We had no one to come into play. Maybe Ben Mac in the Lakers series more? Other than that when guys get injured, there really isnt much choice. Harden not moving the ball is because most of the time the other guys coulndt produce efficient offense. He's a better defensive coach now than he was in Phoneix. He does what he does with the roster he has. We've had two top 10 defenses while he was here. Mike could def be better at developing young players and he's not perfect but I fail to see how he has cost us multiple playoff series, it's just not true.
2 of those losses came without 3 key rotation players, and like no training camp and all 3 of those losses came against playoff teams the year prior
i'm liking what i'm seeing from Silas... never was a fan of MDA... wanted JVG when each got hired... feeling better about Silas getting the job...
This. I am not saying Rocket’s fans shouldn’t be optimistic. However there are some early trends that are concerning and those trends are consistent with holes on the roster. I personally hope that this group takes a really strong defensive bend for their personality. I think that the backcourt is capable of being defensively elite. The front court needs another long strong player but there is promise there... still that is all hypothetical without improvements at the forwards. You can wish in one hand and **** in the other but I have to say I really wish we could have kept Covington to team with Wood inside.
It absolutely matters but it isn’t going to make Wood and Wall and Gordon shoot the 3 ball well. It isn’t going to improve the anemic rebounding the Rockets get from their forwards. Coaching and practice matter, but right now a lot of it is that the Rockets have to shoot 3’s better.... the rebounding isn’t going to improve much without a trade or someone really emerging. The reality is the Rockets may have the worse forward duo in the league, especially for playing next to Wood.
What are you getting at here? Are you implying that we abandon those principles and go back to ISO ball? Because the last time I checked, ball movement, player movement, and unpredictability are recipes that real contending teams rely on. Posters are celebrating that a coach is actually trying to implement these principles, rather than having a coach who caters to ISO/hero ball just because it wins games in the short-term and the star player is comfortable doing so.
I'm saying that we should hold off on celebrating the change until we see it working. Any coach can have all our guys running in circles aimlessly and throwing the ball around without any of it leading to quality shots. It's not something that should be celebrated on it's own. But no, we should not abandon those principles, as you pointed out this is typically what good teams do. We shouldn't be satisfied, or praising these changes, until we see those principles lead to a highly productive offense and a successful team.
I think it is tough for Silas to avoid reverting back to iso because Harden does not move well without the ball and the team needs Harden to play iso for him to be really effective on offense. Tough situation for Silas.
Harden has never pouted on the court. And Silas time is based on Tilman's patience and the depth of his wallet, let's be real here.
SSOL Suns look nothing like 2017 Harden as PG Rockets. And the 2017 Rockets played very different from 2018 team slow as molasses paced Harden-CP3 led team. And the 2019 Iso heavy Harden led Rockets played very differently from the previous years Rockets. The 2020 5 Out Rockets with Russ as small ball 5 was even more different. And I only talked about the offense. And let's not start with David Lee centered Delay and Linsanity with Knicks and whatever the hell the Lakers were running under D'Antoni. I seem to recall all those teams making the playoffs so perhaps that is the commonality you speak of. MDA like many modern coaches prefers to teach concepts which emphasizes fluidity instead of adherence to rigid sets. But MDA does have set plays, as pointed out he is one of the best at ATOs. Even coaches who prefer traditional set plays have differing philosophies between them. Just like coaches who emphasize concepts have differing philosophies. I understand not realizing there are multiple coaching styles, but spreading disinformation is just not right.
Days or games like how we played against the Mavs is when I tend to wish we move from Harden. I agree with coach, all he said at the post game was right. And I’m glad we don’t have MDA who would just say let’s move on and prepare for the next game. Or we just didn’t shoot well we will shoot better the next game. Since tip-off we saw how Harden was playing. Well everyone was lazy on defense too and playing super lethargic. We were off and the mavs had just play the previous game. That’s how we use to play last year. And it was Harden who was leading the charge with playing bad defense and idling but not even trying. I could see before the pass was made wherever Harden was. Worst of all is when Harden sat we were playing a bit better. I hate the refs too but this was mostly do to our lack of effort by most. It felt like they were just cocky since Dallas hasn’t played great. They were expected to win this game. They came out with no energy, no defense, no ball movement and no effort. I’m glad coach Silas isn’t happy even if it’s just one game. They should play at least with effort and move the ball more.
Harden has the ability to move without the ball if he NEEDS to. The system had him be that way. When he was in OKV off the bench, he was all over the place.
/: mmm idk if he was injured he should have sat then. He was the main reason we lost. I saw Wall and Eric iso, too but they didn’t look as bad as Harden. I’m not saying we should trade Harden now. I was just saying that’s when I sometimes wish we would. I would prefer he gave better effort. That game reminded me a lot of the MDA days. Losing against teams would should have won. Losing because we didn’t give effort or didn’t move the ball enough. and i also know we didn’t shoot well from 3.
I feel Harden needs to come out and commit fully for the next two years. Even then, I think Harden playing fewer minutes is good for the whole team. Give Wall a chance to lead the team and see what he can do. Otherwise it's truly a limbo. And the team's record is going to be underwhelming. I think there is not much middle ground to be won with walking on egg shells.
