Play defense and rebound better than Howard or Novak - and it shows in the stats, I don't know if you watched Novak when he's in during the regular season, I suspect you didn't, but he has been absolutely awful in anything besides shooting. The fact that Novak is orders of magnitude below Padgett in these areas (when Padgett is not particularly good at either) shows how truly lousy he is. His man scores nearly every time he decides to shoot - against Utah, he was the first sub off the bench. Utah went right at him, and scored every single time. He is invisible on the boards. That is why he is -29.0 for the season. Evne with the small sample size - that is horrific. The question is not can Padgett shoot as well as Novak - it is vice versa. preseason and college do not count anymore.
I'm upset because I do more reading than posting in GARM, and I have to wade through what seems like a hell of a lot of posts in a thread to find a nice one, even if it's a nice one that I disagree with. OK, everyone's heard the same complaint a million times. Our membership has become so large that this is inevitable, perhaps, but still unfortunate. People can't help posting. I'm a perfect example of that, lol. I wish the mods would post more opinions, PLEASE! And be more brutal about closing threads. I may complain if it's a thread I like, but it would be for the greater good, in my opinion. My main gripe, though, is we seem to have grown so large that the mods (and I'm including Clutch, of course) seem to be too busy keeping an eye on things to put in their 2 cents as often as I would like. Or a quarter. Hell, throw in a buck. Who would have more to say than those that take the time, effort, and expense to put on this BBS? I think of myself as a rabid fan, a homer, and a guy who's followed the team since they came to H-town. Not a savant, but a huge fan for whom this place is like a dream that came true. I wish those responsible could post more opinions, and write more columns, if they can find the time from the hectic "real world" out there. Get members to write "guest columns," and put them on the Front Page. We have some long time members who would be great at it. We have some newer members who would be great at it. Most of my posts are in Hangout and D&D, but Rockets basketball is what I love to read about. Columns by the mods and members would help me find some of those great opinions I miss, because of the shear volume of posts, by being right there for us to see. And if a link were posted at the end of a column to a thread about it, that would be totally groovy! Just a thought. At least I'm better off than most... I'm a very fast reader. Slow typist, but a fast reader, and good at skimming through threads. It helps maintain my sanity here. The Rockets? Healthy, this is the best team we've had in a very, very long time. After the break, we should be experienced enough, and have gelled enough to just be killing teams. We have the potential to make a deep run in the playoffs, and if we stay healthy, I think we will. I'm upset that Hayes is hurt, Bouncy Whales is out of shape, and we haven't been closing out games. Given any sort of luck, those problems will pass. Van Gundy has been doing a pretty good job with the hand he's been dealt. The offense and defense are evolving, and will continue to evolve as the players have more time with each other, gain experience, and Van Gundy figures out the best way to use them. I've been impressed at how he's adapting to the rule changes that have affected the game so much. And I think we'll be seeing the guys glued to the pine that we want on the floor, after they've proven themselves to his satisfaction. I'm upset that it isn't happening sooner than a reasonable person would expect. But I'm an unreasonable person.
I m not upset with the team's records 6-4, all these 4 loses are to the very good teams, so i m ok with it. I will be pissed if the rockets lost to the knicks tommorrow! I m just concerned about the heavy minutes played by yao and t-mac this early part of the season. Fatigue leads to injuries, this is what i m more concerned right now but I dont blame JVG for this because he just dont have many choices to work with it! By the way, at the moment, I will take Padgett over Novak!
and you know what? I (and Im sure the others that feel as I do) would not mind if people choose to be pessimistic about whats going on and want to talk about it...zero problems at all with that. but Some of these people feel the need to enter every thread and post the same exact rant about their favorite whipping boy.....MULTIPLE times in the same thread. Once you have posted your rant once in a thread.....dont keep posting the same thing over and over in that thread. It is soo tiresome to read thru. I wish more folks would restrict their ideas and complaints to somethign that can be proved instead of the tons of rumors and conjectures that some try to pass off as fact....it does nothing to further any real discussion. these actions become the norm instead of the exception...driving away fair minded posters that might be inclined to participate in a discussion.
Very true...that is a big concern. However, I would be much more concerned if we were getting beat for 4 periods ever game. Clearly we need some energy in the 2nd half. VSpan and Novak need some floor time...I wonder how they are doing in practice, if they are fine tuning their weaknesses with plans to see some court time soon. You would think Novak would see a few minutes just so he can hit some 3's to get us out of our late game slump...
Agree with you, New Yorker and Deckard regarding the amount of crapola on this forum but to me that strikes me as a necessary evil. Think of it as sorting through a whole lot of slag to find the diamonds. If we didn't have 5000 fire JVG threads there might not be so many gems of B-ball insight. And I say that as someone who post a bunch of B-ball slag. Personally I barely consider myself qualified to play NBA2k7 let alone coach an actual team. Why because I love the Rockets and I find the discussion interesting. The 5000 JVG threads get tedious but I've learned to skim.
...yeah... it's all about shooting. Why don't they just play 'horse' instead of basketball so Novak can be our saviour.
Thank you. Real Rockets fans support the team through good and bad time. The ones who diss the team and the players after every loss should ask themselves whether they really love the team or not.
Yo Deckard, I used to reserve my ignore list for the racists and arrogant sobs. But the growth of ridiculous 'drama queens' (thanks MacGreat!) has caused me to change my approach so I can continue to enjoy the board. I now look for the brief posts that end with something akin to 'xxxx sucks', or 'we should be 20-0 (after 10 games) or fire JVG!' ...they go right on my ignore. These threads are now starting to look much better. I'll share the list with you if you'd like.
Yep. And I don't mind the thoughtful, constructive criticism but what has surged here lately is not even close. I don't know many of these folks and I've seen a precipitious drop in the longtime posters. Like Deckard, I hope the mods get control over this, or a lot of ignore lists may start growing.
That's a good idea! I currently have one person on ignore, and it's not because of basketball. I need to broaden my horizons. If they wake up and smell the coffee, they'll be quoted, and you'll know to take them off, and give them another chance. Not bad, Cohen.
Simple, let me break it down for you. We haven't been able to beat the top teams in the nba this year(like last year)..and we're supposed to be a contender. It doesn't help that we've been in a huge lead and lose it in the 2nd half either
So, guess I was hallucinating about Miami and Dallas being in the Finals last year. I knew it... Dirk's soft ass would never made it.
I like how Deckard used the word "savant" to describe some fans. Heh. I agree, some fans are just...highly emotional. If we lose, it's JVG's/Yao's/Tmac's/Jho's/Alston's fault. Fire them! Trade them! or whatever else you have. And if we win, it's that this team is the best team we've ever had and we're promptly gonna dominate the league for the next 3 years or whatever. It's can be quite funny and maddening at the same time.
I want to know how you came to that conclusion. Novak played 20 minutes in regular season in his career so far! 20 minutes TOTAL. If we judge a rookie by his first 20 minutes in his career, Yao would still be sitting on the bench!
