Even though it hurts us, if they do this for the whole league (not calling touch fouls) then I am all for it
Despite how terrible he is playing... he is still putting up about 18 points though (yes on a little less FG%). That has a lot to do with last game and the first game though.
The league always sets new standards for what is and what is not a foul before each season. Typically, we see the officials institute the new standards througout the preseason and for 8-10 games into the regular season but slowly they go back to the way things were. He will start getting those calls again. The problem is with no real preseason and a truncated regular season, we might be 1/4 of the way through the season before that happens.
Our offensive and defensive schemes are changing in every single game. McHale is still trying to find out what is the best for the Rockets.
Puhleeze. I wish T-Mac the best. I hate the usual suspects writing about their usual mancrushes and whipping boys. It's old.
I don't get it. It was a good point and comparison, our SG before K-Mart is McGrady, so it is fair to compare the two styles. K-Mart does have trouble with double team because he does not thrive in a physical game. K-Mart gets shut down if the referees decide to let the players play.
We have had game where Martin couldn't loose the guard, and we couldn't set him up in any favorable position. We also have had game that Scola wasn't efficient inside the paint, and we were trying to set he up for an isolation. Most of the time when an offensive tactic wasn't working well, we had Lowry tried to break down the opponent defense by himself or from a simple pick and roll, and this makes him numerically the best PG in the league.
what I don't get is why are the dbags still getting the calls? I'm good if they want to take it completely out of the nba, but that is not the case.
Stern is trying to make a point that the trade he made was better than the Rockets/Lakers/Hornets trade. He is showing how much Martin relied on the refs to be effective therefore that wouldn't have been the "right" trade for the future of the Hornets.
People take it a bit far but overall they express a concern about his game. He's not being as effective as he was last year. Could be the new system or the trade-gone-wrong? I don't know, but it's something to watch.
Obviously the low FTA number is very unusual. However, I didn't notice how refs have called things differently on Kevin Martin. Instead, what I noticed is Kevin Martin not making as many attempts to draw fouls. For example, one classic Martin foul-drawing move is to fake the J, get the defender flying in the air, and bump into the flying defender. As far as I know, there's no rule change on this move. I just haven't noticed Martin making this move as much. Another thing is that the lack of high post passers Chuck Hayes and Brad Miller leaving the paint more congested and giving Martin less opportunities at the basket either off the pass from Hayes/Miller or on drives to a painted area vacated by opposing big men-- this is another kind of play off of which Martin tended to draw fouls. I think this is similar to the situation in NY where Amare Stoudemire is said to have suffered some efficiency drop this season because Tyson Chandler tended to congest the paint more than the guys they had last season. We'll have to see whether this trend continues. But to me, it doesn't look like a "rule change" issue as much as an issue with Martin not making the same moves and the team not having the same teammates and not running the same offense. Speaking of offense, I wonder if the Rockets should try to get a good high-post passer and run some corner sets again.
Relax guys, it's a matter of confidence, the non-calls but most importantly: unlike Kyle who is better served under McHale, Martin is not. RA's system was perfect for him because it required spacing, a lot of ball movement, cutting and he had a relationship with him + was familiar with the system. Right now, it's going to take some time for him to adjust and confidence but with the non-calls I can understand he's settling for threes but he shouldn't. To me those calls he received last year was 75% because of his aggresiveness and quickness. Right now he doesn't seem to possess either as he's relying on his outside shot way too much and not doing much else. I still think the trade that wasn't still hurts him and even though I hope he will turn it around, I do not see it happening and think he should be traded for some picks in the upcoming draft at the deadline. Move Lee to starter and let Parsons and Dragic get some minutes at SG.
I'm very concerned about Kevin. The free throw line turned Kevin from a good to elite scorer, if he isn't going to get the same calls...I don't know if he is that much better than CLee.
