Rockets = Disappointing

[BZ]

With the addition of Derek Anderson and Stromile Swift, I expected the Rockets to be alot better than their start last year, especially with most of the team left over from last year, surely there'd be alot better team play. All I can say is that the Rockets have not lived up to my expectations, and right now, they downright suck and their record shows it. I know they've went against some of the top teams against the league, but they have enough pieces to the puzzle that can allow people to call the Rockets "one of the top teams in the league." But it seems it isn't the case so far, and I seriously hope the Rockets pick up their acts, change their line-up a bit or something, ANYTHING! to turn this horrible start around. Perhaps inserting Swift into the starting lineup would be a good idea?

[Its_asdf]

I am still wondering why Stro isn't starting.

[Matt]

another loss tonight

[Amphatoast]

get tracy healthy is the first step

[[L3]1101]

the second step would be to teach Yao what selfish means

[Nel]

The rockets really suck. Like JVG said they can't rely on tracy's miracle everynight.

[Matthew]

Yao has to step up and carry the rockets. Tmac is trying to play with a bad back and knees, and is getting no support whatsoever.

[kinokong]

i thought this was supposed to be the fucking year of the yao... a full summer of rest... wheres all the experts that said he was gonna fucking blow up this year???

[Fenix]

Didn't the Rockets have a slow start also last year?

[Balla69]

I am still wondering why Stro isn't starting.

xactly

why can't this brotha get no start?
he is gonna blowup, some way or other, with all that talent caged.
it better be on the court

[J@3]

Once again, what the fuck?

[magius]

you need to give them time to meld. the players theyve acquired aren't exactly leaders. rafter alston? ha. stro is a kid. da is just there. wesley has no cred. no one understands deke. barry has a big mouth, head is a rookie, bowen sucks too much to matter, juwan? are you kidding me. i think their problem is that they dont have one great lockerroom presence. tmac seems too laid back and nice, same with yao. i guess they all get along well, but no ones really pushing them. look at what cassell and mobley have done for the clips (of course guard fourth quarter execution is always key, but i believe its more than that). teams can win without that one presence, but they need to develop an unaninmous team identity to do so, and that takes time. this team has too much talent (not to mention a fairly good coach) to dissapoint forever, so you've got to stick with it.

[Jackal]

Regardless of the locker room presence and what not, a lot of people were expecting Yao to be their "franchise player". From the looks of it, Yao just isn't suitable for that role. He isn't a Shaq, Hakeem or Robinson type to make a big impact. McGrady seems to be more of the franchise player than Yao does. Oh well, I wish the big man the best of luck.

But this "year of the Yao" we've been hearing about, I don't think it'll ever come. Don't get me wrong, he'll be good, like Brad Miller, but not great like Shaq & Hakeem and co.

[kevC]

Yao and T-Mac are both in the top ten best players in the league. They are not getting any help from anyone whatsoever. Rafer's a passable offensive PG but he's atrocious on defense which is why I miss Mike James and Stro is also effective but not nearly getting enough playing time. Wesley should never set his foot on the court again.

[J@3]

Yao a top 10 player?

[Matt]

Yao a Top 10? IMO he's behind Shaq, Amare, Wallace and Brad Miller at the C spot....and by Joel Przybilla soon enough

[Fenix]

Yao a Top 10? IMO he's behind Shaq, Amare, Wallace and Brad Miller at the C spot....and by Joel Przybilla soon enough

Camby? Darko? Bogut and Magloire? They keep on coming .

I'm not even joking with Camby. Has anyone seen him play lately? What is he on?

[BZ]

At most I'd say Yao is certainly in the Top 20, if not Top 15. Many basketball people dubbed Stro a bust, yet if you look at the amount of playing time he has played his whole career, I'm not sure if anyone can label him that. If the Rockets start him, he could definitely provide a defensive presence in the paint, and make opposing teams think twice before driving in, especially with Yao and Stro guarding the paint. The Rockets better make some good moves before the trade deadline... unload Moochie and Wesley for a better backup SF, get rid of Juwan for a younger PF, try to get another solid backup C. If the Rockets can achieve any of that, I'm sure they'll easily get T-Mac past the 1st round next year, because I have a feeling that if they do make the playoffs, they might not get past the first round.

[Fenix]

The problem with Swift is his low basketball IQ. He has a decent skill set (midrange jumper, couple of basic post moves,...), but he just can't use it properly because he doesn't know when its the right time to do it. Someone with his combination of height (he's a legit 6'10'' with shoes on), length, power and athleticism should be dominant inside the paint. Look at Amare. What does he have what Swift doesn't? Higher BB IQ (and 10, 20 more pounds), that's what he has and Swift doesn't. And for a #2 pick, he's a bust. At least for now. I don't get why Nets didn't make a run after him. He would be perfect for their style of play.

[1CenT]

Yao is crappy, i'm disappointed everytime i watch him, ya he still gets like 18/8 at least, but still, you can see everytime he gets the ball in good position, its like automatic score..
you expect seriously like 30/12 from him with that skill, IQ and height
he is really always tired and can't protect the ball, nor do the rockets clear up for him, but then, its nba after all, why would they want to leave the 7'6 offensive gunner 1 on 1 ing.. my conclusion, hes not aggressive and fast enough to make his move before double teams at times..

Tmac is injured, i watched him play, he looks bad, he can shoot like crazy, but he isn't nearly as explosive.. he should be next to kobe right now carrying his team, and if yao just keeps giving them about 20/10, swift off the bench, they should be fine..

Yao, Howard, Tmac, Wesley and Sura were great, with James and Barry off the bench... now they added swift and DA.. but i think they really miss Sura, he was tough and James is tough too

[benji]

Hi guys.

Yao is crappy

Being the second best center in the league since the day he set foot in it is crappy? Somebody tell Dwayne Wade he's crappy too because he wasn't the second best player at his position until his second season.

Blah, blah, blah, Yao isn't stepping up, blah, blah, blah. We heard this last year when he was the only Rocket doing anything of use to start the season, and the same thing is happening again this year.

Yao's averaging 25.4 points and 12.1 rebounds per 40 minutes. He's "only" shooting 57% (TS%) and 52% from the floor (eFG) while turning the ball over less than anyone on the Rockets except Rafer Alston by a mile. Two Rockets average more than 90 points produced per 100 possessions, Yao (96.4) and McGrady (90.5). Only two others average more than 80, Barry (85.9) and Head (81.4). No one else cracks 20 per 40 minutes (Yao: 23.6, McGrady: 26.8), and only Head cracks 15 (15.6). Yao has increased his possession percentage by roughly 10% (from 30.3% to 32.8%) and his rebounding by nearly 15% (from 14.8% to 16.9%).

That's not even talking about the games McGrady wasn't in. Or the ones early in the season.
vs. Sacramento: Yao had 21 possessions in 25 minutes, 43.3% of the team's possessions while on the court.
vs. New Orleans: 26 in 37, 36.3%
vs. Orlando: 19 in 36, 27.2%
@ Miami: 25 in 33, 39.1%
@ New Jersey: 13 in 21, 32.0%

Because he's getting fewer turnovers Yao has added 3.5 points produced per 100 possessions and 2 points produced per 40 minutes despite a drop in shooting (55% to 52% in eFG, 61% to 57% in TS). That shooting percentage drop appears to come completely off jump shots as he shot 43% on them last season and is shooting 41% this season. He's stayed at 57% on close shots and increased the percentage of his shots that are a close from 43% to 48%. One interesting thing is that last year he took 33% of his shots in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock and shot 65%, this year it's 39% and 49%. The lack of McGrady for three games, and one suspects the lack of Sura have focused more attention on Yao not allowing him to get as easy baskets in the start of possessions.

This looks supported by the fact that Yao is having to create more of his baskets this season 72% of his baskets were assisted last year, only 48% this year. The last 8 seconds of the shot clock shots last year were assisted 77% of the time, only 29% this year. He's shooting better in the last three seconds 54% vs. 50% last season (and that's dropped 79% to 14% assisted), but it's in the 16-20 seconds elapsed section where he's fallen from 48% to 40% (76% to 40% assisted) accounting for another chunk of his field goal drop. The fact that Yao is creating so many more of his own shots makes his drop in turnover rate even more amazing.

Houston's problems have nothing to do with McGrady and Ming. Talking about McGrady and Ming is ignoring the real problem, so is talking about "leadership" or "identity." It's that other than two legit superstars they have a bunch of junk. Barry and Swift have been the only other passable players thus far. Barry is basically the same as last year, even slightly better shooting, but his turnover rate has increased by 50%! Swift is as well, but his TS% has fallen from 52% to 48% accounting for the 1.5 fewer points per 40 minutes, as well as his assist ratio plummiting from 6.0 to 1.4. Other than that there's a hell of a lot of crap being put on the floor for major minutes.

Alston is barely cracking 10 points per 40, while shooting 39.8% from the floor, while his TS% has fallen nearly 10 points from 52% to 43% he's combining that with a serious drop in usage rate (24.0 to 15.5) to be useless on offense. Howard's turnover rate has jumped 30%, while his usage rate has dropped 15% combining a less efficienct offense with fewer chances for an overall drop. Anderson has kept his shooting close to last season like Howard and unlike Howard his usage rate has stayed the same, but his turnover rate has increased 50%. Wesley's shooting just 38% from the floor, and while his TS% isn't too much lower than the previous season, guess what. His turnover rate has increased 50%, sensing a pattern? (He's also lost a third of his usage rate once againg combining an efficiency drop with a possession drop...which explains why he's getting less than 10 points per 40...yet he also is still playing more than half the minutes of a game.) McGrady's turnover rate also has increased from 7.9 to 10.5. Infact only one Rocket has lowered his turnover rate from last year. Yao Ming.

The Rockets problem is entirely on offense as of Thursday they've lost 5 points off their offense (103.2 vs 98.0) and almost no points off their defense (98.9 vs 98.7).

Basically everyone but McGrady and Barry is shooting worse than last season. Look at the four factors. They've dropped on eFG .486 to .454 and dropped on turnover rate 15.0 to 16.6. They've gotten better on offensive rebounding % 26.3 to 27.0 and FTM/FGA 0.24 to 0.29. But that's meaningless with the drops in the first two.

Yao and McGrady aren't the problem as both are playing better than last year. (And using more possessions which some crazy people would consider "stepping up", the idiots.) The real culprits are everyone else, who are playing so much worse they're undermining the superstars.

[galvatron3000]

Yao, top ten is a joke. Rockets have chemistry problem because they brought in new pieces but McGrady hasn't played with them and Yao is not the player everyone wants him to be. They may need more time or they may need to package some players and get new ones especially at the point guard position. Also, Stromile isn't starting because Juwan is beating him out in practice and after watching him two night in a row Stro may need to get off the Rockets teams. Talent, who cares if it is not producing.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

I already knew what was going to happen to the Rockets this year. I mean I didn't think they were be this bad, but I knew they weren't going to be a top 4-5 team in the West. Swift isn't a lifesaver, he is an "ok player" and I've learned that from all the years he has been in Memphis. Everyone thought Swift was just going to be great and I knew he wasn't because I've seen the way he played in Memphis. Derek Anderson isn't the best role player in the league either, so he wasn't going to be a lifesaver either. It's so funny how everyone was thinking the GRizzlies were going to be so bad because they took out all the bad pieces from their roster and added veteran leadership, but they are doing pretty good right now.

[1CenT]

Hi guys.

Yao is crappy

Being the second best center in the league since the day he set foot in it is crappy? Somebody tell Dwayne Wade he's crappy too because he wasn't the second best player at his position until his second season.

Blah, blah, blah, Yao isn't stepping up, blah, blah, blah. We heard this last year when he was the only Rocket doing anything of use to start the season, and the same thing is happening again this year.

Yao's averaging 25.4 points and 12.1 rebounds per 40 minutes. He's "only" shooting 57% (TS%) and 52% from the floor (eFG) while turning the ball over less than anyone on the Rockets except Rafer Alston by a mile. Two Rockets average more than 90 points produced per 100 possessions, Yao (96.4) and McGrady (90.5). Only two others average more than 80, Barry (85.9) and Head (81.4). No one else cracks 20 per 40 minutes (Yao: 23.6, McGrady: 26.8), and only Head cracks 15 (15.6). Yao has increased his possession percentage by roughly 10% (from 30.3% to 32.8%) and his rebounding by nearly 15% (from 14.8% to 16.9%).

That's not even talking about the games McGrady wasn't in. Or the ones early in the season.
vs. Sacramento: Yao had 21 possessions in 25 minutes, 43.3% of the team's possessions while on the court.
vs. New Orleans: 26 in 37, 36.3%
vs. Orlando: 19 in 36, 27.2%
@ Miami: 25 in 33, 39.1%
@ New Jersey: 13 in 21, 32.0%

Because he's getting fewer turnovers Yao has added 3.5 points produced per 100 possessions and 2 points produced per 40 minutes despite a drop in shooting (55% to 52% in eFG, 61% to 57% in TS). That shooting percentage drop appears to come completely off jump shots as he shot 43% on them last season and is shooting 41% this season. He's stayed at 57% on close shots and increased the percentage of his shots that are a close from 43% to 48%. One interesting thing is that last year he took 33% of his shots in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock and shot 65%, this year it's 39% and 49%. The lack of McGrady for three games, and one suspects the lack of Sura have focused more attention on Yao not allowing him to get as easy baskets in the start of possessions.

This looks supported by the fact that Yao is having to create more of his baskets this season 72% of his baskets were assisted last year, only 48% this year. The last 8 seconds of the shot clock shots last year were assisted 77% of the time, only 29% this year. He's shooting better in the last three seconds 54% vs. 50% last season (and that's dropped 79% to 14% assisted), but it's in the 16-20 seconds elapsed section where he's fallen from 48% to 40% (76% to 40% assisted) accounting for another chunk of his field goal drop. The fact that Yao is creating so many more of his own shots makes his drop in turnover rate even more amazing.

Houston's problems have nothing to do with McGrady and Ming. Talking about McGrady and Ming is ignoring the real problem, so is talking about "leadership" or "identity." It's that other than two legit superstars they have a bunch of junk. Barry and Swift have been the only other passable players thus far. Barry is basically the same as last year, even slightly better shooting, but his turnover rate has increased by 50%! Swift is as well, but his TS% has fallen from 52% to 48% accounting for the 1.5 fewer points per 40 minutes, as well as his assist ratio plummiting from 6.0 to 1.4. Other than that there's a hell of a lot of crap being put on the floor for major minutes.

Alston is barely cracking 10 points per 40, while shooting 39.8% from the floor, while his TS% has fallen nearly 10 points from 52% to 43% he's combining that with a serious drop in usage rate (24.0 to 15.5) to be useless on offense. Howard's turnover rate has jumped 30%, while his usage rate has dropped 15% combining a less efficienct offense with fewer chances for an overall drop. Anderson has kept his shooting close to last season like Howard and unlike Howard his usage rate has stayed the same, but his turnover rate has increased 50%. Wesley's shooting just 38% from the floor, and while his TS% isn't too much lower than the previous season, guess what. His turnover rate has increased 50%, sensing a pattern? (He's also lost a third of his usage rate once againg combining an efficiency drop with a possession drop...which explains why he's getting less than 10 points per 40...yet he also is still playing more than half the minutes of a game.) McGrady's turnover rate also has increased from 7.9 to 10.5. Infact only one Rocket has lowered his turnover rate from last year. Yao Ming.

The Rockets problem is entirely on offense as of Thursday they've lost 5 points off their offense (103.2 vs 98.0) and almost no points off their defense (98.9 vs 98.7).

Basically everyone but McGrady and Barry is shooting worse than last season. Look at the four factors. They've dropped on eFG .486 to .454 and dropped on turnover rate 15.0 to 16.6. They've gotten better on offensive rebounding % 26.3 to 27.0 and FTM/FGA 0.24 to 0.29. But that's meaningless with the drops in the first two.

Yao and McGrady aren't the problem as both are playing better than last year. (And using more possessions which some crazy people would consider "stepping up", the idiots.) The real culprits are everyone else, who are playing so much worse they're undermining the superstars.

great stats, but i'm a rockets and yao fan, and i watch them a lot, and i still think Yao is crappy for his size and skills.. He isn't quick enough to grab the ball and finish before the double teams, like Shaq and the great centers.. I seriously think i can expect like 28 points from Yao in limited minutes, but he doesn't hold his position strong enough for enough time, and he doesn't pound it in as well as most good centers..

[Matthew]

Being the second best center in the league since the day he set foot in it is crappy?

I rank Amare, Camby, Shaq and Ben Wallace ahead of Yao.

Yao's averaging 25.4 points and 12.1 rebounds per 40 minutes.

Thats the problem, he isnt averaging 40 minutes a game. With McGrady ailing, the rockets need Yao to step up now. I dont care what his per 48 average is or anything like that. The game is much bigger than stats and this is a prime example.

As for the rest of your post Ben, you cant expect people to take what you're saying seriously when its just all stats. I'm sure if we broke it down, someone could make an arguement that Udrich was more important to the spurs last season than Horry becuase he had a better statistical season.

Yao and McGrady aren't the problem as both are playing better than last year. (And using more possessions which some crazy people would consider "stepping up", the idiots.) The real culprits are everyone else, who are playing so much worse they're undermining the superstars.

But as a leader, Yao has to play better. You yourself "showed" how "effective" yao is per 40 minutes; the rockets need that kind of production now while Tmac is hurting. If Yao truely has improved he would be carrying the rockets...