Rockets woes are no fluke

The Rockets have now lost more than they have won. They have lost every game that T-Mac has either missed entirely or been unable to finish (0-4). T-Mac is obviously not healthy, noticeably limping around on a gimpy left knee and called it a night at the half after missing 9 of his ten shots. After the game, Coach Adelman was completely unsure of what the future holds for his superstar, but as T-Mac told myself and the assembled media following the embarassing loss to Dallas last Saturday night, he's been dealing with this for about 2 weeks. He also mentioned he wasn't looking forward to having it looked at for fear of what they might find. Maybe also a fear of what they might not find.

The season isn't lost but there is also no reason for them to keep letting the same issues crush them - scoring the basketball. Aside from T-Mac, they have maybe 4 historically plus offensive players - Yao, Francis, Wells & James. They need those guys to perform well offensively to offset what they lack from Alston, Battier, Hayes and Head.

Yao is Yao, although he hasn't had quite as many strong shooting nights as I would have expected, but I do expect they will come. The other three have been near-disasters all the way around. At least Bonzi has gotten his shooting above 40 % unlike the other two, but all three have shown nothing on the defensive end at all.

Their 12-13 record is not a fluke. They are not a good basketball team. They can be, but through 25 games they are clueless about how to go about that.
Some helpful, unsolicited tips -
- Rafer needs to drive more and shoot less. And I mean drive all the way to the basket; NO MORE TEAR DROPS.
- Francis needs to do the same, except not pass up open looks. Even though he has not played well, he doesn't look comfortable taking his shots, while running the point - hmmm, maybe he's not a point guard!!!
- James needs to look to create, then his opportunities will come. He said he's never been in an offesive slump like this one in his entire career. He's pressing bigtime.
- Wells needs to at least attempt to play the defensive end; he has been a huge catalyst in the running game which is finally showing signs of life.
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Heard this Clemens parody yet? Sure to become a holiday favorite.

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So the Falcons and The Dolphins think hiring Bill Parcells is the answer. Not sure I understand that one. From '83-90, he coached the NY Giants to a 77-49-1 record and won 2 Super Bowls. 1990 was 17 years ago. Since then he went .500 in 4 seasons in New England (2 losing seasons, 2 winning seasons.) With the Jets, he stayed just 3 seasons, two mediocre (9-7 in '97, 8-8 in '99) and in between went 12-4 before losing in the AFC title game.

His last stop in Dallas lasted 4 seasons, which were not considered successful. Just 34-30 with 2 playoff appearances - but no postseason victories.

Sometimes he's just been the head coach , sometimes also in charge of personnel. But I just don't get the appeal. 77-49-1 (8-3 postseason) with the Giants, 95-81 (3-5 postseason) in 3 stops since. Pretty average.
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Joe Sheehan from Baseball Prospectus will join Danny & I at 8pm on tonight's show on SportsRadio610.com.
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