There are teams with dominant forces. Those are the Lakers and the Spurs. Shaq and Duncan have no equal. Back in 1994 and 1995, Hakeem was this force for the Rockets. Rocket fans need to shake themselves if they think a return to that old offense is going to work with this team. Rockets have no dominant force. Yao is a very good center. He's not even close to Shaq or Duncan. Trying to mold him into a dominant low post presence is going to be futile. Some fans then ask why he was drafted #1. #1 draft picks don't mean squat unless there is a monster at the top like Shaq, Duncan, or Hakeem. Ask Jerry Krause about Elton Brand. Ask Michael Jordan about Kwame Brown. Ask Elgin Baylor about Candy Man. The other 28 or so teams in the league are in the other boat. They don't have Shaq or Duncan. This includes the Rockets. They can either adapt their team's offense to play like a team like the Kings which has good a chance of beating the Lakers and Spurs as anyone else or just be an embarrassment to be shown on ESPN on a daily basis. ESPN talks about the Rockets offense as if it is a joke. 8 points in a quarter? For two straight games? If Van Gundy doesn't see reality slapping him in the face, he needs to go back into retirement. Jazz has one of the lowest payrolls in the NBA, but the offense flows so much better than the Rockets. How come? Are Jerry Sloan and Rick Adelman basketball geniuses? I don't get it. How many more times of the Rockets getting killed by the upper echelon teams (Lakers, Spurs, Kings, Mavs) before the management realizes that changes need to happen? The Christmas day game in Los Angeles will be a bloodbath. In a way, I hope it will be, so that Van Gundy gets a reality punch in the face that will show him this team as currently constructed cannot compete with the big boys.
Charvo, I like your posts because you have good points. But lately they've been too defeatist. C'mon don't write off the team yet. I mean there's gonna be losing streaks in a season, and there can be two straight games when the offense stinks. I don't think anyone was expecting championship at the beginning of this year. Let's just aim at the playoffs first. For that we don't need a dominant player, just a little more chemistry.
Are you blaming JVG for the Rockets offensive woes? Let me tell you something, JVG's offense may not be as complicated or potent as the Kings offense but it is a quality enough offense to get the job done in the NBA. As long as we have players like Steve Francis that can't even carry out JVG's offensive game plan, what on earth makes you think that he can handle running the Kings offense. Francis is the worst PG I have ever seen in my life. We will never go anywhere in the playoffs as long as Steve is on the team, as point guard play is crucial during the playoffs.
I will. This system isn't exactly working yet. I say "yet" because that's everybody else's excuse. But if I'm a head coach and my system isn't working because my center of offense is ineffective against people near his own size, I would have to modify it. Dumping it into Yao every time didn't seem to work against the Spurs in game 1, so why not try it again in game 2? Because that's stupid. I would like to see a lot more penetration from this team on offense when they're playing a big team like the Spurs. Yao can't really do it all offensively (yet), Cato never will, MoTay isn't physical enought to dominate down low; so why not delve into the strengths posessed by some of your other talents? Those would be penetration and isolation plays. Look, I'm a big fan of Van Gundy. I love the defense he has this team playing. But great defense doesn't have to equal sub-par offense. The offense wasn't this broke last year, so what good is this "fixing" doing? If you had kept last year's offense perfectly intact, the improved defense would just lead to a bigger point differential. That's just simple, immmediate-impact logic though - I'm not even getting into long term aspects such as teaching these players how to move the ball. Hopefully losses like these will just end up helping the offense evolve into a better team game.
Defeatist? I am pessimistic after watching the Rockets lose game after game to the top teams in the league in blowout fashion. The game in the Toyota Center wasn't a blowout, but the Spurs shot a dismal percentage and were still able to win the game on the road. That's almost a blowout to me. I knew that the Kings would kick the Rockets butt. I knew the Mavs would do it, but the Spurs blew the Rockets out yesterday. The score didn't look like a blowout, but the Spurs got up by 23 points late in the game. That's blowout to me. What's got me is that I actually think upper management thinks this team needs to gel more? How many years will the fans have to endure of these blowouts? I will watch the Christmas day game against the Lakers. What do I expect from the Rockets? Very little.
I understand that Van Gundy is primarily a defensive coach, but his total lack of imagination on offense at times is numbing. 8 points in a quarter? Did Popavich steal Van Gundy's playbook? Les Alexander needs to recognize that the Astros and the Texans are now the top 2 sports teams in Houston. Astros made that move with Pettitte which should give the fans some optimism. Clemens is going to come back too. Texan fans are going to be there for a little while. Rocket fans have really nothing to look forward to except to see this crew MAYBE get it together. Change brings renewed optimism, and this team needs it.
Agreed, but I think now after two coaches, change should come in the form of personel moves. Francis has shown he's incompetent. Give me Francis for Artest and Tinsley, make a serious run at Nash or Barry for the point in the offseason and move Cato to NY for Kurt Thomas. Nash (or Barry)/Tinsley/Moochie Mobley/Pike/JJ Artest/JJ/Pike Thomas/MoT/Badiane Yao/Thomas/Meech I think a deal consisting of AG, Boki and possibly some incentive draft pick may be combined to land a solid back-up center. Maybe a solid body like Robert Traylor.
This team needs an infusion of passing ability. I don't care if it comes from a small or big man. The team's passing is comparative to the guy from the Levitra commercial before he took the Levitra.
Think Again! There are two Types of Teams in the NBA. The Teams that play Team Basketball and the Teams that dont.
Why is he available? Considering how lowly Francis is regarded by many posters it wouldn't surprise me if ppl started suggesting we trade Francis for him.
Charvo is the kind of guy who puts on a life vest and jumps off a ship because he saw a puddle of water on the deck.
