So far, I am actually pleased with how are season is going. To take in consideration that we have the youngest team in the NBA, and have stuck in every game until the end is great. We lost to Portland in OT - Very similar ball club to me as Houston, a lot of inexperience there but seem talented, just need a few more acquisitions to truly become a contender. Denver Nuggets - Annual playoff team and just acquired Iggy in the off season to make them a better team, they were having problems at the beginning but seem to be meshing better now. Memphis Grizzlies - Another annual playoff team that has a dominate front-court and good all around cast. We stuck in these games until the very end where we blew it, and I see Houston has a problem finishing games of late. Main factors & possibilities: -Inexperience & young age -Fatigue for the starters: Almost every starter is 40 mins avg per game -Play-calling/ Coaching I think the main focus for our failings in the 4th quarter have to do with fatigue & play-calling. After the 2 explosive games by James Harden, it doesn't take the rest of the NBA to see who our 1st option is. I have been impressed by him, but he is human and going to have some bad games, where others have to step it up. That's why the top teams either have a 1-2 punch or even a 1-2-3 punch like Miami. The play-calling has been all around him as you want to see in your first option but you can tell that the team that is on the floor is dead tired. Asik, Parsons, Harden, and JLin. Fatigue leads into sloppy play, hence the bone headed plays at the end of the game and lots of unforced turnovers on our part. To be honest, our 2nd unit is doing horrible and not even receiving a substantial time of minutes other than Delfino who has been our only 6th man, & 1 or 2 outings from Morris. This I think have been to the failings in our last 3 losses: Things I would like to see: More play calls for JLin /Parsons, someone other than Harden to relieve some of that load. The double team from other teams is way too obvious now. Play some rooks! Just let them get their feet wet, and give some 2nd wind to our starters in the end to close the deal. Also by experimenting, McHale can find a reliable 2nd unit he can put in the game and stay competitive. Next 5 games: Detroit: Would like to see a W Miami: A loss, but I want to see how we matchup against the elite New Orleans: Would like to see a W, I think a close game Portland: Tossup just like the first game but hopefully a W Lakers: W ibpj (in before phil jackson) Next 5 games we could easily go 4-1 or 3-2 which would lead us back to .500 or right above it. I think a good record for a young team, and I think the win % will go up throughout the year. Just some insight
The Rockets are playing to the level that most NBA analysts expected before the season started. When the Rockets acquired Harden, some peoples expectations for the team changed. However, the Harden trade probably isn't going to make a huge difference in wins and losses because our new best player replaced our former best player. If Harden was just replacing our worst player then he would probably make a larger impact. Lin, Asik, and Harden are just a few pieces to the puzzle, we still have a lot more pieces to add. The Rockets are just missing too many pieces at this time to be a good team. After five games the thing that seems to be bothering fans the most is that McHale refuses to play the Rookies. It's clear now that McHale has a plan of not playing the rookies early in the season. Or maybe his plan is to give consistent minutes to PPat and Morris without the distractions of trying to incorporate the rookies into the lineup in order to determine once and for all if they have what it takes to make it in this league. I think McHale's number one priority right now is to determine if PPat and Morris are worth keeping or not. I think once McHale feels he has seen enough of PPat and Morris to know what we have in those players, the rookies will then get their shot. I think maybe Les and Morey have told McHale to use this entire season to evaluate all of our players so we will know how to proceed after this season when drafting and trading players. Last year it was rather embarrassing that we released Lin and then he went on to be a sensation with the Knicks. I think the Rockets are just taking their time to give all our players a good long evaluation this season. I think the rookies will get significant minutes in the second half of the season, probably after a stint in the D-League. McHale and Morey know we won't be playing for a championship this year. This year is about evaluating talent and building for the future. I really have no idea if McHale is a good coach or not, I'm really not a big fan at this point. I bet McHale probably isn't real popular with the rookies either.
Great analysts. I think a lot of folks aren't really big fans of McHale right now. Hopefully he can mix up the playbook some and evaluate all of our players like you said before the end of the season.
