Walker: not right personnel for small ball & not great from 3

While I think our offensive system is questionable the defense has always been the biggest issue and will continue to be. At this point the guys on the roster I just don't think are very capable of staying in front of their man constantly whether it's age or lack of focus they just don't have it. It is what it is at this point.

 

This hits the nail on the head. We still NEED a center...not one that we're paying $15m/year but a competent one that we can use in non-Westbrook lineups and especially when he's sitting out on back-to-backs. I don't know why we stuck to small ball when Westbrook was out against PHX.

 

I agree with most of the things you said except this last sentence. I don't think they are arrogant. I think they are desperate.

I've said it elsewhere. For 2 or 3 seasons, they were obsessed with the GSW. They morphed the team to beat the Warriors. And the way was to counter the Hamptons 5 by playing small ball. We couldn't beat them because we didn't have the same talent level. But the hope was, shooting lots of 3 would increase the variance and if we were lucky that the variance swung our way when we played GS, we might beat them.

Now GS is no more. We are stuck with a small team. And when we traded for Westbrook, we also got a PG that couldn't shoot the 3. Moving to full-blown small ball is out of desperation, and I don't blame the FO. Staying put is doomed. It doesn't help that we have an owner who keeps trying to shed salaries, and a coach that has a bit of a tunnel vision.

 

The thing that bums me out is... we're 10-9 since the end of 2019, and that entire timeframe coincides with Harden's decline in play.

During that time, Westbrook has become magnificent for the most part, but a struggling Harden continues to shoot shots that aren't falling.

I love Harden, not hating at all..... but his reliance on a stepback 3 is killing us. We cant have ANY player go 1-13 .... 2 for 15.... 0 for 8 threes etc, especially when we know that player (no matter how great) is not even taking them on open shots, but defaulting to a go-to difficult shot when there are double teams and a lack of penetration attempts.

His teammates need to hit their threes too, yes obviously. Those teammates are taking what...5....7? Harden's massive amount of attempts is a big deal, and his stubbornness to adapt his game during poor shooting is hurting Houston big time.

No, it's not all on him, and weve had people injured etc...... except we also did before and we were 23-11? Utah is a good team, and last night sucks, but I think Harden and coaching may actually be the bigger issues right now. Yes, his shots were falling before, so that's a big difference, but you dont keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result, that's insanity.

We need our best player to play smarter and more efficiently. His FTs are way down (yes, I know NBA refs suck), and this is almost a 6 week rut. A game or two doesnt change that, Harden has been off for some time, and we cant make small ball work well if he's slow, allowing easy double team traps, and taking inefficient shots over and over and over.

Houston is more fun to watch the last 10 days or so (except Phoenix), but we're still inconsistent as fck, and JH13 needs to evaluate his play, or we won't even make it past the first round. He's our Superman and our kryptonite right now, and the philosophy won't work well if he doesn't play more intelligently.

 

Walker is right the Rox do need elite 3 pt shooters in their system but only have average 3 pt shooters.

But he is also wrong because elite 3 pt shooters in the Rox system are almost impossible to find. The only players I'm sure would be elite 3 pt shooters are Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, KD and Khris Middleton. Only 4 players in the entire NBA and max players at that. The reason is the volume, Rox players take an average of 5-8 3 pters a night and that kind of volume will lower your 3 pt range cuz it is exhausting.
Player-Pre Rox-Rox 3 pt shooting
Eric Gordon 38%, 37%
Ariza 40%, 35%
Anderson 37%, 40% (his FGA drastically lowered though)
Cp3 41%, 38%
Lou Williams 44%, 39%

Those are the players' 3 pt shooting right before they came to Houston and then when they got to Houston. You can see they all are "elite" 3 pt shooters but took a hit to FG% as a rocket and that FG% keeps going down. So when you blame Morey for not getting elite 3 pt shooters he DID get elite 3 pt shooters, unfortunately only the best shooters in history will be elite in Rox system.

Does this mean the Rox system sucks? No I think it works well. The problem is this system needs effective load and roster management and we got a coach who sucks at that big time. The theory here is we got "average" shooters but we have a lot of them, one must be hot in any given night so the coach should have a deep rotation to find the hot hand. Instead our coach has a set 7 man rotation and that doesnt change unless somebody gets injured. We got 15 guys on the roster but the coach only uses half lol thats why the Rox are losing.

Tbh the Bucks actually also run the Moreyball system they took 39 threes last game the Rox took 42. But Bud is much better at roster and load management on top of being an adjustments master he played 10 guys all of whom got significant mins. We have to get a coach who maximizes the roster instead of somebody on autopilot all the time.

 

This post right here gets to the root of the issue. We can talk about shooting all we want but the bigger issue is defense. Particularly perimeter defense.
And it is also why the Rockets need another defensive oriented WING. And why MKG makes sense with what is out there now.

 

I honestly think the defense was actually pretty good until Harden got his 5th foul. Once that happend Harden had to play waaaaay more tentatively than he was that game. Then they used Mitchell to get him every time.

We have to make use of pre switching the screener. To prevent Harden from going one on one in situations like these. Warriors did the same thing with Curry 2 years ago(and maybe last year).

 

I agree the Rockets need to add a lob threat. But, that just might not happen until the summer. They have a better chance of adding a defensive wing such as MKG to help with the perimeter defense and give the team a different look than McLemore.

 

Harden is still our most talented player and we go only as far as Harden takes us.

While I am still proponent of smallball, the system should still emphasize ALL the facets that make Beard unique and so unstoppable. Iso is great but taking away his dunker and PnR option is concerning.

Might be too Russ centric right now.

 

Could have both with addition of MKG and Bolden.

Will keep beating this dead horse.

 

Agree with everything but the end where you place blame on coaching instead of depth talent.

Rockets need better 3-D players to fully maximize this new system. At least ONE more 3-D forward who can play 4/5.

MDA will play more guys if he had more guys who could play.

 

Walker you just gonna read my post from last night and use it as a hot take. I see you.

 

Mclemore 38%
House 38 %
PJ Tucker 37%
RoCo 38% with us (small sample size)

Not even a big Moreyball guy but the system generates great looks. They just need Gordon to be able to knock down threes at high clip. And more catch and shoot opportunities for Harden.

 

At the end of the day it all comes back to this.

You traded your best lob catcher, rim protector, and rebounder in order to regain the shooting and spacing that you had when you had Chris Paul. Shortsighted thinking. Could have just stood pat, saved a ton of assets, and been better off.

I am glad Westbrook is settling in and playing better, but it'll never make sense why the trade was made other than I guess to make Harden happy, even if it hurt the team. Disappointing.

 

I almost never agree with this dude ....but I hate to say this, but its true. Trade was a mistake and I feel like we could have been able to get Roco while keeping Capela.

 

Capela may have been traded either way.

Morey almost traded him for Jimmy Buckets and Brandon Clarke in offseason.

And that was with CP3 still on roster.

 

Well...you'd still need matching salary for Covington, so it's hard to say. The short sighted Ryno/Knight/Shumpert trades hurt that possibility. Capela maybe would have been traded anyway, but you could have had many different avenues to improve the team.

But you look at the moves that have been made over the past two years and you see how damaging it has all been totaled together. Simply standing pat and not making knee-jerk moves would have saved the Rockets so much.

 

The only thing I’m getting from this thread is that some of you actually think there is a chance Bruno can be a part of the rotation. We’re still developing him. But no part of Morey expects him to be a contributor. If we need a big man for some minutes Tyson is our option unless a buyout happens.

 

We know this is not a defense-first team. There are 3 offensive areas on the court, paint, 3 pt, and in-the-middle jumpers. Rockets already gave up the middle area long time ago. With current extreme small lineups, Rockets risk more being blocked in the paint, they will be forced to take even more 3 points. Theoretically, Rockets put themselves into a situation less likely to win than before the trade deadline. Usually the most balanced team won finals. Rockets are now unbalanced on positions, offensive/defense, veteran/young players. They are probably the most unbalanced team in the league. What a mess.