coaching has been terrible so far. There is a reason why Sampson is an assistant coach so we can't really fault him for trying.
I agree, why fans are expecting any thing more is a surprise. I am in the wait till 2014-15 season, then more should be expected.
Lower your expectation is the right way to stay positive. So painful to watch a rebuilding team develop.
Who is to blame? A few thoughts, possibly from a bit of a different angle: The Rockets were building GREAT chemistry in the preseason. They were moving the ball, K-Mart was getting all kinds of shots WITHOUT ISO PLAYS, the team was RUNNING, and DEFENDING. It was getting more and more FUN to watch their basketball. Then Harden lands - - And so do the Rockets. Why is that, you ask? Well, it seems ever since Harden came to Houston, some messianic wave washed over too many people in and around the organization: "He is HERE! Our PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED!" SO WRONG. I have said it before, and I will say again: I liked what I saw with K-Mart in the preseason more than anything I saw from the Rockets with Harden so far. Because with K-Mart (and no less - WITHOUT HARDEN), everyone was focused on TEAM BASKETBALL. Oh, and also, there was no question who is running the offense "back then"... The reaction to Harden has been, and still is, extremely exaggerated. Even MJ was not treated as "the savior" in the way Harden is. And MJ is 2 levels above Harden (and 1 level above LBJ... Just had to say that... But also, it means LBJ is 1 level above Harden, and LeBron was never a receiver of such groveling red carpets that Harden got upon arrival...) Something got BROKEN when Harden arrived. "Team spirit" it is called. That "All for One and One for All" feeling. The mentality of "WE" instead of "I". This all changed when Harden arrived. THIS IS THE MAIN THING THAT WENT WRONG. It needs to be FIXED ASAP. And FIXED means, first, that Jeremy Lin needs to get back the keys to the offense, and have the entire Rockets backing him up 100%, OR he will continue to lack confidence, which will make him continue taking the wrong shots (and missing them) instead of taking the right ones (and making them), which will lower his confidence further, and the Rockets will have shot themselves in both feet, several times, and will continue losing in an ugly way. Which brings me to the COACHING aspect... Oh boy. You can have all the best ingredients for a great cake, but when you put a moron in charge of the baking, well... I don't know about McHale. I hope he can be the right coach for this group of young talented guys. What I DO KNOW is, that Kelvin Sampson is a DISASTER. How shall I count the ways? 1. He freaks out in crunch time (benching Asik on critical rebounding situations - Heat FT where Bosh celebrated Asik's absence, grabbing that critical rebound, beating the Rockets), benching Lin the ENTIRE CRUNCH TIME vs. Portland on an 11, 11, 6, 2blk game, thus losing the game with his bare hands (still can't get over that one...), then saying he "thought Toney Douglas was a little better defensive match up" (TD ended up switching on Lillard every time, and when he didn't, Lillard made 1 clutch 3, and luckily missed another wide open 3... so where's the match up?... but enough about that one) - Here's where it should be said, Sampson has no integrity / guts to admit his mistake during a game, so he sticks by them, to the bitter end... Then justifies his decisions as much as he can. 2. Still with PG position, but that comes to serve a more general point / description of Sampson's coaching incompetence: Sampson seems to truly believe Douglas is a better defensive player than Lin, which has been publicly proven wrong by virtually every meaningful statistical measure, it seems to be common knowledge by now (only not with Sampson)... This shows Sampson is making decision without relying on FACTS... and he is... the Head Coach... --> Disaster. Burned cake, if you will. 3. Have you noticed Sampson keeps blaming the PLAYERS for "not being able to keep a lead and close out games"? Have you seen how many times he has publicly criticized / emphasized alleged weaknesses of players (mostly Lin, again, which surely adds to Lin's confidence.. He should learn from Lin about team loyalty.. and watch Lin's reply to LAL reporters asking him what he thought of being benched the whole OT vs. Portland). Have you ever heard Sampson EVEN HINT that HE HAS ANY RESPONSIBILITY over ANYTHING? Have you EVEN heard him say he made a mistake? No. It is always the team that is too young. This is a characteristic of a BAD COACH, who DAMAGES his team and his players. I have never heard him say "WE". It's always "THEY" (the players). I guess I'll stop here... To summarize: 1. The Rockets MUST STOP WORSHIPING HARDEN IMMEDIATELY, and start focusing HIM on how HE can HELP THE TEAM, as an (very well paid) EQUAL among EQUALS. 2. The Rockets MUST TAKE THE WHEEL OUT OF THE HANDS OF SAMPSON, effective IMMEDIATELY. I BET YOU that ANY OTHER assistant coach would do a better job than him running the show until McHale is back (hoping he's "the man"). 3. The Rockets MUST REALIZE that there will be NO LINSANITY 2 (which means someone to run the show!) unless Jeremy Lin gets the backing-up Steve Nash got from the Suns. The Rockets must realize Lin is AS IMPORTANT, if not MORE important to the team's success than Harden. But, of course, Lin will disappear much faster than Harden because he's a nice guy with zero ego. It is Morey's role to make sure that does not happen. If he does allow it to happen, then he'd better just trade Lin away ASAP, and get some "standard" NBA PG, and try to figure it out from there... (and look like a fool for the whole "Face of the Franchise" campaign he ran for Lin just a few months ago...) What can I say... I certainly do NOT think Morey is to blame - but I DO think Morey is the KEY to making THIS Rockets team a winner. I truly hope he will succeed.
i blame age and inexperience , we are the youngest team in the nba! c'mon guys have some patience our team can only get better better than where we were yesterday stuck trying to trade everyone!
maybe the plays wouldn't be so messy. Not to so that Harden is no good. Just that the players are not gelling together. If that is not working usually it's the coach's fault. It's not just coming out with plays, rotations. There are pyscholoigcal aspects to coaching . good example : LAKERS with mike Brown < Mike D. Machale not being there, I think does play a factor. The players, right now might not trust Sampson knowing that he is temporary. This causes hestitation and doubt. anyway i am just guessing..
Comcast Sportsnet Houston is to blame. No one can watch the games, so the players don't feel motivated.
I still laugh that people think we should be better than we are. First, mixing new players together is going to take a bit. If we were the Lakers, the bad start would be concerning. Not for the Rockets. Second, people are expecting way too much from Harden and Lin. If you thought these two guys along with our other sub par players were going to lead us deep in the playoffs, you need a reality check.
Absolutely not, in the long term anyway. What you have to remember is that the team had hundreds of hours working together. Then appears Harden. Applecart upended! Harden is 5 years younger and already a much better player than Martin. The team is probably heading to a 6-9 lottery pick. Might as well work for the future and not so much for today's wins. No?
This statement is crazy!!! Les has nothing to do with shaping this roster if he did why would he hire Morey....and if anything he would have kept the players from last year
This is the team we thought it would be. There's no one to blame. Only the ignorant, or extremely positive, fans thought this would be more than a 35 win team.
