He seems to have a feel for the PNR. He had a nice one for an and-one last night with Lin at the end of the game. I have seen zero feel for the PNR from Patterson or Morris (though better effort from Morris).
The need to put new players on the floor Just to provide some context for the discussion here about DMo, I am posting part of a piece I did in another thread. I think we won't be able to get to the 2nd round in the postseason even when we are able to land a 5th or 6th seed against SAS or MEM. I have watched every one games that our Rox played this season, and sometimes re-watch the whole game or parts of them on League Pass replays just to verify certain things I saw when the game was going on. I would check team stats and box score live with the Game Time app during the timeouts, and the Shot Chart, Performance Zones and Scoring Zones after the game. I am able to break the diagrams down from the full game to every quarter for both the team and each player on court.* The reason I mention how I have been watching these game is just to express where I am coming from when I comment on the performance of our players and our coaches. I want to be fair to them whatever I say about them. With this said, here are some of my observations and feelings on McHale: 1) He, and perhaps the entire staff, is too dead sold on Morey's analytics and Les' running philosophy to a point of rigidity that he failed to make adjustments. For example, if you look at the shot charts, you will see that our team make far less mid-range shots than other team's, especially the best ones except the Knicks. They believe the most efficient way to score more points with the same number of shots should be from the 3Ps, layups and free throws. Look at tonight's game, this is exactly why we lost--9-33 (27.3%) on 3Ps, 12-29 (41.4%) on FT. We scored a total of 91 points, 14 points less than our current average of 106.0. If we had performed at our average rates, we would have won the game but we didn't. On second thought, with 106 as the average, while we had those 125-point games, we are also bound to have some 79, 82, and 85 point games. And the stats for this season show we were 3-10 when we scored below 98 and 1-10 below 93. Coming into this game, the Celtics have been holding the opponents to less than 83 points in average. That means if we could not break their defense, we would lose, and that was exactly what happened.* Some may argue that this shouldn't be the coaching staff's fault. They are right if we haven't wasted 41 possessions on 3P shooting and missed FTs.* I am not arguing about the efficacy of the 3P-layup-FT strategy, actually I subscribe to that. What I am trying to say is that McHale should ask the players to try something else, more PNRs or mid-range shootings for instance, instead of doing the few tricks we have seen so far the whole season. You know they say to keep doing the same thing when it's not working and expect different results is insanity. That all our players were doing the same things like they were obsessed is more of the fault of the coaches than the players to me. Mason, who killed us in the Hornets game with 17 PTS in the 4th quarter, said post game on why they won, "we adjusted as the game went." What killed us in these two shameful games is exactly the opposite of why my opponents won--the lack of adjustments. Rigidity, or lack of adjustments or flexibility, is my second observation on our coaching staff. Since this post is getting too long, I just want to say my third observation is the reluctance to use more of our new players on the bench. If you're not adjusting your tactics since you abide by the Les/Morey philosophy/strategy too much, then for god's sake at least try to use different players like the Hornets. They had to bring up their 11th player--Mason--to win the game. And they made it. When you are going nowhere, try a new player, like D'Antoni did with Jeremy Lin, and the Hornets with Mason.
i'll tell you what....Demo might look like a walt disney on ice presentation on the court at times, sliding all over the place. but when it comes to setting a pick, demo doesn't aim for the invisible defender, like our PFs do. He actually sets a pick. now time to head to the d league.
If he can help us score in half court i am all for it. Tired of watching harden fumble the ball trying to force shots in the paint
Motiejunas would be perfect. Solid shooter, pretty good post moves. However, wheather he can rebound consistently will be a question, which DRAMATICALLY hurts his case for playing relevant minutes, much less starting. Until he gains some muscle, it can't be D-Mo time.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3subUnkjUHU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is just a stupid comment. Same thing was said about Morris and Smith last year. Morey said he isn't ready to play in the NBA just yet until he adds a few more pounds.
I like DMo - out of all our young guys he probably has the highest upside (him or White...). But he is not ready yet - not even close. The game is too big for him right now - he always seems overwhelmed, nervous and out of place. And his body still needs at least a year of hard work to at least being close. So I think what McHale and Morey are doing is exactly right: let DMo get used to the big stage without any pressure (garbage minutes) and then give him full games in the d-league. This will probably continue till the end of the season. In the off season he will probably be in the weight room every day for 4 hours and then hit the court. Next season he hopefully will be ready. With his combination of size, speed and shooting touch he could be an all star some day. So I think Morey will try to keep and trade all our other PFs before him - or if another team really wants him, at least get high value for him. Don't be surprised if we only have 2 PFs next season, with one being our new "star" (Josh Smith) and the other one being DMo...
I respect your opinions and agree with some of them but have to say that this is a useless thread. McHale won't play rookies unless there are injuries or foul trouble. Just save yourself from the agony and forget about DMo seeing prime time until next year.
Remember Parsons? McHale will play rookies if they are ready - he only has higher standards for being ready than most other coaches...
Do you have 7'-4" Ralph Sampson listed as your favorite Rockets small forward of all time in your sig?
Honestly in the few garbage minutes he's gotten this season, Dmo has looked completely lost. I don't think he's ready to be suddenly inserted into the lineup. He needs an extra year IMO.
As a fan of the Rockets I prefer to keep him right here in Houston so when he shines, he will shine for the Rockets.
I think you could play him against some small lineups to see how he does. Parsons will play the 4 sometimes and I would bet Dmo is stronger than Parsons.
Morris is giving us 9 points and 4 rebounds in 22 minutes per game. He's also shooting 38% from 3pt range, you call that nothing? I'd like to see D-Mo, but lets's not accuse Morris of giving us nothing when he's done pretty well this year.
