BTW, I'm not making excuses for the rockets. They just flat out suck at this point. But I was making the point that I think you had faulty assumptions for your references to Boston and Orlando.
We're just going to have to agree to disagree. Being an Eastern Conference team is not an explanation, nor is it an excuse for the Rockets poor performance...not when the Rockets can't even beat those teams. Same goes for the "tough schedule" the Rockets have had, seeing how they've handled the "softening schedule." We're not even addressing the real issues here. So answer me this...do you see the lack of effort that others are seeing, or are you still pawning that off on the tough schedule and having to develop chemistry? Did you see McGrady quit on his team last night (which wasn't the first time, by the way)?
I do see a lack of effort, I do see a need for change. I know they plain out suck. But that in itself is not an explanation for Boston's and Orlando's success. Unlike T-mac, Garnett has been proven to be a great teammate and is someone hungry for success. To me he's more instrumental than pierce will ever be. We brought in a quitter from Orlando, now we have to live with it.
My posts are intended to be considered in their entirety. Please don't take my statements out of context. We have not had the chance to master our offense. When you don't score it is increasingly hard to play defense... When you don't score there aren't many opportunities to force the opposition into a half court offense. When the Rockets don't score teams are able to run and benefit from our larger slower lineup. When you can't score or play defense morale is destroyed. When morale is destroyed, hustle and effort goes with it. (This chain of events is the whole 80/20 thing I was talking about.) Believe me, I've been watching. The majority of our problems are on the court not in the locker room.
And yet, JVG was able to get him to play consistently at a high level. He was able to get him to buy in to being a distributor. So, to bring this thread full circle, Adelman is the one that needs to go.
And this is a certainty 22 games into this coach's first season? Sounds like we have a classic example of the most committed fallacy... Hasty generalization
You may be right about your theories, but only to a certain extent IMO. There's been a lack of effort and discipline all season, even when they were 6-1. Some of those wins in the 6-1 stretch were fools gold. Struggling to beat Milwaukee and Charlotte are examples. Up until now, it's been pawned off on adjustments, and it's just now starting to be talked about after a 5-10 stretch. Don't accept in victory what you wouldn't accept in defeat. It looks like RA accepts everything. If shots aren't falling, that's no excuse to not get back in transition. If you can't run an offense, as professionals, it's no excuse to not give a consistent effort. It may make it harder mentally to physically do it in pick up games at the YMCA, but if you're a pro, it's no excuse. There's 0 resiliance in this team when things don't go their way.
I agree with you to an extent also. Our 6-1 start was fools gold in that it did accurately represent the current status of this team. Also, you were right when you said missing shots does not excuse you from getting back and playing transition defense, but it is a crippling problem when you don't have the speed to keep up with teams that do. I truly believe that once our offensive woes are solved or at least begin to improve, everything else will fall into place.
If you don't have the speed to keep up, you need to try something else. Try a zone. Maybe try putting some token pressure on the other team's PG so the rest of your defense can recover a bit. Do something. Try something else. Please.
You are right again. We do need to do something else. And that something else is become the offensive power that we have the potential to be.
Well I have watched many games over the years and Coach'A' is the first coach who I have seen, who doesn't do much coaching/directing/adjusting during the time outs of our games. THe first thing he does is walk through the players and talk to his ast. coaches.
I've noticed this as well. But you would be surprised... I was able to sit right behind the rox's bench several times last season. And during timeouts, more times than not JVG would kneel in front of the bench and stare at his clipboard. From afar it would look like he was going over something, but he wasn't. I think that most coaches do this, most of the time.
