After half of a season this team still does not know how to execute. We see two games and sometimes three on very rare occasions that our guards will move the ball around making our team actually look like they know how to pass. But on most occasions our guards just dribble the ball up court ignoring the other players and then they decide to take a last second shot or pass the ball to someone that has about a half of a second to shoot. Sometimes they just dribble into the paint with no discernible idea of what they plan on doing with the ball once they are in the paint. We have all seen it when they get caught in the paint and then just fling their bodies into someone just hoping for a foul call because they have absolutely no shot and no way to make a decent pass. There has been no change and no growth from October 30th. Heypartner likes to accuse people of just wanting to win and not being able to enjoy the game for itself and enjoy the team as it grows. Well please explain to me how this team has grown since day 1 of this season. They are just as inconsistent as they were when Yao Ming first put on a Rockets uniform and to make matters worse they just gave up in the middle of the 3rd quarter. Show me a team that is executing well and just looses the game because the other team is just better or just had a better night and I can enjoy it. But ask me to enjoy watching the same old one on one basketball with our guards making the same mistakes that they have been making for a several years and I say you are nuts. That’s not growth that’s stagnation while the competition is getting better! Glen Rice goes public and complains that there is not enough ball movement and the team as a whole is not getting involved in the offense. For two or three games after that we saw good ball movement and then slowly but surely our guards reverted back to their normal routines of walking the ball up the court and dribbling out the clock while they tried to decide how they were going to score. Execution, Execution, Execution! Where’s the damn execution and how is this team executing any better now than on October 30?! How does the offense look any better? Where is the growth? We have seen teams like Pheonix (just as young as us) get better and better as the season goes on. How about our Rockets? Am I asking too much when I sit in front of my TV begging Steve to pass the ball to a wide open Terence Morris for a 20 foot shot instead of driving into the lane with his head down and no plan. Am I expecting too much when I think Steve should pass the ball to Yao Ming streaking to the basket with nothing between him and the basket but air and opportunity instead of dribbling out the clock and forcing up another bad shot with a defender draped all over him? I am not asking that Terence Morris or even Yao Ming be made the primary weapons in the offense, but just to let them have a chance to shoot the ball when they have the opportunity arises. I don’t care if a player is 0 for 10, if he has the high percentage shot he should get a chance to take it and make the defense pay for cheating off of him. My prediction is this…The Lakers will over take the Rockets for the eighth and final play off spot by the middle of February. With the Timberwolves now a full game ahead of the Rockets and in 7th spot in the West the Rockets will miss the play-offs again. Congratulations to Memphis for getting a lottery pick for Steve Francis after all. The rest of the play-off teams in the West are moving beyond Houston and soon the Lakers will too, not because of talent but because of execution. I said a while back that because of the talent this team has we will not endure very many loosing streaks longer than two or three games but because of the lack of discipline and execution this team will probably never have a winning streak beyond 3 or 4 games. What will a record of 41 and 41 with no play-off cause Les to do to this team? I think we will find out this summer.
If that is indeed the case, it's probably a good bet that there will be changes. Just remember what he said (no matter if it's right or wrong, he put it out there) before the season: "I love this team. This is one of the greatest teams ever assembled. I swear I believe that. We have unbelievable talent."
Many of us on this board have been pointing out the obvious for what seems like forever. We get regularily bashed as "Steve Hata's," "bandwagoners," "not real fans," etc. A little dribblers coach can see what's wrong with this team, could have seen it two years ago, can see it now. It appears that it will take ever NBA coach, all the sportscasters, and the United Nations to sign a petition before any changes are made. I said it was going to get embarassing and it is.
I don't think we can blame Steve and Cat entirely because all of this has to come from the top. The problem really is with Rudy. If he can't direct his players, then he is the one with the problem. Even if the Rockets added a Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan to this team, the Rockets will still play a bunch of this 1-1 jack up any shot, no passing nonsense by the guards. Its not only the guards but everyone on the Rockets plays 1-1. When was the last time you saw MoT pass the ball? This 1-1 crap has been going on for the past few years and every year Rudy says that he has installed more of a passing, motion, etc. offense. But every year its the same old crap. I don't forsee any change soon. Plus, it doesn't seem that Rudy improves players. The Rockets need a coach like Hubie Brown who can come in and teach basketball. By the results, Rudy doesn't seem to teach basketball. I don't see any major improvements in Steve or Cat's game. They haven't matured as players over the past few years. I don't think the Rockets will make the playoffs either because the toughest part of the schedule is yet to come. Hopefully Les gets the point eventually and brings in someone else.
Crash I totally agree. Yao was an unexpected bonus. The Rockets have enough talents to get to the playoffs with or without Yao. But talent along won't get them far.
When almost everyone (with the exception of Yao) on the Rockets team are pretty much ballhogs, why do you expect the assist to be high? Offensively that's one reason why the Rockets are not going to win a lot of game because they failed to address this issue. So there is ONLY one person to blame in this case, RUDY. Either you fire him and get a coach like Adelman who likes to run a fun offense with a lot of passing and backdoors, this Rockets are just going to stay the same.
Let's see our upcoming schedule... at Chicago and at Memphis...road games, those are pretty much automatic losses right there... Dallas at home: Hmm, we're the Mavs b**** this year...loss Minnesota at home: well, our confidence will be shot after Dallas whoops our asses...loss Sacramento at home: Yeah, right.... that's 8 losses in a row...We should split agains Minnesota and Cleveland on the 4th and 5th, so by the all star break, we'll be at .500 and in LA's rear view mirror... time to accept it...
Come on guys. Why such pessimism? Yes, we had three games losing streak. But we had three games losing streak late December and early January as well. The team stunk up just as bad during those games. At least we are losing to the top teams in the west and east right now. I won't hit the panic button just yet. I do hope Rudy would rest Yao for a few games now. YCCNORTH
Well, the problem is that I'm consistent with my pessimism...Our next two game winning streak, and most people around here will be predicting home court advantage in the first round again...
As much as I enjoy your insightful game analysis, player comments etc. I can not accept of such pessimism. This season is far from over. In fact, I see the basement teams rising up to topple the current leaders, the order of NBA is going through a commotion. No team can gurantee a win at home or on th road. A fine example is Golden State Warrior. heck, they beat Lakers TWICE. SAC lost the game they are supposed to win, Mavs had their darkest day too. I call this Rockets' growing pains
Agree with crash. We either have to: 1. Trade Yao Ming for a PF package. 2. Trade or package Mobley for a PG. Move SF to SG. If not, no progress will be made by this team. Firing Rudy alone won't solve any problem. The problem is we don't have the right combination of players to have a solid and consistent basketball play.
Crash - I share your frustration. To those of you trying to shift the blame from the players to Rudy... Do you think Rudy stnds in the huddle and says - "OK Steve, dribble till time runs out, then run into the double team and throw up a prayer". Or they run that type of play in practice "No No Moochie, there is still 8 seconds left, way to early to pass". Do you think last night in the first period when we actually had a lead Mobley says "we are playing pretty well coach, how about we run a play" and Rudy responds, "no I think it is better that you jack up consecutive shots out of rythem allowing a team that can't find the bucket a couple of opportunities to run the break and get going". These mistakes, and mistakes they are, are happeining on the court.
Well, I think we nearly everyone who posts here regularly will agree that either A) Rudy has not done a good enough job designing the offense; or B) the players have not done a good enough job executing it. Unfortunately, none of us here are in a position to say with any certainty which one it is. So do we trade players? Yao and Francis are franchise-type players and we'd be nuts to consider letting either of them go. Even Mobley, everyone's current favorite trade bait, is a special player who should shine in the right system -- he's nearly unbeatable 1-on-1 at times. Griffin has too much potential to let go unless we get something pretty spectacular in return. Rice and Taylor are just not desirable enough to other teams. Who else? Moochie? Maybe, but then we have no backup PG at all. Do we replace Rudy? Just on the basis of the first half a season? The man has been with the team 30 years and helped to bring the city the only two top-level sports championships it's ever had. As much as I hate to say it, I'd say our best bet is to experiment with the lineup. Start Moochie (yikes!), move Stevie to the 2, and bring Cat in off the bench. Maybe give Cato time at PF now that Collier is healthy. And then we all cross our fingers that Yao gets his second wind before it's too late.
Pat, If Rudy can't impose discipline on our streetballers then he is failing as a coach and has to go. THE INMATES (Greedy #1=Mobley, Greedy #2= Francis, Greedy Wannabee= Moochie) ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM It's all about results, not intent. D R
I don't think anyone thinks that's what's going on. What I think might be going on is that Rudy says, "Stevie, you're our playmaker, get out there and do what you do!" ... and we have all seen what happens. I mean, it worked before, with the slight variation of, "guys, Dream is our playmaker. Get the ball in to him, and let him do what he does!" because Dream was/is a more complete player than Francis. Obviously, it's not quite that simple, but I think that's probably frighteningly close to the truth. And, just for the sake of argument, if Rudy is setting up a great offense, shouldn't he have something to say if his players never execute it?
We need a coach that can teach our players about spacing and how to move and try to get open. They need to learn to cut inside expecting to receive the ball...not just run in for no reason. We also need a coach that can teach our players how to anticipate a rebound and how to help on defense. That's what we need. They need to have good placement. We aren't going to make the playoffs if we lose these games. We need to win.
Personally, I think all this team needs is a coaching change. Rudy's not doing anything wrong, and he's a great coach. But he's not the type of coach we need. We need a disciplinarian, someone who will whoop these boys into consistent players. Hubie Brown comes to mind. It's so amazing how we're a bad offensive team. We have so many "scorers". Ming, Griff, MoT, Rice, Mobley, and Francis. What's going on? When will one of our F's catch fire and help us dominate teams? That's all we need, a consistent SCORER at F. Someone who can hit the open J. Posey's fastbreak points and putbacks don't count. We need someone who can absolutely NAIL the J.
