This. There is no way Durant is coming to Houston. NONE. Why would any attractive player voluntarily come into this situation. Also I am not huge on the rah-rah BS. Players that don't like each other play and win together all the time. The Bulls dynasty and last two Lakers dynasties hated each other but won. However, having said that, there is CLEARLY something going on. McHale is out really early and notes Terry "doesn't have an agenda" and then last night Terry and Bev both keep saying "this isn't the same team" and you have almost complete silence from the top 2-3 players on the team and Lawson essentially isn't even on the team. Morey at this point is in a tough spot, he wants to save his job but also has to look long term with the Rockets. Ideally Les assures him of his job but asks him to hire a very strong head coach and limits Morey's input on X's and O's. Could things have turned out differently? Maybe, Morey really wanted Carlisle before he was at Dallas and really wanted Bud as well. I also think the fact the Rockets never were able to rebuild through the draft played a part in this.
Aside from all the stupid stats everyone is putting up I've noticed (personal opinion) that The Rockets play better with Capela. Hes not posting up expecting the ball for one... He sets a ton of screens and he rolls hard to the basket something that Howard isn't doing. Howard is a TERRIBLE screener (for a guy getting paid 20M you'd think he would be able to set a decent screen). It's time to move on. The Rockets have actually been trying these past 4 games and they're 1-3. Capela came in near the end of the third quarter last night was playing very well and was out by the start of the fourth. He played 8 minutes and had 6p 3r 1a 3b. Howard played 39 minutes and had 12p 5r 1a 2b. Give Capela more of Howard's minutes.
According to Harden everyone is a roleplayer on this team, not named Howard and Harden. F@#K Haren. I was borderline marking timeline in Memphis game to make low lights video when Harden kept falling asleep on D. FYI, Haren prefers to be called cornerstone. maaan... That team was so much fun to watch. Even when DMo was in D-league, I wouldn't miss Rockets game, vroom vroom fastbreak dunk fastbreak 3, dunk vroom vroom.
While I agree that there is a clear disconnect between Harden and Howard, and that 1 of them likely won't be here in 12 months, that's not the reason we are 5-10. We are 5-10 because we took teams for granted early on, and because our role players have sucked shooting the ball this year. When you have 3 or 4 guys shooting a career worst, or close to it, and have a major PF hole, you are going to struggle against some of the better teams. IMO, we are at least competing now. That's the first step.
Harden got mad at Dwight for getting injured Outlandish concept, but there's not much I wouldn't put passed Harden's juvenile self.
Sorry, I know we aren't diagnosing why the Rockets are currently a bottom feeder, but if Lawson is sitting, then so should Brewer. How many times did Lee get open for a mid-range jumper last night? And how many fast break opportunities did Brewer blow? The dude is hot garbage right now, and, woah, we've got a talented backup we can use for 15-20 per game! This isn't the same team because everybody just freaking sucks at shooting this year.
Facts hahaha man please. Nobody on this team is playing solid defense. That's a fact. And I never said teams are scoring points 110 a game in the paint against us, get freaking real dude. I don't care what you say Capela is not a better defensive player than Howard period. That's another known fact and that what my eye test tells me.
How I wish Luis was on the team. Smart, veteran player who know what it takes to win. No, not a great defender by any means, but better than Jones, even at this point in his career, in my humble opinion. I'd love to have him coming off the bench behind Donuts, if we ever get him back. He would be a major plus on the bench and in the locker room, as well. Fantasy time. I can't believe this team has imploded. I am well and truly shocked.
Howard played like crap when he returned. It also affect Harden's game with less space and movement for the team. Then in the playoff, Howard and Smith were awesome in the Dallas series and in that historic comeback without Harden. It likely hurt Harden's ego in that he single handily carried the Rockets to a 2nd seat and much of the credit for the playoff success was not on him but on a player that didn't show up in the regular season and a new player that was his buddy. Perhaps there is more to why Smith didn't come back than we ever know.
Brewer should be way better than this. I remember him as the ultimate hustle guy with a wirey 6'9 frame that could steal the ball, shoot it from 3 very accurately, and finish plays with a great dunk. He was playing like this just last season. He was unstoppable against the Rox as a Timberwolf scoring 51 pts in 1 game. This is sad...
You make an excellent point. Why is it that Smoove could get it to Dwight so easily and Harden can't?
Brewer was never an accurate three point shooter. Last season was his best behind the arc. He's always been a very good slasher. This year so far, he's been terrible at both. His defense is horrendous as well.
If you could hand pick one player to come over in a trade to influence the attitude of the team exclusively, who would it be? Who could right the ship? Maybe Garnett?
So I don't know what the current popular theory is on what this statement means and I don't wanna read 12 pages to find it. Can anyone summarize? Ben DuBose, we could use an article right about now. Drop that turkey and get to work, pls!
Because Josh was being guarded by Dirk? The only thing Josh did for Dwight in the conference finals was bust his knee, but then Draymond Green isn't Dirk.
Something is off with our team and many are speculating it's a Harden-Howard disconnect. Even when Josh was guarded by Griffin against the Clippers, he was able to work well with Dwight. From watching any of our games, our players are notoriously bad with passing into Dwight when he has fought for good post position. We don't want to use Dwight post-ups as our #1 option, but he needs some offensive touches to add variability to our offense. Right now, we're strictly a jumpshooting team with none of our jump shots going in. Dwight PnRs would work well, too, but from what others are saying (I haven't been able to watch the games) Harden doesn't pass it to Dwight on easy alley-oops from the PnR. Something is off.
