74 replies to this topic

[Alituro]

Konstantinos "Kostas" Papanikolaou will save the Rockets season

LOL...

WHO?

[Steven]

His rights were aquired in the Thomas Robinson trade. 2013 Euro Rising star, past winners are Rubio, Bargnani, Gallinari, Ruby Fernandez, and the guys the Bulls just signed for 3 years $17.1M.

6'9" wing, 23. Played for FC Barcelona last season.

[slick shoes]

LOL...

WHO?

 

....Mike Jones?

[SDrake]

I think it's a very good article by Forrest Walker.  I think the Rockets have several issues in building a championship team.

 

1). Credibility.  Marquee free agents want to go somewhere they believe can win.  The Rockets still have Kevin McHale as head coach.  That hurts the team's credibility.  Everyone knows he's not a great strategist who hurts the team in close games.  Look at Game 6 last season against the Blazers to see one of many examples of McHale being ineffective as a strategist.

2). Chemistry.  Morey seems more interested in wanting the big-name free agents rather than building a team that has good cohesion to play well.  Is he trying to build an NBA All-Star team or a championship team?  Harden, Howard, the big names missed the past week.  Remember that when Lin signed, he was a big name.

The current Rockets' team has many holes and little depth.

 

1).  Trading Parsons for Ariza will hurt the offense.  Ariza isn't a good outside shooter.
2).  Trading away Lin...  Where's the depth at point guard?  Beverley wouldn't be starting on almost all NBA teams.  Canaan as a backup has almost no NBA experience.  I think last season Beverley got a free pass on many of his short-comings because he was caught in the middle of the Beverley vs. Lin stuff by the fans.  This season it's going to be Beverley or no one.  His short-comings will be there for all to see.
3).  There's still a big hole at PF.  D-Mo?  The guy can't play 10 minutes without being in foul trouble?  Terrance Jones isn't consistent.
4).  No real backup for the 10-12 minutes that Howard is out of the game.
5).  Defense.  I still don't see Harden as being an elite player until he becomes willing to play defense.  I say "willing" because I believe he's fully capable of playing good defense, he just chooses not to because he's always trying to stay in position to get down the court for offense.  Until Harden decides to start valuing a championship more than his personal offensive stats, he won't choose to play defense.

And people need to stop dreaming about acquiring Love or Rondo.  The Rockets have nothing of value to trade back to the Wolves or Celtics.

 

Plus, Howard has a history of being unhappy with his teams.  I expect by Christmas, he'll be asking for a trade.

Edited by SDrake, 15 July 2014 - 09:06 PM.

[rockets best fan]

@SDrake

WELCOME TO THE FORUM  I disagree with most of your assessment

1. Ariza shoots better from 3 pt. land than Parsons by 3 % pt.

2. Lin was addition by subtraction. it's time to look for other answers there because Lin wasn't getting the job done

3. it's called growth. we expect our youngsters to improve. if not we are in great position to improve later on

4. again we are not through building this team yet

5. I agree Harden's defense needs addressing. lets hope we add to the coaching staff with someone who can light a fire under his butt

Edited by rockets best fan, 15 July 2014 - 09:15 PM.

[rocketrick]

I think it's a very good article by Forrest Walker.  I think the Rockets have several issues in building a championship team.
 
1). Credibility.  Marquee free agents want to go somewhere they believe can win.  The Rockets still have Kevin McHale as head coach.  That hurts the team's credibility.  Everyone knows he's not a great strategist who hurts the team in close games.  Look at Game 6 last season against the Blazers to see one of many examples of McHale being ineffective as a strategist.

I assume your definition of marquee free agents include Carmelo and Bosh. Neither are going to be in position to win a ring anytime soon. They just took the money and are hoping their GM's can eventually build a contending roster.

Coach McHale is known throughout the league as a player's coach. Sure he's not the greatest X's and O's guy, that's why I expect the Rockets will bring in another strong Assistant Coach before the start of the season. Players around the league want to play for coaches like McHale, not drill sergeants.

By the way, when does an NBA Head Coach ever win games? Coaches coach and it's the players that eventually make or miss shots, fail to rebound, play effective defense, miss or make key free throws, etc. Kevin Durant has made a number of game winning shots in the final second of a game, not his Coach.

[SDrake]

I assume your definition of marquee free agents include Carmelo and Bosh. Neither are going to be in position to win a ring anytime soon. They just took the money and are hoping their GM's can eventually build a contending roster.

Coach McHale is known throughout the league as a player's coach. Sure he's not the greatest X's and O's guy, that's why I expect the Rockets will bring in another strong Assistant Coach before the start of the season. Players around the league want to play for coaches like McHale, not drill sergeants.

By the way, when does an NBA Head Coach ever win games? Coaches coach and it's the players that eventually make or miss shots, fail to rebound, play effective defense, miss or make key free throws, etc. Kevin Durant has made a number of game winning shots in the final second of a game, not his Coach.

 

Look at Popovich at San Antonio.  There's no doubt the Spurs are a better team because of his coaching.  To say that coaches don't win games is basically saying that it's not relevant who the coach is.  Coaches put the players in to the strategy and positions to win games.  There's no doubt that McHale's coaching has lost games (i.e. the overly-predictable Harden ISO during any final seconds situation).

Sure, Harden loves playing for McHale.  McHale lets Harden do his thing and basically run the show.  Harden could become a much better player if he had a coach who would actually coach Harden and require Harden to play defense.

Harden frustrates me because if he'd only focus more on his defense, the team would be much better.  But McHale lets him get away with a poor defense effort.

Carmelo and Bosh...  It's money.  But it's also ego.  Both chose to be where they'll be the focus of the team rather than needing to share the spotlight with Harden and Howard.  There's a tremendous amount of ego with professional athletes.  Both Carmelo and Bosh could have gone to any number of teams (at a lower pay) and put themselves in a prime situation for a championship.  But I'm not convinced that either coming to the Rockets would have put them in a prime opportunity for a championship.  Team chemistry and coaching would remain a problem.  McHale and the egos.  Harden has a massive ego.  Howard has an ego.  The Spurs... Popovich has a team that plays without egos.

[slick shoes]

Look at Popovich at San Antonio.  There's no doubt the Spurs are a better team because of his coaching.  To say that coaches don't win games is basically saying that it's not relevant who the coach is.  Coaches put the players in to the strategy and positions to win games.  There's no doubt that McHale's coaching has lost games (i.e. the overly-predictable Harden ISO during any final seconds situation).

Sure, Harden loves playing for McHale.  McHale lets Harden do his thing and basically run the show.  Harden could become a much better player if he had a coach who would actually coach Harden and require Harden to play defense.

Harden frustrates me because if he'd only focus more on his defense, the team would be much better.  But McHale lets him get away with a poor defense effort.

Carmelo and Bosh...  It's money.  But it's also ego.  Both chose to be where they'll be the focus of the team rather than needing to share the spotlight with Harden and Howard.  There's a tremendous amount of ego with professional athletes.  Both Carmelo and Bosh could have gone to any number of teams (at a lower pay) and put themselves in a prime situation for a championship.  But I'm not convinced that either coming to the Rockets would have put them in a prime opportunity for a championship.  Team chemistry and coaching would remain a problem.  McHale and the egos.  Harden has a massive ego.  Howard has an ego.  The Spurs... Popovich has a team that plays without egos.

 

Please god let someone else win the title so we can stop hearing about the freaking spurs!

[SDrake]

@SDrake

WELCOME TO THE FORUM  I disagree with most of your assessment

1. Ariza shoots better from 3 pt. land than Parsons by 3 % pt.

2. Lin was addition by subtraction. it's time to look for other answers there because Lin wasn't getting the job done

3. it's called growth. we expect our youngsters to improve. if not we are in great position to improve later on

4. again we are not through building this team yet

5. I agree Harden's defense needs addressing. lets hope we add to the coaching staff with someone who can light a fire under his butt

 

1. What stats are you looking at?  Career from 3pt...  Parsons = 37.0%, Ariza=34.7%

2. Lin may have not been living up to expectations, but Beverley isn't the answer either.

3. Growth/youngsters...  so 2014/15 is a rebuilding year?
4. But the number of available quality players is decreasing every day.  And the Rockets don't exactly have any good candidates of value to trade for a quality player in return, just a bunch of prospect-level players.
5. I agree.

[bladad]

Please god let someone else win the title so we can stop hearing about the freaking spurs!

 

 

GO MAVS!?!?!?!

[Steven]

1. What stats are you looking at? Career from 3pt... Parsons = 37.0%, Ariza=34.7%
2. Lin may have not been living up to expectations, but Beverley isn't the answer either.
3. Growth/youngsters... so 2014/15 is a rebuilding year?
4. But the number of available quality players is decreasing every day. And the Rockets don't exactly have any good candidates of value to trade for a quality player in return, just a bunch of prospect-level players.
5. I agree.

1. Career %s are skewed. His last two years he has shot 39.3% from three.
2. Canaan is the answer.
3. You don't rebuild, but it is time to find out how good they are.
4. Rockets are done. No one else out there is an upgrade.
5. What he said.

[rockets best fan]

@bladad

you're kidding right?

[rockets best fan]

@SDrake

1. Steven already pointed it out. Parsons shot 37% on threes last year Ariza shot 40%

2. are you saying even though we knew Lin wasn't the answer we should have still retained him? he wasn't cutting it so we will try something else

3. not rebuild........regroup

4. lets see what these youngsters got. I'm sure someone will surprise us

[slick shoes]

GO MAVS!?!?!?!

 

The Thunder have always been my #2 team but I kind of don't want them to win anything so that KD will decide it's time to take his talents to the 3rd coast.

[rockets best fan]

@slick shoes

FSS has already propose that plan and it seems to be gaining followers. I'm starting to lean that way myself. it would be the bomb wouldn't it?

[kdo]

KD isn't going to Houston. We really should stop shooting for the moon. We're lucky to hit twice, though I'd argue that it's only 1.5...if Harden can fix his gaps, and if we don't waste Howard's time, then I'll be pleased.

It just seems like no other "star" really wants to play with Howard and Harden, at least not at any discount.

[rockets best fan]

@kdo

first it was......no stars want to come to Houston

then it was....no stars want to play with Harden

now it's no stars want to play with Harden and Howard..............where will it end.........when we have an allstar team?

 

just because we missed out on a couple of stars does not mean none want to come here. sometimes in the NBA timing is everything

[Steven]

KD isn't going to Houston. We really should stop shooting for the moon. We're lucky to hit twice, though I'd argue that it's only 1.5...if Harden can fix his gaps, and if we don't waste Howard's time, then I'll be pleased.

It just seems like no other "star" really wants to play with Howard and Harden, at least not at any discount.

You do realize that KD and Harden are WAY closer the KD and Westbrook. I'm not saying it will matter, but having Harden would/will help in the recruitment of "Slim Reaper"

[Journeymany]

You do realize that KD and Harden are WAY closer the KD and Westbrook. I'm not saying it will matter, but having Harden would/will help in the recruitment of "Slim Reaper"

 

Err...  did you not see KD's MVP acceptance and his crying while saying Westbrook was 'his brother' and so on? Optimism is great, but this is just random clutching at straws. Having Harden should give us a slight edge over the other teams in the league, but the way KD always goes on about Westbrook, defending him from critics and praising him shows absolutely no reason for your statement!

 

Anyway, back on topic... well, I've recovered from being totally depressed over the weekend. Letting Parsons go was the right move after Bosh didn't sign. On the current running debate:

 

1) I consider Ariza more or less a straight sidegrade. Better D. Worse handle. We basically have the same starting 5 as last season, BUT costing $8 million more.

 

2) Whatever your views on he-who-shall-not-be-named, his 13 & 4 off the bench need replacing. There is no evidence that Canaan is the answer to date and I would expect Morey to sign a cheap guard or playmaker. Johnson looks more likely than Canaan right now, but Summer League really doesn't mean zip.

 

3) Whatever you want to call it, we're probably not contenders this year.

 

4) Morey will be trying to find some hidden gems from somewhere, possibly Europe I guess. But agree that there isn't anyone 'known' left and we are at 'prospect' level now.

 

5) Agree. When it becomes common that people call him 'James Haren', you have to hope he gets motivated to do something about that.....

[rockets best fan]

@Journeymany

I don't think it's as bad as you think

1. I do consider Ariza a side-grade. a player comparable to Parsons. you're right....a little better defense, a little less offense. actually Parsons PER was 15.9 last year and  Ariza's was 15.8........that's how close they are. however we paid 8 instead of 15 mil for that service. a player with a PER under 20 should not be making star money. it's just that simple. yeah we're paying 7 mil more for the starting lineup, but about 30 mil less for the bench

2.I keep hearing posters talk about how Lin's production needs to be replaced. we weren't sure we were going to get that production when Lin was here he was so inconsistent. that's a problem we needed to address anyway. the way I see it we got rid of the money clogging the team. now we can look at some of these youngsters we been grooming.

3. would we have been contenders with Parsons, Lin and Asik? with Parsons, Lin and Asik plus scraps we get from FA (because they are eating up our cap space) market put us past OKC?.......the Clippers? Portland? when something isn't working you take steps to change it.

4. we already have youngsters we need to look at. before we start just signing someone from desperation  we need to find out what we need

5. I agree I hope Harden is listening to the growing rumble of his critics 

 

overall it was a rough 2 weeks, but what don't kill you will make you stronger. I think in the end we will be stronger. sometimes you have to purge the impurities out to make the metal hard

Edited by rockets best fan, 16 July 2014 - 08:29 AM.