why do you think that is? we know why. we've had players in and out all season. our best player is out then he's back then our next best player, who just happens to be the best big man in the league, is out. and in between that we have four of our top perimeter players out and our backup center out. can you come up with a strategy that is going to make Swift an efficent scorer like Yao, a strategy that will have Bowen give us what Sura gave us, a strategy that will get out of Moocie what we got out of Barry, or a strategy that will have Graham as prouctive as our third leading scorer Derek Anderson? You could put John Wooden and Red Aurbach together and have them hold daily discoures about what sort of strategy could do what I just asked and give them 10 years and they'd still come up short. we do not have the type of player available to do what you are asking. WE DO NOT HAVE A POINT GUARD. other than Mcgrady we do not have a playmaker. it is that simple. Wesley is a two guard, so is Head. Moochie...nevermind. Don't you understand that the Rockets don't have the players available to do what you want to see them do. I don't know how else to explain it.
T-mac hates the one-man show from his Orlando days. JVG can't do anything with the current group of players. You can't ask JVG to win with NBDL players. It is not feasible. There are 2 choices: 1. Rox act like the Spurs before they drafted Duncan, just play it as it is and try to get the top draft pick. 2. Trade the 1st rounder after the all-star game and get a big-contract ex-all-star. Either way, the season is over.
So rather than mixing it up and trying something new, we should keep doing what we're doing? Looks to me like JVG is indeed trying to play a similar game with Bowen, Moochie, Swift, Graham that he was with Yao, DA, Barry, Sura...well you can insert any players in the league and he'll probably try to fit them into his system. It's not that we don't have the players to fit another way of playing, it's that we don't have a coach who is adjusting to our players' strengths (limited as they are right now). Hopefully that's what JVG is going to do now by stating "It's now time to change course". Last time they said "Big changes will happen" we went out and played Boston in a completely different style and beat them handily...only to go back to what we were doing a game later. What do you suggest we do then, keep playing this game until we eventually start hitting the shots we've been missing all year?
what are Bowens strengths? what are Moochie's strengths? what are Baxter's strengths? what are Swifts strengths? what are Grahams strengths? Wherever they have been throughout their career what have they done well enough to where you think they are not being utilized properly? Boston doesn't play defense. They are the worst road team in the league. Memphis is the best defensive team in the league. Let's give other teams credit every now and then. after that the Rockets went 5-1 on the road with players falling like dominoes. Now Yao and Mutumbo are out and which is a bigger blow we have to deal with. I believe whatever strategy you come up with doesn't matter if you get wide open shots and you can't make them. the strategy is not the problem, not making shots is the problem.lets get off this strategy bull, this isn't battleship, this is basketball. you don't put on your bifocals and get your pen out of your pocket protector and come up with some strategy to make a player and create some brilliant type of offense that will make Ryan Bowen, Graham, Swift, Moochie, and Baxter into the players you wish they were. it doesn't work like that. basketball is not that complex, you know if these guys hit their wide open shots when their open and don't give up 90 plus points, jvg looks brilliant, or no, it would be the players and not the coach. you know how that goes. its a players league but when the players are out with injuries, it's not the players, it's the coach, or the system. whatever man.
Bowen's best when it comes to getting to loose balls in unorganized sets, yet we have him taking jumpshots he can't make (so we keep running the same thing until he makes them?). Moochie's strength is riding the pine and being a cheerleader and I'm not sure what else. Swift can get to the hoop in transition before the defense gets in it's set, but 80% of the time he gets the ball on the block and is expected to make a post move to score. Basketball at the NBA level is not just players making open shots. It's quite complex and involves a great deal of preparation, strategy, matchups, etc. If it was as easy as you think, why do they even have coaches? So are the coaches responsible for anything? With the players we have right now, there isn't much you can do but if we want to win games, we can't go out there and continue to rely on Bowen and Swift to do what they aren't good at. Again, what do you suggest we do? Keep trading for players until we get a roster full of them who can make open jumpers? Continue playing the same way and wait for Ryan Bowen to magically start making shots? Why is JVG staying up late hours to watch film, just to see players not make wide open shots? Give me a break..
so lets not run organized sets because Bowen is not good in organized sets? oh thats great. alright guys, play helter skelter ball because Bowen can't do this or can't do that...whatever man. they're not running plays for Ryan Bowen. whoever is guarding ryan bowen is not guarding him and leaving him open to go double team some one else, so the ball is passed to the open man(Bowen) and which is him at times and if he's open he has to shoot it. and this crap about swift is a bunch of garbage. Swift is good at times when Yao and Tracy were getting all the attention and that's about it. what sort of play do you want to run for Swift? The guy travels whenever he has his back to the basket, or throws a up a haymaker shot that almost breaks the backboard. what games have you been watching? Bowen and Swift aren't good at anything on the offense side of the court these days. you have to have a finish to what you are trying to do. the coaches are respoinsible for getting the players to play the right way, to get their players high percentage shots, to have them prepared and ready to play - there is not a better prepared coach from game to game in the league than JVG. players have said it, his peers say it. you don't know what you are talking about. but again, you have to have the right players to do what you want to do and right now the right players for the Rockets are not physically right. no matter what scheme you come up with it's going to look bad with the below average talent we have out there right now. how about lets be patient and wait for our players to start coming back and the offense will run more efficiently. it will be a gradual process. you will then say it's the players and not the coach thats the difference, whatever, that's ok, but as more of our quality players return the better this so called system will look.
With all the injuries - there's nothing one can really do. No team in the league can survive a season where their two best players were out for critical periods of time especially in the western conference. All the fire Gundy stuff has to stop. Is the season at risk? Yeah, but can you do when half the team in injured. Minor trades will help in a minor way. Also, Am I the only one who is not surprised Derek Anderson is injured?
