The Rockets fired coach Kevin McHale on Wednesday and installed J.B Bickerstaff as the interim coach for the remainder of the season. GM Daryl Morey said that he has not lost faith in the team’s ability to contend, and cited the lack of time to dally in the rugged Western Conference as reasoning for making the coaching move at this time. Team owner Leslie Alexander, who purchased the club in July of 1993, ripped the performance of the Rockets, saying the team has never played quite so poorly in his time as owner.
Houston was 4-7 this season under McHale, and though the team did not look particularly well-prepared or motivated this campaign under the former coach, it’s difficult to place the full blame on McHale’s shoulders for the franchise’s subpar start. The roster doesn’t appear to be well-balanced, and the team’s defense was woeful, a by-product of GM Daryl Morey stockpiling offensive-minded players.
This brings me to today’s topic: Who is to blame for the Rockets’ current woes?
Do you feel that Houston will be a better club now that it is out from under McHale’s tutelage? Or are you of the opinion that the players are at fault, and the team would have been better served by making some roster moves instead? How much fault do you place in the lap of Morey, who is the architect of the current roster? Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the subject. We look forward to what you have to say.
Harden & Howard, plus the GM Morey
Tough to pin it on just one guy. They haven’t really been healthy, so that makes it even harder to assign blame. Still, with the team’s defensive woes so far, you have to wonder why Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza and Patrick Beverley, all strong defenders, haven’t been able to stem the tide.
Howard hasn’t been playing in back-to-back games, so that has disrupted chemistry. Beverley is injured. Terrence Jones missed a few games, and Donatas Motiejunas hasn’t played since April. The Rockets’ problems are a mixture of injuries, chemistry, effort and personnel. When Harden, Ty Lawson and Marcus Thornton are in the starting lineup together, there’s only so much Howard and Ariza can do to help the defense.
I don’t think even Draymond Green/Tony Allen/Hassan Whiteside could cover up the defensive holes of Harden/Lawson/Thornton/Jones/Terry/Brewer this year. It’s that bad. No effort. They don’t care.
James Harden. We can also consider the fact that Corey Brewer has been terrible, and Ariza hasn’t been much either. They are terrible defensively with both Harden and Marcus Thornton.
The Kardashians. No joke. Those sociopaths ruin everything they touch, particularly athletes. Someone get them the hell away from this team.
We won’t see an immediate improvement from the Rockets, except maybe in the effort department. In terms of X’s and O’s….they are going to need an offseason to master that from any new coach. This is a lost season for the Rockets, which is a shame, given Dwight’s almost-closed prime window, at least on defense. Them’s the breaks.
Rockets will not play any differently under Bickerstaff in terms of style. The ONLY THING that will change is their attitudes. Hopefully. But basketball-wise, you should still expect to see stagnant half court offense, confusion, low basketball IQ, jacked up threes, missed jacked up threes, missed open threes, missed FTs, turnovers, isoball, etc…
Sigh.