Y’all still out here confusing the regular season for the postseason in the year 2026? the Rockets are fraudulent this team had the 8th best offense in the league during the regular season Does anything about this team and their lack of shooting, ball handling, playmaking, etc scream legitimate top 10 offense? It’s all smoke and mirrors the Rockets are very easy to defend and have a bunch of very flawed players which is how a bottom 10 defense in the Lakers can have us struggling to score 100 points in playoff games
This team is a Stone-Udoka masterpiece. Lack of handling and shooting, misaligned pieces, stunted development, mentally flummoxed. But they scrapped into some good regular season wins. Let's run it back.
we crapped out on our lottery picks and the FO doesnt have the insight to better the team through other means... but... people scoff at the notion that injuries derailed our season - calling it a cop-out... but lets be honest... Losing our starting pg created problems throughout the year... it took an offense with challenges into total ineptitude... and losing Adams (who had the best +/- on the team) at midseason destroyed our defense - as he was our rim protector...
our point of differential was our rebounding... what were we getting 18 2nd chance points a game? Weren't we on pace to have the greatest rebounding season ever - until we lost Adams. All the while folks were complaining about the double big line-up... lol Well, we lost Adams and that was gone... and personally... I think it was about more than Adams actual contributions... he was the cornerstone that inspired others to do the dirty work... Alpi's rebounding was very sporadic... I know that rebounding isnt as sexy as raining 3s or as flashy as a high motion offense... but it was working for us - and thats how the team was constructed...
the double big lineup is more of a gimmick to me tbh…you’re trotting out 3 total non-shooters in Amen, Sengun, and Adams and relying on 32 y/o Steven Adams so much is crazy to begin with when the last 4 years he’s played in 42, missed the whole season, 58, and 32 games and even after Adams went down, we were still 2nd in the league in offensive boards and 1st in the playoffs we took a whopping 60 more shots than the Lakers in this playoff series, and still scored 15 less points than them while they were missing 2 of their 3 best offensive players Rockets rely on gimmicks like zero spacing double big lineups or guys who aren’t PG’s like Amen/Reed/KD trying to run the offense and the PG they are relying on is a 32 y/o coming off an ACL whose missed games 7 of the last 8 seasons are: 18, 28, 20, 17, 13, 22, and the entire season FVV damn near as unreliable as Steven Adams
dont get me wrong... im not saying thats the roster i would look to construct - but i understand the logic... and quite frankly after MDA's total disregard for rebounding and rim protection, i appreciated seeing it as a focus... and we did continue to rebound well after Adams - but not to the needle moving point that we had... 27 of those 60 more shots came in game 1... which yeh, when u shoot 38% to their 61%, there aint enough rebounds to offset that differential... lol ...and it shows that our postseason rebounding #s were driven by our shooting inabilities... but imo, not getting a reasonable filll-in pg once FVV went down was a travesty...
Don’t forget about the man who works alongside Stone in constructing and managing the roster. He also some power within the organization since he’s the son of the owner.
Nothing happened. We've been booty since 1995. We get hyped over a glimpse of someone showing potential but in reality those are just flashes-fools gold. We get washed up superstars that are on downhill in their careers n are looking for the last max contract. Above average franchise but not elite. Same thing with the Texans (they're probably just average), the only team from Houston that got to the elite level and stayed there consistently are the Astros.
Social media messages from KD. 3rd seed before that dropped two seeds and looked like ass after. He needs to be traded.
Emphasizing rebounding is a path to winning 50-games in the regular season. But when the playoffs are underway, and you start playing games that have higher stakes, you have to be able to defend on the perimeter and shoot the ball. Think about how far we'll have to come to be competitive in the playoffs: we couldn't defend a backcourt featuring Austin Reeves. OKC has 6 guys that make him look inept, unathletic, and slow-footed.
i dont view these things as either/or propositions - everything is about balance... unfortunately, folks wanna run 1 aspect or another to the nth degree - and hope it works out... lol Once the shot goes up, should everybody release and start running back - or should everybody stay in and fight for the rebound? Neither... a couple guys should start backpeddling and a couple guys should be crashing the boards...
In pro sports teams can be fixed by smart people. Stone is a smart person. And the owner is no dummy. The team will be more competitive next season. Sometimes you try things. When they don't work, you move on.
What happened? Stone not making good trades and drafting elite players happened. Wolves, Spurs, Thunder are out there playing 4D chess while the rest of west are catching up. They have guys off the bench that can be starters for our team. This team is going nowhere and I wouldn't be surprised if Stone just sat pat this off-season like he's suggested in the press conference.
Poetry. They started a dead poet society. And just like how poets turned the English language into a kaleidoscope of words, the rockets dismantled the game of basketball and deconstructed it too.
Or do they double down? Triple down? I can only hope Stonedoka and Boy Fertitta can pull a rabbit out of their collective hats rather than pulling another disaster out of their collective asses. That's as optimistic as it gets for me at the moment.
