Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle has some interesting quotes from Yao in this story about how the Rockets fell apart yesterday in Toronto, a game that I also wrote as being pathetic.

“I feel this is the worst game I ever had in my career,” Yao said. “When we played on the court, no intensity, no patience, no (adherence to the) game plan, don’t know our game, don’t know their game, no trust (of) each other, no defense.

“I hate this game. I hated it. It’s all on us. Us. I’m one of us.”

Yao also commented about his thoughts when he and his teammates were getting ready for the fourth quarter. Yao was yelling out, “Let’s go. Wake up! Let’s go!”

“I knew something was wrong. When we were waiting to step on the court, I was walking to the middle line and saw the people; I was trying to wake everybody up, myself too. Everybody was like they had the same as my ear.”

I think these statements are significant steps for something to change, and I’m not just talking about an attitude adjustment, which rarely works. When your franchise player voices his displeasure about his teammates’ effort (and his own), then you’ve got something there.

The Rockets have finished a quarter of the season, are a measly 11-10, and have lost 9 of their last 14 games. They always say you can tell how good (or bad) a team is after the first 20 games. Well, we’re there, and it sucks.

What’s encouraging is that beyond Yao’s statements, there’s Feigen’s, Fran Blinebury’s (also of the Chronicle), and everyone else disgusted as much as I have been since that losing streak. Even with the wins that have come since the 6-game losing streak, I don’t see the consistent offense envisioned when Rick Adelman came here.

So why do I think it’s encouraging that everyone is calling out the Rockets as a huge disappointment thus far? Because when the Houston media gets on the Rockets, that’s when you can hope that things will really change. It just seems to work that way in most towns. When the most visible writers in town start calling you out, that seems to turn the screws just a little tighter in the front office to make a change before tons of fans disguise themselves as empty seats at Toyota Center.

I wish it could mean a coaching change since Adelman has shown us what he brings to the table, but that’s not going to happen unless somehow they lose 10 or 15 in a row. I do hope it means the front office will say, “Screw what we’ve been doing so far. Let’s start playing Aaron Brooks, give more minutes to Luis Scola, and let’s see what Steve Novak can do.” It can’t hurt. It seems many teams that are doing well have young players in the line-up: Chris Paul, Derron Williams, and dozens of other players.

But if I’m a betting man, we’ll see the same-as-usual line-up in Philly tonight rolled out by Adelman.

Speaking of Adelman, can anyone think of a nickname for this guy that plays off his name and captures how very little of a change he makes in his game plans, or the lack of inspiration he generates in his players? If you come up with something good, I’ll start using it and give you credit. How about something like “Fadelman”? Adelman is such a hard word to use.

I’ve already got one for “0-fer” Alston. I’ve also thought of a new one for McGrady. How about “McBrady,” after one of the Brady Bunch kids? I could even put “Marsha” before it when he has one of those “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha” moments when it’s all about him.

Speaking of McBrady, what I found utterly hypocritical were these comments he made after the game:

“We kind of go back to isolation plays, everybody just stationary, just standing around and watching whoever has the ball. It’s not a good offense for us, when everybody is just standing around watching a guy work. Our offense is based on motion and moving the defense.”

Ummm, Mr. McBrady, I don’t know if you were aware of this, but when everybody is stationary, it’s usually when YOU have the ball, aren’t giving the signal to your teammates you are going to give up the ball, and instead you jack up stupid jumpers (especially early in the shot clock) to feed your ego!

On another note, for the longest time I’ve never gotten on McGrady for having such a sleepy look when he’s on the court. Sam Perkins was kind of like that, and he was a pretty good player. But I’m really starting to believe the way McBrady looks is really how he feels inside. It really started bugging me yesterday when the game was slipping away, and it looked like he was about to go to sleep.

If you’re going to be a leader and inspire people, you’ve got to exude energy not just with the ball in your hands, but in how you carry yourself everywhere on the court, even when the clock is stopped. All the great players have it: Kobe, Garnett, Nash, etc. Even Yao has more energy in his facial expressions than McBrady

This entry was posted on Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.