Some random Rockets thoughts, baseless speculation, and jeering.

by Xiane on Mar 4, 2011 11:41 PM CST in Whimsical Posts

Here are some random thoughts on the Rockets, Rockets players, etc.

1. JVG lovers, is the old flame back? Today at the MIT Sloan Sports Conference (Daryl Morey, Founding Member) Morey spoke on a panel with...Malcolm Gladwell (who is always interesting if not convincing) and yes, Mr. Jeff Van Gundy (Houston resident). Van Gundy is clearly more on board with advanced analysis than he lets on for ESPN. Maybe those two crazy kids will make it work after all. I'm not sure what Malcolm in The Middle will be doing. Writing a bestseller about it presumably.

2. Could the TWill Problem(tm) not be the big scary mean conspiracy everyone seems to think? I'm not backing off what I said about the Clippers loss - as the bench was needed - but this thought occurred to me:

Chase Budinger is currently a more useful player than Terrence Williams

Courtney Lee is currently a more useful player than Terrence Williams.

Lee, in particular, deserves more minutes than he's getting. The man is shooting close to 44% from 3pt range, he's making good plays all over. But Kevin Martin is doing extremely well too. What's to be done? The answer right now appears to be "give Lee the extra SG minutes, and with a small lineup, the extra SF minutes for Budinger". Lee has proven he deserves a full-time role. In limited minutes the exciting, athletic and promising Terrence Williams has proven that he has some things to work on.

Williams' problem may not be entirely a conspiracy, but simply two guys in front of him who deserve the minutes more and are both young enough to benefit from them as much as Williams would. That said, Williams will never improve without some minutes, and the perfect opportunity arose for them in LA, yet he remained glued to the bench.

3. Hasheem Thabeet - He's 7'3" and athletic, yet nothing can be done with him? I refuse to believe it. I think the Rockets will certainly see what they can do with him in the off-season and next year. I do wish he could join Vipers if he's going to be nailed to the bench while Brad Miller impersonates an orange traffic cone on D.

4. Jeers to the NBA, The Maloofs, The City of Sacramento, Anaheim, Casino Expansions, and The Economy. It looks like the Sacramento Kings may be moving to Southern California with their primary mission apparently being to make the Clippers seem relevant and the Maloofs to seem solvent. This is terrible for the fans of Sacramento, and to do it while the region is flat on its back with almost 13% unemployment particularly reeks. Because of Katrina the NBA has shown some mercy to NO (for now) but neither Sacramento nor Seattle will get a reprieve, despite both showing in the past that they are much much better NBA cities than New Orleans, Charlotte, Memphis and for most of its dubious history Miami. Clearly LA needs a third team more than Sacramento or Seattle need any team. Well done, NBA.

5. Utah, tough break man, tough break. Fired your coach. Fired your best player. Well, the Al Jefferson Era has truly begun.

6. That was quite a beatdown San Antonio put on Miami tonight (125-95 MIA on a b2b yadda yadda), yet one online betting shop is offering 12-1 odds on SAS winning the title the average of them is about 5-1. LA is 3-1. Miami is 2-1. OKC is 20-1. I never bet on sports, and would only do it where legal, but....what?

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NYK Lost to Cleveland, AGAIN

I just thought that was worth bring in up

In regards to JVG, I love the guy, his defensive schemes were brilliant though require smart players. Unfortunately, he looked like the team literally sucked the life out of him when he was coaching. He was just that dedicated. I’d hate to do that to him again, especially when he’s got a great gig ragging on Marc Jackson most of the time.

I also remember JVG play a tight 8 men rotation that included Marc Jackson until he cant any more.

I think Thabeet should go to RGV if we can sent him down, He’ll get PT, get to block inferior competition to get his confidence back and all the while learn the system. Plus Vipers sure can use another big guy

by NVP on Mar 5, 2011 12:41 AM CST reply actions

I'm not a fan of 3 guys rotating between 2 positions.

T-Will should back up Bud, and Lee should back up Martin.

Cutting T-Will out will mean more minutes for Lee, which I don’t have a problem with, but it creates mis matches at SF and those 3 guys will tire out quicklier. We won’t be able to play Martin or Lee at the 3 tomorrow night against an All-Star in Granger.

"Hakeem couldn't kick your ass cuz you were too
close kissin his!"- Sir Charles to Kenny Smith.

by bone31crusher on Mar 5, 2011 12:45 AM CST reply actions

It really isn't looking like Adelman will come back next season

So I don’t think we have to worry too much about guys that really need play time next year. After this season we will hopefully see what Williams can do.

Me against the world is a mismatch in my favor.

by batman713 on Mar 5, 2011 12:59 AM CST up reply actions

He will likely be the vocal point of the offense in the Summer League, assuming there is a season next year.

And he’ll get a lot of time in pre-season as well.

Both of those will happen, regardless if Adelman is here or not, though it’s not likely he will be.

"Hakeem couldn't kick your ass cuz you were too
close kissin his!"- Sir Charles to Kenny Smith.

by bone31crusher on Mar 5, 2011 1:19 AM CST up reply actions

Most playoff teams run 8 or 9 rotations to begin with.

So for the Rockets, those players should be:
Lowry
Martin
Budinger
Scola
Hayes
Lee
Patterson
Dragic
Last rotation player would be either Miller or Williams, and for this season I prefer Miller.

Minnesotan Rockets fan

by Barragan on Mar 5, 2011 6:37 AM CST up reply actions

SG/SF provides 96 minutes a game. I doubt giving 32 minutes a game to each guy is going to tire them out. I would like to see Williams get more minutes, just as I would have liked to see Brooks get some more minutes, but I’m not going to do it at the expense of Lee or Lowry as long as they are earning their increased minutes.

by seanbergmanrules on Mar 5, 2011 11:32 AM CST up reply actions

Malcolm Gladwell

Is like the Oprah Winfrey of social science. Meh.

The betting odds are not a function of what the sports book thinks – they’re a function of where the action is. In this case, thanks to ESPN, the odds for the Heat are clearly inflated. So the Spurs are good value.

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by tehGrindCrusher on Mar 5, 2011 7:01 AM CST via mobile reply actions

That was what I was saying - not saying the books are dumb - they obviously aren't. But bettors can be dumb.

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by Xiane on Mar 5, 2011 11:04 AM CST up reply actions

Interesting that the heat are getting so much

And the buzz around ny isnt half as ridiculous.
I dont know about you all but I feel like NY is the better team top to bottom.

by AlDe2356 on Mar 5, 2011 10:49 AM CST reply actions

I don't understand how.

How is a team with 2 good forwards and nothing else better than a team with 2 good forwards and a good SG and nothing else?

by Bobbythegreat on Mar 5, 2011 1:00 PM CST up reply actions

I don't understand the JVG love

but I guess there aren’t many coaches to choose from. And I’m totally with you on T Will. Thabeet though…it’s a wait and see deal. When he starts to practice well, he’ll see minutes. That’s just how Adelman runs things.

by twinkilling0303 on Mar 5, 2011 11:01 AM CST reply actions

Anyone else see what JVG and Morey said about T Mac at the Sloan Conference?

They had a post about it on Probasketballtalk.com…I couldn’t agree more with them.

by twinkilling0303 on Mar 5, 2011 11:58 AM CST reply actions

come on you can't tempt us like that

what did they say?

by sohum on Mar 5, 2011 12:12 PM CST up reply actions

Sorry about that

I’m paraphrasing of course…JVG and Morey were saying that T Mac had all the talent in the world, should’ve been a Hall of Fame player…but when players have a lot of ability and dominate others at a young age, it hurts them as far as not advancing their game. That it stops their growth as a player because they are use to doing everything with their ability rather than building on your knowledge and becoming more skilled.

Morey also told a story about Marcus Banks. Morey asked him what he wanted to do with his life, and Banks told him he wanted to be a male fashion model. He was pointing out that a lot of players have the ability, but not the drive it takes.

by twinkilling0303 on Mar 5, 2011 12:53 PM CST up reply actions