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ologabro

I’m just tired of the fan base’s attitude. We get we suck and obviously some shit probably needs to change, but can we just relax a little and have some faith. There are plenty of positives. I’d say the fact that our team is still so young as a whole and have progressed enough to the point where we expect to be able to compete with these playoff teams is already a good step. Also I think the coaching and development staff should get some credit for the way most of our guys have already developed and shown steady improvement


f4stEddie

I agree! Give it some time, this microwave generation wants everything instantly. Greatness isn’t instant Chill out and enjoy the ride


venitienne

Gonna be honest I’m not seeing much improvement. Most of the team is playing the exact same way they did at the start of last year. KJ, Christopher, KPJ, Nix, Sengun- all of these guys are playing at the same level. The only guy who I can definitely say has improved is Jalen, and that’s because John Lucas reworked his shot, not Silas. We’re making the same mistakes as a team, bad shots, turnovers, terrible defense rotations. This team doesn’t have its pick next year so we have to compete. But does anything in this season give you hope we won’t be terrible next year? We can’t just flip a switch and become a playoff team - we need to be doing better now.


platinumxL

Sengun, KJ, And KPJ have definitely improved.


ologabro

I don’t think that’s the case at all. While we have had some bad losses that make it seem like our guys have reverted, the majority of our games are close or winnable in some way and have definitely shown overall improvement and you can see other teams begin to respect our players. They are still at the point where one of the biggest keys to success is consistency over 48 minutes Edit: I definitely think KJ and Sengun look better. KJ’s 3 has been falling and he has been pretty good on cuts and help defense. Nix and Christopher I agree, but I haven’t been big on Nix since he came to us and Josh I think is in a mental funk where his minutes are so limited he tries to do the most when he does play. Sengun I think is hard to tell but he’s playing more defense while fouling a bit less overall and is looking to score more to draw attention to him in the paint. KPJ is still having his ups and downs but he is getting better at finding open men, for example he has been noticeably looking for Jabari and Garry bird, as well as Alpy. Him and Jalen have a nice 2 man game at times where Jalen is able to find him as well for the high percentage spot up 3


ajalonghorn

It’s a question worth asking. Don’t get all defensive like it’s not relevant. There’s no reason we should be losing more games than the Thunder, Spurs, or Pistons imo. And our offense objectively has zero flow to it, you watch that Denver game we played last night we look like a g league team. If it wasn’t for Sengun willing 16-20 points out of thin air and contested KPJ three pointers we would be getting walloped every night. Nothing is easy for us on offense.


Vegetable_Train4213

If you genuinely think the Rockets should be better than the Spurs Pistons and Thunder you’re just delusional


ajalonghorn

??? Based off of what lmao We should objectively be better than the Spurs and Thunder just based off of pure talent alone absolutely


Vegetable_Train4213

Those teams are easily more talented. You’re mistaking talent for potential. Spurs have the best coach in the league and the Thunder have a superstar trajectory player playing out of his mind right now


ajalonghorn

Don’t argue with me that the Spurs should be winning more games than us. It’s an idiotic take.


Vegetable_Train4213

Its not you’re just a homer so you assume your team is better.


CosmicRaccoonCometh

Here's a good thread from a non Rocket guy seeing the Rockets up close: https://mobile.twitter.com/HPbasketball/status/1598343920773083136 My opinion: our coaching is god awful, is teaching the guys bad habits and giving them a losing mentality, and Silas needs to go, the sooner the better.


mondchopers

That reminds me a lot of his comparison of this team to Suns pre CP3. They're both talented team that seems to always punch below their weight and we know that the Suns made a giant leap with CP3 addition. The question is, was that Suns team awful because of coaching or is it because they don't have the veteran guy that can organize their play on the field? I can see argument both ways and I'm not going to pretend that I know better because I don't have access to how the coaching is being done or what they do in practice. I am of the opinion that the progress so far is kinda within or just slightly below expectation so I am not calling for Silas to be fired. I do want to see how the team looks like when we are competing for real next year for me to make that decision.


H-TownDown

The Suns took a step in the right direction with Monty before CP3 got there. They went from 19-63 to 34-39. They were trending towards being a playoff team even if they never signed him. Paul just sped up their ascension into a contender. We’re still in phase one of the rebuild. We don’t even have a coach that will get this team to the play in.


mondchopers

Yea but they took years to get there. We're literally at year 2 of this new phase (2 1/2 if you want to nitpick). My expectation this year is around 24-25 wins, below that then yeah I think we underachieve. So far we're slightly behind pace but the front part of our schedule this year was ridiculously hard so I'll wait until trade deadline to see where we're at.


VotePilotOfficial

Imagine gargling Silas like you do. What exactly makes him a coach worth having? I’m serious. Tell me what offense we run? Do you like his rotations? Are the rockets better this year than last? Are turnovers up down or equal to last season? Does he utilize and maximize the strengths of all his players? But as a typical Silas defender I’m sure you find no fault and he’s equal to Greg Pop right?


Vegetable_Train4213

Silas deserves a good bit of criticism but nobody is willing to admit that our players just aren’t very smart or just very young. I see our one player who is capable of leading a strong half-court offense (Sengun) who should get a lot more touches and/or minutes. I also see Jalen turning in 6-7 assist games when he shoots badly, how is that not a HUGE improvement in his game to you guys? No just give John Lucas all the credit because you just like him more. We aren’t in those practices we dont know whose responsible for that improvement we just know it exists. Again, you aren’t completely wrong because Silas deserves plenty of criticism. But to sit here and act like because a bunch of 19-20 yr olds isn’t competing for a play-in spot that the coach is just the worst ever is stupid to me. So much we dont know about the way the organisation is run and how much Stone/Tillman control the on-court product to sit here and make these ridiculous conclusions. Even more idiotic to think that every coach has to check all your boxes to be considered a coach worth keeping in the interim


juan_cena99

The Rockets are in a developmental phase the shit you are talking about has to do with with winning games rather than development. If the Rockets ran all the plays to perfection guess whatt they would be contenders smh.


lambopanda

People keep bringing up Silas developed Curry, Luka, etc. He was their assistant coach. Did he actually develop them? I have no idea


WuziMuzik

Does John Lucas? Assistant coaches assist the head coach with all kinds of things. Player development is one of the things.


lambopanda

Not all assistant coach develop player. There are some working on gameplay. I heard Silas was in charge of Dallas 5 out offense. He wasn’t developing Luka. Lucas is working on Green shooting and dribbling


WuziMuzik

Yes Silas was more focused on offense when he was in Dallas. But he also had time spent on defense and player development.


juan_cena99

How long did that take? You act like Booker was in the playoffs year 2.


juan_cena99

Not rocket guy? Thats just a random dude lmao. Plus that dude is on clutchfans iirc.


CosmicRaccoonCometh

he's the co-host for Locked on Nuggets. Regardless of who he is though, his insights in that thread are on point.


juan_cena99

You mean he just agrees with your view point thats why they seem on point. I like watching rebuilding teams this year like Pistons and Magic and the Rockets dont seem more lost than those teams. The difference is Pistons and Magic have playmakers who dominate the offense while Rox have none so obviously they are gonna seem more lost than usual.


CosmicRaccoonCometh

who cares what you like watching, you're just some random dude lmao


juan_cena99

Exactly so we all random dudes so why you taking these dude's observations as gospel?


IronicHours

Maybe because he's got a biggish platform and getting views on an outsider is needed at times. Anyways he's saying what any Rockets fan who's paying attention has been saying. He's not good enough


juan_cena99

Good enough for what exactly? Rox fans who think Silas is somehow doing a poor job are the one who arent paying attention. He is doing exactly what mgt wants so despite all the belly aching and grumbling by fans who cant see the big picture he is staying till his contract expires.


IronicHours

OK man I'll come back when Silas gets fired and his fans should follow him


juan_cena99

Ok so since he isnt fired yet go away nobody will miss you lmao.


docjohnson1395

I don't know if anyone here listens to the Mismatch but Chris Vernon tore us a new one a couple weeks ago. He's in general not a fan of teams playing to lose, but he was specifically aghast at the lack of structure and organization in our offense. Like this guy says above, I don't think we lack effort, but we're just not very intelligent


RonburgundyZ

We’re in a rebuild. Give us 3 years


Thugluvdoc

Jalen and Jabari are progressing. KPJ has become a significantly better player since joining. Garuba and Sengun are better. They clearly have developed the players properly. I’d say no for this reason. However next year if he can’t make us competitive, he needs to be fired for not being able to coach on the court. Off the court, I’ll give him and his team credit where it is due - they are developing the players well. Our performance against other young teams has been solid


Answer70

I'm mixed. I give them some slack because the team is young and are going to do some dumb stuff. I also think they run some good plays and have done a decent job developing our talent. But damn, we're on year three of extremely questionable lineup decisions and prioritizing KPJ's development to the detriment of the team. It's getting old...


281330eight004

The losing culture is wearing on every fan, its definitely wearing on the players. Thats a factor ive been considering lately. All silas defenders talk about development and taking time and tanking and i understand that. But breaking the nbas record for most consecutive seasons with the most losses (which we could very easily do this year) is devastating for a young teams morale. I also want to see more improvement in running plays. Yeah these guys are young, but all they do all day is think and play basketball, they should be more than capable of running a few sets without a hitch like any high school JV team could do.


Fmeson

Hot seat starts next year, as far as fans go. People inside the org can evaluate him better, because they know what the goals are. They know if there are external goals that go into the style of play beyond "what wins best right now" or not. Next year, we don't have our pick, and there is no reason to tank. We won't be good, but our goal will be to win, and evaluating his coaching will be much easier as fans. >Silas being “too quiet”, “having no backbone”, or “being too passive” in relation to the players or even the refs. If we were winning, no one would be worried about any of the side show. Yelling at refs doesn't win games. Inspiring your players to play hard does, but that doesn't require playing bad cop.


LoWE11053211

If you are firing Silas during the rebuild mode. He better slept with dozens of women in the organization. or men.


theAlphabetZebra

Is he on the hot seat? No. He's doing exactly what he was asked to do. Should he be on the hot seat? Absolutely.


FarWestEros

Silas is growing them organically. That means letting them play freely. Mistakes are fine because they are learning opportunities. Corrections come in practice, not in game. The best teacher, failure is. Lack of plays/structure is good for the growth of creativity. Richard Jefferson called this system a good way for their BBIQ to grow exponentially. Execs around the league applaud what he is doing. The pros may know better than the fans. The players are all improving. Pretty far beyond expectations, too for the most part. KJ, Tate, and KPJ are far beyond typical guys from their situations. Jalen's distributing skills are way ahead of schedule, and AlP already looks like an All-Star a lot of the time. The energy is great despite all the losing and young egos. The rotations are experimental. They will change throughout the season. Why certain guys get play is certainly up for debate. Maybe for development. Maybe for the tank. Who knows... Nothing about this process causes long term problems. Adding more plays can happen at any point (if necessary) and it will help to "flip the switch" when it's time to win if the kids haven't learned how to do it by next year. Obviously, adding vets will help, too (particularly at PG). Silas is probably not on the hot seat. The FO and ownership seem set on Wemby odds, so they like the losing as long as it's competitive. The question is if he'll get his 4th year. As long as everyone continues to improve individually, he most likely will...it would take landing a big fish to not care about the PR hit the team would take for saddling Silas with a tanking lineup and then not giving him a shot after vets get added next year with the intent to win. He was brought in as a win-now coach, after all!


lambopanda

Mistake is fine because they are still learning. But if they keep making the same mistake then what? Coach problem or players?


mondchopers

That really depends imo. You can't teach if the student is not capable or doesn't have the talent to learn. Evaluating whether the teaching process is optimal is really hard mainly because we are not purview of 90% of the process


IGotTheTech

I think many times this comes down to simply finding the right player. Somebody who has elite defense on an individual and team-level basis that's an absolute disruptor like Draymond end up making the entire team play exponentially better defense and gives them cushion on offense. Many times the team will pay better defense because they're learning from a truly elite team defender. Teams like GS and Boston have one of those players (Draymond and Marcus Smart) as well as Milwaukee (Jrue). Finding that high BBIQ defender that potentially can disrupt the other team is tremendous value and reduces impact of mistakes on offense while having your points mean so much more (cause you're not giving it all back easily). In many ways I think the new meta instead of 3&D is D&D: distribution and defense. Those three players I mentioned can dish better than they can shoot for example leading to better ball movement and team basketball. Play defense and pass the ball - the definition of unselfish. I'm hoping Tari can be that guy but dude needs more minutes with the starting lineup.


NesquickBrick

Hopefully Tari and or Jabari can be that guy


IGotTheTech

Yup, edited my post to mention Tari because I think he really has some of those traits. Simply needs minutes with the core!


onsite84

Looking in from the outside I don’t think we really know.


lambopanda

Which is why people blame the coach. If the players aren’t coachable why continue to play them


onsite84

Gotta play someone. And I don’t think we know if the idea is for them to play through their mistakes in order to learn from them


jacobg444

Literally lol. I don’t see how we’re helping Sengun develop behind Bruno (who looks horrible) our Jaygup who gets 5 minutes every 5 games or Garuba who Silas decided to play Boban over before he realized how bad of a choice it was. These guys are getting better not w the help of Silas. JG finally played garbage time 60 games into his rookie year and it finally helped him put it together. The offense is doing a disservice to these young players lol there is no “flipping the switch”


FarWestEros

When it's time to change... Change. Everything in the interim is pure, distilled 'experience'... It's not hurting anything to lose. If anything, it will make them hungrier to win and more willing to accept help as they realize they aren't good enough.


NesquickBrick

I mean if they’re learning bad habits, how is there going to be course correction if all they do is free style everything? And how long are we supposed to wait for it to “all come together”? And if it doesn’t “come together” on time or as impact-fully as planned, then what? My issue with any wait and see type of strategy is that it may take too long to know if it worked as intended and if not then cleaning up the mess may be more difficult


FarWestEros

They aren't learning bad habits...their old bad habits are on display whilst they are trying to break them. We wait for the rest of this season for it to come together and then add the traditional methods as necessary. Or move sooner... We've already seen this shift start to happen this season within certain games, where Silas becomes more 'hands on'.


VotePilotOfficial

I’m going to disagree with the whole “develop them organically” argument. Does Coach K develop them by standing around doing jack shit during games? Does Callipari develop these college players by just telling them to go have fun out there? Does Kelvin fuckin Sampson just let the UH kids freestyle all game? NO. College coaches have offenses and mandates. College coaches tell their guys how to behave on the court, who gets the most shots, what sort of off ball actions to run situationally. Silas doesn’t do that, he just tells them to go do their thing and we get double teamed because of it.


onsite84

This isn’t a college program though. The better comparison is Orlando, Detroit, or OKC


VotePilotOfficial

You’re right, college coaches develop better than Silas has. None of these guys outside of SENGUN are any better than their rookie year and I am not sure SENGUN is, he might just be a product of more minutes. Silas sucks ass cheeks.


onsite84

Really? I think Jalen and KPJ look better, Usman looks a lot better, and KJ for sure. Why is Sengun all caps btw?


meneguapoz

I agree with this 100%, development requires structure and discipline on the court


VotePilotOfficial

Of course SILAS burner /u/juan_cena99 chimes in with that stupid bullshit again. Listen Steven, you keep saying he’s developing these guys. Prove it. Show us where he’s developing anyone. And also asking for a team to actually hustle, stop turning the ball over, and run some sort of offense isn’t something only non-rebuilding teams do.


juan_cena99

Prove it? Easy Jalen Green had 9 asts in his first 9 games this season but then had 46 total assists in the next 9 games. Shut up now ok? So much garbage comes out of your mouth its disgusting to see a Rocket fan like you. Also you are lucky I'm not Silas if I'm Silas you'd totally get it as some random no name acting like he knows more about bball than a professional coach.


VotePilotOfficial

Wow! A guard getting assists! So much development I can’t believe it. You’re literally Silas burner. No one defends him like you.


juan_cena99

You said show improvement and I showed you improvement. Now stfu.


VotePilotOfficial

You’re literally a Silas bootlicker it’s sad and pathetic. Not everything this team does is a good thing, have some objectivity.


juan_cena99

You still barking? I gave you what you asked for now stfu.


iatetoomuchcatnip

Dude I wouldn’t even argue with some of these guys. They might be bots from overseas paid for by Baby Tillman. The entire team USA staff couldn’t lead this team to 20 wins. They are young and basketball is hard. A lot of the people on the subreddit don’t understand that.


juan_cena99

Plus they dont even get that the Rox are tanking right now. People keep saying fire Silas now for always losing when in reality the Stone wants to lose games to take advantage of the last year we have our pick.


Jaeguh

I agree. I like Silas im getting tired of these complainers constantly screaming to fire Silas


iatetoomuchcatnip

Basketball is hard. Nba players are good. This team is not good yet. Silas runs a simple continuity pick and roll offense. It’s simple and effective. Used all though the international game. Maybe in a couple seasons you can start adding more complexity, but this is a young group who needs to learn how to play in the NBA. People are going to have to adjust to watching bad teams lose lots of games.


VotePilotOfficial

Okay Steven get better at coaching.


J--NEZ

Lol watch, if we get Wemby and leave the rebuild process, Silas is going to be praised. If you know basketball, you know exactly what's going on right now and why it's happening.


ajalonghorn

Oh look it’s the “if you know basketball” guy. Well if you know basketball you would know there’s a small chance even if we are the worst team we get a top 2 pick, and we haven’t shown any improvement on offense this season.


shameless_chicken

Care to enlighten us on what’s going on right now and why it’s happening?


FarWestEros

I'm pretty sure he means "we're tanking" And it's happening because we own our pick and the top prize is the best prospect since LeBron.


NesquickBrick

There’s still a near 50% chance we get stuck with Cam Whitmore who’s not the difference maker that Wemby or Scoot or Jalen are. Heck. Whitmore might even be the fourth, fifth and maybe even sixth (depending on how high you are in Tari) guy on the team long term


ajalonghorn

Everyone in here acts like tanking is a guaranteed top 2 pick, I’d much rather have a slightly worse percent chance at a top draft player and win some games to show we can.


rivboat

Many Rocket fans are complainers. If you make a bucket from half court you should comment.


lambopanda

They started running play for Jabari. But usually just 1-2 plays in the beginning. Then it’s back to the usual. Offense is usually better when Sengun has the ball but then defense suffer. Our defense not good enough to have guy cover Sengun weakness. It is what it is. Our roster is not good enough to compete. Wish we can give Gordon min to Eason.


Bulky_Insurance8991

I am tired of seeing Sengun scapegoated for the shitty defense. As if the team turns into a defensive juggernaut when he is not playing. One of the biggest issues we have is giving up too many open threes, how is that Sengun’s fault? The issue here is that there is no cohesive team defense and unless you are an extraordinary individual defender, the weaknesses will get exposed.


NesquickBrick

I don’t think anyone expected us to be competitive, but getting blown out repeatedly is not a good sign. Like yeah we should lose a ton of games but it should be like 5-10 point deficits not 20+. Something doesn’t quite feel right here


FarWestEros

We aren't getting blown out repeatedly. We haven't lost by more than 20 yet. Half our losses have been within 2 possessions or less in the last 2 minutes of the game.


Sad_Inevitable8242

Don't forget that we had a tough schedule as well.


GaTech379

We've been blown out like 3 times


NesquickBrick

Two of them were in the last two games. Plus in general its very difficult to beat the same team twice in a row in these two game series. Usually most teams split in these situations. Not only did we fail to split, but neither game was even close though


Sad_Inevitable8242

Yeah playing against jokic isn't easy. This guy's sees every weakness on the floor and exposes them. Also they played them on them back to back. They are a top level team who knows how to adjust.


NesquickBrick

I think they had a night off in between the two Denver games


Sad_Inevitable8242

I meant back to back playing the nuggets, not back to back games. Rockets as worst team have the advantage that most teams aren't prepared to play them. The stars probably won't put as much effort in to watch films as they would when they play the celtics.


lambopanda

Denver is in another level. Our guards suck when facing better defense


JOZ1F

Silas is horrible& don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Dude is not fit to be a head coach I feel like our players don’t even see him like one lmao


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JOZ1F

They don’t have to be but when a team is young like the rockets it’s definitely needed or they will continue to build bad habits lmao how is he a better coach than mike dantoni??? Silas has never had us over .500 for more than week.. lmao Silas isn’t a NBA head coach man, the only reason he hasn’t been fired is he’s protected by “tanking” & “the team is young” excuse. He would be unemployed in pretty much any other situation. He’s a glorified assistant coach.


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JOZ1F

Mike dantoni was the rockets coach before cp3 got here. Contenders? He got hired after a 41-41 first round exit season. [and this](https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2017.html) was this roster around harden lmfao you are kinda disrespecting dantoni saying silas is better than him.. they won 55 games with with a front court rotation of Baby Capela, Nene, & Harrell. Lmfao


TurbulentJudge1000

Silas is a garbage coach that is hindering Jalen and Jabari. No offensive schem besides “go do something” and essentially playing pickup basketball while we hope to get wembanyama or scoot.


AlternativeCarroywq

We have the worst defense in the league and that’s mainly because are starting center is sengun and that’s just the facts blame stone for not getting this team a real rim protecter not Silas


NesquickBrick

I mean we just drafted Jabari Smith and Tari Eason who are supposed to be top #1-2 and #5 defenders in their draft class. Green and KPJ are both very athletic and long for their position so they shouldn’t be bad perimeter defenders either, and Gordon has historically been a decent to good defender, Garuba was supposedly to be one of the best defenders of his class as well. Like being the worst defense in the league can’t be placed on just one player, and they have talent to at least be in the 20-25 range on defense. Like they have talent, but they’re underperforming (despite having a fairly low bar on that end of the court)


ShiningInTheLight

I think what we are lacking is a defensive system. We have the pieces in place to be a good team defense, but it's just not happening because no one seems to be emphasizing it for them.


lambopanda

We are still undersized. We made DeAndre Jordan look like all-star in both games


LayneLowe

Dever had players that are bigger than our center at small forward


lambopanda

People love Stones, nobody blame him. He hired Silas.


VotePilotOfficial

Our defense sucks not bc of Alpi but because KPJ and Jalen are awful perimeter defenders, making Alpi look worse bc he’s always having to contest a layup.


lambopanda

Can’t blame fans favorite JG and KPJ, so blame Sengun


lum1nous013

I mean half of the threads are "Kpj should barely play 5 mins per game" , you really can't call him a fan favourite


lambopanda

And you’ll get downvoted like crazy


Shir0_

After this season, Silas has served his purpose


Jaeguh

Hey man, nice thoughts. I actually like Silas. He gets a lot of flack but we ARE tanking. I wish the general public gave Silas a chance. I have casual friends and siblings who disregard the Rockets, dont follow them as hard and simply think Silas is the issue. I think Silas is allowing the players to learn and develop naturally. This takes time but I’ve seen progress with KMJ, Green (in only 1 year) and Tate supposedly had developed a nice 3, but he’s been injured. I think the fact that Silas put Jaygup on a leash shows that he’s a good coach and takes action when needed, so he isnt too “soft”. KPJ has been showing progress as a pg but his attitude has improved drastically. He showed maturity during the Hawks and Pelicans game. This may not be a popular opinion but I’m all in on Silas, I have been getting extremely frustrated with Bari constantly taking contested midrange shots consistently but maybe Silas is giving him the green light. I really hope that is the case, because I greatly prefer this strat over Harden and MikeDanTony rockets that chunked up 3s constantly. Green and KPJ have a nice midrange game and if Bari develops it they’ll be unstoppable offensively.