When the team is winning, it masks a lot of flaws that various posters have pointed out e.g. ball movement (lack of), Harden centric scheme, Dwight post-ups, lack of PG play, inconsistent rotations, coaching adjustments (lack of), heavy minutes for starters, dependence on fouls, FT and three point shooting, etc. Against elite teams which we us fans measure the Rockets on, these flaws are exposed, exploited and magnified. Credit Morey and co., for building a competitive roster year in, year out. It is so frustrating that for all the work, machinations and scheming done, it may lead to another "wasted" season. Hakeem and co., spoiled us. That was a team of destiny.
Blaming on his teammates for the Rockets poor performance of late is such a sour taste. As good as Harden was offensive of late, not all his teammates were so thrilled about the way the Rockets played. Yes Dwight was sucking bad lately, but he is not shy of talking about his feeling about his teammates : GSW won because they share the ball, they move the ball well and they played as a team. There are cases when Harden was not on the floor, the Rockets struggled to score, but there were other situation when Harden was having an off night and the Rockets actually played better when he sat down. As bad as Bev played of late, his efforts and result on defense are still miles away better than what Harden contributed. Harden is the MVP of this team, no doubt about it, but without his teammates covering for him in lots of different area, he will not be playing at this level either.
Totally agree...our wins aren't pretty to me. Seems like we squeak by teams that we should easily blow out. Our system will not get us into the Finals. In addition, we're stuck with who I think is to blame for our incompetence, which is McHale. I think that's he's an excellent motivator, but not the right coach to take us to the Finals.
That really has nothing to do with the questions. Take Harden's skillset and talents, and put the Warriors team around him. What does that team look like on the basketball court. Take Harden off the Rockets, and replace him with Steph Curry's talents and skillset. What does our team look like FROM A BASKETBALL PERSPECTIVE? Maybe the Rockets are better, but they sure are different from a basketball perspective. I would argue that Harden on the Warriors would actually be more deadly for that team given the tools he has around him. Kind of speaks to the talent on their team, and how far the Rockets supporting cast has to go. Both are worthy of the mid-season MVP. We will see which player does more for their team to set them up for success in the playoffs.
My perspective is simple. Over the past two full seasons, the Rockets could have performed better than they did, despite making the playoffs each year. They continue to lose games from the free-throw line, be generally the worst in turnovers in the league, let big leads dwindle too far for comfort, are starting to slip in defense, have an ineffective half-court offensive scheme, and now they can't make fast break points if their life depended on it. We've seen major changes in the team makeup in the past two seasons, which have been upgrades in overall player talent. Still, the team is making the same mistakes. It's a problem of coaching, and I suspect it's the head coach that's the real problem. That's my perspective. We have plenty of talent, but it's not used effectively. If Harden hadn't significantly upped his game this year, we'd have lost a lot more games. It's pointless discussing hypothetical trades to make incremental increases in our talent (aside from at point guard), because it's all going into the same meat grinder. It's not a snap judgement; it's simply what I've noticed from watching most of the games in the past 2.5 years.
The things people on here are complaining about could be said about nearly every team in the league at one point or another. The Rockets are still a very good team that just lost to the best team in the league twice last week, so all the flaws are magnified. Most every team has its share of flaws, so it will just be a matter of which team is best able to play to its strengths and minimize its flaws come playoff time.
This. This sums up EVERYTHING the Rockets are doing for a while. Thanks dobro, you brilliantly analyzed what many of us feeling for a long long time. This is the fact whether we like it or not.
We are flawed team that is run by the players not the coaches or gm. We have an overpaid center that will not play to the strengths of the team. He refuses to run PnR and instead wants to post up when everyone in the buidling knows he's going to drive to the middle of the paint and then spin back to the baseline. Wait for it.... there, he just did it again. He gets grumpy if Dmo does better than him in the post and refuses to rebound or play D at a high rate. He got his boy on the team and they play catch when playing together. I heard the Dwight stories, however, it's interesting watching it unfold in front of us.
Just wondering - if there were any promises from the Rockets management to Howard that they will make him a post-up center with enogh touches to post ups and via training with McHale and Hakeem etc. ? Maybe that was one of the reasons why he signed with us? Just wondering.
Shouldn't winning precede any other committments previously made. I wonder what happens while watching the film of winning vs. losing badly. Do they see the differences that we clearly see.
A true MVP is not just about his individual numbers, its about winning and how to make your teammates better. Its an individual award but it still greatly affected by the team performance. Since the trades made by the Rockets, Harden played with close to 5 minutes less, and his offensive numbers are much better than the early season, but its not the same for the overall performance of the Rockets. I don't give a sheet about whose the leader off the court for the Rockets, but on the court, its Harden and himself only. It doesn't matter how great is your individual performance, if your team sucks collectively, it fails to paint a guy as the MVP of the league. Take Melo and even this years Davis as the cases. By no means this is to blame Harden in anyway for the Rockets failure of late, but saying he is not part of the reason for the failure but rather be the victim of the failure, its just silly.
Again... nothing to do with what I was talking about but ok. Forget it. Per your point: Harden isn't on a team like Melo is on, or Kobe is on. THE ROCKETS ARE GOOD. He's an MVP candidate. Maybe they aren't world beaters like the 90's Bulls, but they are on schedule to have one of the Rockets best seasons in the history of the team from a winning % standpoint (playoffs tbd). So again.. I really don't know what the problem is.
Here is perspective: the clock has been running for quite a long time, over twenty years and ticking. Yes, it takes time. It also takes time to fail again and again to get it right. What if the reason you never get it right is institutional? The current Rockets management team didn't win the last two championships. Les holding those trophies is a joke. He bought them, he didn't earn them.
You need to explain to the yuts that Les essentially inherited the team from the prior regime just before the championship runs. Better be lucky than good. Les is a lucky man.
But not so lucky when he ran out of the "previously" acquired talent. He was good at buying not building. That is an ongoing problem. Right now Les is on the Morey band wagon which changes tires more often than starlets change hair styles. And remember, Les just told the world that he likes the "process" more than the "outcome." As long as the team makes money, rings are no big deal. At least that is what I got out of his recent comments.
Agreed. I feel the exact same way. And some very wise replies about our generation expecting instant gratification. Whatever happened to just enjoying the game as loyal fans? Whoever curses at every game also most likely has a boss at work whom they curse at for being too demanding. Don't curse Dwight's mental toughness when you're taking a shot at it every time. Most people have been 30 minutes late for work at some time in their lives. And don't start about the money comparisons. It's all about perspective. We rarely are grateful for the fact that we earn more than 1 USD a day. Rockets for life!!
