There is something seriously wrong with our management, starting with Lesie, then Morey and finally McHale. I'm waiting for the day one of those 3 will come out and say: "Hey, we've tried to do this, but we failed and now it's time to be smart and handle this differently."
It's not on them. It's the players. We were doing fine with all the injuries. Then everyone gets back and we collapse. That's a player problem, not the front office.
Yes it is on them. Everybody could see, even before this losing mentality started to kick in, that our Moreyball philosophy (in trades, handling players, data driven 'offense') and Leslie's love for big name players, having spilled over to McHale's incompetent behind that we will never win if it continues. Sure, part of it is on the players, but we were fine when we had injuries. Now with the egos back and McHale's love for short rotations, we look tired and uninspired. Also, our terrible FG%, 3p%, lack of ball movement is not the fault of the players when Morey and McHale allow a freestyle offense and instruct you to shoot as much as you want (from downtown and in close). Since lay-ups are hard to come by with our lanes clogged (partly due to Josh) this comes down to way too many threes. We will probably hoist even more now.
I think you are venting. The same flaws that existed when this team was winning exist now that it is losing. Are we flawed as a team? Of course. We need a stretch 4 and a PG that can create, but don't have either. Does that justify how poorly we are playing? Absolutely not.
The problem isn't really too many 3's... it's the fact that Ariza isn't making them. He leads the league in attempts at nearly 8 per game, but is only shooting about 30%. That's like asking Terrence Jones to chuck 8 threes a game. Or Josh Smith. He's single-handedly bringing the team 3-pt percentage down.
Every team goes thru some bad playing...we should not over-react at this point. I recall getting Drexler and the first few games it didn't work right. With a little time, the team built some chemistry and they won the whole thing. Patience.
Not sure what you are talking about. Morey didn't exactly "shake up the roster" like you are leading to believe. He gave up Troy Daniels, and Tarik Black... Two un-drafted D-League level players (as much as I like them both) for Corey Brewer and Josh Smith. Both players were inserted into the lineup, and neither are to blame for the lackluster play over the past 3 weeks. Yes, the shake up might have affected the chemistry & rotations, but thats very minor as you see in the games vs. the Grizzlies where with zero practice, it still worked out just fine. It worked out fine because the team came out and played hard as a whole. They also played this style of basketball called.... defense. This is a team issue right now. Ariza and Terry cannot hit the broad side of a barn and its affecting other aspects of their game. Beverley has been horrific, and his defense staying in front of quick pg's has taken a huge dip. Howard has frankly been coasting since coming back from injury. Even though he's had good production offensively his defensive protection around the rim has been putrid in comparison to his normal play. Its all across the board. No other way to describe it. So I don't really know what you are complaining about. The small shake up of the roster is a scapegoat theory. Every contender in the league wanted to sign Josh Smith for a reason. If you are going to blame Morey, than you also have to point a finger at RC Buford, Mark Cuban, Pat Riley, etc. etc. THEY ALL WANTED TO ADD HIM MID-SEASON TOO, and if they had a lackluster PF rotation you bet damn well they would have told him he would be starting as well.
What exactly did they try to do? Try to turn a roster that had old Tmac and Yao Ming into a roster that has Dwight and Harden in just 5 short years? Is that something to apologize for? What about OKC, that team started with a clear capspace, Kevin Durant and another top pick, 5 years later they are no closer to a title than the Rox. Is Presti gonna come out and apologize for trading Harden for role players? I like how the entire FO weren't smart when they rebuilt the team from scratch and now that we have core players everyone is suddenly an armchair genius who knows how to turn the team around I mean, the season isn't even halfway done and posters are acting like the Rockets just destroyed their chances for a ring for the next 10 years. Before the season started everybody had the Rox dead in the water, now they're actually just 4 games out of first place. Why should the Rockets FO apologize for this LMAO? If Moreyball/Mchale etc. all these strategies don't work why are the Rockets only 4 games out of first place and not at the bottom of the standings? Is this somethign to apologize about? Gimme a break
Also as great as Harden has been this season, and however much he's improved defensively, the past couple weeks I've noticed a serious drop off in his defensively integrity. He's floating around too damn much, and teams are killing the Rockets with open 3's. Corey Brewer is also very guilty about doing this too. You have 3 guys (Harden/Ariza/Brewer) who are playing the passing lanes way too much, and its killing this team on D. See Ryan Anderson's 17pts in something like 5 minutes last night.
Exactly. Unless you are an all-time great team like the '86 Celtics or the '96 Bulls you are going to have a rough stretch. Better now than in April/ May.
Spurs had a bad stretch a couple of weeks back. Lets see how this team rebounds and gets back on the saddle.
It's on McHale, it's his job to get the players ready. If x player (s) does not want to compete he should bench them. He had the right idea in the 3rd but he should of done that in the first half and played effin cannon at pg.
Alright I'll take the responsibility. I was not wearing my lucky Rockets shirt last night. I apologize for doing this to you guys. We're going to struggle in any game that Harden and Howard don't combine for 40 points.
I'm sure they talk about it among themselves. Heck, they may even fight among themselves about what they did and didn't do. But why should they let the outside world know about company secrets or dirty laundry? I'm sure in your work (or family) you do the same. Some things are best dealt with internally.
I noticed that too. I think it coincides with the return of Howard, as well. Howard returned playing so lackadaisical on both ends, especially on defense. If Harden and Howard are supposed to be our superstars and one of them is playing lazy >80% of the time on defense, it's only a matter of time till the other superstar follows suit. We saw it last year when Harden took plays off on defense then Howard stopped hustling as well. Then when the star players start being lazy, the whole team will follow suit. As we are we are seeing now, no one is making the "extra effort" on defense that the whole team was making at the start of the season. Also, Harden's defensive lapses might have something to do with how he is the only one, past the occasional Dmo post up, that can do anything on offense right now. It has to be pretty frustrating getting teammates open shots and watching them miss time and time again. Then knowing the team has to rely solely on you to bring the team back every game is its own frustration in itself. I have a feeling that if the team starts hitting shots and doesn't have to rely on him to have monster nights every night, we will see Harden and the team's defense once again. Bottom line; this team needs accountability. Not from McHale or the coaches but from the players. The players right now aren't accountable and it's showing in how they play every night. It has to start with Howard since he is the highest paid and is the one that is flat out coasting out there right now. I don't remember the last time he made the "extra effort" play on defense. It's ironic because he is the one that always preaches accountability, yet he is the one that needs to be accountable the most. Once he starts being accountable, the whole team will follow.
This just might be worse than the trade Harden thread. There were literally threads on here asking if we were the favorites now, just a week ago. Y'all need to chill. There is no way an 82 game season isn't going to have some down points. Now if it continues, then I agree we need to change something. Something happened when Dwight came back. I'm not putting all the blame on him, but something with the team defense/chemistry got all jacked up when we inserted him back into the lineup. I'm sure trying to integrate Smith and Brewer is having a negative effect as well.
