[Ringer/KOC] The Rockets Don’t Have a Switch to Flip. They’ll Have to Acquire One

I think you guys are both crazy here, i mean, there's no way in hell we trade Gordon and our 1st rounder for marginal role/bench players, come on now, that's panic mode if i ever saw one, of course the Wizards would jump on that deal. Morris, Sato and Green are all guys worth a 2nd rounder at best.

I don't want to derail the thread though, especially cause it's a very good one.

 

Like I said before(or heard lol)., Jeff has realized whats going on and now they are gonna try and have Capela(and whoever his back up his) play traditional PnR defense, but they will switch everything else.

 

LoL!!

 

I think we have to trade Eric Gordon

 

Via the article:

The Rockets could use help at every position. If Brandon Knight is unable to spell Harden and Paul, I’d look for help from a tanking team like the Hawks, who have point guard Jeremy Lin coming off the bench.

 

I have a much higher opinion of Carroll's game than you do. I consider Carroll to be a rich mans Ariza.

 

Really?

I was so glad they finally broke up that band of ballhogs.

What did the Rockets ever win with that turd Francis leading the team. For that matter what team was Francis ever on that won anything?

 

That point feels like a direct hit.

 

I'm not trying to derail the thread by any means. At a high level, the article is saying this team needs depth and we are all in agreement there. The question is HOW are we going to acquire that depth? Harden is untouchable, Paul is untradeable, Capela is a non-starter unless a knock-me-down offer comes through...so that leaves Gordon and Tucker.

I think at this point we are steering closer towards Panic Move Island if the front office and this team wants to salvage the season.

 

Carroll's averaging 8 points and 5 boards a game on 34/30/82 splits. He ain't good.

 

Great article. It exposes the true value that Luc and Trev brought to the team. The ability to guard both the perimeter and the post at an exceptional level. Trev was a better rebounder, Luc was a better overall defender, and they worked Jeff B’s system to near perfection during certain stretches last year. When you included PJ it sort of gave us a trifecta of death at the wing spots.

No one should have been surprised that there would be a drop off defensive efficiency.

On the bright side, I do believe that with a trade or two we can get pieces that emulate or even exceed the production that we got from our wings last year. It will be painful and a bit costly, but there are multiple players that have been discussed that can help get the team back into contention.

Codman mentioned recently that help may be coming from a team in the East, and not to worry. I believe he said depth first then chess lol. Between Washington, Chicago, Cleveland and Atlanta specifically, I do believe that there are role players and a couple of super role players to be had.

All is not lost.

 

@Os Trigonum alert

 

Don't get me wrong, i was saying that about me

As for your question eh, it's a though question, depends on what's available out there and what we're willing to move of course, but a panic move would be terrible imo. Think about moving Gordon and our 1st rounder for Morris, Sato and Green, just to end up in the exact same position we're as today by the end of the season...or let's say Chris Paul gets injured in a couple of months after we made that trade...i know it's a difficult time and all of us would love to see the team get magically better, but this is also a time when you have to consider even more carefully what kind of moves you're willing to make, especially cause we are already in a very limited position.

Was just thinking about the 1st rounder we moved for Lawson, we should've tanked the last game of that season and keep that pick (think about drafting LeVert or Prince with that one), we literally throw that pick in the toilet for a fake playoff run with a broken team that had no business being there. I Just hope we're not doing the same mistake now...and like i said, i'm personally not sure the situation is the same as today, maybe not, i sure hope so and i also don't think it's time to give up on the season yet, but if at some point the situation won't change we should embrace it and turn something bad into something good, it's possible to do it.

 

I mean... is it fair? Probably.

The point I'm getting at... the roster is the roster. It'd be great if Ennis was better, or Tucker could create. They can't. By the same token, maybe Harden simply can't forget to not lose his man, or stay in front of crappy offensive players. I don't know. I just going at what i see... which is he does often take "breaks" mentally on defense, and isn't as focused on defensive fundamentals and solid defense... while nonetheless getting a lot of steals... to me he COULD be a better defender, but isn't. Absolutely, he's overburdened... the roster is what it is though.

I'm "happy" with a conclusion that's this ain't getting bettter and better off tanking than limping into the playoffs...

But for those that want improvement and a chance to get back to a top 4 playoff team in the West... with THIS roster, Harden's turnovers and defensive lapses are a problem... just like EG's shitty offense is a problem, and Ennis' inability to hit wide open corner threes is a problem, etc.

woah... I don't think so. Cause it didn't have to be KD. They could have still improved over Harrison Barnes, or kept Barnes and he got better, not have Draymond suspended, not lose Bogut to injury, and not have Steph minimized coming back from the DMo sweat injury. KD is/was insurance against all that - the greatest insurance, but no way they'd be having "struggles" without him...

The 2015/2016 Rockets limped into the playoffs at 41-41, got knocked out without much effort from the Warriors... the upside I guess was they hired MDA, made a couple of signings that worked out for then, and were back to being a really pretty solid team the next year.

So maybe that's in store for the Rockets?!?!

I am happy to demand EG not suck, the bench not suck, CP3 earn his $40 million, etc.

But it is what it is... Harden's out there 36 minutes a night and the Rockets are in the bottom half of the league in points off turnovers, and second chance points, both of which are problems that are not helped by Harden's turnovers and inability to stay in front of his man causing rotations issues ...

I'm only on this line in the first place as I responded to someone questioning whether it was "fair" to criticize Harden for lazy passes and poor defenses when you count on him for so much.... and I said and still say the answer is absolutely, of course.

 

I wish they would stop bringing up Kevin Love as a possible solution. The Rockets NEED defense and shooting. Not only does he not play defense, he is extremely injury prone with a ridiculous contract. We already have enough of that here.

 

That is so good that I wished I posted that. The author quickly mentioned Kent Bazemore in the next sentence.

c*m at us, LOFs.

 

Would want Lauri Markkanen. No way they give him up though. Total package.

 

finally we are top 3 in one of the categories...

 

Lin and Bembry for Knight

 

I tend to agree here with both @Deuce and to a lesser extent with @Pizza_Da_Hut . We are still a top10 offensive team, defensively we are not.

League is changing, off are guys that play one side of the ball, either Harden learns on how to improve his defense while keeping his offensive output (as all great guards have learned to do) or we are going to learn to build a team around a Lesser defense SG + Aging PG + Undersized rim rocking center. This limits a lot what you can do on the 3 and 4 positions, because you are always be looking for defensive compliments to Harden and have to add size through those 2 parts.

Also, I think that's were all the "obsessed with GS" gets to you, you take insights from that series and try to apply them to the rest of the league. Boom, you are smoked. What makes GS a great team its their willingness to adapt to whatever style they have to, not repeating over and over again things not working. We need Capela by the rim, thinking we can survive 82 games with a team undersized across al five positions is stubborn. There have been games this year where we make them easy for them by just letting them to pick and roll us to death, with no adjustments.

At this point, we could try to play zone for some stretches of the game, it can't be worse than this. Man to man is impossible if your 2 best players dont want to do it night in and night out.