Houston Rockets Thread - Preseason vs Spurs (Friday)

Really liked what I saw out of the guys tonight, especially Daniels and Tarik Black. It was basically our bench vs the Suns regular team, and had a very good performance, other than the overall 3pt shooting being low. Pap getting 4 fouls in 3 minutes though :x :lol
 
Not a good game yesterday vs N.O. Of course things would've been different if Harden/Howard played, but it I really wasn't a good effort. I know most of that could've also been from fatigue though.
 
 
Ariza has been fantastic defensively so far. On and off the ball. Very adept at reading passes cross court and knowing when to gamble. Already has a couple break away steals and dunks this preseason.

Our roster has so many guards it's hard to predict the depth chat but here's my guess

PG
Bev, ish, Canaan.
Out of all the backup guards, ish has looked consistent although I hate his style of play. Too out of control and can't shoot. hopefully Canaan grows into that role

SG
Harden, Daniels, Nick Johnson/JET

SF
Ariza, Kostas
Kostas will see minutes at 2-4 in different lineups because McHale

PF
Jones, DMO, Adrien, Black
Adrien and Black might get minutes here and there for depth, that's about it.

C
Dwight, Dorsey, Black
Pretty self explanatory
 
I'm sure Dorsey will backup Howard early on, but I also think Tarik Black could quickly pass him up. Very curious about the lineup shuffling McHale does.
 
what's up fellas? 
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per Clutchfans
According to Hakeem Olajuwon, Dwight Howard was already prepared to kick the door down.

“He’s healthy. He’s strong. He’s ready,” said Olajuwon, who won the award in 1994 when he led the Rockets to the first of their back-to-back championships. “Now it’s about having the attitude to go out every night and dominate.”
The Hall of Famer officially rejoined his former team as a player development specialist after Howard signed a free agent contract with the Rockets in July 2013 and recently concluded his second training camp stint working with the All-Star center before returning to his home in Amman, Jordan. Prior to the start of camp, Olajuwon had not worked with Howard since the end of last season.

“He’s older, more mature and you can tell that he is feeling better physically,” Olajuwon said. “I like what I saw. He is a very hard worker. He takes the job seriously and you can see that he has used some of the things we talked about last season and is making them part of his game.”

Howard averaged 18.3 points, 12.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots in his first season with the Rockets and Olajuwon thinks the 28-year-old was just scratching the surface as he regained fitness.

“It was a good start, but last year Dwight was still trying to recover from the back surgery and to feel like himself again,” said Olajuwon. “I think a lot of people don’t appreciate what it is like for an athlete to have a back injury. It is serious. It is a challenge.

“I could see last year when I worked with him in camp that there were some things that he could not do. Or they were things that he did not think he could do. The difference now is that he is fit and those doubts are gone. This is the player who can go back to being the best center in the league and the kind of player that can lead his team to a championship. I think he should be dominant at both ends of the floor.”

Olajuwon joined Michael Jordan as the only two players in NBA history to be named MVP of the regular season, Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP in the same season when he led the Rockets in 1994 and pulled the wagon again as Finals MVP when Houston repeated in 1995.

Olajuwon doesn’t believe there is any reason the Rockets, who finished as the No. 4 seed in the West and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Portland last spring, should fall back, even with the departure of rotation players Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik.

“They have Dwight and that have James Harden,” he said. “That is two of the best players at their positions in the league. Those two can lead. Those two can do enough. You don’t need to have All-Stars at every position.

“The Rockets will need good play from some young players and from others who will be getting their chance to be key players for the first time in their careers. But when we won our first championship in 1994, we had Sam Cassell, who was a rookie, playing at the end of games and making a difference. When we won in 1995, we had Clyde (Drexler). But we also had Pete Chilcutt in the starting lineup and Chucky Brown and Charles Jones stepping up off the bench.
“When you have Howard and Harden, you have two players who can do much of the scoring. What you need are others to not try to do too much. Just concentrate on doing your job and coming to play every night.”
It begins and ends with Howard.

“We all know that center is the key position in the game,” Olajuwon said. “Everything should go through you — offense and defense and the right mentality. If the center is thinking about dominating, the team can go far, can go all the way.

“I played at a time when were so many players that could win the MVP each year — Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone. It meant you weren’t going to win the MVP every year. But you had to play like an MVP and have your name in the conversation. I believe that’s where Dwight is now. He is healthy. He is physically fit. He is strong. He wants to win.

“It is about attitude. He should have a season that makes everyone vote for him as MVP. If that happens, they should be contenders for the championship. I believe that. Now they have to believe it.”
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/...eady-for-an-mvp-type-season/?ls=iref:nbahpt3b
 
GSW is resting most of the starters tonight to get a good look at the younger players. I'm pretty sure we'll do something similar. Really want Daniels, Pap, Canaan, and Nick Johnson can get some lengthy playing time, just to get some consistency going.
 
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ariza again with a steal by just jumping the passing lane and taking it the other way for a basket.

Beverly also looks like a MUCH improved 3 point shooer. his form just looks much better.

will post more observations throughout the game.
 
playing VERY lazy. already a couple possessions where dudes just jog back or don't even care to. probably just because it's preseason, but still annoying.
 
the rockets offense at times has looked better. not as much standing around. when dwight gets the ball on the block, there's a lot of off ball movement.
 
terrence jones looks much more comfortable on the offensive end. making decisive moves towards the cup.

tarik black deserves a contract

i have a really bad feeling mchale will bury daniels and canaan on the bench. send johnson to the d league, and give all those minutes to ish smith and jason terry
 
I definitely am a Tarik Black fan, and he does need to be apart of this team. Ditto to Daniels/Canaan/Nick Johnson. Those guys need to be getting consistent playing time, cause I'm very sure come Feb/March, Terry isn't even gonna be in a Rockets uniform. McHale stinks and the regular season hasn't even started yet.
 
I know it's just preseason, but I like the focus the team has so far (minus Ish Smith). What I don't like is that Canaan, Daniels and Johnson haven't been used yet.

And as I typed that, the lead nearly evaporated
 
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I pray to God the judge in the CSN case allows Root sports to run the network while CSN appeals to the 5th circuit.

The whole CSN debacle could be finally be over tomorrow, pending CSN doesn't appeal, but they will cause there is too much money up in the air. So sick of not being able to watch the rockets and Astros.
 
You ain't lying at all. It's a travesty that this has happened in the first place. It's pitiful that we couldn't watch games just cause we didn't have Comcast or whatever.

As far as the game, just like I didn't want, McHale didnt go deeper into the bench. I do like that all the guys were out there hustling. And the fact that the Heat kept their starters in and still barely won :lol that was just weird. Daniels is such a sniper, McHale just needs to bring him in sooner.
 
I'm in the minority, but I hope root sports doesn't get the channel. I hear all they do is pregame, the game, and post game shows, and maybe a weekly team show. CSNH has really good programming throughout the week and a lot of in depth coverage of the local teams. Not to mention, root would come in and probably let go half the working staff at CSNH. best case scenario would be to just make it available to everyone, which I'm not sure why Comcast would be opposed to at this point
 
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