"Something's seriously wrong with them" - Bill Simmons

The Rockets were winning early on, but something about this years team has been off all year. I lost count in the first few games how many times I saw guys open and not get the ball. Its been a constant theme. Teams that enjoy playing with one another share the ball.

From a pure gameplay perspective I dont think Fred moves the needle much but i have to concede that his leadership is missed. And really I think its because Ime has not designed appropriate hierarchy or structure offensively. When things start going bad theres no calming force. Nobody to see Ime's bullshit and say **** him.

 

The OBVIOUS answer is that KD's little b**** moment pissed off the other players.
DD

 

I listen to Clutch's post-game podcasts and he's always pointing out that Reed/KD/Sengun lineups can't defend. Maybe so. But I'd like to see a lot more of them with Bari, Amen, and Okogie rather than watch Tari and DFS lay brick after brick - and I haven't seen the Terrible Twins lock anyone down either.

One thing we know for sure is that no one is having any fun out there - it looks like everyone hates their job. Let's put our best scorers on the floor and I bet you the chemistry will improve. I bet you the defense improves too if everyone isn't constantly pressing on offense.

 

Everyone has been so brainwashed with Udoka, it’s like they forgot everything Morey taught us about offense @Nook

 

The line ups with Sengun and Sheppard together cannot defend -- but this isn't some grand revelation. This was known before the season started. Also, in all honesty, a line up with just Sengun cannot defend either, unless defenders are plugged all around him.

This is on the Rockets front office and Udoka -- they KNEW this.

As for Reed, he is less of a defensive liability, and if the Rockets had better post defense, no one would say much -- but it is what it is, and this roster is very poorly built.

What I cannot excuse is that Udoka is not letting Sheppard and Amen and KD run now -- they are current built better to run as a team, and Udoka just keeps trying to shove a circle in a square peg and it does not work.

 

There are people here who truly believe forgetting everything Morey taught us would be a good thing.

I

 

I’m gonna start early.

 

Chemistry isn't the reason why they lost those particular games. It was because they took those opponents lightly and when the score got tight, they had no clue what to do on offense.

 

The KD Stans posted his dinner stats and they look good on paper

 

Tell us something we don’t know. One offseason and a couple small moves can make a world of difference so interested to see what the team looks like next Oct.

I’ll watch the games the rest of the season but I’m not going to spike my blood pressure or beat my dog over them either. I suggest fans the rest of the season also set their expectations low for your own sanity.

Also Bill has become pretty irrelevant in past years it seems. Not sure why him talking about the Rockets is thread worthy.

 

We are probably still waiting for FVV to be the magic pill to solve all of our issues.

 

Feels like they‘ve been ready to tap and call it a season since the All Star break.

 

Morey was 90% correct, his no midrange period was stupid

now this, whatever the rockets are doing make JVG look like MdA

 

If you want to be extremely reductionist, yes.

They just aren't good enough and the coach and GM need to put in their work.

 

See, they are though, if they were all motivated and playing hard.

When a team like Golden State comes in and whups us with Gleague players it is a major tell.

The team doesn't like each other, or at least they don't TRUST KD......and we know SENGUN is pissed that the ball was taken away from him late.

People hoping that a guy at 37 will even stay at the same level are delusional, or that a 32 year old chubby slow footed risk averse PG are the answer, he isn't.

We are better off with a motivated KD, but if we can't get him to play a tertiary role like Lebron, then we are better off simply CUTTING him or buying him out.

Go young, **** the old guys.

DD

 

DMo said Harden didn't go eat with him because Harden liked A1 steak sauce on burgers and DMo liked ousters.

 

How do we know Sengun is pissed, did he say something?

 

Folks didnt realize how good we had it back when we were running the double big w Steve and dominating the glass...

Folks said it was "just masking the issues..." - well... yeh... thats what ur supposed to do... lol! You find points of differentiation to offset any weaknesses...

well... now thats gone...

smh

 

it would have been funnier if he had said the Rockets were lowkey r****ded

 

Check out Tuckman's stages of group development.

They were in Forming stage earlier in the year - it's when everyone is excited and mostly gets along and doesn't knowingly step on each other's toes. It's when KD says - "hey young one - you know I was open over here, hit me next time and I won't let you down".

After that they move into Storming phase - its where that same comment above has a little more teeth "hey young one, I already told you I'm open - what's wrong with you? Get ME the ball when this happens or else"...and maybe the young one barks back - or maybe they don't. Either way this a stage of conflict. The danger here strong personalities tilt the team in their favor and if there aren't healthy counterbalances, those turn into anti-patterns in the next stage.

Next stage is "Norming" - we agree as a team on a new normal we move forward under that new normal. Some people go into Norming happy with the new roles, others not so much but they agree on what they need to do to keep momentum. I think this is likely where we are at right now - KD "won" in the storming phase and now we are a weaker version of ourselves because guys who should have an increasing voice are now agreeing to a hierarchy that may not align to the team's best interests. Particularly when people give up or avoid conflict, teams can become unbalanced in these phases. This is why you hope not to introduce those strong personalities that makes people uncomfortable because it can have long term impacts to the team(shades of bad apples "spoiling the bunch". This tends to be where teams hit "rock bottom". They figured out a new way to work but they aren't good at it yet because they haven't operated that way consistently.

Once those roles and new ways of working are established, people tend to start focusing on "performing" - they get better at operating within that new role. The conversation above is "remember we agreed this is who we were going to operate moving forward?". it's like we have a social contract on the team level now. This is where teams start to turn the corner and results improve - hopefully higher than what they started at. You can make the case that as team development goes - we are probably right on schedule for how long it normally takes teams to go through these curves - it's a process that happens over months and even years. It's why teams who value long term continuity tend to see more linear growth - there is more volatility in switching out major team contributors every year - you gotta admit KD and DFS are VERY different personalities from Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks.

One other nuance here is things reset a bit when key members leave or become unavailable so when Fred goes down - it changes the pecking order a bit - same with Stevo. New people have to fill new roles and it creates dips in team performance as a result.

...anyway fascinating stuff and as a guy who works with high performing teams often - I see this ALL the time in sports, business, etc.