17 replies to this topic

[Red94]

New post: Houston Rockets at Philadelphia 76ers on 1/12/2013

[Cooper]

Lin had a really rough game.

[Red94]

New post: Philadelphia 76ers 107, Houston Rockets 100: Morey needs to draft more power forwards.

[cdhthegreat]

a roadie 4 games in 5 nights is tough...

if we don't upgrade our 4 by the deadline I'm not sure we make the playoffs.

we also need a halfcourt offense.

[goRockets]

Maybe it's time to start Patterson at the 4, and Morris come off the bench. Patterson is the better defender, and too much pressure on Morris as starter. Lin did have a terrible shooting night, but he still had the best /- out of starters at 8, so that means when he goes off court, the Rockets can keep their leads. Douglas is too small a guard to defend the really good PGs.

[amacbrooks12]

So sick and tired of all these PGs absolutely abusing Jeremy Lin.

[Sir Thursday]

So sick and tired of all these PGs absolutely abusing Jeremy Lin.

To be fair, Holiday is a beast that anyone would struggle to guard. There's a reason they were so abysmal when we played them last time - he wasn't on the floor.

It feels like the scouting report is catching up to the Rockets a bit. Teams know they've got to get back and defend in transition, and it's significantly reducing the number of quick shot opportunities the Rockets can get by running. Perhaps fatigue plays a part in that as well - I haven't been seeing players push the ball up the court with the same level of intent they had during the hot streak in the last few games.

ST

[Sir Thursday]

Also re: Harden's amazing play. It was very nice, but unfortunately the replay shows it was also a clear double dribble as he uses both hands to control the ball after putting it between his legs. It's a shame such a sweet move was tarnished by such a fundamental flaw .

ST

[Bigtkirk]

Lin's consistency is still a bit suspect, but let's remember that he is still essentially a first year player at PG. He continues to show enough potential that improvement in consistency appears likely.

On the other hand, PF is a real problem. Patterson appears to be, at best, a backup big. Morris may not even be that. Both played worse than a replacement level player against Philly.

[joshtwillis]

It's almost impossible not to be completly disappointed in a 3 game losing streak obviously. However I think we are all guilty of getting to high with our praise in a win or a winning streak and too low with our criticism in a loss, or in this case a losing streak. This is a very young team with 3 out of the five starters coming from different teams in the offseaon and eleven out of the fiftenn learning to play with eath other for the first time

[joshtwillis]

It's almost impossible not to be completly disappointed in a 3 game losing streak obviously. However I think we are all guilty of getting to high with our praise in a win or a winning streak and too low with our criticism in a loss, or in this case a losing streak. This is a very young team with 3 out of the five starters coming from different teams in the offseaon and eleven out of the fifteen players on the roster either being rookies or players coming from different teams and learning how to play with each other for the first time. As a fan sometimes the hardest things can be having patience, but so far this team has had a surprisingly very good start to the season and what looks to be a very bright future ahead.
(sorry for the double post I hit the comment button on accident before I was finished)

[cdhthegreat]

I fundamentally disagree with the "they are young so it's an excuse to lose" line of thought. You should beat teams you're better than, simple and plain. We have a horribly big hole at the 4 and the fact that the only way we can consistently score is on the break... both are failings of the coaching staff (half court deficiencies) and management (been drafting 4's for years and the 2 we end up with in the rotation do the EXACT same things offensively and have some of the same defensive flaws too? Bring back Landry).

These losses were schedule losses so I'm not going to cry about them, but there are some foundational issues that need to be ironed out if we're going to be competing for a homecourt spot this year.

[Ostrow]

I would love them to bring back Landry, but there is no way that the Warriors would trade him. He is the type of player we need. A guy who you can throw it to in the post and can score. If someone like him is available and doesn't take a lot to get I think we need to make that deal. I know we have a ton of 4's, but we need someone who can score w/ his back to the basket.

[Stephen]

Re Jones in D-League. About 1/3 his shots are 3s,which he's hitting at @ .350 he's shooting nearly 50% on 2s(a few points below Pat) and he getting 5.8 Fts a game.(@ 36 minutes/game)
Pat is shooting .343 on 3s,over 50% on twos,only 1/5 of his shots are 3s and he's getting 1.3 FTs a game.(@ 27 minutes/game)
Morris is shooting .374 on 3s,over 50% on twos,w/@ 44% of his shots being 3s and getting 1.6 FTs a game.(@ 23 minutes/game)
Jones is averaging 18.75ppg on 15.2 shots,Pat is getting 11.9ppg on 10.2 shots and Morris 8.8ppg on 7.5 shots.

Interestingly,the three are scoring about the same per shot,but get their points differently.
Jones gets to the line,Pat feasts on 2pt shots and Morris gets his from the 3pt line.
Rebounding is hard to quantify as the talent level among the bigs is so different. However,Morris and Pat are both averaging 6.5 rebounds Per36 minutes and Jones in his limited minutes in the NBA ave'd 7.1 Per36.

[Stephen]

Wouldn't be surprised to see Beverly up soon,as defense on PGs is supposed to be a strength of his.

My suggested tweak trade would be Pat(and prob Aldrich) to Sac for Jason Thompson.
Thompson will never be an All-Star,but is a perfect complementary big,able to play PF or C. He rebounds well(9 Per36),plays decent D(a block a game),scores adequately(@ 11ppg on a team full of no-passing gunners). Has no 3pt shot and a MLE contract for 5 yrs,but he has height-6'11"-and can start at PF and shift to C when Asik goes out.

[cdhthegreat]

I've been talking Jason Thompson up a lot on thedreamshake.... He'd be my ideal easily gettable 4. Playing for a good team would probably help him out as well.

[Rahat Huq]

I'm just as guilty as this as anyone but I think after the 10-2 stretch, we placed expectations too high on this team and thought it was the norm. Now that they've regressed to the mean, we're disappointed when in actually, they are what we've always thought they were. A pretty good team that will contend for and likely make the playoffs as a lower seed, but not a homecourt team.

[cdhthegreat]

I don't mind not being elite, it just bugs me when we lose to inferior teams. There are about 4 teams in the conference that are better than we are from a talent perspective, but right now we're 8th. That is what bothers me.