see results until at least all star break. Its like early December at the moment and people are calling for the coaches head and Shanes head. We all know how Rafer was is and will be. But the people destroying players for performances that are clearly affected by the transition ( i.e. Shane) is uncalled in my opinion. Give it so some at least till All Star Break. The trends are alarming but we don't see practice. They may be working on things that we dont see. If anything you will notice the relative ease that T-mac is scoring at. If Bonzi had scored on some of his layups we would be in a whole new ball game to be honest.
