[ClutchFans] Welcome to the next evolution of Rocketball

Hope it doesn't end the same way.

 

And yet nearly every NFL team runs a version of the run and shoot now for large segments of the game.... and if the current rules existed back when the Oilers were playing, there would be more teams trying to emulate that approach.

The Warriors have already shown this approach is supremely successful on both ends of the court in today's NBA. Rebounding doesn't suffer when most teams are shooting 3's and rebounds end up being long anyways. Rim protection important, but not more-so than good perimeter/help defense.

The only time this approach will suffer is if a team has a talented big man who chooses to post-up a smaller player consistently.... which doesn't really exist in today's NBA.

 

The Run and Shoot is actually a difficult offense to operate successfully. It is more akin to basketball's motion offense. It requires smart players to read and react, taking what the defense gives you.

The similarity of the RnS and the Small Ball is that they both have high variance. Some people blamed the Buffalo debacle on the RnS. They said that the nature of the offense was not suitable for holding a lead, making it prone to large comeback for both sides.

 

Most current offenses employ multiple routes for each receiver based on what the defense is showing. Thats why QB’s need to have the mental aspect down as they’re usually in charge of reading the defense and knowing which route every receiver has to run based on it.

I think what the Rockets are trying to do is pretty similar. They’re reading/reacting to how the defense is playing them. They’re not running plays since they have the ball in the hands of their playmakers every time. If those guys are doubled, they have to have the spacing to ensure wide open 3’s.

 

Rockets are also pinching and cutting to create even more space.

 

Spoiler: But what if? ... what if

with better defense, and MDA, can this evolution unlock us to a title?

 

FITY

 

LOL

That was awesome!

 

Great article by Pelton:

 

At first I was angry. I'm like..this won't work!! but then I thought, ah it's okay because the centers in this era aren't that great anyway and teams aren't that patient to attack small ball but then I felt like now we gave up Capela and Paul to accommodate Westbrook and some tier C players. They still need to give some of the big guys some run in CASE small ball goes south otherwise our leftover bigs aren't going to be ready at all. It's just too big of a gamble to rely on Harden and Westbrook to be great consistently throughout the playoffs, but if they can then lookout but history at this moment isn't on their side. By the end of the NBA season, I feel like we're just gonna have a sour taste in our mouth with Texans, Astros and Rockets. PLEASE PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG ROCKETS!!

 

i don't understand this logic and why it only applies to the rockets apparently. barkley loves to use this all the time too. so other teams don't need to rely on their best players? Isn't that why they're considered your best players in the first place. I mean thats been the case for winning in the nba for in I don't know forever basically...

apparently things like its too big of a gamble to rely on lebron/AD, pg13/kawhi, mitchell/gobert, giannis/middleton, jokic/whoever don't apply to them

 

It's THESE two superstars (harden, westbrook) that have in recent past shown they are not better in the post season. Harden has made improvements each post-season by still not close to what we're used to. Westbrook hasn't been that great either. If it was us relying on on basically any other superstar player I probably wouldn't be as worried. Don't get me wrong, I love me some super aggressive Westbrook and Score every which way Harden, but in the post season they just don't show up when it counts. They are just too up and down for my taste in post season play, but there is hope since we haven't seen this iteration of Westbrook/Harden before in the playoffs. It's just individually they've been pretty disappointing post-season wise and I'm not sure I've seen anything that they've changed that says the results will be any different. Again I hope I'm wrong. Without the warriors around this year, it's anyone's championship.

 

if your concern is relying on your best players whoever that is, then that's a problem to begin with. Because that's who the rest of the team follows and the engine that's driving everything that's going on and how they're committed to playing

 

Looks like you're wrong.

Happy?

 

They have to prove it in the playoffs. We've seen plenty of shiny regular season performances, but at least they are looking better than they did earlier in the season but again, they gotta do it in the post-season. I'm just tired of them flaming out in spectacular ways in the post-season.

 

It's who we have. We can't change that but that doesn't mean I can't be concerned. Harden and Westbrook can give you a fireworks show unlike any other but they can also burn down your house along with your neighborhood. These two players play on both ends of the spectrum like no other current superstars I've seen. That's the gamble i'm talking about. Relying on two superstars that are wildly inconsistent in the post season compared to their counterparts in Kawhi/Lebron/Thompson/Curry/Giannis/Durant. EVEN with their chaotic play they give us a great chance, but it's just they are such a rollercoaster ride to have to deal with. Luckily we only have to deal with Kawhi and Lebron and maybe a healthy paul George as being the consistent super stars in the West this year.

 

outside of guys like lebron, kawhi, and maybe giannis all those guys I mentioned above are wildly inconsistent. There's a false narrative that all the other stars in the league just go lights out every game in the playoffs. that's just not true at all. Don't act like klay/curry didn't struggle against the rockets. You know what the difference was they had a kd to rely and fall back on. As I said earlier apparently, the logic of relying on your best players is some kind of thing only the rockets worry about. What has AD done to be immune to this? What has pg13 done to be immune to this? What has Mitchell done to be immune to this? I could go on and on. Sure you can be concerned. but realize that what you're actually concerned about isn't only logical towards the rockets

 

I'm most interested in seeing how this all plays out in of our final games left. I'll definitely be watching us against UTA, BOS, LAC, LAL, PHI, and MIL. Those should be great games. Other than that,, DAL, MEM, and IND might be good, but not as challenging.

 

ohhh I think we are must see tv right now.
Dallas will be a blast offense vs offense
Indiana may have the only low post player with the actual skillset to hurt us on Sabonis. Curious to see how we are going to play that matchup.
Memphis is a revenge game from the last time where they ran us out of the Gym.

 

Agree, but I'll probably skip a few of the easy games we have left against the bottom tier. I didn't watch last night because I knew it was the worst of the worse Warriors. That, and I don't watch the Warriors anymore because I can't stand the arrogant players, even from the bench. They really do annoy me.