Whom bears more responsibility for the Rockets poor play to start the season?

It's more McHale. The entire team is clearly underprepared. Harden has had some stinkers but a well coached team would be able to overcome that especially against bottom of the barrel teams.

 

I just don't think the parts fit .... Lawson especially. They need a combo guard alongside Harden , not a true point guard.

 

honestly, i dont know.

some say harden wants mchale fired and that's why he's playing the way he's playing. for those people who are saying that, can you provide any possible reasons why he'd want that? what did mchale do? for as far as i know, mchale doesnt date mrs. odem.

 

Lol @ Harden winning the poll. He averaged 40 last month on fantastic efficiency and we were still only winning games by the smallest of margins.

These Lin fanboys & closet Curry nuthuggers are pathetic. The blame falls solely Morey & McHale. A primitive system utterly reliant on one player to generate offense and hope sub-par shooters who can't defend get hot from 3 is only so effective.

 

but the same system got us to the wcf last yr. hehe.

 

Its definitely more so McHales fault, but Harden as it superstar shooting 35/25/85 should feel a lot of pressure due to his horrid play in a time where he should be our rock, Harden is the one who will have to pull us out of this funk. McHale is not going to do it, this is what McHale said (in my own words because I don't remember his word for word.)

"The x' o's don't matter any more at this point, they need to go out there and play harder" and " talking won't do anything we're done talking, they need to go out and play better"

So its clear McHale is not going to help with anything, it seems under pressure he actually has become a much worse coach. Harden has to be the one to save us, Harden needs to take the responsibility as our superstar.

 

"James Frauen"

 

Despicable!

Cleverly disguised thread blaming...

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Clutch...

Think of the children OP!!!!

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I think it was jason terrys leadership down the stretch last year that won us games. Watching the end of the rockets mavs game. Terry came in and gave us more rhytum and flow. I have to see this against boston to verify it

 

Because we could actually defend. Our D and James Harden carried us throughout the entire year.

We've been a average-poor offensive team ever since Parsons & Lin left. No players apart from Harden can create a shot for themselves or teammates.

The system is getting woefully exposed now effort levels have dropped. We were getting by on effort for the most part because in reality apart from Dwight there isn't a single elite defensive player on the team. Blame falls solely on Morey for failing to bring in two way players & refusing to get the team a competent coach.

 

The coach 100%. There is no effort of the team in defence no sense of urgency and that falls first and foremost on the coaching staff.
The coach job is not only x and os it's also having control of the lockeroom and motivating their players.

After that it's on Harden because of his complete disinterest in defence lack of hustle and because as the leader and star of the team he bears the most responsibillity.

Ariza is elite defensive player. Beverley is one of the best defensive pgs even in his current state.

 

Hardens love of contested 3's and horrible defense is being noticed by all NBA fans. He is becoming a joke regardless of the only 2 good games he had this season.

 

at this point of the season, what we need to do is to put players who is willing to play hard on both ends onto the floor, bench whoever is not putting up efforts on both ends, fans can accept hard fought defeats, but we will never accept lazy efforts, i think that's what's everybody is looking for

 

McHale hands down. I'm not absolving Harden of poor play at both ends of the floor. But basketball is a team sport. And it's the job of the coach to make sure everyone's playing together as a team. I've seen nothing this season so far going back to training camp to indicate McHale is fulfilling any of his duties as a coach.

The lineups and substitutions have been wildly inconsistent, and that's beyond Dwight missing B2Bs. McHale can't seem to settle on small ball or playing a 4. He'll leave guys on the bench to rot(Thornton for the first 2 games, Harrell in a recent game) and then suddenly plug them into the starting lineup. He'll refuse to reinsert a guy having a great night(T-Jones in Denver).

And most importantly, he won't bench guys who are playing poorly or aren't putting any effort in. Brewer sucks? Why not give McDaniels some burn instead of casting him off to the D-League? Harden won't play any D? Bench him and let Lawson run the offense with Thornton at the 2. What's the worst that could happen? You get your ass kicked by a bad opponent? Cuz that's already the result every night.

I'm just not seeing any progress at all. And 10 games isn't a small sample. Remember, the entire preseason(when the team is supposed to be getting ready) is 8 games which people already feel is too long. So we're way past the point where guys are getting into shape or adjusting to playing with one another. They're not supposed to still be learning how to play defense as a unit, especially considering most of these guys were teammates a year ago.

Something doesn't look right and I can only conclude that McHale isn't making any real effort to coach this team or the players are sick of him or think he's a joke and have simply tuned him out.

 

i agree with what you said.

and defense is about effort, outside of a good scheme. that's why i say defensive effort is our enemy #1 right now.

also, it brings up another question. is conf. finals (w/ luck) the farthest point moreyball can take a team?

 

Ariza is nowhere near elite. He's above average at best. Beverley? Seriously?

 

I agree. They do need a combo guard next to Harden, and a power forward that can rebound to help Howard start the fast break! I think that they may have that in Thornton if they played them together. He has good handles, and is a great spot-up shooter.

 

You're right on the first count. The system is being exposed because there isn't one. At least not this season. I disagree on the second part. Ariza is a good defender. So is Bev(albeit overrated). Harden can play defense when he wants to. Capela is a capable defender and shotblocker. Even Jones can at least provide ok weakside help even if his post defense leaves a lot to be desired. And there are options off the bench like Harrell and McDaniels who at least provide hustle and energy.

Point being, they have enough talent on this roster to play an efficient team defense even when Dwight's out. They did it last year early in the season with Cisco, Johnson, Dorsey, and Black playing key minutes for chrissakes! What's missing this season compared to last is not talent(they have way more of it now). It's effort and a gameplan. Some of that does fall on the players, particularly Harden. But most if it is on McHale.

Why are we expected to just accept that the team had a lousy training camp and preseason? Why are we being told that it's simply an issue of the players not communicating with each other on the court through the first 10 games? I've been following the NBA for 23 years and I've never heard a coach pass the buck with the regularity that McHale does. It's his job to fix these problems or in the case of the bad training camp, make sure they never occur in the first place.