Sadly it’s been proven that we do run plays relatively often. However even the players who have been with him for years execute these plays like amateurs. The result of that is: to me, you and every broadcaster out there it looks like they’re just making it up as they go. I don’t know if that’s better or worse, but the results are the same. The offense is messy AF.
It's not so much that as it is they don't really have an offensive system, they just run read and react... which is okay if you have high BBIQ veteran players who always know instinctively what to do. ..it's a complete disaster in a team with so many young players and so many Tari Eason BBIQ type players. You could replace the entire coaching staff with a sign that says "You guys figure it out" and another that says "Don't get punked" and literally nothing would change strategy wise
Yeah - completely agree on all points. To say it another way, Stone has made fairly good risk mitigation steps in the draft along the way that drove the "best player available" strategies - that's kind of like an "in game manager" function...but the vision for his team is what has been lacking and using those same techniques to build out a team has failed him because it has made him risk averse when he needs to be setting broader context for what type of club Houston will be. You could argue Pat Riley is the ultimate 'team vision' guy - that's why he can draft guys much later and always ends up with a team that at very least can compete because the sum is always greater than the parts....however you could also argue that is to Miami's detriment at times because they are always good enough to compete but often are operating with a lower ceiling of their picks so I think a good GM needs to have both sides. In our case the sum is less than the parts because we have a bunch of players thrown together via BPA so the strengths and in our case specifically the weaknesses are often duplicative across the roster. FWIW, I think Detroit is a good example of a team mirroring Houston's journey but is seeing more success out of their lineups despite fielding lesser "known" talent. If we had a vision for our team we probably would have taken Castle over Reed because it aligns to Ime's preferred vision for this team but that highlights one other gap in Rocket's leadership - poor alignment. I don't know this to be true but it feels to me like our roster is also not cohesive as a reflection of poor alignment across the tent poles of the org. I can understand wanting to get somewhere but not having opportunity but 6 years into the rebuild it feels the fact we still got guys on the roster who clearly aren't Ime type of guys shows the disconnect in unaligned long term strategies. Yes, its Ime's job to make the roster work but this again comes back to Stone of either getting Ime on board, aligning with Ime on a long term vision together, or replacing Ime if he can't deliver on the rosters we think we need to field.
Um, we're only 2 years removed from being one of worst teams in the nba. Now its regular season don't matter?? Ime literally just got here
Where have you been living sir? Because the Rockets were only relevant when Ime became coach. The only you have high expectations are because of Ime
The pro sports teams in Houston screw the fans over by embarrassing themselves every playoffs. Thank god for Dream and the Astros or this crap would be unbearable.
We would have lost by 40 in both of these games if we had played the Thunder. Outside of getting lucky next year with the Nets swap and somehow ending up with an actual star, this team is absolutely screwed moving forward. There’s not a player on this roster capable of leading a team to a championship. Every one of our younger players have at least one major flaw - anyone who thinks any of them can become that guy is delusional. We’re going to end up in the worst spot you can be as a NBA franchise - good enough to make the playoffs but not even close to being good enough to win it all.
We have one thing to look forward to - The new lottery rules. Maybe they are favorable .... if not, may as well blow it up.
Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson, Alperen Sengun still should be the core. After them trade and upgrade everyone on the roster that can shoot threes and no more older veterans at the end of the bench, they don't help. The whole Coaching Staff must be replaced. Replace Rafael Stone with a better GM that has Analytics background with NBA scouting background.
How did the Rockets not notice Shai Gilgeous Alexander Clippers, Deni Avdija Wizards, Tyrese Halliburton Kings. Complete fail from Rafael Stone, Ime Udoka scouting to overpaying for Fred VanVleet, Steven Adams, Clint Capela, DFS
Ime has always been bad, we just overlooked it for a few years. There's simply no way to ignore just how detrimental to the team he's been.