[Sports-Yahoo] One person to blame for Rockets’ demise — it’s not Howard or Harden

We actually agree on something, moreyball is simply efficiency.

Les hires coaches, Morey just presents Les with the candidates and details.

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats

I think you've confused Efficiency with highest scoring rankings.

Efficiency: the state or quality of being efficient, or able to accomplish something with the least waste of time and effort; competency in performance.

Last year we were ranked 12th in scoring EFFICIENCY

 

Last year's defense was a fluke too?

Morey doesn't hire coaches, Les does.

 

So you're blaming a poor showing in the playoffs by the players on Moreyball? What do you think the Warriors would look like if Klay Thompson and Steph Curry were shooting 14% from 3 like Ariza?

No team's offense looks good when key players play like crap.....BTW, the Warriors held opponents to the 2nd lowest 3 point percentage in the NBA last season. Kind of a good defense.

 

Our offense was worse last year while our defense was pretty good.

How about going back further and seeing how we rank under Morey?

 

But the reason that the players play like crap is that they don't get put in the best positions to succeed. Ariza shot like crap in game 5, is he going to get into a rhythm by continuing to jack up shots from the perimeter? No, our offense should be getting him one or two easy layups. Why is Corey Brewer standing on the perimeter as a spot up shooter? That's not his strength.

Does GSW force Shaun Livingston to stand around the perimeter jacking up threes like we force Brewer to do?

 

Or they just went against a good defense and guys like Ariza were tired from getting run into the ground by the worst interim coach in NBA history.

If it was a systemic problem, their numbers wouldn't have been so good all year long.

 

I decided to take a peek back to 2003-2004. Our best year was 2013-2014.

2015-2016 8th
2014-2015 12th
2013-2014 4th
2012-2013 6th
2011-2012 12th
2010-2011 6th
2009-2010 18th
2008-2009 14th
2007-2008 15th
2006-2007 10th
2005-2006 28th
2004-2005 14th
2003-2004 24th

All in all for a nine year run, not bad.

However if the goal is a championship, which it is, then we have work to do. There are times I believe that we get wrapped up in numbers when our eyes tell us all we need to know.
Lipstick on a pig...

 

...numbers wouldn't be high? But this team finished 41-41. Top five my ass. So half the teams we played had good defenses?

 

And how many different teams have won th championship since 2000?

Lipstick on a pig? The rockets aren't terrible and can reload rather easily.

 

The offense was a top 5 scoring offense and was top 10 in efficiency. Offense wasn't the problem, defense was. Also, it's important to note that "Moreyball" isn't an offensive system, it's just a philosophy that you'd build an offense around. The offense put in place by McHale and JBB wasn't the best system, the only thing good about it was that it utilized the Moreyball principles of efficient scoring over inefficient scoring.

The major reason for the team being 41-41 was awful coaching and atrocious defense, neither of which have anything to do with an offensive scoring philosophy. If you want to blame Morey, blame him for not hiring someone better than McHale or JBB.

 

Seven actually. Seven since 2000.
Spurs 4 times
Lakers 4 times
Heat 3 times

My words were "Not bad actually for nine years". Getting wrapped up in numbers is putting Lipstick on a Pig! It keeps people comfortable with mediocrity. That's for those of us who don't understand Morey's particular system of philosophical thought when applied to the structural nature of the Houston Rockets and its shooters.

Mediocrity doesn't fly in San Antonio. It shouldn't fly in Houston, but no one wants to out the man behind the curtain. If we keep excusing top five this, top five that instead of a Championship, then LA will win another ring before we sniff one again (I used LA instead of the Spurs for a reason).

A little touchy about swine are we?

 

Understanding numbers and what they say helps you understand what is going on. If you point to the offense as the problem this season, you simply don't know what you are talking about and you don't know what you saw when you watched the team play.

Blaming the wrong people and misunderstanding the areas that you need to improve in isn't how you make a team better.

 

Rockets actually did better on offense this year, IIRC. It is the defense that dropped a great deal.

 

I feel like I said something positive about about McGrady and Tinman found out....

 

From my perspective, looking at the numbers gives context because perception and reality are two different things. Our record and even our playoff record are the definition of above average when looking at all 30 NBA teams.

A great example of perception verse reality is our 3 point shooting, the reality is that in terms of volume and % we are neck and neck with ATL and Mavs.

SAS are the exception to everything in the NBA; but in terms of "mediocrity" the SAS compete year after year in order for a shot despite first round exits and the Mavs follow that philosophy too. We got Harden, we need to constantly be in that state.

I don't see why LA Clippers or Lakers are more likely to win a ring. The reason why so few teams win is because the NBA is mostly a top heavy talent league and the nature of basketball.

Never, they are delicious.

 

No, you just said something inaccurate and people who know better corrected you.

 

I don't get why we have to blame Morey. Pretty sure most of this board was ecstatic when we acquired pieces like Dwight and Lawson.

Everyone would've made the same moves Morey did if they were the GM at that time. He gave us hopes of contending for a championship.

 

Can we run a poll on who thinks "Moreyball" is an offensive system? That information can be useful.

 

If a record of 41 wins and 41 losses is above average then I'm done with both perception and reality.