FanPost

Rockets in Review 2013


This is a response to BD's Exellent Apology Post for what happened this season. What do the Rockets have to be sorry for? For disappointing themselves. Wait, wwert, you are expecting too much! They don't owe you anything.

You're right. They don't. They owe it to themselves to collect all their strengths and weaknesses and go over it with a fine tooth comb. If they do not have comb, use a fingernail. I am flexible that way.

Quick Recap

Let's look at the game. BD has labeled that the Bench was the problem. Exactly what is the bench? Delfino? Garcia? They've played big big minutes as our 4 is a constantly vacant position (even when we had morris and patterson due to their rebounding deficiencies). Beverly played BIG. Did Lin underperform during the playoffs? Yes. Did Greg Smith? Yes. If you look at the series as a whole, you'd see that 80% of the rockets did underperform. Even Parsons. Check his averages. But that's what you expect from 1st time playoff players. The only people that did consistently well were Asik, Garcia and Harden. And Harden had ghastly turnovers. You could blame it on his minutes but underperforming is underperforming.

The Season

Yes, there was a lot of turnovers. Both on and off the court. The PF carousel rotated faster than a really fast carousel (this is my patented joke. Don't steal it.).

But does that really excuse McHale? Was testing Donatas such a bad move? Were some of the lineup rotations obvious? There are only 2 or 3 stats per position that you look at. Because of the lack of players in the rockets lineup, the optimum lineups could be calculated fairly easily. Even if Mchale did finally find the 2 or 3 lineups that were the most optimum, he did so far too late. That is a mistake. Whether or not he has family problems means nothing. There is the job. And only the job.

The Playoffs

The adjustments were nice. He finally found his lineups. But that required some luck. Delfino had to be injured so that he could finally use Garcia. Which he probably never believed in. He didn't stagger the minutes correctly so that his old guys would get more rest. Granted, the margin for error for rotations was infinitely small as the OKC team is capable of scoring very effectively at any moment. They'll go on runs. Then go for another run. Without Westbrook they score 107/100 possessions. That's the same as before. So everyone that thinks that Westbrook was important or that PGs are important should really come back with some evidence as all mine support the anti-PG conjecture.

The Coach

I like Mchale. I think he's funny. I think he's cool. And fatherly. He's a leader of men. He's just terrible at lineups. He's slow. His out of timeout plays are crappy. I don't care if Harden was 'acting' on his own. If you don't have the balls to bench your max player, you don't have balls. Play your best players. I don't care if they have 4 or 5 fouls. Just play them. They are big boys. They'll adjust.

The Core

Lin, harden, Parsons, Asik. I don't think Lin is the core. If you think of basketball as a game of free throws, rebounds, scoring and turnovers, Lin is bad on 3. Luckily you don't need Lin to be great.

Harden and Asik are the core. Build out of that.

The Bench

Beverly is good and average. He's got some nifty skills. Lots of energy. Rebounds above average. So is Greg Smith. I don't know what you expect from the bench when it's the starters that should be AWESOME. The Bench will always be turned over consistently as that is Morey's style to accrue assets. Build a good bench and sell it. It's Morey's Asset Farm. Now's not the time to solidify the bench as those monies/assets need to be first deployed to finding a superstar rebounding long 2 shooter.

The Needs

A lot of people think we need a PF. That's true. But only so that we can trade that PF for a Superstar PF. Kevin Love and Ryan Anderson are the ONLY two PFs out there that can be considered to be primary fit for a Rockets championship team. Rebounds, Shooting, Screening, Post Moves, and Center Playing Experience. I am also very fond of multipositional players like Taj Gibson (who i think is the only one besides Ed Davis to play PF and C to acceptable degrees. Well, Splitter and Duncan but when was the last time someone pulled the wool over the Spurs' eyes?)

I think we need more multipositional players as those are the best players in our system. It has been during the season. It was super effective during the playoffs. We already have Thomas Robinson as a trade piece. If we can effectively build him up, his value, along with an SF might be enough to lure Kevin Love. I personally want Martell Webster as that would be an excellent future trade piece to grab Ryan Anderson from the Hornets (Eric Gordon is NOT going to play well for them.)

The Offseason Situation

The Cap:

Garcia, Brooks are all going to be out of a job next year. Delfino's contract is 3 million and it's guaranteed. There really is no point to taking him out. He's a cheap backup to Parsons. His minutes should be micromanaged but Mchale is a moron.

21 million dollars max. Enough for any MAX player on the market.

Free Agents:

.Impact: Josh Smith, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Andre Iguodala (ETO), Al Jefferson, David West, Paul Milsap, Tiago Splitter (Debateable, 5 mil qualifying offer to become RFA).

Depth: Devin Harris, Kyle Korver, Andray Blatche, Marco Bellinelli, Elton Brand, Chris Kaman, Richard Jefferson (Player Option), Matt Barnes, Tony Allen, Samuel Dalembert, Joel Pryzbilla, Al-Farouq Aminu, Kevin Martin, J.J. Hickson, Emeka Okafor.

There's a lot of talk about the high impact players but I've stated earlier why I think Dwight and CP3 aren't suitable for us. Josh Smith is Carmelo Anthony Lite. Let's not pay for that brand of poison. In fact, none of the PFs out there are that great shooting the Long 2. If we want a variable offense, there has to be a PF that can absorb those type of shots.

Seeing as how no one is going to give that kind of great player up next year, I suggest we find more Garcias. Dorell Wright, Aminu, Webster, Barnes, Odom, Korver, etc etc. The Wing Shooter/Defenders. Play them at the 2, play at the 3, play at the 4. While I'm very gung-ho about recruiting a vast number of wings, the end goal has to be Flip Saunders (Timberwolves GM) and Dell Demps (Pelicans GM).

Both the Wolves and the Pelicans need a Shooting Guard. That makes obtaining Martell Webster a number one priority for Daryl Morey. As a secondary move, being a 3rd wheel in a Suns/Pelicans trade would be nice but I don't see how it's possible.

Trade:

Greg Smith has his last year anon. The hard decision is to let him go. Olbrecht, should be a decent enough replacement. That is probably why Olbie was hired in the first place. Greg Smith should fetch a decent asset even though his playoff play wasn't as stellar as his season.

Fin:

My twitter is bballpants. And I pretty much disagree with 90% of BD's post. I have written the Martell Webster prediction before and the recent news have only fortified the inductive reasonings that went behind the original premises.

BD's too kind to Lin. All the Rockets need work. Lin just need it more than others.


No cursing in title. No pirated material, such as links to online game streams. Do not cut/paste entire sections of content from other websites. Thanks.

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