What was he supposed to say, "Jeff was actually one of the biggest reasons we got off to a bad start"? "Jeff is not irreplaceable, there are other good defensive coaches out there"? PJ's a good solidier and said the right thing as a member of the Rockets organization.
I basically said he was right. Nothing to overthink or over-state here, man. That is just my 2 cents, that Bzdelik is a tad more important to the cause than MDA, but MDA is still important somehow. Not trying to get into the MDA fire or extend convo now.
Not where I was headed, either. I just think Bzdelik's importance to the team's defense is way overstated, especially this last season. Any competent defensive coach should be able to get the job done pretty well. PJ saying Jeff's his guy wasn't saying we can't bring someone in just as good.
Is it the best offense....... in the playoffs?? That's the advanced stats that should count and we know is far from being it. Still, Pippen's argument is lamer than he thinks. He actually thinks he's outsmarting analytics with a pretty simple and raw argument.
It's pretty simple, breh..... watch the next season, I also think it will be a Make or Break season for the entire staff. Everyone is getting older, Harden's Super Max will be kicking in soon. CP's contract still looming large. MDA has said he would want a 3 year extension while I say 2 years is optimal, with next year being the most important one. I would not want to be in his shoes, 2 failures to get into the Finals, I dun think he survives that without at least getting scolded. Morey having the safest seat. Fertitta has shown he is quicker with words than actions, it might be good or bad, depending on the angle.
Of course its predictable and boring, but it's been consistently hard to stop. We had a 113.8 Offensive Rating against GSW. That's more than good against them, like it or not. In fact defense was the issue at the right moment (114.5 Defensive rating), that's why we let Bzdelik go.
Lol or the warriors were just the better team. We can beat them playing our way. Our defense has to be better. Giving up 32pts in the 4thq of game 5 and 118pts in game 6 to a Durant less Warriors really hurt us
Basically the Warriors can sign Cousins and another dude.......and say to Durant, you were only a luxury.
Agree with all that. The third year on MDA's contract is entirely dependent on how much $$ Tilman is willing to eat if things go south this year or next.
It is pathetic that there are actually Rocket fans that think the offense was the problem. The problem is that the Rockets made zero adjustments on defense and the Warriors ran the same damn play over and over with insane success against the Rockets defense.
and Ariza missed the playoffs and Luc missed the season so waste of time to discuss... It's like saying the Bulls miss Jordan or the Rox miss Olajuwan.
MDA reminds me of Arsene Wenger. Both have styles and systems that they refuse to adapt to opponents. Sure it will work 80% of the time and very aesthetically pleasing to watch but at the end of the day against top tier opposition you HAVE to adapt to your style.
More interesting would be an exact clone of the Warriors, down to the system and coaches, playing itself. Then when one loses I'd love to hear the "this style can't win" takes about the loser lol. The system arguments about the Rockets are so bizarre. Nobody has beaten the Warriors. The Blazers play the way people want them to and got smoked. They blitzed the Cavs last year in the finals. They blitzed the Spurs. For 5 straight years the Warriors have blitzed nearly every team they've faced in the playoffs except the Cavs 1x at peak Lebron and with extenuating circumstances, a hiccup against the Thunder (with Durant there) that they quickly corrected and then two competitive series against the Rockets. (including one being a hamstring away from the Rockets winning) Yet people want the Rockets to be like the other teams. It just doesn't make sense.
The Rockets are also one of only 2-3 other teams that actually accepted the challenge of the Warriors and have attempted to beat them, The Rockets are a lot better than a lot of fans on these boards want to admit, the Warriors have just been better..... It isn't shocking when you have 4 first ballot Hall of Fame players and another (AI) that was very productive as well.
The Pippen "predictable" stuff is dumb. 1) Predictable - even if you know what's coming, can you stop it? Rockets couldn't with Curry/Green PNR 2) Predictable - feels like code for *an aesthetic that I don't like to watch.* Also, in 2014 NO ONE believed that a *jump shooting team* could win that way in the Finals. But it took an exceptional talent(s) to do that. In 2019, NO ONE believed that an ISO driven team could win that way in the Finals. It might take an exceptional talent (Harden) to do that. People won't be believers until it happens. Bottom line for the Rockets though is it WASNT THE ISO OFFENSE as the reason they are out of the playoffs. It was the DEFENSE not stopping the other team.
I think the number is more than 2-3 but I agree with your point. The Rockets are fighting. They aren't good enough and the most likely outcome is they are not going to win a title in this era. That's the way life is in the NBA. It's very hard to team build for a championship because of the salary cap and the way the draft talent works. It isn't baseball or football where a smart GM has multiple shots at really good players every year in the draft if they are just coached up and you hit on your picks. You can't just keep everyone by finagling contracts bonuses or paying as much as you want. It's incredible difficult. That's why the NBA is so prone to super teams. Building teams is hard and individual talent carries so much weight vs the other sports. The Warriors have the perfect assembly of talent. So we go to war. Are we likely to win? No. But we will meet them none the less.
The Rockets also had the mandate to build without bottoming out, and that is a big of all of this. The Rockets have built their team almost entirely with trades and free agent signings. Now, granted they dealt their middling picks to get CP3 and Harden, but there is no one other than Capela (who wasn't a high pick) on the roster that is an integral piece. The only major mistake the Rockets made was the Les Alexander mandate to spend the money after the McHale debacle that led to Ryan Anderson. You couple not turning Anderson and his contract into a third semi star, and the unexpected signing of KD in Golden State and the Rockets are in limbo. I sometimes don't think fans realize that the Rockets were always the less talented team, and were always a long shot against the Warriors. Maybe the Rockets this off season are able to turn Capela and/or Gordon into a third star.... and use the full MLE on someone like JJ Reddick, or Marcus Morris or JaMychal Green.... then the Rockets may win the title............. but what are the odds of that? 10%..... so we play a game of odds and hope our number comes up..... but GS is the house, and they have the favorable odds.
