Strengths will obviously be an elite probably top 3 or 5 offense and overall talent/depth. The Rockets with elite talents in Harden & Howard supported by very good talents in Lawson, Dmo, Tjones and Ariza, are one the most talented teams in the NBA, topped only perhaps by Lebrons Cavs. The question of course isnt just about talent, but fit. How well will the games of Lawson, Harden and Howard mesh. How well will a Lawson and Harden backcourt defend. Due to many factors, including injuries, the Rockets were not a great or even very good defense team last year and had trouble containing dribble penetration and in transition. How will adding Lawson, an undersized and average defender at best affect the Rockets defense in 2015. In lineups where Beverley and Lawson play together, who will Lawson guard? At power forward, will either Dmo or Tjones finally stop getting injured, regressing, or inconsistencies to seize the starting spot once and for all. Clearly the Rockets are a loaded team and their offense will challenge the Clippers, Warriors, Thunder, Cavs and Spurs for best in the league... the questions about their fit and defense however are still very much unanswered.
When your 2nd best player (Howard) can't make his FT's this isn't just a weakness it's a HUGE liability. Especially in the playoffs at crunch time (last 4 minutes of the 4th QTR) when teams will be more than happy to put him on the line. If McHale has to pull him out at crunch time then we become average defensively, and guys like Paul, Westbrook, Curry will have NO problem breaking down our D by getting into the paint.
I don't ever recall the Hack-a-Howard strategy working. Teams will do it for several minutes, but they never gain any ground. Often, a team might be down 10 when they start, and several minutes later they are down 11 points. It almost always seems to be neutral. I have never seen a team beat the Rockets due to the Hack-a-Howard strategy.
The 4 spot. Easily. And then,McHale. I'm hoping he has developed a bit more in terms of strategy. The motivational/loose personality is fine, I guess. At least we don't have Mark Jackson.
True...but this strategy has worked against us when we are a few points behind in the last half of the 4th quarter. Pop for one has figured this out.
Dwert DMo Capela Thats weak ?! I think its probably the best C rotation in the league .... Weaknesses on this team are easy to spot: Turnovers / transition defense. Hope Lawson solves some of this issue. FT shooting from the bigs. J.Smith gone , still have Dwert ~50% with DMo & Jones in the 60's. Brewer is an adventure @ the line too. 3 point shooting. They take more 3's than anyone else but hit them at a relatively average percentage. D rebounding , especially when Dwert sits. Self explanatory. Someone BOX OUT !!
Focus. Situational game prep. Free throws. On paper we're better than anyone, Golden State included. But the Dubs just execute their game plan to perfection and the Rockets consistently had periods of long mental lapses. San Antonio too. The Spurs team of 14 and Dubs of 15 just looked like basketball machines. Can't remember the Rockets ever looking like that.
Turnovers should go down with one of the best ball protectors in the NBA now playing point. I think free throw shooting overall will improve with DMO showing real improvement in the area. Power forward is the largest obvious weakness. No one has asserted themselves and taken a strangle hold on the spot. I think Ariza will prove very effective at the 4 in limited minutes. The dynamic of Lawson is interesting. He is an excellent post passer which bodes well for DMO, but he also likes to push the pace which should help Jones. I don't really care who it is, but someone needs to stake claim to PF and get consistent minutes. Another weakness is we don't know how Harden and Lawson will function together. Ideally you have your point guard and best player very very familiar with each other on the court. We don't have that and I expect it to be a work in progress. Also, the perimeter defense could potentially be horrific. Harden and Lawson both can be adequate to above average defenders. However they also have had long stretches where they are terrible. Harden was adequate last year and improved from 2014. Lawson on the other hand was atrocious defensively last year. If Harden and Lawson mail it in defensively, we are screwed.
Yes that's weak. A star who can't play b2b and may miss matches to perserve him for the POs. Dmo coming from injury PLUS He will take a bulk of minutes at pf and he can't play 48 mins a game. Capela almost a rookie who has proven nothing but shown some flashes yet. Not reliable to be a backup center. Sure it's weak and it's risky. It needs Capella to step up A LOT to work.
Bigs. Dmo is recovering, Jones is already hurt, Dwight is prone to injury, Capela is still a young'un, Harrell as well.
Wait, what? Last year the Rockets didn't have mental lapses, they had lack-of-talent lapses. When you're giving big minutes to the likes of Dorsey/Black/Nick Johnson/Canaan/Papa, not even Pop or Phil Jackson can make them look good. If the Rockets can't execute with healthy Dwight and non-DUI Lawson, that would be one thing. But for last year, I will go out on a limb and say we outperformed the Spurs given our respective talents.
Shouldn't we decide our strengths and weaknesses after about 10 games? I feel like with Ty Lawson, Beverley, Harrell, Brewer, and Ariza we could have some of the most all-out hustle teams in league to alleviate rebounding woes and general scoring when Harden and Howard are sitting. Rebounding really should never be a problem (maybe a negative every once in a while but not a real problem) with Howard on the floor, free throws? If you're talking about hacking strategies we will have the ability to have a line up like Harden, Terry, DMO, Ariza, and Jones out there to play the percentages. Health isn't even a weakness. It isn't like our players have crappy immune systems or tend to be injury prone - we just got unlucky last season. Health is inherently every team's weakness in like...uh...every sport known to mankind. And OP - our center depth is certainly not weak with Howard, DMO, and Capela. Capela's more than capable of thrashing other benches with dunks when he's called upon. He showed flashes last year that with a guy like Harden he can be deadly on the pick and roll and cutting for an oop. With Harden or Lawson on the floor at all times I think he will be given the opportunites to score. Capela also helps us rebound against small ball line ups and unathletic benches. Quit saying our coaching is a big problem. There was a very detailed article here last season showing some pretty innovative offensive sets and they were used often and to a high efficiency. McHale has seen this team improve every year since he's been with the team. He is a great players coach that instills the "buy in" attitude this team needs to win the championship. My thoughts on a weakness? 1. Implement more back door screens and cuts to the basket for guys off the ball. Not just pick and roll. 2. A true shooting guard that can hit the 3 consistently on a catch and shoot (think ray allen, korver, Thompson, Ginobli, tmac) that uses screens to get open for one and a half seconds in order to get an open loon from behind the arc. I'd also like this particular player to be big enough to cover the 3 during small ball situations. Other than that we are stacked.
Have you heard this one? http://hardwoodparoxysm.com/2015/09...odcast-ep-366-houston-rockets-season-preview/ I like to believe it's one of our 50 or so Australian fans on here doing this podcast.
Perfectly said! Memphis is another well-executing team, despite their talent not being right up there with others. OKC, HOU and LAC are loaded with talent but big questions remain on execution. NOP can be a sleeper. UTH, DAL, SAC, PHO will fight for the 8th spot. MIn can too if they want/care. LAL, POR, DEN sure lottery.
If it's not the pg, it's the pf hole this year. You need a good pf to be a contender. Coaching is another weakness. We don't run a tight ship, it's a free for all on offense
