I blame nobody... Rockets organization can only do so much with the players they have on hand. We are good team (not great) that cannot attract top tier 1 / superstar talent. The only way we are able to do so is because we have a top talent already on the books ala Yao. Technically he brought McGrady here and gave Carmelo a thought to at least think about it. If anything Darryl Morey has done a wonderful job of acquiring pieces to build a competitive, fun team to watch. Were hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with such tradable commodities (players).. Are hopes for an upgrade is in the tier 2 pool... Granger,Iggy,Zach Randolf, etc... And with tier 2 talent we can really get far in the playoffs (We won't win it all) and that is the next step.
Well, first of all, the gameplan was still built on Yao, and Yao didn't come through. It was a gamble that cost us the season, but still an understandable gamble, so I'm not going to blame anyone but fate for the season. That said, I think if Adelman had played his cards right with substitutions, plays, etc we could be looking at 4 games over .500 instead of 4 under.
Who is to blame for this mess? Injuries I am one of those that feel that if Yao and Tmac had remained healthy in their respective years of play, we would not be having this conversation. I know this is an old excuse, but how many teams have lost their #1 & #2 players and not dropped out of contention?
I blame green tea. Green tea contains fluoride which is known to contribute to brittle bones. I'm sure Yao drinks plenty of green tea. Can't blame management for wanting to build around a cash cow in Yao. I also blame the rest of the NBA teams for not giving us their "star" players in exchange for our numerous assets. Morey is ready to make a trade but the players he wants just aren't available.
I blame that lame bear. Ever since he joined the rockets, it's gone down hill. Get rid of the bear and bring back the red and yellow. And why does the local media hate on Martin so much? With the best player in the planet, the lakers managed a losing record and a mediocre 42-40. It's not Martin's fault. I believe Morey will try to make a move to acquire the main piece of the puzzle. But it takes two, and let's face it..today's stars want to form alliances and sip margaritas in the baltic sea ala luke walton. Add Lala, on the the list to blame. Seriously carmelo, there are hotter women in Texas that actually have careers!
I don't believe there's a coach in NBA history that would have this roster playing at serious contender status.
What's really to blame? Morey armed us to the teeth to swing one or possibly two blockbuster deals this past summer - not his fault the major players all colluded or otherwise made up their minds prior to free agency. Not his fault Denver went insane demanding Blake Griffin, next draft's top 3 picks combined, Kevin Durant, and a $20M TE in exchange for Melo. No GM was bringing those guys to town, and no one saw it coming. To his credit, Morey didn't proceed to deal just to deal, and make lateral/bad moves. This wasn't the roster he wanted to go to war with. I can say I'm a little disappointed this roster couldn't build off of last year - the underdog mentality of last year hasn't reappeared, Battier is fading more, Jordan Hill looks like he isn't dedicated, and Brooks has been a disaster. Kudos to Scola and Martin (and Hayes). I won't say he's been bad...but we may be walking into a situation where Adelman is no longer a great fit for the roster as we find ourselves shifting from playoffs to rebuilding. More attention needs to be paid to developing our load of young guys, especially if we fail to bring in a stud at the deadline. It is what it is. It sucks, but I have faith in the front office, and believe they're doing what they can. Sometimes, you just have to have major breaks go your way.
The only reason I see that we are not playing better is that we can't stop any team with even a reasonable amount of size. Who is to blame? Yao? Sorry, I can't blame him for having one of the best work ethics in the game, which is likely why he wound up injured again ... he wouldn't stop playing. There is no one to blame. If we didn't have that one injury, this season would be totally different, and IMO everyone on the organization is doing a great job. We all know they're not winning, and that's why we're upset. But you're kidding yourself if you think we have a serious chance of doing anything when our franchise player, and only superstar, is injured for two years straight. Unfortunately I think we can expect the effects of this injury to linger for quite some time. Eventually, I have faith that our current staff will pull us out of this tough situation.
Yep, sure was smart of Prtland to stockpile centers by grabbing Oden, rather than stockpile wing players and grab Durant.
He also had Juwan Howard, Rafer Alston, and Luther Head logging heavy minutes. Rudy T had vets. Hakeem was a leader. The Rockets right now just don't care. A big part of it is youth - they think they've got all the time in the world and that the team'll eventually click. I've never heard a vet attest to that. That's why they need someone to push them.
It's not an old excuse, it's the actual situation. Their injuries derailed our franchise. I'm still thinking back to how recently we thought Yao, Artest, and McGrady would lead us to a title. It sucks ass.
I blame the fans for unrealistic expectations. The team's talent was decimated by injuries to McGrady and Yao. We're rebuilding and we're lucky to be as competitive as we are considering that we're rebuilding. It takes some time to re-marshal assets and put a contender back on the floor. I think the team is ironically taking more flak than it would if it had just collapsed. If we really sucked, people would be more understanding and patient because we wouldn't be close to competing.
Like MadMax very accurately posted earlier...there isn't a coach in NBA history who could do anything with this roster...and that includes Van Gundy, Phil Jackson, or Red Auerbach. If you think differently, we can agree to disagree. As far as who is "to blame"...the most accurate single answer is Rockets' management. They went to the Lottery because of Grady's back. They came back from the Lottery in "Win Now" mode with Battier. They saw Yao go down frequently but decided to make one more trip thru the "Win Now" wilderness. My opinion is unwavering. The Rockets/Morey have been overly optimistic regarding players' ability to stay healthy. Hence, no backup plan. Their second fatal flaw is believing a collection of "assets" will someday turn into a star. The jury is still out.
