1. I am not sure that it only costs us 1 or 2 games. It has trouble outscoring the dregs of the league in the Jazz and Bobcats. And got blown out by the only good team we've played. Spotting good teams a 10 point lead will cost us more than 1 or 2 games. Again, I am not against using TT, just not against the opposing team's best lineup. If we used it against their bench unit, maybe it only gets outscored by 2-3 points instead of 19. Or maybe it even holds serve or extends a lead. 2. So we agree that the coaches don't even know how this will work yet. No one does. The team is still working on it. If that is the case, isn't that even more of a reason not to run it against your opponents BEST unit and well oiled starting lineup? You can still test it by using it situationally throughout the game without being run off the court. 3. I am fine with keeping Asik happy, but not at the cost of hurting Harden/Howard's game, and ticking them off. When Howard is getting blocked by the other team's PF because they don't have to guard anyone, I doubt he is amused.
They haven't found the answer yet,but its not asik at the 4 nor casspi at the 4. In a game like tonight, asik clogged the paint and made the team slower. With casspi,they had to help on griffin,which should never happen,but he's not strong enough. Maybe the answer is in the past. I actually think a guy like Patrick Patterson is probably the best solution. His range is far enough for spacing,he's big and fast enough to play against pfs.
TT was -19 in 12 and a half minutes. Rockets lose by 19. A suggestion: We run TT in the 12 and half minutes that Chris Paul is off the floor, so that he isn't there to surgically disassemble a lineup that we're not even sure how to use yet. Shouldn't be that complicated.
If you think about it, can you imagine just how badly they'd have to play together to warrant losing 10% extra games? That's 8 games in a season. A +8 win differential in a season is huge. In order to produce 8 extra losses in a season when you're together on the court for 10~15mpg require mind-blowingly bad play. And so far they haven't done that. They've been kind of bad, but nowhere near bad enough to cost us more than 1 win over a 20 game stretch. I was as big a non-believer of the TT experiment preseason, but even I would be willing to give it at least 10 more games before making any judgement. I think it will fail, but I want them to at least try.
Casspi was great offensively And even more than that diffensively, shut griffin down. Not to mention his grit on rebounds, when it means. Why one would think, that while the rest Of the important players are -20 in average, Casspi is +4. It's both - rough defense and great offense. Casspi is a tough b*stard and a great potential, to be the surprise Of the year in the entire NBA. But to be a contenders, We need all the other important figures to show up. No one here is MJ, we will live as team Or die as a team. Potentially, we are better Than Dallas that won the tittle few years ago. But potential is not maturity... I know Casspi is a serious man, Garcia either, I just don't know yet, if Harden and Howard, can quit being overly funny and start being manly Mans. because we need them all to have a chance. Super man should prove his supermanity, with a tittle. Harden, should have prove us hardon beard with a tittle. That's the difference between mans to kids !
Hi Alon! No offense meant, believe me, though you may feel offended. I really feel I need to say this: Please ease off just a bit with the frantic Casspi jive you spawn all over the threads... It is actually more annoying (and straightforward) than anything I saw from suspected LOFs in these forums. Oh, and PLEASE use real English (and better keep it simple)... Most of the above is quite illegible (and sometimes embarrasing)
Both LOFs and COFs are so fkn annoying. Lin is only a mediocre/marginal starting PG and Casspi isn't a starter, only a decent role player. There, I said it. Get over it.
Casspi proves he can be a starter. I think he will be in the starting lineup against Portland. And trade Asik. He deserves to start (for another team)
Well, they did not look good tonight. No doubt about that. I do agree with meh. It's still too early to pull the plug on TT. Tonight's had several mitigating factors: 1. With Bev out, we had no defensive counter for CP3. Lin is an ok defender. Brooks is a downright awful defender. Bev is a huge factor here. Its not just this game that we've struggled on the perimeter. But this game was a compilation of our struggles with Bev out and our opponent was at home, we were facing the best PG in the world, and their shooters got hot. 2. The officiating was atrocious. Those foul calls on Dwight....terrible. We have to face facts. This is going to happen sometimes in this league. It happens to every team. It costs every team in the league 2-4 games per year. Which means it mostly evens out. 3. I don't think McHale got the big match ups right. They played the first half with Dwight on Blake. I think Omer should have been on Blake with Dwight helping. I was hoping to hear someone ask McHale why he matched up that way. I would really like to know if he decided it or is he letting Dwight and Omer work it out between themselves. I've watched every game and I still feel very strongly that Omer is the big that needs to be out on the floor in space defending the 4's with Dwight defending the paint and low block. If Dwight is deferring to defending the PF to help make Asik comfortable I think thats a mistake. Offensively.....needs work. Big time. I don't understand why we continue to let Omer go down low. He has the worst hands in the league when it comes to trying to catch the ball in traffic. I really wish they'd park him in the corner or at the top and just let him set screens on the perimeter until the defense failed and we got the open 3-ball or the open drive. On another note, Casspi was great last night on both ends. He worked defensively against Blake. There's a reason why he is out there instead of DMo. It's because Casspi is better on both ends of the court playing the 4 alongside one of the two centers than either DMo or TJones.
I think a big reason why TT hasn't looked THAT bad overall is because it has gone up against the Bobcats and Jazz, two of the worst teams in the league. Looks like against any average team it is spotting them around 5 points, which is more than enough to decide most games. I understand that they are still learning how to use this lineup. So why not run it against the other team's bench unit in the meantime, while we are still working out the kinks?
The Rockets are not going to play contenders every night. That's why it's so difficult for this lineup, even if it's unsuccessful, to really cost us games. Even if a random clutchfans member like me were to coach the Rockets, we'd still be at least .500. I don't think it really matters whether they play the first 6 minutes or 6 minutes in the 2nd quarter. As long as we're not getting destroyed to end the game because of TT, I'm fine.
If playing them the first 6 minutes costs the team 5 points, and playing them 6 minutes in the second quarter costs the team 0 points, that is a huge difference. Most NBA games are decided by that margin, no matter how good of a team you are. There has to be a difference between playing against an opponent's starting unit as opposed to bench unit, no?
What's the point in sticking with TT for the starting lineup? I'm pretty sure the main reason the Rockets are doing it is to keep Asik happy / keep his trade value up. Its obvious that we're better with a stretch 4.
What makes you think they don't cost any points against backups? Perhaps the Rockets would not score as much during this time as opposed to having small ball lineup. I think people get too hung up on the whole starting vs. coming off the bench. Asik starting means much more to him than to Morey. Which is why he's starting. Besides, if he's not starting and he's not finishing, that's pretty damning to a player's morale.
