76 replies to this topic

[Red94]

New post: The Rockets Daily - August 22, 2013
By: John Eby

Faithless - Jeremy Lin's comment about his coaches losing faith in him had some legs yesterday. As a result, Brian Windhorst offered up his take on ESPN:

As is pretty much always the case with Jeremy Lin, I'm sure we're all just overreacting.

Overreacting - If you want to throw more fuel on the let's-debate-the-point-guard-position fire, here's a great interview with Isaiah Canaan on rockets.com. It sounds like he's already hitting a groove playing with James Harden:

Quote:

JCF: Have you had a chance to play alongside James much?

IC: Oh yeah, we played together a lot when we were out there together in LA. I’m a release valve for him; when he gets in trouble, he knows I can make the shots so he likes kicking it to me. We’re going to try to build upon that throughout the season. Even with Dwight, when he gets doubled – or anybody else for that matter – I can be a release valve for him because I shoot the ball so well. That’s what the Rockets love: they love good shooters and I feel like I fit in real well because that’s definitely one of my strengths.

Canaan comes across as very confident, polished and aware of his role in this piece. But seriously, let's not start talking about him as if he could take Lin or Beverly's spot in the rotation. That would be overreacting. It'll be everything he can do to leapfrog Aaron Brooks, who has already proven he can cut it in the pros. The Rio Grande Valley Vipers will have an excellent point guard this year, and the Rockets will have another backup available for when Lin goes down with his annual playoff injury. What? Too soon?

It's On - Is it just me, or is Dubs-Rox shaping up to be the biggest rivalry in the West next year? It seems like the confluence of young talent, big free agent additions, and memorable personalities has built a few emotional games from last season into something more. NBA.com held a blogtable discussion yesterday debating which team would come out on top, and the writers split evenly between the two teams. Steve Aschburner made what I thought was the most compelling case for Houston:

Quote:

Golden State won two more games than Houston last season but one team added Andre Iguodala and the other added Dwight Howard. I like the Warriors’ talent and what they did with it, but that was with Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry as key rotation players. They’re gone now. Daryl Morey‘s not done with that roster yet, and the Rockets are hungry. Also, I think Howard has a big year in him, bottled up through the nonsense of his last two seasons and uncorked through his new partnership with Hall of Fame big men Kevin McHale and Hakeem Olajuwon.

It's easy to forget after GSW's impressive playoff run that they were only two games ahead of Houston. How different would the perception of these teams be if Golden State had run into the OKC buzzsaw in the first round instead of upsetting a gimmicky Nuggets team? Also, the loss of Jarrett Jack (one of the top candidates for 6th Man of the Year) and Carl Landry is far, far more painful than the loss of Carlos Delfino and Thomas Robinson, considering Robinson had fallen out of the rotation, and Francisco Garcia showed great promise in filling Delfino's role.

As far as the comparisons between the additions of Iguodala and Dwight Howard, let's try to put this to sleep right now. Even if we throw out the fact that Dwight Howard is in another stratosphere in terms of career accomplishments and look solely at last season, here's how it shakes out:

PER: Andre Iguodala - 15.2; Dwight Howard - 19.4

Offensive Rating (points produced per 100 possessions) - AI - 105; D12 - 105

Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) - AI - 105; D12 - 100

Offensive Win Shares - AI - 2.4; D12 - 2.8

Defensive Win Shares - AI - 3.2; D12 - 4.8

Turnover Percentage - AI - 17.1; D12 - 16.6

True Shooting Percentage - AI - 52%; D12 - 57.3%

Win Shares per 48 Minutes - AI - .097; D12 - .134

If Andre Iguodala has a bigger impact on Golden State than Dwight Howard has on Houston, it will be for reasons other than for his ability to play the game of basketball.  Golden State gave up their key 6th man for AI, while Houston gave up virtually nothing to get D12. If that's not enough for Houston to close a two-game gap, I don't know what is.

 

[BrentYen]

"the Rockets will have another backup available for when Lin goes down with his annual playoff injury. What? Too soon?"

 

wow....just wow....

[Buckko]

I can't wait for the rockets to break GS's back. I am tired of obnoxious and arrogant Warrior fans stating we aren't even in their league. They say we gave up our entire bench for D12. Robinson and Delfino are our bench? Really? They always talk about chemistry, we didn't change up our roster, we just added Dwight. Curry and Bogut are injury prone and they have bad backups for when they go down. I know this is their most hyped up year in about a couple decades but we are going to bring them screaming back to reality when the rockets play them.

[Cooper]

Barnes will be fine replacing jack as sixth man, speights isn't a whole lot worse than Landry so I don't think they will miss him and jack all that much but Howard should make us 10 or more wins better than last year I doubt the dubs are much more than 5 games better than last year that much better but could benefit from a little easier schedule.

[Buckko]

Barnes will be fine replacing jack as sixth man, speights isn't a whole lot worse than Landry so I don't think they will miss him and jack all that much but Howard should make us 10 or more wins better than last year I doubt the dubs are much more than 5 games better than last year that much better but could benefit from a little easier schedule.

O'neal is on the last leg of his career and can't play starter minutes when Bogut gets hurt, and then they have no one to play 3rd string center. What Lee does on the offense end gets cancelled out by what he lacks on the defensive end and the only people who can shoot the 3 on that team are Curry, Barnes, Klay, and Douglas(sometimes). Did I forget to mention Curry's chronic ankle issues and their lack of depth and bench beyond a few secondaries. I know not every team can be built like the rockets but they only have about 3 okay quality guys coming off the bench.

[rockets best fan]

the Rockets are going to give the GSW a reality check........first off we were better last year in head to head by 3-1. I don't think you can discount what J-Jack and Landry produced for them. Collison is ok, but he's no J-Jack. Barnes is a stud, but him and AI will play limited minutes together. unless they play a lot of small ball and are successful they stayed about the same after this off season. they must have a post presence...if Bogut misses much time they are in trouble. O'neil is robbing them without a mask or gun. his NBA career was over 3 years ago. D-Lee can still play, but will struggle against the power teams in the west. at the same time we will be growing into a powerhouse. D-12 will have a career year this year. he has taken a lot of backlash this off season and will be playing with a chip on his shoulder. I don't see how they will be anywhere near the level to compete with us. we can win it all....I don't think you can say that about them.

[rockets best fan]

"the Rockets will have another backup available for when Lin goes down with his annual playoff injury. What? Too soon?"

 

wow....just wow....

out of all of the stuff he mentioned in this article that's the only line you saw?

[Steven]

out of all of the stuff he mentioned in this article that's the only line you saw?

What makes us the agrniest, are the jokes that we know are true.

[Buckko]

What makes us the agrniest, are the jokes that we know are true.

He's still our best PG though.

[Steven]

He's still our best PG though.

We will see. That's what practice and the preseason will determine.

[lawprofsr]

I think sports fans and commentators are generally unfamiliar with evangelical church culture. Jeremy was "witnessing", which often involves sharing a personal story about how low you have fallen before you realized you needed to "come back to Jesus." Like any story with a moral, the lows are usually slightly exaggerated. This was not an interview in which he is complaining about his coaches. It's a confession about human pride, faith and humility.

[Buckko]

I think sports fans and commentators are generally unfamiliar with evangelical church culture. Jeremy was "witnessing", which often involves sharing a personal story about how low you have fallen before you realized you needed to "come back to Jesus." Like any story with a moral, the lows are usually slightly exaggerated. This was not an interview in which he is complaining about his coaches. It's a confession about human pride, faith and humility.

The thing is the media and society doesn't like Christianity and refuses to even talk about it where ever its shown, but they sure support muslims in what ever they do. Sorry my secret anguish for this world seeping out.

[Alituro]

The interview with Canaan was good... Seems like a straight-up guy. I sure hope gone are the days of taking personality chances on the likes of players like Terrence Williams and Royce White. I've always loved Morey's perceived propensity for bringing in high character guys like AB, Carl Landry, Scola, Bud, Parsons, Hayes, Lowry, Battier and the list goes on... But then every once in a while he surprises us with a wild card, and no wild card has worked out yet.. Please let that sink in Morey... No Josh Smith on the roster makes me think it has..

[Alituro]

I think sports fans and commentators are generally unfamiliar with evangelical church culture. Jeremy was "witnessing", which often involves sharing a personal story about how low you have fallen before you realized you needed to "come back to Jesus." Like any story with a moral, the lows are usually slightly exaggerated. This was not an interview in which he is complaining about his coaches. It's a confession about human pride, faith and humility.

 

Of course it wasn't an interview about basketball because he wouldn't have been as candid.. even though his statement may be taken (somewhat) out of context, it gives us a peek into his head and confirms what many of us have been guessing. It speaks volumes about his inner drive and gives fans confidence that he is working on and has the skills to overcome his shortcomings.

[Buckko]

The interview with Canaan was good... Seems like a straight-up guy. I sure hope gone are the days of taking personality chances on the likes of players like Terrence Williams and Royce White. I've always loved Morey's perceived propensity for bringing in high character guys like AB, Carl Landry, Scola, Bud, Parsons, Hayes, Lowry, Battier and the list goes on... But then every once in a while he surprises us with a wild card, and no wild card has worked out yet.. Please let that sink in Morey... No Josh Smith on the roster makes me think it has..

Jones is not a bad guy, I guarantee he didn't stomp on the guy because if a 6'10 250 dude stomped on your leg, its going to get broken friend. 

[Mason Khamvilay]

Jones is not a bad guy, I guarantee he didn't stomp on the guy because if a 6'10 250 dude stomped on your leg, its going to get broken friend.

My thoughts exactly.

[rockets best fan]

He's still our best PG though.

that's debatable and has been debated more times than is healthy

[rockets best fan]

Jones is not a bad guy, I guarantee he didn't stomp on the guy because if a 6'10 250 dude stomped on your leg, its going to get broken friend. 

I agree. I think that whole situation got blown out of context. now some are talking about the guy like he is a bad apple which I don't believe for a minute

[Alituro]

Jones is not a bad guy, I guarantee he didn't stomp on the guy because if a 6'10 250 dude stomped on your leg, its going to get broken friend. 

I was never insinuating Jones was a wild card (I mentioned Williams in my post).. The jury still may be out on Jones, but he seems like a grounded, sensible guy. Everyone does stupid stuff on occasion in their youth, even if he did, he's still cool (so far) in my book.. I feel as well that the situation was blown out of proportion, he was probably nudging the guy with his leg messing with him.. A stomp definitely would have meant hospitalization..

[BrentYen]

out of all of the stuff he mentioned in this article that's the only line you saw?

Because this line was the only line that feels weird.