JVG is not that bad in the hind sight. Bonzi isn't that great, James is what James is. Aldeman come in with 3 or 4 new guys, and we see the same starting 5 running what JVG has ran before. This is sad. The way this team play is so flawed. I hate everything about Aldeman. We couldn't even beat teams like Bobcat and Milwuake with any kind of ease. At least with JVG we totally whoop ass against weaker teams.
NO WE DID NOT. Van Gundy's team were notorious for giving up big leads down the stretch last year with the only difference being Van Gundy left the starters in the whole time until the lead burnt down to nuthn. We consistently underachieved against the weaker teams.
just give all the pg and sg 5-7 games each as the starting PG ,and enough playing time to see how it works, then we can make some trade. For example, lakers trade Ariza from Magic , WHAT A GOOD TRADE!
We were very good against the weak teams last year. At least Eastern Conference ones. We had a ton of blowout wins last year against some crappy teams. We haven't had a single blowout win this year.
I think Adelman already knows. I think he is giving Luther burn to hopefully improve his trade value. We only have 3 point guards, Rafer, Brooks, and Francis. Rafer is fatally flawed, he can't finish and he can't shoot from anywhere. Tonight's game was a great game for him, probably will be one of the highlights of his whole season, and he still couldn't finish and keep the defenders honest on 111. Teams will continue to force the ball into his hands for shots because they know he will not consistently knock them down. We simply have to be showcasing Rafer and Luther for a trade. At this point, I'd rather give Brooks all of Luther's minutes and Francis all of Rafer's minutes. James and Luther are repetitive except James is a much better finisher and has a midrange game. They should not be on the floor together except as a small ball lineup with McGrady initiating and even then playing them together is a great liability defensively. Luther cannot defend anybody out there, points are too quick for him and everybody else is too big for him. We just don't need to see both of them together on the floor.
Battier doesn't use himself as a point at all either... of course he's not playing point. And neither is James. Simple fact. Watch the games. Get back with us.
So true. Luther is a terrible passer. Those moments when he hands the ball right to the opponent, then sort of has this "Oh crap" look on his face and frantically tries to get the ball back ... that's like Mr. T pain. Maybe they're grooming him to be a point since they don't see him having a future as a two, but that doesn't make much sense. I'm confused with what Adelman is doing having James/Head out there together with Luther doing the ballhandling.
Adelman need to experiment with 9-10 man rotation and give some PT to Francis/AB/Landry .. Mike and Bonzi need to take some rest
You are 100% correct he is playing the SG position, but truthfully when he is playing the PG position if he is not scoring he is pretty much worthless as a PG. We can use his Bobby Jackson like "Get my own" mentality sometimes, but if he is not hitting, he needs to ride the pine. Luther - I think he could develop into a decent PG, but Francis and Brooks are better than him already, why not play one or both of them? DD
Adelman said several times "but we are 6-1" in order to justify his keeping Alston as the starter. Now we went 0-5 in the last 5 games, and Alston's %% are the most pathetic in the whole league. When, if not now, will he finally take Alston out of the rotation and make Francis the starting PG?
I think I have figured out how Alston ran his numbers up so high in preseason. If watching any of these recent Rockets games is any indication, they didn't play any defense in those preseason games.. When you play real NBA teams who play a lick of defense, then Alston's ability is nullified. Playing our veteran former All-Star guard makes more sense than anything James or Alston can offer.
Also, I think SNyder could use some burn, he can take it to the hoop hard, unlike almost everyone else except James and when he feels like it, Tmac...
Remember he said the next four games (which we lost) would show a lot about the team. It's true. This team is horrible.
Go back and check the schedule. JVG won games we were supposed to win, even though TMAC and YAO would be out so much.
Anyone bashing Rafer had better start owning up to the fact that James has been at least as bad. Their FG% is almost identical, and that's even with Rafer clunking 3s at an embarrassing 23% (for the love of god - quit jacking it from the outside!!!). When you look at their shooting inside the arc, Rafer's really turned it around (last year, the teardrop was an automatic cringe) while James is the worst in the rotation. Both James and Head need their minutes cut. Unlike Rafer, they give us zero if there shot isn't falling, and worse, James can really hurt us at the end of games like last night when he decides that he needs to be the hero. His 3 attempt that managed to miss everything was terrible, but even worse was how he didn't even consider anything but shooting as usual. When you're slumping this badly, you HAVE to shake things up. It's time to give Steve and Aaron an opportunity to show if they can be a better fit than Mike and Luther. Again, if Rafer cuts those 3s out of his game, he'll be fine. Evan
They both suck. They are supposed to be bench players. Put Rafer or James on the Phoenix Suns, Mavs or Spurs and they would both never see daylight.
Who isn't owning up to it? The only difference is with James, there's a chance it's a slump. I would agree that they may need to shake things up, and I don't even mind benching Head/James some games to see who rises to the top, but the fact that you don't include Rafer (35.6% shooting) in the shake-up is hilarious. Listen to yourself... Luther Head (44.4% floor, 38.1% three) and Mike James (35.8% floor, 37.8% three) must go to the pine, but Rafer (35.6 field, 23.1% three) is a mainstay? Rafer's entire career (38.4% from the field on 4,305 shots) is a slump. That's right, that's right... I forgot. The offense "flows" with Rafer. Let's keep doing this heavy-minute Rafer third scoring option thing. I'm sure it will pay off in April. What makes people think that Rafer's threes are solely his will and not what the Rockets expect nor what the defense is allowing? I mean, if T-Mac penetrates 10 times, Rafer's man leaves him to double T-Mac 10 times, and T-Mac kicks it out to Rafer for a wide open three 10 times, what does Rafer do -- not shoot? And if this is available 7-10 times a game, at what point do we realize that we have the wrong man taking those open shots? Is there anything that Rafer can do to lose time or his starting position? We know bricking shots and slitting throats doesn't do it ... anything else?
