Can we talk about the rebounding issue? Last year the Rockets were one of the better rebounding teams. They didn't give up those 2nd chance points. And it was very important to winning. This year the Rockets are one of the worst teams in this area. What is happening? 1) General effort. 2) Scheme - players not in the best position to rebound. Switching scheme. 3) Loss of Ariza & Moute and Ennis & House/Clark are not as effective either physically rebounding or in boxing out. 4) All of the above? -- Anything else? Lets talk about this.
yep that was key even in 16-17 ..i never was afraid of us being outrebounded even if going small in previous years
Teams are switching Capela onto someone outside the 3 point line way more frequently than they did last year. I honestly didn't notice it at all last year, but this year it seems like every team is doing it over and over. They either pull him out to guard the ball handler or they pull him out to guard a three point shooter who is out of the play, either way, it seems like he rarely even has a chance at the rebound.
rebounding is all about positioning and hustle, something the Rockets haven't show much of since the start of the season.
Ariza got 4.4 boards in 34 minutes Ennis gets 2.9 boards in 25.5 minutes Anderson grabbed 5 boards in 26 minutes Melo was grabbing 5.4 boards in 29.5 minutes Clark grabbed 3.4 boards in 21 minutes per game (in November, he played 15 games so it's a good sample i'd say) Capela so far is 11.8 in 33.9...was 10.8 in 27.5 last season Gordon so far is 2.3 in 32.5...was 2.5 in 31.2 Green so far is 2.5 in 17...was 3.2 in 22.7 House so far is 2.7 in 19.9 Harden so far is 5.5 in 36.1...was 5.3 in 35.4 Paul so far is 4.3 in 33.9...was 5.4 in 31.8 The biggest difference i see is on Capela and Paul numbers, Chris is playing two minutes more but getting one board less, Capela is playing six minutes more and only getting one board more. I guess it's worth to consider that Chris is aging and played hurt a lot so far, Clint is probably playing a lot more on the perimeter so he's probably missing some rebound opportunities. Overall though, is like no one of our players is getting a significant boost over last season in terms of rebounds when maybe it should be expected with the new shot clock rule...?
Aside from looking at "rebound numbers" by a player.... I think there could be subtle things too that aren't in the box score like boxing out guys. Ariza appears a lot stronger than Ennis in the paint. So that could be a subtle thing.
This has been mentioned before and thus is a SCHEME issue. Teams had an offseason to study the Rockets switching. They are taking Capela out of the action and it is hurting us. Perhaps the coaching staff shouldn't be as stubborn as it is with going 100% switching and being more selective. This is the kind of stuff that can be fixed
I think one way(I remember Matt and Craig mentioning this last night) was that you can switch everything but the center position. That seemed to be working, its prolly why Nene had the highest plus minus, He may have been getting killed on the boards by I dont remember him getting switched onto any guard when he played.
Yeah, i think you can see that in different occasions we're kinda lazy in switching even when it's not exactly required. Would really love to see a stat about Clint areas of play, cause i'm pretty sure he spends way more time on the perimeter, and considering that he's playing 6 minutes more per game, i'm kinda shocked he's not getting more tired by this switching considering the stamina problems he has/had, he probably spends almost the same time of our guards on small players, if that's the case, it's just not right imo.
I heard that comment too. And Nene played deep into the 4th. These are the kinds of things I am talking about.
It could be. Or not. But I still want to talk about the Rebounding issues. Much rather talk about solutions than whining and complaining, tbh.
Biggest issue I see is when Capela contests or is out on the perimeter our weak side never dives down. PJ and Ennis are the two worst at this. They are so late on the rotations it’s sad. I’m sure it’s alre been scouted so teams are hanging back for the offensive board.
It's not a problem, it's a symptom of the problem. The cause of all the problems is lack of sufficient desire to win (when compared to other goals). There is no way we are going to fix one isolated thing, especially if what's needed is consistent effort. You can bet all the coaches and executives have tried, team meetings have been held, team legends have sent motivational texts, etc. You may be able to find a band aid solution if someone strokes their ego a bit, but it will fall apart soon after. The stars don't want to do the heavy lifting and are waiting for cavalry to arrive. They only perform well when an opponent reminds them they are playing like garbage. That's the #1 motivation for these leaders, and it's a flimsy/inconsistent/volatile source of motivation that will piss the hard workers off (well, what's left of them).
Tinker with the lineup. It damn sure can't get any worse. Go with... Paul (backup is Harden) Harden (backup is Gordon) Tucker (backup is Ennis) Hartenstein (backup is Clark) Capela (backup is Hartenstein) Stop all the damn switching & run a 3-2 zone on defense (vs GSW is the exception). That will put our 2 bigs in position to rebound.