Anyone who marks the poll lower than a B ought to remember that we are the youngest team in the league, our best player had no training camp or preseason with the team, our coach was gone for almost a month, and most expected us to win about 35 games. We got rid of Martin, Scola, Lee, Camby, Dragic and Lowry and we're right where we were last year...500. We've exceeded any reasonable expectations thus far. B+ ...and we're only getting better
I give Morey an A+ for collecting the youngest team in the league, managing to grab a franchise caliber player in Harden, something I didn't dream he'd be able to do, and watching them play .500 ball, a remarkable achievement. That's an A+, despite the non-entity that is Royce White and the struggles of Jeremy Lin. I give the coaching staff a B- for guiding the team to this record, a quandary, I know. Why a B- when the record is better than it should reasonably be? I'm trying to understand McHale's system and so far, I just can't. Whether I agreed with everything they were doing, or not, I "got" Adelman, I "got" Van Gundy. I don't get Kevin McHale and his system. Not yet. There is also the struggling Lin, and not all of his struggles can be placed at his feet, IMO. That grade could be unfair, given the personal nightmare Coach McHale has been going through all season long, a nightmare we only found out about recently, but the B- remains. I give the players a B+ for being far better than we should have reasonably expected, excepting a player or two, who will remain nameless (but for the previously mentioned non-entity, Mr. White). So what does that average out to? Math has never been my strong suit. I leave that sort of thing to my son, who's brilliant at it. He's out of town and busy taking finals, or I'd ask him. Maybe an A-?
I'm with this grade on Morey. As a team, I gave us a C, I like what I'm seeing but we're too inconsistent and the questionable coaching (lack of plays, rotations etc.) suggests that the team as a whole have lots of room to improve before the season's out. However, if we make the playoff, I'll switch my grade to a B+ to A, but I don't think it'll happen.
For a young team the performance so far is reasonable and c is a reasonable grade. There is a lot of upside though, once the team gels and performance stabilize I think I might upgrade them to a b let's see how things go...
E? What's that? I'd go with an Incomplete as I feel we are too early and I haven't seen enough to pin a grade on them. I do like the direction they are going. Even if we end up with another 14th pick, it will have a whole different meaning with this team.
I give it a B. Before the season started majority of the posters here believed we were lottery bound for sure. I said Rox would contend for a playoff spot and got laughed at. 20 games in, we're hovering around .500 and 8/9th spot. Better than most people expected. And we can only go up from here.
I gave it a B. In the summer we were expected to be somewhere around 4-17 at this point but we're hovering around .500. Without trying to assign credit/blame among players/coaches/management, overall it's "good job, good effort".
Better than I wanted them to be. Considering the pedigree of the guys we have (apart from Harden), their ages and salaries, they should be very proud of how well they've done so far. They're doing as well as last season's team of veterans. I'm just a little sad for our draft pick. Management, however, gets an F for failing to put the games on TV.
losing games in which they had leads is unacceptable...a young team needs better HC leadership on how to close out a game
This team looks so young at times. Very discombobulated, less than the sum of its parts. There has been encouraging flashes, but no consistency. I'm worried about Lin. I still think he's a player, but I'm not sure if it's with this team, or it is maybe not as a starter. He just doesn't seem to know what to do when Harden is on the floor, and his shooting isn't coming around enough. You can tell his confidence is very uneven. Every time he steps up the floor he either has a hop in his step or he looks scared. He needs to learn how to maintain aggressiveness even when he's not directly in the play. I don't see why he looked so good as a cutter moving off the ball in the first two games and now he can't seem to do that at all. If Harden has the ball he should try to to spot up less and spend more time making backdoor cuts.
I consider meeting my expectations to be passing, C. Right now, this team is surpassing them, which is at least a B. If there weren't big problems with both team chemistry (Lin and Harden's on-court-dynamics) and consistency (winning big games, then losing to lesser teams), I'd have given them an A. So I graded them with a B, based on surpassing expectations, but doing so with big holes in team play, still.
Agree and it is still a work in progress, we do not know what move will be made at the deadline to open up minutes for young players. I am not sure how anyone cannot be pleased. The Rockets now have a 23 year old shooting guard getting 25/5/5/2 and getting to the line. Parsons has improved his play and has gone from role player to important starter. Patterson and Morris had no value before the season and now have solid worth either on the Rockets or trade. Douglas and Delfino can be swapped for picks and if the Rockets choose to move Asik they would surprise people with his value. Lin has been a disappointing player, but he is still defending and passing well and his contract is moveable if needed. Concerning the coaching, I keep seeing absurd threads to fire the staff. The roster is over half new and no one wants to give the coaches credit for the development of the young players. Royce White is a lost cause, as far as I am concerned the Rockets never drafted White.
