Outside of lack of shooters, this team sorely need players like Scola and Landry. Someone who can score in the post AND hit 15 ft jumpers consistently. None of the bigs on the roster is capable of scoring in the post or hitting jumpers.
You say that like it's a good thing. If you have 2 max guys that are the best at their positions and near their primes, and you're not contending for a championship regularly, then something is wrong.
yup, exactly. our downfall is that we don't have enough people who can create shots for themselves. harden, sometimes dmo... that's it. howard is a beast as a finisher, but sucks creating for himself. the clippers have cp3, blake, redick, and crawford... (and this series, austin rivers?!) tldr; we need more firepower to compete for a championship because harden can't do it all himself.
We've been spoiled. Can't expect Morey to hit home runs every transaction. I think his one blemish this season has been failing to get an off the bench playmaker. I remember a poster here shouting for Mo Williams. He would've helped tremendously to ease the burden that Harden carries every night. But, remember Morey is all about getting that 3rd star, which I fear will be his downfall. The window is closing fast on a healthy Howard. 2016 FA is no guarantee as we saw happen this past offseason. Man, I'm still so upset at Chris Bosh. With Bosh, I have no doubt we'd be up there with GSW.
Maury being the architect of a fatally flawed team is an issue most people would rather sweep under the rug. He's been elevated to mythical status on ClutchFans by so many that they can't deal with the reality of the situation and will spend hours making excuses for him. Look, the guy has had almost ten years of being able to play fantasy basketball with the Rockets. Harden was gift-wrapped to him after the Wizards and Warriors declined OKC's initial offers. David Stern saved Maury from himself by rescinding that trade for basketball reasons. Currently, these are all his players. This is his head coach and coaching staff. This is also his offensive "philosophy." How do you implement a strategy of basically setting a world record for jacking up 3s and not have one good 3 pt shooter on your roster? You don't have to be a genius in advanced statistics and quantitative methodology to realize that's not a good approach. How do you also hire such a clueless coach? Is it because you can manipulate him easily? What about in-game management and crucial decisions within a game? How do you chase after a scrub like Joey Dorsey so much? Why doesn't he keep a lower public profile and keep his inflated ego in check? Why does he say ridiculous stuff like the gynecologist comment on twitter? Even the Oakland A's, who rejected all criticism of their $ball approach, eventually abandoned it in favor of a traditional methodology when they failed year after year in the playoffs. I guess we'll have to wait for Maury to do the same thing. Don't worry they'll always be a competitive regular season that will maintain "flexibility" and achieve lots of moral victories in the process.
Something is absolutely wrong. We had more combined injury days (to KEY players) than any other playoff team. That went absolutely wrong for us. Something else that's wrong is that the entire league counted us out when Bosh passed on us and again at the trade deadline, we had outrageous injury problems all year long, we STILL made it to the 2nd seed in the WEST and are only down 2-1 to a pretty great Clippers team, and we have a fan base that thinks we're underperforming to a catastrophic degree. That's not just wrong, it's totally freaking insane. The Rockets have played ****ty in this series. I agree. That doesn't mean we're not way exceeding all projections. Nobody is happy with less than a championship. I'm not either. But to say something is fundamentally wrong with a team that outperformed expectations in pretty much every possible way while we're still contending is just plain foolish. The sky is always falling around here.
Morey never should have given away Toney Douglas. He was useful alongside Harden and played much better defense than 37 year old Terry or 38 year old Pablo. TD comes back from China and Morey ignores him. Now the Rockets have a gaping hole at PG that 6'2" shooting guard Terry and 38 year old stiff Pablo simply cannot fill. It's a joke. James Harden (disinterested defender) Jason Terry (37 year old 6'2" shooting guard) Pablo Prigioni (38 year old stiff) What the hell Morey? Not one of these guys plays a lick of defense! Harden's defense is so bad that J.J. Redick outscored him 31-25.
I would give two unprotected firsts to bring Morrey and his staff to my Bucks. That's how good he is.
There is just one thing I can't seem to understand. I mean its bad enough he dictates our offensive scheme...but if you're going to emphasize getting to the line and shooting a bunch of 3s.... how do you not sign or invest in good 3pt shooters or better FT shooters? The PG and stretch 4 problem is going on 3 years now too.
Morey's offense is all about layups, getting to the free throw line and the 3 ball And yet we have plenty players who cant make FT's or the 3 ball at a decent rate
Lack of shooting. That's the problem. Looks are great. If Danny Green/Marco Bellinelli were on the team we would win some games.
when teams clog the paint and run us off the 3, the rockets don't look like an NBA team. we see it over and over and over again.
Morey ball isn't conducive to playoff success. This roster needs a pick and pop pf, needs play makers off the bench, and a starting caliber pg. This roster as it is currently will not bring a championship to the great city of Houston
The low expectations were a product of self-inflicted wounds. No one forced the Rockets to pursue a superstar or bust off-season strategy. Offer Lowry a deal at half the price instead of waiting for Bosh, Melo, LBJ to make up their minds. Pay a role player for something other than being a trade asset (K-Pap). With a healthy Paul, maybe there's no shame in being down to the Clippers. But that's not the case.
We are in the 2nd round of the playoffs...in the WEST. I think that's pretty good already. We are down 1 game and under performing. Bev and Dmo who are critical to this team are also not playing. I would hardly blame Morey.
