Ok, the Rockets are playing terribly right now. They had a nice road trip, beating the Clippers and Blazers, and hanging with the Kings. Since then, they've sucked a lot. The question is why have they sucked, and what can be done to turn this ship around. Firstly, though he's been maligned much of this season by Rockets fans, I do think that the absence of Charlie Ward has had a negative effect. Even though some people look at his stats and say he was hurting us, the fact is in the minutes he's been on the court, the Rockets have outscored opponents, and when he's off the court the Rockets overall have been spanked. Secondly, I see that the Rockets have lost confidence and don't play with chemistry or energy. Van Gundy's self-loathing has rubbed off on the team, and while it's important not to be complacent, you still need to play with confidence if you're going to win. There needs to be a positive voice in the locker-room, and I have a feeling that's missing right now. I put much of the blame on the coach for this. Yeah, his team isn't playing well, but its his job to make sure the player's play confidently. So, what needs to change for the Rockets to start winning games again? Here are the options: 1. Change the starting lineup. In the last 3 games in which Tyronne Lue has started (Sacramento, Denver, and Detroit), the Rockets have gone down early. In Sacramento, we were down 16-21 when he was subbed out in the middle of the 1st. Against Denver, we were down 7-12 when he was subbed out in the 1st. And against Detroit, we were down 10-19 when he got subbed out (and right away, with Sura in, we went on a 5-0 run). It's imperative that the Rockets establish leads early in the game, and I believe the main problem is Tyronne Lue in the starting lineup. We should replace him with Sura. 2. Change the reserves. It's been a few games since Juwan Howard has been benched, and our play hasn't improved. Was it the right decision? I say it is, and the reason is that the Rockets were consistently get outscored whenever Howard got into the game. Whatever he's doing out there wasn't really helping, and we needed something positive from the bench. Van Gundy has elected to go with Padgett. Initially, I was proposing Weatherspoon who I think can be a solid rebounder for us with extended minutes, but Padgett offers outside shooting and runs the floor better. While Padgett played well against Denver, he didn't do too much against Detroit. Personally, I'd like to see Van Gundy play Weatherspoon as the backup PF, or maybe even start him ahead of Mo. And when the Rockets want to go small, they can always play Weatherspoon and Padgett together. Spoon's a good player, and even Van Gundy has said so, yet he doesn't see many minutes. We're also not getting any production from out backup SG/SF right now -- and the blame goes to Boki Nachbar. Earlier in the season he was shooting the ball ok, but in the last 4 games he's only 2-11 and 0-4 on three pointers. And beyond getting an occasional rebound, he doesn't offer anything else. What's annoying that we have 4 PFs on the roster when we can realistically only play 2 for extended minutes, and we have only 3 who can play SG and SF activated (Bowen is on the "injured list"). Nachbar and Bowen would probably be 3rd-string players on most other teams, yet they're the only backups we have for the SG and SF position. The effect is we have to play T-Mac and JJ 40+ minutes a night, and they're not going to have enough energy to finish out games strongly and will have increased risk of injuries. This needs to be addressed. 3. Change the Strategy Time and again, Van Gundy has said that the strategy or style of play isn't the problem, but rather the execution and energy the players are bringing to the table. This is, of course, an easy excuse for a coach to make: "My instructions aren't the problem, they just aren't listening to me." In a press conference after the Detroit debacle, he said that the problem starts with him -- but notice what he said that problem was. He wasn't putting the right players on the floor. In other words, he's not at fault for providing poor coaching strategy, but rather for allowing his players to not listen to his wisdom. I've watched most of the Rockets games, and I must say that my faith in Van Gundy's system is starting to wane. I had serious problems with it late last season as well, but after a decent showing in the playoffs against a clearly superior Lakers team I figured there might be something good about it. Now, those doubts are coming back. Why doesn't this team ever get more than a couple fastbreak opportunity per game? Van Gundy has said that he'd like the team to run more (again, shifting the blame onto the players), but I can't believe he's really putting in much of an effort to get them to do so. Why are our front-court players routinely out of position for rebounds? Yao Ming's rebounding and blocking stats have dipped considerably under Van Gundy compared to his rookie season. Should we believe that Yao is slower and less coordinated than when he was a rookie, or could it be Van Gundy's defensive schemes aren't allowing him to be in the right position to effectively do what big men are supposed to do? Why do we routinely take 10 seconds of the shot clock just to initiate a half-court set? Are we to believe that the veteran players are so inept they just don't know how to operate in a half-court set, or maybe the offensive schemes are overly complicated and creates too much congestion on the court? Yes, players need to understand their roles and play with energy and all that, but they also need to be given a strategy which takes advantage of their strengths, rather than making their weaknesses stand out. At the beginning of the Detroit game, McDyess scored 12 points in roughly 4 minutes. TWELVE POINTS. Who was guarding him? Yao Ming. Maybe 6 or 8 of those points were a direct result of Van Gundy's defensive strategy on high screen and rolls. Instead of Yao staying between his man and the basket, Yao has to step out to the ball handler and try to trap him. In theory, the Rockets would have to make the proper rotations to cover McDyess. But in practice, the Rockets get routinely burned on this play. There's a reason opposing teams run this play so often -- we don't defend it well. Given that, shouldn't it be clear that we don't effectively defend against this play, and some other strategy should be used? Even last year, I remember getting pissed off at how the Rockets would consistently getten beaten by this play. Whatever JVG is trying to do, it doesn't work more often than it does, so he should do something else.
Good points there durvasa. I'd say that I agree with all of them except the running game, and Yao's performance. In my opinion, the Rockets are not built to be a running team. Sure, McGrady, Sura and Lue would flourish in fast break situations, but in Houston the offense circles around a fairly slow center who would suffer if we do not run plays for him. I still believe that defense is the key to winning games and if we put more energy in running, our team would be less able on the defensive end. There is no point if we run a fast break with three guys and the opponents quickly score two against us. Trading baskets is meaningless. Yao averaged 8.2 rebounds in his rookie season, and 9.0 in his second season, first with Van Gundy. Under Tomjanovich, Yao was able to stay inside the key almost all the time, but with other strong rebounders in Kenny Thomas and Eddie Griffin, Yao wasn't the one getting all the rebounds. Yet, he was only averaging 8 a game. Under Van Gundy, Yao was in the key, period. And because of that, his rebounding went up a bit. And without Thomas and Griffin, ten wouldn't have been absurd. But, Yao was getting only 9. Therefore, I don't think it's the system that is causing Yao's lack of rebounding. It's more to his lack of upper body strength in boxing out. I've never yet seen Yao box someone out effectively and consistently, and sometimes he was even the guy getting boxed out and pushed out of the key.
I agree with Durvasa about the running game. We have solid fast players in McGrady, Sura, and Lue, but the real problem is our rebounding. We obvious have a horrible rebounding team, so that results in less fast break opportunities since by the time we get the ball, they're already down the court. I wish Van Gundy would stop concentrating his entire offense around Yao. He just isn't ready for it yet, I mean, why not utilize McGrady and create some slashing plays for him. His is arguably the best driver in the league and yet all he does it take jump shots. What I'm wondering is, why doesn't Van Gundy encourage slashing more and just move Yao out of the low post sometimes to create space for McGrady?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">Good points there durvasa. I'd say that I agree with all of them except the running game, and Yao's performance. In my opinion, the Rockets are not built to be a running team. Sure, McGrady, Sura and Lue would flourish in fast break situations, but in Houston the offense circles around a fairly slow center who would suffer if we do not run plays for him. I still believe that defense is the key to winning games and if we put more energy in running, our team would be less able on the defensive end. There is no point if we run a fast break with three guys and the opponents quickly score two against us. Trading baskets is meaningless.</div> That's true, but I don't mean we should transform ourselves into a running team. That wouldn't work at all. But, at the same time, we shouldn't be content with being the slowest team in the league. We're talented and smart enough to do better than that. All great teams, even the old and slow ones, will try to get some transition baskets given the right opportunities. Too often I don't see us taking advantage of those opportunities. While I don't think we should strive to run up and down like Phoenix, we certainly shouldn't be dead last either. Besides, Yao only plays 32 minutes a game. Why aren't we running more when he's sitting? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao averaged 8.2 rebounds in his rookie season, and 9.0 in his second season, first with Van Gundy. Under Tomjanovich, Yao was able to stay inside the key almost all the time, but with other strong rebounders in Kenny Thomas and Eddie Griffin, Yao wasn't the one getting all the rebounds. Yet, he was only averaging 8 a game. Under Van Gundy, Yao was in the key, period. And because of that, his rebounding went up a bit. And without Thomas and Griffin, ten wouldn't have been absurd.</div> Firstly, those per-game rebounding numbers are somewhat deceiving. But you're right, his rebounding his second year wasn't any worse than his first year. Here are his per minute numbers. Rookie Season: 2382 minutes, 196 off, 479 def, 675 total per 35 minutes average: 2.9 off, 7.0 def, 9.9 tot Second Year: 2692 minutes, 197 off, 538 def, 735 total per 35 minutes average: 2.6 off, 7.0 def, 9.6 tot Third Year (so far): 463 minutes, 32 off, 83 def, 115 total per 35 minutes average: 2.4 off, 6.3 def, 8.7 tot Even though per minute numbers his second year appear slightly worse, he actually grabbed a higher percentage of available rebounds (remember the Rockets pace decreased dramatically under Van Gundy, so there were slightly less rebounds to be had). This year, though, his rebounding has been a bit worse. Though there's been much less defensive rebounding chances (teams are shooting better the year compared to last year), so the discrepency isn't as bad as one may think. Actually, perhaps I exaggerated our problems on the defensive boards under Van Gundy. As I check the stats at 82games.com, it's evident this isn't our major problem. In 02-03, we defensive rebounded missed shots 71% of the time. Last year, it was 70%, and this year its 69%. Not too much of a difference. The defensive rebounding totals this year have gone down because the pace has slowed down and team's are shooting a higher percentage against us this year compared to last year. Our offensive rebounding, however, is much lower. 31% of our missed shots were offensive rebounded in 02-03. It was 30% last year, but this year its only 25%. Yao's effort on the offensive glass hasn't changed (he's getting the same percentage of available offensive boards as he did last year). But our PFs aren't doing nearly as good a job. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">But, Yao was getting only 9. Therefore, I don't think it's the system that is causing Yao's lack of rebounding. It's more to his lack of upper body strength in boxing out. I've never yet seen Yao box someone out effectively and consistently, and sometimes he was even the guy getting boxed out and pushed out of the key.</div> In a way it's both, though not as I initially thought. Under JVG, the pace has slowed down, so unless the shooting percentage also decrease in the same proportion, there will be less rebounding opportunities. Last year, pace went down and so did opponent's field goal percentage. So the rebounding totals weren't dramatically different. This year, the pace has gone down but our defense isn't as good and opponents are shooting better from the field. So there are much less defensive rebounds to be had. The real problem is our offensive rebounding, particularly from our power forwards. Last year, JVG played Weatherspoon at PF and he did very well on the offensive glass (grabbed 10.2% of off reb chances). This year, Spoon has seen 0 minutes at power forward, and instead has had to play center. Not surprisingly, his rebounding hasn't been as good because he's so undersized at that position. If we gave significant minutes to Spoon at PF, I'd bet that our offensive rebounding would improve immensely. Taylor, this year, has only gotten 5.1% of offensive rebound chances, which is terrible. Check out these numbers from 03-04 and 04-05. The major difference between the two seasons is the offensive rebounding and the free-throw discrepency. You expect opponents to get some more free-throws because of the rule change, but we should also be getting more free-throws. Clearly, on offense we're being too passive. Also, even though we have one less turnover per game (14.7 compared to 15.7 last year), we're actually getting slightly less field goal attempts per possession (74.7 compared to 75.2). The reason, of course, is our pitiful offensive rebounding as discussed ad nauseum up above. If Spoon could give us the same offensive rebounding effort he did last year and we made him a starter, I bet our offensive rebounding would be close to or maybe better than last years. If we could be more aggressive on offense (which includes looking for looking for transition baskets), and do a better job on the offensive glass, we'd be outscoring our opponents and we'd win a majority of the games. This is where we need to improve.
Sorry for the double post, but I thought that my questions for the Rockets fans would make more sense in this thread. I have noticed (even in the earlier games this season) that T-Mac was harped on so much for being a great passer and looking to the focal point in Yao, that he doesn't play anywhere near like he did in Orlando. He's seeing that it's hard to be the "best supporting" player and not the man who is constantly double-teamed. I was the one that asked if Yao was to be as dominant as the media projected him to be in the future (Ming Dynasty), and still wonder if he should be the focal point. Do you find that the "inside-out" game can be beneficial with your current cast? Do you really believe the Lue is so horrible?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sabretooth:</div><div class="quote_post">Sorry for the double post, but I thought that my questions for the Rockets fans would make more sense in this thread. I have noticed (even in the earlier games this season) that T-Mac was harped on so much for being a great passer and looking to the focal point in Yao, that he doesn't play anywhere near like he did in Orlando. He's seeing that it's hard to be the "best supporting" player and not the man who is constantly double-teamed. I was the one that asked if Yao was to be as dominant as the media projected him to be in the future (Ming Dynasty), and still wonder if he should be the focal point. Do you find that the "inside-out" game can be beneficial with your current cast? Do you really believe the Lue is so horrible?</div> I believe McGrady needs to become more of a focal point for our offense, particularly down the stretch. If McGrady is allowed more freedom to create and take shots, that will do a couple things. First, McGrady is our best passer, and we'd get more open shots for others if McGrady is our go-to guy versus Yao. Second, if Yao's taking less turnaround jumpers, and McGrady is getting more shots, that will increase opportunities for offensive rebounds. I also believe Yao should improve as a shot blocker and intimidator in the lane. I know he's better than the effort he's shown so far this year. And yes, I think Lue is terrible. Or maybe he's just a bad luck charm. But for some reason, when he's on the court, the Rockets seem to play very poorly.
I would keep the starting lineup the same, except switch Lue with Sura...Lue is better in limited minutes off the pine for energy...I think Nachbar and Padgett deserve more minutes...both hustle, atleast make an effort defensively and can shoot and spread the floor...I would like to see Weatherspoon as well...hes an aggressive rebounder and gives his all...but this team has talent, we know that...the problem lies in that Van Gundy refuses to accomodate his philosophy around his players, instead of vice versa...this is a team that is suited for a more open offensive style and as a coach it is his job to put players in their best position to succeed...
Guys you cant look at stats here with the problem for the Rockets, its general stuff there not doing. One there not rebounding, and Clarence Weatherspoon, and Scott Padgett arent gonna give u that consistently, neither is Mo Taylor. As a starter Juwan Howard will get u rebounds, off the bench hes not going do you as much good. Also Yao needs to step up his rebounding. Denfense has dropped since last season for the rockets, but mainly because look who you have on your team. McGrady who despite what people say aint gonna play much defense,maurice taylor,bostjan nachbar,bob sura, its a whole list of offensive players and role players who arent gonna give u a whole lot of defense. The speed I'll agree with you with needs to be upped, but only when open, when they have a fast break take it, but when not they need to keep it in the halfcourt offense, like San Antonio. Turnovers, Tyronne lue is not the problem the other four starters are averaging the most turnovers. Tyronne is playing well, but his teamates arent making shots. Heres my starting lineup: PG Tyronne Lue SG Tracy McGrady SF Jim Jackson PF Juwan Howard C Yao Ming Bench: PG Andre Barrett SG Bob Sura SF Bostjan Nachbar PF Scott Padgett C Dikembe Mutombo Maurice Taylor should be traded, at this point for almost anything, because his contract isnt attractive but hes hurting the team way too much.Andre,Sura,and Dikembe would be getting the most minutes off the bench.Ward, and Bowen getting minutes on the side.
This is hilarious everyone is blaming everything. I've heard it's tmac's fault, yao's fault, van gundy's fault, lue's fault, mo tay and howard's fault lOL! I also heard ppl saying cato made yao better lolz and that it was francis who got us the wins. But imo it's van gundy's fault because it's just easier to change the coach
yea i think we should trade mo, but for who or what? players, picks, what do you guys think the rockets can do with him if they were to trade him?
It's real hard to trade him with the size of his contract, i think we should just bench him and make him the backup PF. Last year he was great in that position and now he cant get rebounds in 29 min, i really like his offense. Howard should start, he isnt the kind that can bring energy off the bench. With that i find it hard to get weatherspoon playing time and scott padgett. Woud Padgett maybe be able to play the 3 position backing up jackson?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting KleinBaller08:</div><div class="quote_post">Guys you cant look at stats here with the problem for the Rockets, its general stuff there not doing. One there not rebounding, and Clarence Weatherspoon, and Scott Padgett arent gonna give u that consistently, neither is Mo Taylor. As a starter Juwan Howard will get u rebounds, off the bench hes not going do you as much good. Also Yao needs to step up his rebounding. </div> Rebounding is a statistic. Both Weatherspoon and Padgett have proven they are better rebounders than Mo Taylor. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Denfense has dropped since last season for the rockets, but mainly because look who you have on your team. McGrady who despite what people say aint gonna play much defense,maurice taylor,bostjan nachbar,bob sura, its a whole list of offensive players and role players who arent gonna give u a whole lot of defense. The speed I'll agree with you with needs to be upped, but only when open, when they have a fast break take it, but when not they need to keep it in the halfcourt offense, like San Antonio. Turnovers, Tyronne lue is not the problem the other four starters are averaging the most turnovers. Tyronne is playing well, but his teamates arent making shots. </div> When Lue's on the floor, our defense gets much worse. He'll put up some alright offensive numbers, but Rockets defense takes a huge drop when he's in the game. He also doesn't create off the dribble nearly as well as Sura. Sura should start, there's no question about that in my mind. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Heres my starting lineup: PG Tyronne Lue SG Tracy McGrady SF Jim Jackson PF Juwan Howard C Yao Ming Bench: PG Andre Barrett SG Bob Sura SF Bostjan Nachbar PF Scott Padgett C Dikembe Mutombo Maurice Taylor should be traded, at this point for almost anything, because his contract isnt attractive but hes hurting the team way too much.Andre,Sura,and Dikembe would be getting the most minutes off the bench.Ward, and Bowen getting minutes on the side.</div> That won't work. Lue and Barret are terribly undersized, and our defense would take a huge hit. I'd like this more: starters PG Sura SG McGrady SF Jackson PF Weatherspoon C Yao bench PG Ward, Lue SG Nachbar SF Nachbar, Padgett PF Taylor, Padgett C Mutombo Nachbar is a big problem for me. He's just not a very a productive player. He needs to do more for the club than just hit a 3 pointer every couple games. I think this lineup would be much better defensively and particularly on the boards. With Sura as the main point guard, we'll run a bit more as well, and get more dribble penetration in half court. Sura needs to start hitting the outside shot, though. At the 4-spot, Spoon would be our best offensive rebounder, and he'll play tough, sturdy defense and hit the mid-range jumper. Mo Taylor and Juwan Howard is a waste in the starting lineup. We already have 2 post up players in Yao and T-Mac. There's no sense in putting a third one in there.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting bplld:</div><div class="quote_post">It's real hard to trade him with the size of his contract, i think we should just bench him and make him the backup PF. Last year he was great in that position and now he cant get rebounds in 29 min, i really like his offense. Howard should start, he isnt the kind that can bring energy off the bench. With that i find it hard to get weatherspoon playing time and scott padgett. Woud Padgett maybe be able to play the 3 position backing up jackson?</div> Yeah, I wonder why Padgett hasn't played small forward under JVG. The way he looks, I'd think that is his natural position. While I'd really like to see Weatherspoon given a significant minutes playing alongside Yao, I'm curious to see how we'd play with Howard in the starting lineup. In the offseason, I had assumed that Juwan Howard would be a starter. You hate to give up on the guy so early in the season. I don't know if it was his defense or what, but maybe he's just more comfortable as a starter. I just want to see SOME change in our power forward rotation in the next game. If JVG comes back tomorrow with the exact same rotations and we give another poor performance, I'd be very angry.
What we really lack is speed and most importantly physical players. That's why i wanted spoon, padge to get more minutes. Nachbar is a pansy, yao (even with his preseason muscle gain) plays like a girlyman , howard is slow, and motay isn't physical even with his tattoos..mutombo lost his quickness which is why he needs to use his elbows more, Tmac isnt as physical as kobe gets, and let's not get to lue and ward ..these guys plus jvg's perfection is just what we don't need..JJ is the only player that's keeping us above the chicago bulls
How bout the coach??? Jeff Van Gundy hasnt done anything needed to coach this team right. Jim Jackson, Mo' Taylor, Mcgrady, Yao are all offensive players. So why not get a coach who's forte' is on the offensive side. You cant just turn Yao into a dominant defender, if he hasnt been that his whole career. Tmac was the scoring champion and he's barley averaging 20??? WTF is that. If i had to make the call, Jeff Van Gundy would make a great ASSISTANT coach.
Interesting article in Houston Chronicle today. I'll post some snippets. Here's the link <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> But with the Rockets slumping to a four-game losing streak and a five-game skid at home marked with boos and even calls for his dismissal, Van Gundy said he doesn't want to hear that the owner is on his side. "Support? I don't need my owner to come and say, 'You've got my support,' " Van Gundy said. "I don't need it. I don't want it. I want his support when I do a good job for him. I did a great job last year. I did. I know that. "This year, what is he going to say? 'Great job for losing five in a row at home. You had those guys hopping out there last night.' I don't want that false (stuff). I don't need it."</div> At this rate, Van Gundy will be completely bald by the end of the week. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Asked for greater specifics about what he could do, Van Gundy first said he has not decided, then said some of his ideas "would ignite a firestorm."</div> I'd hope that those ideas would entail loosening up the offense and running a bit more. But I'm guessing he's alluding to roster changes or benching certain players (Mo Taylor?). <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The next change will come tonight against the Mavericks, though Van Gundy would not say what that change would be. "We're making changes, but it's not because those individuals are the problem," he said. "Everyone on our team on the active roster has had a legitimate chance except for Clarence (Weatherspoon)."</div> Ah ha. I think that basically means that Weatherspoon will get his chance. He wouldn't have mentioned him unless he was planning on making him an active member of the rotation. I still think Van Gundy likes Padgett, and after Mo Taylor grabbed ZERO rebounds in the last game I'm thinking that maybe Van Gundy will go with Weatherspoon and Padgett as our PFs. I really think that would greatly helped much our rebounding probems. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> The latest theory to explain the Rockets' poor and often lethargic play is that they have been hesitant because they are afraid to make mistakes. "Oh, absolutely," Tracy McGrady said. "I was in a stage like this before back in Toronto. I was so worried about making a mistake that every time I did make a mistake, I looked over my shoulder to see if someone was subbing in for me. It's the same situation here. It takes awhile to get comfortable with Coach's coaching style. But I think guys understand they are going to make mistakes. It's whether you will work hard and give the effort he wants. You can't argue with that."</div> Also, <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"Coach Van Gundy's game is about mistakes; who can make less mistakes," Yao said. "In a game, nobody wants to make a mistake. A mistake would kill us. Right now, I talk to you. It's very easy to say, 'Don't worry. Do whatever you think is right.' In a game, it's different. In life, you have to make a decision. You have to pick one. It's the same in a game. People outside the team say, 'Make your decision. Make your choice.' We've been losing, so it's harder. What we really need is to win." Said Jim Jackson: "We're overthinking." </div> Afraid to make mistakes. That sounds about right. Van Gundy constantly has some sort of grimace on his face on the sideline. But, of course ... <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"I am so sick of that clich?," Van Gundy said. "Is someone afraid to get a rebound, too? Is someone afraid to guard somebody? No. That's a copout. That's, 'Let's come up with something you writers will buy or a fan will buy.' No one buys last night was a game of hesitation. That was not a game of, 'I'm frightful of making a mistake.' There may be a little bit of that at times in other games. I'm not discounting that. Last night, that game had zero to do with hesitation. "If you're going to talk about (Yao Ming) offensively at times, that would be correct, no doubt. He would be a legitimate guy that at times overthinks on his catch what to do. That has nothing to do with him not getting a defensive rebound in the first half." </div> Hmm. So, we have T-Mac saying that players are having problem adjusting to JVG's coaching style, and that there's some hesitation on the court because they're worried about incurring his wrath on the sideline. JVG comes back with a reasonable response in his defense. Why hesitate to grab a rebound? Why hesitate to chase a looseball? It seems like some of the players feel that Van Gundy is loading them with too many responsibilities. Whereas Van Gundy believes it's all about lack of effort. Who's right?
I see an article complaing about the rockets eveyday now in the Chron. I think the problem is work ethic. We looked fine at one period, tracy and yao were doing excellent and everything was fine. Then we started to drop games in the final minutes because of lack of leadership and crucial mistakes near the end. And then it was just that we flat out sucked and we couldnt do a single thing right. That proves our rotation was fine and lack of effort makes sense. It's so obvious they are not trying.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting bplld:</div><div class="quote_post">When Lue's on the floor, our defense gets much worse. He'll put up some alright offensive numbers, but Rockets defense takes a huge drop when he's in the game. He also doesn't create off the dribble nearly as well as Sura. Sura should start, there's no question about that in my mind. .</div> The whole team isnt playing good defense, you cant blame lue for defensive struggles. Defensive as a team attribute and thats how you play good defense. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">That won't work. Lue and Barret are terribly undersized, and our defense would take a huge hit.</div> Yeah so lets have sura and ward who neither play any defense on the floor. Id rather have Lue and Barret be undersized playing defense than have 2 non defensive players on the floor. Lindsey Hunter is undersized to and one of the best defenders in the league. Also do you seriously think Weatherspoon can play sufficient minutes as a starter? I dont I know he cant, that all im sayin...
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Yeah so lets have sura and ward who neither play any defense on the floor. Id rather have Lue and Barret be undersized playing defense than have 2 non defensive players on the floor. Lindsey Hunter is undersized to and one of the best defenders in the league. Also do you seriously think Weatherspoon can play sufficient minutes as a starter? I dont I know he cant, that all im sayin...</div>Both Sura and Ward play better defense than Barrett and Lue. Being small doesn't make anyone a bad defender, but Lue and Barrett are more suited for offensive roles while Sura and Ward are lockdown players. And also, no one is saying that Weatherspoon should start. Right now, he deserves a chance, so having him come off the bench backing up Taylor should be the best idea right now. If he really makes good of his opportunity, his role can get larger and larger as time goes on.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting KleinBaller08:</div><div class="quote_post">The whole team isnt playing good defense, you cant blame lue for defensive struggles. Defensive as a team attribute and thats how you play good defense.</div> When Lue is in the game, the Rockets as a team give up way more points. That's been the pattern all season. If you looked at the stats at 82games.com, that's what you'll see. Opposing point guards like to back him down and attack him, because of his size. Billups and Miller were doing that continuously the last few games. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah so lets have sura and ward who neither play any defense on the floor. Id rather have Lue and Barret be undersized playing defense than have 2 non defensive players on the floor. Lindsey Hunter is undersized to and one of the best defenders in the league.</div> Sura and Ward are better defensive players than Lue and Barret, in my opinion. Much better. Sura also will give us 5+ boards a night. I'd rather have size and strength at PG than a waif with foot speed. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Also do you seriously think Weatherspoon can play sufficient minutes as a starter? I dont I know he cant, that all im sayin...</div> I think he could give us 25 minutes a night. Maybe more. The only years in which Weatherspoon has played less than 25 minutes a night were 03-04 and 98-00 when he was with Miami.
