What's a more important trend? 20 years? 4 years? Or 1 month?

Trends differ depending on a case-to-case basis. RA has had a good history of winning seasons. But the team RA has been coaching the past 20 years is different from the team he has now. Its the same thing with players. Battier has been a lock down defender and one of the best role players in the league 5 years ago. Now, he's noticeably lost a step and shooting blanks. Do you choose to ignore the evidence you see before and rely on his performance record?

With RA, what's been seen is he has problems managing the rotations and calling time outs. I've noticed it since the first time he came here, so its actually been a trend for 3 years now. Also it should be noted that his Portland finals team and the Sacramento team had been seen as powerhouses. He got fired in Sacramento when the C-webb era ended and the team was stuck halfway between being good (had Ron-ron and that other SF) and rebuilding (had Gerald Wallace and Kevin Martin as young players). Basically the same situation we are in now with a lot of players in their prime and a lot of youth as well.

With DM I actually don't have a problem. I think this team wouldn't have a losing record if RA had made better decisions on the court, as evidenced by the last game we had when he started subbing in people in 5 man units and also taking people out when they were hot, and basically playing Battier who was shooting horribly 30 mins a game.

 

I think the makeup of this team is nonsensical. As if each player were chosen without thought to anyone else who is on the roster. Like each move is in a bubble, independent of all others. In particular, I do not understand adding Kevin Martin to a backcourt that already contains Aaron Brooks...while at the same time trading away someone like Ariza who plays defense. I don't get it.

The only way it all makes sense to me is if the Rockets are currently not serious about building an actual team...and are interested solely in acquiring pieces with favorable contracts that they can package for a real difference maker.

 

This is just my theory but my guess is the general idea was to mimic the Kings:

Brooks=Bibby (clutch guy who is also a defensive liability)
KM=Peja (efficient sharpshooter but also a defensive liability)
Scola=poor man's C-web (big time scorer and rebounder)
Ariza/Battier=Doug Christie (defensive glue guy)
Yao/Miller= upgrade over Vlade

-> IMHO the main difference was with Yao playing like crap on limited minutes and with the Ariza trade it lowered the strength of the starters. The burden now is in RA to juggle the rotation and utilize the depth that we have to offset the talent difference. So far that hasn't happened, so resulting in a 3-10 record.

 

I think depth is entirely overrated in the NBA. This idea that we were gonna rotate 10 guys through is another reason why this "team" isn't a team. I don't believe you can offset talent with depth. I think that's an absolute fallacy.

We talk about that Kings team being a team without a real superstar here all the time, that won on depth...but that team was at it's best when it had a guy named Chris Webber finishing 4th in MVP voting and 2nd team All NBA. We don't have a player that comes anywhere remotely in the vicinity of that sort of production.

I'd also like to point out that we traded away the Ariza part of that equation you posted, above.

 

This isn't the first season that has been derailed by Yao's health, but I hope it's the last, if you know what I mean.

And once the team is finally rid of Yao, Morey can work on more solid footing to get this team ready to contend for a championship, but it won't be done overnight.

And let's see what Rick can do with a stable lineup before crucifying him.

 

I'm just wondering how you trade away your best defender when everyone knows defense wins. Why would you trade your best player at your weakest position for a backup?

 

Great thread...I see it this way, Morey knew this might happen and thus left himself and the team with great payroll flexibility. If this team wasn't going to happen then he can know move different parts to start over, he was tempted once before when he was ready to trade for Rubio. I don't blame him because the parameters were set for him before he got here and he has to work with them but that all ends this season. He can now mold this team as he sees fit.

Honestly, Adelman may quit before seasons end or just wait it out but I don't see him past this year. He is a "win now" coach and this team is way to far in the horizon to considered that anytime soon. A new coach will probably come into play before the lockout hits next summer.

We all expected the "assets" Morey collected to find a star but plan B was to use them to rebuild the team and that appears the course this team is headed. It sucks going from a big three two years ago to what this has become this season but all teams must rebuild and it's the Rox time.

 

THis is what the plan is, it's a doughnut team and has been one for years, frankly I agree with the strategy of acquiring pieces to get a superstar either by trade since nothing else was going to work. The weird thing is when they go and add extra expensive sprinkles (Brad Miller deal) when we've already got a ton - all that's going to do is push them further into limbo territory. It takes a truly horrid season and a top draft pick to rebuild - I'd just as soon as gotten it over with before .

Given the draft/lockout situation, last year would have been ideal - the more you think about, being a 42-40 lottery team was an outright disaster, probablyh the worst thing that could have happened as it probably pushed the rebuilding timeline out 2-3 years, barring a lucky trade - which isn't good enough.

 

We are kidding ourselves if we thought we'd continue winning once T-mac either left or had his play diminish. We are kidding ourself if we thought we could win with a limited Yao.

We have a lot of undeveloped talent on this squad:

C-Bud
Ish
Hill
PatPat
Taylor

Unfortunately, we have developed talent that aren't well rounded players:

Scola - No D
Hayes - No O
Miller - No D
Lowry - Can't shoot and is injury prone
Lee - Mentally weak
Jeffries - Strong bench warmer
Battier - No O
Brooks - No D

Of the undeveloped players, I'd say Hill and PatPat have the best chance to become the most well-rounded players.

We need to first trade away our vets for picks to teams that need specialists. Sign Rick up for the long haul and let him develop the players we draft.

We can't win without a player that 1. can take over games and/or 2. makes his teamate's better (This is what Hakeem, SF3 and T-mac did).

 

For all the love of DM, his team won the most games his first year as GM. Since then, it's gone down each of the successive years. Granted, there are other circumstances (namely, Yao's health) but it's hard to say he's done a great job building an actual team. And this year looks to be the worst yet, with 1/2 a Yao instead of no Yao.

Like you said, he's great at getting younger and better pieces. If they want to liquidate the team, they could probably get more draft picks today than 3 years ago. But it hasn't made for a better team at all.

 

aren't you overrating Landry just a tad ???? He was an ok defender with ability to block some shots but he was not an Amare, nowitzky, duncan,boozer stopper as I remember him when he was with this team.

One more thing, there's no such thing as best defender on this team. This team is built around Yao and coached by an offensive minded coach.

 

I'm thinking he was talking about Ariza.

 

1. To save money.
2. To be a good seller. you provide your best product to your customer.
Our customer, Hornets, are very satisfied with the transaction. Kings took the notice and are inquiring Brooks now. Rockets have good reputation now.

 

I have a lot of issues with $Ball for basketball and have from Day 1. Will skip the diatribe for now. But your point speaks volumes. At least to me.

I posted a very similar thought once...and was roundly dismissed en masse. Guess when the Rockets are winning, no one wants to see chinks in their armor. (C'mon...they took the Laker$ to 7 Games w/o Yao...$Ball must be the Holy Grail...right)?

Deciding a players' value based upon some arithmatic variables in an equation is totally void of any conceptual thought. Period.

 

Pretty much. I'm not sure they don't look at actual players, but when you say lee is equal to trevor, they weren't watching that one. When they say Patterson was rated 6th, I'm not buying that one. Even when the notion is sell high and they didn't do it after the lakers series with shane and knowing yao was out for the year, I don't get that one either. All in all, they just need to hit the reset button and I said that 2 yrs ago.

 

I think saying that the team building method is a failure after only 3 years (not to mention losing two major stars to injuries in the interim) is grossly immature. Think how many teams out of the 30 has been mired in mediocrity or worse for more than 5 years? I'd say more than half.

I can only count 6 teams that have been "built" up in the past 5 years:
Boston
Orlando
Lakers
OKC
New Orleans (questionable, kind of like Cleveland in the LeBron era)
Miami

Out of these, only Orlando, OKC, and NO are non-major market teams. Boston, Lakers, and Miami pretty much had star players fall on their laps.

 

let's face it gater, you are a hater and that is why you are soundly dismissed in your arguments against moreyball.

case in point, you basically quit posting while the team was winning and the moneyball plays were paying off. Now that times are bad, you are back on your soap box.

We have had several reasons why the team is not performing to expectations this year; injuries to starters, lack of hustle on a consistent basis, decline of our only remaining perimeter defender, lack of a set rotation.

However, moneyball is not the reason we are bad, moreover, it is the reason we have to remain optimistic. For the past several years, since twack and yao began the injury tour, it has been obvious that building for today required an eye on tomorrow without either of our key players. moneyball moves have been geared to acquiring another star level talent to build the team around in this instance.

So far, worst case scenario's have played out. We were not able to acquire a star a the trading deadline last year. We did not get a major fa sign and trade in this offseason and Yao looks to essentially be done. Yet in still, morey's moves have kept an eye on the probability that these things would have occurred. We still have this trade deadline and the ability to dump significant contracts over the offseason and free up max to near max money. We have extra lotto balls this upcoming draft and a pick from the Knicks next year.

This roster with or without trevor ariza, with or without carl landry, with or without ron artest, with or without kevin martin, was not going to win a championship. Not this year, not next year, not ever. There has to be a focal point star player that we currently do not have.

I for one appreciate a gm willing to concede this point and to try like hell to acquire one, rather than kicking out the same ol' team and trying to sell mediocre to your fan base. (kings, 76ers, bucks, et al).

If we are faced at the end of the season with only lottery picks and salary cap moves, I will be fine and will be ready for the full rebuild. If we are able to jumpstart it by trading some our players for others that fit the new mold, fan freakin' tastic.

we are not done, we are in the middle of a paragraph

 

Our defense is trending down, hard, with Rick the ruler.


that is enough trend for me. Buh bye!

 

Hit me with your best shot. I'll take some time this evening over a glass of wine.

Hater...LMAO...don't dare to say the King has no clothes...