What is the main reason for this teams struggle this year?

I pretty much considered this a wasted season months ago when I realized JB is not an NBA head coach and the Rockets had no intentions of replacing him this year.

 

no system - defensively or offensively.

 

other teams are beating us

 

Aside from Beverly, the play from the PG and the PF positions have been an embarrassment. Lawson and Jones are 2 of the very worst players in the NBA and they were both getting regular minutes. Harrell is young and very mistake prone. Smith after his start has been terrible, not Jones terrible, but plenty bad. Terry is a major defensive liability, and if he's not hitting 3's he's not valuable on offense either. D-mo hasn't been able to stay on the floor long enough to get into a productive rhythm (coaching has something to do with that here recently)

 

Give me a break. There was a period before Beasley joined this team in which the Rockets just flat out looked like a D-league scrubs when Harden was not on the floor. We had one of the worst bench production in NBA, not to mention a huge hole in the PF position. If I remember correctly, Houston's offensive rating was something like 78 without Harden and 110 with him on the court.

Were it not for Harden doing all the heavy lifting, we would not even be in the position to fight for the last playoff spot in the first place. That's how bad we've gotten this year. You can blame the coach, GM, or even out-of-shape Harden that we saw beginning of the season, but it sure as hell ain't current Harden's fault that we are not doing as well as expected. In fact, it's the exact opposite, and I can assure you that Harden-less Rockets would be competing with the 76ers and the Lakers for the 2016 Draft first pick.

 

Agree with your roommate

 

Ty Lawson.

 

I don't think either you or your friend are wrong. Both of those issues are huge problems. But they aren't even the only problems. All in all, this team seems to have an effort problem.

 

If you guys are wondering Yes I'm his roommate.

 

the JLin-led 2012-2013 Rockets did better than this team. :grin: Which tells you either (a) Harden is not the problem, because he wasn't the problem then, or (b) Harden's regression IS the problem.

 

The Rockets coaching, team defense, power forward and point guard play, turnovers, bench play, effort, offensive and defensive schemes have all been largely anemic this season.

Harden is certainly responsible for his fair share of those problems, and it certainly starts with him as the star of the team, but the notion that it's "solely" on him will always remain silly, unless you want to say each and every game we've won has been "solely" because of Harden as well.

 

I don't get why this is such a hot issue.

We play like total absolute scrubs when Harden is off the court (and numbers/stats back this up), yet some people just can't get through their thick heads that it's not Harden but lack of system and coaching that is dragging this team down. Harden is ranked in top 10 BPM & RPM wise, meaning we usually outplay opponents when he is on the court.

Brewer, Lawson, T Jones, Terry all used to have horrible plus minus numbers. Maybe this might be more of an issue. Just sayin'.

 

Bad juju.

I blame it all on Khloe Kardashian, but the Curse of BasedGod also contributed.

 

Lack of commitment to Sparkle Motion...

 

I wish they would sticky a thread and only put & allow this post in it.

 

Anyone who believes Harden is doing the 'heavy lifting' for this team and is draining his energy which leads to high turnover/inefficient nights never have played a legitimate fullcourt game of 5 vs 5 basketball. Players expend the most energy and become the most tired on the defensive end by chasing around opponents and fighting through screens, boxing out and running back on transition defense. I always hated pick up games when I was guarding that guy who just always runs through screen on half court sets like an energizer bunny on every possession. Harden does NONE of that. Even on the offensive end, when he isn't holding the ball in his hands, he just stands there regardless of whether spacing is being compromised. Harden probably expends the least amount of calories of any player that plays 35+ mpg.

 

A Harden-less Rockets would mean that he is replaced by a player who...

plays defense.


I mean it certainly would help if this team played 5 v 5 on the defensive end instead of 4 v 5.

 

I blame Dekker.

 

No accountablility from the top down. The teams superstar is allowed to take plays off without repercussions. This sets a very bad example.