http://houston.cbslocal.com/gallery/2011/04/14/rockets-end-of-season-grades/#photo-1 He didn't give any Fs, and I was really surprised how he graded the centers.
Are you kidding, so we end up with like a A- average and didn't make playoffs. Coaching B+ Agree with what he said Management B-/C+ -Signing of Brad Miller...getting Thabeet... Defense D -Don't really have to explain much. Offense B+ -pretty good except for crunch time where we can't find any, also can't finish games. Guards A- Forwards C -Chase was crap in the beginning of the season, still inconsistent, still not a good defender -Shane lost a step, really a hindrance on offense -Luis was good offensively, very poor defensively -PatPat was a nice surprise this season though.
Still don't think Thabeet was a bad deal with the 7 mil TPE and 1st rd pick that came with it..we could just not pick up his team option this summer.
You should instead post Vandermeer(?) grades, he's the first member of the press that I've heard actually point out the proper areas of weakness on this team. That's kinda surprising cause I never took him to be very knowledgable about basketball.
We used Ariza TE to trade for Thabeet and Carroll and then traded Battier for nothing, generating a TE worth Battier's salary, 7.3 mill I think.
I laughed at Fans: A+ . Love me some Rowdies but the TC crowd as a whole, A+? Bahaha. Generous across the board, you could probably take every single grade down by a letter and get what I would give them (except for Daryl & Rick, which were fair I think).
Yea, TC was a joke most of the year. Fans should get a D at best and that is being kind. Front office gets a C...Daryl did what he could but honestly he couldn't get us a legit center and/or superstar when the opportunities arose. Coach gets a B...nice job making the best of what he had but his loyalty to AB killed his chances at an A. Front Court gets a C...We had no center and Brad was pretty useless for most of the season. Scola was good as expected but his defensive issues are a concern. Chuck, PPat and Budinger were able to squeeze out every bit of energy/talent they had this season...I look for all three to still improve. Back Court gets a B...Lowry was fantastic in the 2nd half of the season, Dragic found his game with a stable second unit, Martin had his best season and CLee was great coming off the bench...AB struggled with his attitude and game.
Front Office - C Coach - B Lowry - A- Martin - B+ Battier - B Scola - B+ Hayes - A- Lee - B Budinger - C+ Miller - B- Hill - D Dragic - B Patterson - B Brooks - D Jeffries - B Williams - I Thabeet - I Yao - I
Grades in {} I give CBS radio affiliates a {D}, It's their fault Music and Sports radio sucks. Shawnie gets an {A}, Rockets feedback is the only thing I enjoy from said radio affiliate. Rockets radio Broadcasters {C} Nothing can replace the great vocals of Gene and Jim, maybe when Ackerman turns 60 and his voice changes. Rockets offense{A+} High assists, low turnovers, can score with the best of them. Rockets Defense{d} what defense? Rockets Frontcourt{D} Defensa, que es eso? Rockets Backcourt {A} Sure Martin cannot play D, but what about those other losers that cannot stop him from scoring his 30 pts. Fans {F} Brooks is back from his suspension, should I applaud or boo?? Where is my appletini???? Morey{A} for awesome. Not his fault today's nba players want to party together. Much respect to Rose and not wanting to pair up with anyone from the miami shore cast. The Fuhrer {B+} His stubborness cost us a couple of games. But what coach isn't stubborn. "I'm getting too old for this S***. Clutchfans Game day posting{A+} Always there in bad times and good times, like true fans. What else can we grade?
Front Office – C (no big deals but got a decent backup for Lowry but there was the whole “addition by subtraction” thing by shipping out Adelman’s favorite son, Aaron Brooks) Coach – C (I don’t understand the love for this guy from anyone who watches the games) Lowry – B+ (slow start but came on strong) Martin - B+ (can’t say enough about his offense, defense improved but still needs work) Battier – C (same old, same old…don’t miss him like I thought I would) Scola - B (same as last year) Hayes – A (what more can I say? The guy improved on all of his weaknesses while maintaining his strengths) Lee – C (slow start, came on pretty strong) Budinger – C (would have been an F had he not come on strong late) Miller – D (the guy is a scrub and brought even less than I thought he would to the team) Hill – D (12th man on a playoff team) Dragic – C (wasn’t better than I thought he would be but wasn’t worse) Patterson – B+ (has the tools to be a very solid starter for the next decade) Brooks – F (good riddance) Jeffries – C (was decent when he played) Yao – F (gotta stay healthy)
How do you give Miller a D? He's literally been our best bench player if you exclude Patterson who didn't play for half the season.
Overall I'd probably give the Rockets a C+ or B. The season was positive in many ways (emergence of Lowry, Dragic's play, PP, etc.), but I cant help but think back at all the bad teams we lost to. Nothing epitomized this more than the loss to Sacramento, when our playoff hopes were on the line and we lost to a team with 24 wins all season. Oh well, maybe next year.
Apparently you never saw Bud, AB, or Hill play this season. If those three gave us anything for the first 50 games we'd easily be in the playoffs now. Miller was the only one keeping the bench afloat.
Early in the season Miller was deadly from 3 point land but he cooled off then got injured and he was never the same. There is a reason why, down the stretch, he got a ton of DNPCD. I would probably give him a C- because he was like a coach on the court for guys like Patterson and Hill but the negatives outweighed the positives imho.