Reading Messages from Management

The Rockets NEVER led at halftime in any of the 7 games. That's offense.

The team that shot the most FT's won every Jazz/Rockets playoff game. That's offensive speed and athleticism and the ability to get your own shot. Or get fouled trying.

The premier showcase plus/minus defensive stats guys for the Rockets...Battier and Hayes...were big negatives vs the Jazz. That's offensive speed and athleticism.

Luther Head's entire seasons' success was predicated on feasting on sub .500 w/o athletes or speed to close out on him. He stunk against the Jazz. Another case for speed and athleticism.

While Mike James is an upgrade to Alston, Mike James is still not as strong as Deron Williams. Advantage to speedy stronger athlete.

Rockets' management from Les to CD to Morey to Van Gundy...ALL bought into this false notion that you can surround Yao and McGrady with slugs...standstill spotup shooters...who can't get their own shots and you'll be successful. Anyone who looked at the Rockets' record against over .500 teams saw how wrong this was and saw the Jazz loss coming well in advance.

 

Am i missing something...Everybody keeps talkin about "if we had a healthy Yao in the post season"...from my recollection he was pretty healthy, there is no need to make excuses for da guy, he played pretty good in the postseason and i understand he was fatigued from the regular season but the guy was healthy!

 

Look for the millionth time JVG's defense was not the problem but his horrible offense was.

Look everyone knows JVG was a great coach but that never equated to anything of significance in the post-season. He had his attempts and could get nothing going and was stuck in neutral gear. Idealistically we would all love to see JVG finally win a championship as a coach and as a human being. He was one the most emotional coaches I have ever see and still I like him to this very day but he was dead weight dragging this team with it. It was a tough choice by management to remain with his philosophy and risk repeat the same failure year after year or to be bold and make a change to bring in a different style and see if that helps spark the plug. Given the Rockets position not many teams would have made such a move especially firing a coach who won 50 games and was very close to winning a hard fought game 7. However our owner thought it was in the best interest of his investment and the team to move in a different direction altogether.

You bring the point that championships are won by defensive oriented teams but you must also remember those teams actual had the player personnel to play that kind defense to win in the 1st place. This is not the NFL where a stellar defense alone can win the game because you need an offense as well to be successful. JVG's defense was one half of the equation but he was completely lost on the other half. Sometimes playing one certain type of style does not always guarantee success. Some teams and players are not built that way.

 

Good post.

On #3, and some of the issues that follow, I'm not concerned provided it's done with a legitimate basketball goal in mind and that would be to make life easier for Yao. I wrote something similar to this in another thread, but again, if you put Yao at the top of the lane 4-5 possessions a game, that saves him a cumulative full court trip. If you can get him to rebound and start a fast break and we have the other players to execute a fast break, that means Yao only has to jog to half court (if that). It all saves Yao trips which also saves his energy which means he's more effective late in the game and late in the season. Plus, the more easy baskets had, the less pressure on Yao to produce in the low block.

I suspect Adelman is looking for ways to balance Yao's effectiveness and stamina rather than totally remake the team. For ways you can fastbreak and protect a slow big man, look at the preeminent fast break team in the history of the game... the Showtime Lakers. Now admittedly, We don't have Magic with Worthy and Cooper and Silk and Scott on the wings, but just as they had an old and aging Kareem, so we have a young, strong, somewhat slow, small jumping, short-armed Yao who can be just as effective (if not more so) in the low block than Kareem was for those Lakers.

Run a little, get some easy baskets, let Yao take a break from running baseline to baseline a few possessions each game... it's all good.

 

I happen to think that they are indeed "jerking our collective chains" in a way because from all reports Lewis would be leaving $10 million per year on the table just to play here. To me, that's not a long shot - that's asking him to perform a gross act of stupidity. Their (Rockets) only shot is for a sign and trade with Seattle but again that's not very likely as well unless CD has been cloned and is in charge at Seattle and has a hankering to trade for a bunch of players who couldn't get the job done here.

 

or the management from portland who took pippen from us for a collection of talent that resembles our current bench.

 

He seemed healthy but he wasn't the same player he was before he went down with the injury. Maybe it was the shoulder and not the knee but for the Rox to win they need Yao the beast next year not the guy that showed up in the playoffs.

 

I agree. Jvg's rotation could never rotate fast enough to keep Utah from hitting big shots against us. A simple fact of basketball or any sport is that the ball will move faster than the defense giving the offense the advantage.

The Jazz used their passing skills to kill the Rockets and we couldn't score enough points to beat them. Another year of JVG would have been a big waste of time.

 

The Rockets are going the right direction. I drank the Koolaide.

It's not hard to have a PR move, why not? Would everyone feel better if the Rockets will not give best effort for the best FA who happens to be a hometown kid. They need to try but it's like they say. A looooooon shot. But people make long shots once in a while. Meanwhile, they are still looking for a vet PF. That's a given.

Yao will be better because it's another year and he gets better every year. He has a track record. Just don't get hurt big guy. And he was weak in game 7, he said so himself. He ran out of gas, didn't have the legs to out hustle the last 3 rebounds. Rockets lost. Not saying it was all his fault but a heathly MVP like Yao would have crushed the 1 on 1 coverage of Okur. That was never mentioned. Now with the functionaly hook shot and better footwork, If the same situation arise, he is going to eat Okur for lunch. Also, with him "resting" a few times up top, he will have more steam left. Yao shouldn't be touching the ball 40 to 50 times a game, he will get way too tired to last all 4 quarters. That's why there are 5 players and that's why the dump it into Yao game play doesn't work that well.

Let the new guards penetrate and dish or finish. That is another way to score and our PG didn't have it. Those "floaters" are a waste of time. No way to get foul and he keeps missing.

 

The Jazz didn't sweep us, you know? The ROX won three games and had a 5 point lead in the 4th quarter of game 7. You can't really use the Utah series to prove that JVG's game plan was not capable of winning, because they had a good chance of winning that series.

 

Personally I think that Yao wasn't ready, and the backup froze up. Also, all our effort on hustle and defense meant less in the playoffs where everybody is trying their absolute best, not just the rockets. I don't think we need to transform the team, but there are certainly some adjustments we can make.

I agree with Adelman that we should fashion after San Antonio. San Antonio manages to push the ball up the floor while allowing their big man Tim Duncan plenty of touches. Its a slow, not flashy, but reliable team. I think Adelman knows this.

 

Yes a healthy Yao (his baseline spins were completely gone after the injury) and James would have tipped the scales against Utah. However, we would've lost in the 2nd round for sure. That probably would've saved JVG's job. In the long run that probably would've hurt us. JVG has no notion of balance between defense and offense. The Spurs are a very good offensive team. PPG is not everything. They are top 5 in offensive efficiency.

There are very few teams that won it all without being above average on both sides of the ball. We were definitely below average on offense and JVG has never had a team that was above average on offense. Adelman has had teams that were well above average on both sides of the ball. He is the better coach.