[Craig Ackerman] coaches considering Troy Daniels for spot in playoff rotation

1) Howard was Not making shots (1/5 in 25 minutes) and only got 4 rebounds. It was a night just to get him ready for the playoffs after missing like ten games, and he knew it. I don't think he's irritated. The fact that he asked to shoot a three and the smile after he missed it say it all.

2) Howard knew he will being getting the ball in the playoffs.

 

You guys are such kneejerkers, Garcia played like garbage all season and casspi lit it up. Look at casspi's stats and post them and compare them if you wanna dismiss him.

 

2009 Brooks was awesome. But yeah, looks like Morey meant Daniel is the best since Novak.

 

And I would rather have Daniels at the corner than Lin even when Lin have been shooting 45.0% at the corner for the season. When the bench is playing, Lin should be the driver and the playmaker.

 

Totally agree. Lin is much more effective in that role than spot-up shooting even though he did improve his spot-up shooting significantly. Lin should be on the floor every minute Harden is off the floor and there should be minimal overlap with Lin running the offense from the top when they are both in there together. Harden is by far the superior spot-up shooter of the two players.

 

Casspi: 42% from the floor, 35% from 3, 48% from 2

Garcia: 40% from the floor, 36% from 3, 49% from 2

Neither player was particularly effective, but Casspi certainly didn't light it up.

 

lin and asik both are for sure in the bench rotation, after those 2 i think McHale is playing by ear or matchup, or the hot hand.

 

The Rockets (+/-) was extremely effective when Casspi was on the floor with Harden and Howard......much more effective than any other power forward. The Rockets (+/-) was extremely effective when Casspi was on the floor with Harden/Howard/Parsons/Bev. Much more effective than any other power forward.

 

Sample size 37 min for Harden/Howard/Parsons/Bev/Casspi line. The Rockets have generally played well with Casspi at the 4 spot overall in other lineups as well. However, Casspi has not played nearly as many minutes against strong opposing lineups as DMo and Jones (i.e. I've not seen him play PF against opposing team's starters).

It will be interesting to see how the Rockets play in the playoffs. Last year, they went small very quickly. This year, it seems McHale has been content forcing other teams to adjust to the Rockets style. I just hope we don't see DMo at center any more.

 

that would mean about 3 minutes of pt for lin. harden's playing 45 a night in the playoffs.

 

He needs to get a lot stronger. Against the blazers, he will get killed playing Matthews, who in his own right, is a pretty strong dude. Still, Daniels has such potential.

 

Feigen just reported Daniels still with team, Canaan & Covington with Vipers.

 

I was impressed with his D in that NOLA game. He's a little scrawny, but he puts in a lot of effort and makes some hustle plays. If he can do that and hit a few 3's in spot minutes, he will make a good impact in the postseason.

 

I'd say they're workmg him in the rotation as we speak

 

Yes but look at all the other 4-man, 3-man, 2-man lineups. Casspi does great alongside Harden and Dwight ...... period. He's got enough minutes in 3-man lineups to prove that. The team's +/- numbers with Casspi on the floor with any combination of Howard/Harden and others is very, very good. Much better than the team's +/- with Jones on the floor with Harden/Howard.

 

I'm hesitant to trust Daniel in the playoffs because he has a whopping five games or so of experience.

But we don't really have any alternatives considering how crappy our bench is. Hopefully he steps up and plays big, there are other important aspects to the game besides shooting.

 

Troy Daniels will be our Danny Green in the playoffs.

 

i was thinking this last night actually

 

This was what I was thinking. Daniels competes with Canaan for minutes. Both have played very few minutes. It is very difficult to evaluate consistency at this point. It will be really interesting to see what the analytical people prefer.

 

I prefer both myself. However the PG minutes are going to go to Bev and Lin. There's really not going to be minutes for a 3rd point guard unless one of them gets hurt. For that reason and because none of our other wings have distinguished themselves I prefer Daniels at this time.