THE NBA OFF-SEASON
John Granato: Hey, Rockets fan - it's time to man up
Jul 6, 2018, 6:00 am
It's time for Rockets fans to get over the off-season. Revelry on Richmond / Facebook
I can’t believe how almost everyone has lost his mind this NBA offseason. I say his mind because I haven’t heard any women complaining about it. Women are far more level headed about these types of things. Either that or they don’t care what LeBron or Boogie Cousins does. Count me amongst those ladies.
That’s right. I don’t care. Nothing has changed. Nothing.
The Rockets are still the team to beat in the West. Lest we forget it was the Rockets that had the best record in the league. It was the Rockets that had the MVP. It was the Rockets that had the NBA’s executive of the year. It was the Rockets who had a 3-2 lead over the Warriors before Chris Paul went down.
Please don’t tell me that it was the same as Andre Iguadala getting hurt. A guy who has $5 million and loses a million is a lot better off than a guy who has $2 million and loses a million. He still has $4 million. The other guy only has one and apparently you can’t buy a 3-pointer with $1 million. Didn’t know that until after the game. Found out the hard way.
I heard last week that the Lakers signed LeBron James. It really didn’t get much coverage but I have sources who have confirmed it. And? How has this changed anything? Even if Kawhi goes there, which I think is unlikely but could well happen. So? Chances are they will have to give up some of their young talent. If they lose Kuzma and Ingram bringing Kawhi in they’re not going to be better than the Rockets. We’ve seen teams with stars and no supporting cast before. They always fizzle out.
If I was Magic Johnson I’d take a page out of William Wallace’s playbook. (That’s a Braveheart reference for you younger readers.)
Hooooold. Hooooold. Hooooold.
Magic, do not trade away your good young players when you can just wait a year and get Kawhi for free. LeBron will be there waiting patiently. The young guys will get a dose of what it’s like playing with his majesty in pressure situations and your organization will be set up to win over the long haul.
Why am I giving Magic good advice? I hope he trades them all away and stinks forever.
On to Boogie Cousins. Everyone is freaking out over this. Why? First of all he’s not going to be there until March and when he does get there is he really going to make that big a difference? The Warriors didn’t use a center against the Rockets in the postseason. Would they use Boogie? Yes, probably unless the Rockets take advantage of his lazy defensive tendencies and Steve Kerr has to pull him. That’s if he isn’t already on the outs with Kerr because he’s pouting about not getting touches. That’s if he actually comes back full strength from the Achilles. That’s if he can actually handle playoff pressure which he’s never had. That’s if he’s not a round peg in a square hole on this team. That’s if. That’s if. That’s if.
There are no guarantees that the one year Boogie Cousins experiment works. If you’ll remember correctly, the Pelicans were better without him and the Warriors have been pretty good without him.
But the Rockets were better.
And they still are.
But wait. They don’t have Trevor Ariza anymore. You’re not better without Ariza, not now at least. If I had told you that PJ Tucker, Luc Mbah Moute and Gerald Green would be key contributors to you passing the Warriors as best in the West you’d have laughed. But it happened and the executive of the year can make it happen again. I’m not sure what those names are right now. Daryl might not know right now either.
But no one knew at this time last year that the Rockets would do what they did and it appears that no one thinks they can do it again. I’ve heard that a few times. That was their one shot.
Why? Why can’t they be as good or better than last year? What if Chris Paul is healthy throughout the playoffs? What if he plays 70 games instead of 58? What if Clint Capela is even better than he was last year and why shouldn’t he be? What if Eric Gordon gets back to sixth man of the year form?
There are about 100 games ahead to play. You never know. That everyone is throwing in the towel in July is silly to me. Let’s stop whining about how unfair it is how good the Warriors are.
This reminds me of when Johnny Fontaine was crying because he couldn’t get the big role in a major motion picture “Godfather I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.” Vito shot back, “You can act like a man!”
Come on Rockets fans. Act like a man.
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How Astros advanced metrics tell puzzling story about Houston's start
Apr 17, 2025, 5:21 pm
Major League Baseball’s regular season is 162 games long. You can think of 18 games as the first inning of the season, 18 times nine equaling 162. While the Astros 8-10 record is not good, it’s far from disastrous. Think of it as them being behind 1-0 after the first inning. It is pretty remarkable that they have yet to win consecutive games. Even during last year’s 7-19 stink bomb of a start the Astros twice managed to win two in a row.
The Astros’ offensive woes are plentiful. Oddly enough as impotent as they’ve been, the Astros have yet to be shutout. But in half their games they have scored exactly one or two runs. Basically, most of them stink thus far. Exemptions go to Jose Altuve and Isaac Paredes, but it’s not like either of them has been outstanding. It’s still early enough that one big series can dramatically alter the numbers, but the Astros badly need Yordan Alvarez to pick up his production. Yordan enters the weekend batting just .224 with a .695 OPS and just four extra base hits. Yainer rhymes with minor. As in minor leagues, where Diaz belongs at his current level of performance. That is not saying Diaz should be sent down, just that any random AAA catcher called up couldn’t have done much worse to this point. Diaz isn’t hitting Altuve’s weight, a woeful .130 with seven hits in 57 at bats. Diaz simply remains too undisciplined at the plate swinging at too many balls. He’s drawn three walks. And now to Christian Walker, who thus far has delivered return on investment for his three year 60 million dollar contract about as strong as the stock market’s performance in Tariff Time. Walker’s .154 batting average and .482 OPS are very Astro Jose Abreu-like. Walker’s23 strikeouts in 65 at bats jump off the page. In the batter’s box he has often looked befuddled. Walker is definitely pressing and frustrated, wanting to perform better for his new team. Jeremy Pena goes into the weekend batting .215 and has one hit in 13 at bats with runners in scoring position. Brendan Rodgers, Jake Meyers, and Chas McCormick all have weak stat lines, with little reason to expect quality offensive output from any of them. Cam Smith is at .200 with a yucky .591 OPS but he’s obviously a young stud work in progress thrown into the deep end of the pool.
All batting orders are top-heavy, the Astros’ on paper more so than many. As I set forth on one of our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts this week, the first inning should be a team’s best offensive inning. It’s the only frame in which a team gets to dictate who comes up from the start with the batters lined up just as the manager slots them. Add to that, the first inning is a good time to get to a starting pitcher before he settles in. The Astros have scored a pitiful three first inning runs in 18 games, and in two of the games they pushed one across in the first, it turned out to be the only Astro run of the game. Improvement needs to come internally from the big league roster. It’s not as if the Astros have a meaningful prospect at AAA Sugar Land who looks ready to help. Entering play Thursday the Space Cowboys’ team average was .186. Second base hopeful Brice Matthews is nowhere close, batting .180 and striking out left and right. Outfielder Jacob Melton opened three for 17 following the back injury-delayed start to his season.
As exasperating and boring as the offense has been for so many, grading needs to occur on a curve. So, while the Astros’ team batting average is a joke at .216, know that at close of business Wednesday the entire American League was batting just .232. The American League West-leading Texas Rangers scored eight fewer runs over their first 18 games than did the Astros, though that is skewed by the Astros’ one 14-run outburst against the Angels.
Familiar faces return
This weekend the Astros play host to the San Diego Padres at Daikin Park. The Friars are off to a fabulous start at 15-4. The Padres being here creates a mini reunion as both Martin Maldonado and Yuli Gurriel are on their roster. In a telling fact, Maldonado would have the third-highest batting average on the Astros if on the team with his current numbers. Maldonado is hitting .250 with seven hits in 28 at bats. The last season he finished above .200 was 2020. The only season in his career Maldonado topped .234 was his rookie season with a .266 mark in 2012.
Gurriel was last good in 2021 when he won the American League batting title at .319. He fell off a cliff from there, though perked up to have a fine postseason in the Astros’ 2022 run to World Series title number two. “La Pina” is batting .115 with just three hits in 26 at bats. Gurriel may be released soon, and approaching his 41st birthday June 9, that would probably be the end of the line. Short-timer Astro Jason Heyward is also on the Padres, and batting .190.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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