Kleeman's Last Word

Rockets epitomize dispassion and underachievement

Shoot, that was not easy.
The Houston Rockets this season have been like a rape scene in a bad movie. They have turned horrible into worse. It doesn't look like this atrocious, non-competitive spell will end anytime soon.
When Rockets owner Leslie Alexander called this the most talented team since the championship years he wasn't wrong. He just hoped that promising talent would be backed by passionate play and a winning record. So much for that, Les.

For this perplexing Houston team, looking up the word "consistency" in the Webster's dictionary might be a good place to start. They cannot move the ball. They cannot hit open shots. Their defense sucks. They could not close out a game against a playoff team to save their lives.
The list goes on, but I will spare you.

It's never a good sign when the hometown fans are outcoaching the coach. Rick Adelman is new, but his first quarter of leadership has been awful.

Let's go through a checklist of No-Duhs that this team cannot seem to recognize:
1) The Rockets will never win if Tracy McGrady reduces himself to a jumpshooter. He must ATTACK the basket on every possession if he hopes to be this team's leader. The best jumpshooter in the world will shoot 47 percent on his BEST night. T-Mac will never win a playoff series by carelessly heaving contested jumpshots.

2) No ball movement means crappy shots. The Rockets should never expect to garner open looks when they stick the ball on one side of the floor. Throwing the ball to McGrady and saying "you do something with it" is a terrible idea. McGrady or someone else just ends up tossing a prayer jumpshot over a double team.
You cannot win a fucking game shooting shit like that.

3) Luther Head is not a point guard. Why Adelman has played Head in this position when he has Aaron Brooks, Steve Francis and Mike James to back up the brick-tastic Rafer Alston beats me. He couldn't handle the ball with Van Gundy so why does Adelman expect radical change.
The new coach would do well to watch what the Dallas Mavericks have done with Jason Terry - bringing him off the bench, getting the ball out of his hands and allowing him to spot up and run the floor as a shooter. Luther Head is a shooter, not a distributor or ballhandler. He should NEVER bring the ball up the floor.

4) If defense wins championships, the Rockets should play some. And how about that help defense? Luther Head cannot guard Josh Howard, so a teammate must come over to help him so that the all-star caliber forward doesn't elevate for the easy kill.
Tim Duncan is a great help defender because he notices when a teammate guarding a superstar player is the victim in a mismatch and needs assistance. The Rockets help has been some of the worst I've seen in years.

5) When Yao Ming scores 19 in the first half against the high-scoring Phoenix Suns on the road, he should get more than one touch in the first seven minutes of the third quarter! This team will not succeed if it fails to get its best player and reliable inside scorer enough touches.

6) Free throws are called what they are for a reason: because they are unguarded points. It's hard to fathom the Rockets making 6-22 against the veteran Detroit Pistons and winning the game, but they did. Missing free throws when the offense is this bad is a recipe for disaster.

There's plenty more where that came from, but again, I will spare you.

It takes talent to lose this badly. If only they could use all of that skill and ability to win.

I hate coming to this conclusion, but I must do so. These Rockets are no better than the New York Knicks. They suck and they play with no heart. Yao Ming can put up all the numbers he wants and the Rockets will still find a way to lose the game.

Watching this team is like torture. The Houston Waterboarders? Why not.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 10:28 PM