[ClutchFans] Why poor defensive rotations are killing the Rockets (by Jeff Balke)

Good article. Only thing I disagree with is saying we have better athletes than the early 90's teams. That is not true. Needless to say, I still blame the coaching staff more than the players, althought they are both to blame.

Adelman's history speaks for itself... He will never be a defensive coach. Never has been, never will be. So I dont want to get into hypotheticals about what me or DD would do if we were the coach, but what do we expect Adelman to do to start winning games.

History has shown absolutely nothing that Adelman will do other than just that whole talk about how "guys need to focus harder, and play with more intensity". Okkk .... Rick, but what does that mean.

I hate to be doom and gloom here as well but heres a newsflash Dampier will not see much if any time on the floor because he is an offensive liablility in Adelmans system. I have watched more than enough of Dampier's play to know that there is no way he can operate on the high post. Plus we have seen how Jordan Hill has been used wrongly in Adelmans system and how it makes him look like he doesnt know what he is doing when really he is just playing in the wrong system.

If Brooks ends up getting moved it will be the best thing that can happen for the Rockets because Ish Smith and Lowry are two point guards that will not give the ball up to the Center in the high post like Brooks does to get open for shots, but will penetrate and work to get the ball to the open man or setup the post player.

Which brings me to my point about defense. Given we have horrible peremiter defense, the funnel defensive scheme that worked for JVG and Rudy T could be put back in place if Dampier will be able to stay on the floor on the other end which will not happen unfortunately.

So in short maybe its not really the defense that is to blame at all. Maybe its more to do with the offense, or RA's offensive scheme that he has based his entire coaching career around that certain players just dont fit in. Unfortunately, until Rick Adelman retires, we better just get used to hearing Rick tell everyone in interviews that they just need to "figure it out" or "focus."

*note - Luis Scola is the worst defender I have ever seen in the NBA.

 

This team needs a crash course in the JVG School of Defensive Fundamentals.

 

I feel like our team is made of too many offensive or defensive specialists, with few two-way players. That makes practicing this stuff quite difficult. Consider Martin vs. Battier. Battier is not good enough at offense to challenge Martin's defense to get better. Martin's defense isn't good enough to push Battier to get better. Maybe in practice Martin doesn't have to learn good foot work on d because he has no trouble staying in front of Battier.

Same thing with Brooks and Lowry. Same with Budinger and Lee. Scola is a good one on one defender but he doesn't close out well. Maybe because in practice, you don't need to against Hayes. Maybe Bud forces that pass in the middle to Yao in the 4th because in practice, Martin would never get there to deflect it. Practice is where you build up that muscle memory. For players that lack the defensive instincts, repetition on good footwork and team defensive strategy is key. Our team may be emphasizing defense, the parts on this team just make it hard to practice.

 

I wouldn't say that. But the way he allowed David West to back him in from the 18 feet out all the way to the basket last game astonished me. I mean, that was just ridiculous.

 

The reason they are over helping, especially Scola, is because they're worried about penetration, since they know there's no shot blocker there. Scola keeps fading down there to block the drive. With a legit big man there, he won't worry as much and he and others can get back to focusing on their own man and trying to funnel them to a bad area, like the shot blocker, corner, etc.....without the defensive big they all get paranoid..

And the team Damp came from doesnt matter, he himself is a solid defender.

 

obviously its an emotional response to the past 4 games. I love Scola as much as anyone but he stinks it up on defense. He is absolutely the worst on the team on help defense. He's always the last one back on defense because hes trying to swat the ball away like they dont see him. And he just straight up gets burned by anyone quicker than Shawn Bradley.

 

Sometimes I think we give these guys too much leeway. I played a lot of basketball in my lifetime and my "responsibility" was always understandable on defense.

Either I did it or did not do it. Sometimes the failure was due to mental error on my part and sometimes due to my opponent's physical superiority in that moment... and sometime it was due to a mental failure of my teammate.

My teammates would change virtually every time I played but it didn't change my responsibility. It's just not that complicated-- except in the psyche of these athletes.

 

I posted this before, but I think they desparately need the singular focus on defense that JVG taught. JVG's motto was: One contested jumper. No layups, no open shots, no offensive rebounds. If you can force that, you can reduce your opponent's efficiency by a difference-making amount. This team makes some great defensive plays, but they don't have that singular focus, and are often out of position for good defense, sometimes due to gambling, sometimes due to poor rotations, sometimes due to just poor effort.

 

Horry + Thorpe > Battier + Hayes for defense.

Kevin Martin is a better scorer than Maxwell, but defensively, not even close.

AB vs Kenny?

No need to add Olajuwon in the discussion cause there is none.

 

There you have it... that is the answer. Physical superiority. Night in and night out we are physically inferior to our opponents. Physically inferior. So far every team has been more athletic, more physically talented than us.

The other point that someone mentioned is the lack of two way players. And I would have to agree with this point as well. Look up and down our line up and we have too many players that are 1 dimensional. Our best player on overall offense and defense is Martin. Yeah I know everyone on this board will disagree. But watch the games. He is playing solid D this year. I didn't say great and I am not saying he hasn't had some lapses. But watch his game. he is making defensive plays he is annoying his opponent and he brings it most every game. Add that with the fact he is are best player on offense and that makes him are best 2 dimensional player.

The fact that Martin is our best 2-way player just shows why we are losing. The only light I see is an all around effort on defense. Yao improves. Martin become more of the focal point on offense, Patterson improve before season end, hill improves on defense, ... Ah forget it ... we need everything. We are 4 and 0 and as someone said that is probably what we deserve.

 

As said before....The main problem now is the AWFUL PERIMETER DEFENSE....How can you have 2 guards that are so bad defensively, at make them the same time? This and Battier aging, has plummeted perimeter D....

As I always say, even a tandem of Olajuwon/Rodman at their prime, would suffer a lot with this lousy perimeter Defense...so bringing defensive bigs won't solve the problem, until the perimeter D is improved first...

Via trades ASAP would be the best option...what good are the assets for if you can't use them in trades to improve, in this case the perimeter D?

 

Battier sucks cause i dont think he was ever a lock-down defender to begin with. Battier is one of those players that tries to force you to a certain direction so the big guys down low can help. I remember reading one time how Battier reads his opponents stats before a game. Where they shoot the most, where they shoot the best percentage, what kind of plays the team like to run, etc. It worked great when the Team defense is good but when the rotation and help D is as bad as it is now Battier gets exposed.

I think their must be something in the Houston water cause all Houston sports teams act r****ded half the time. The Rockets play decent for most of the game and then late in the games they let the opponent go on this 15-0 run. The Texans offense refuses to show up in for half the game and whenever they play against a decent pass rush. Astros refuse to play good baseball until after the all-star break.

 

The problem is Brooks and Martin contesting a jumper is no different than giving our opponents open shots.

 

edited

 

Defensive rotations are only as good as the players and the execution.

Yao is a good defender but has lost most of his lateral movement and he is just too slow to react, he was just getting better when he was injured last.

Battier is too old and lost quickness.

Chuck Hayes too short and lacks quickness.

Scola does not defend well, but he has nice offense

AB- non factor on defense

Martin is sloppy on the ball defender doesn't rebound and generally is a scorer

Budinger tries but cannot stop penetration

Lowery is OK

Hill is aggressive but raw

Lee is fair but no shut down player on the defensive side

Rockets need very high draft picks

 

Hayes switched on to Paul in the last game and stayed in front on him. He switched onto Carmelo in the prior game and got two consecutive stops.

North-sound speed is not Chuck's forte, but in a half-court defensive situation his side-to-side quickness is a strength, not weakness.

 

1. Lack of effort conistently
2. Guys not closing out on the jump shooter
3. Guards getting beat and not having a dominant post defender to cover that.
4. The lack of a solid rotation is hurting because the players aren't familiar with tendancies of the other players just yet.
5. Other than Chuck, Shane and possibly Lee, the Rockets just don't have players with the defensive mindset needed to be successful. I personally feel like Shane has lost a step, he's not going to make mistakes but he's not going to be able to carry the team on the defensive side of the ball. Chuck is chuck, he'll give you stops but won't be dominant against the leagues better bigs.

Barring bringing in a defensive stopper through trade, this team is going to have to give max effort and make few mistakes. Although I'm remaining patient and believe the Rockets will turn it around, I'm starting to get a little worried that the losing may create an infectious losing mentality and blame thrown around.

Thank you for the article Jeff

 

We'll just have to disagree on Martin being a good defensive player. I've never read a scouting report that said he was any good on D. In fact, most say he's terrible. Yeah, he has more athletic plays on D, but that doesn't actually mean he's playing good defense. If a man blows by him 10 times a game and he somehow recovers once and gets one block, that's not good D.

As far as athleticism, it just isn't necessary to be a good defender. Battier has never been an elite athlete, but he has been an elite defender (no matter if he has slowed down this year). Same with Chuck Hayes. Courtney Lee is also a good defender, but nothing special athletically. Meanwhile Brooks is very athletic but useless defensively. Lowry isn't exactly athletic, but a solid defender.

You can find tons of examples around the league of unathletic guys being good defenders, and vice versa (athletic guys being crappy defenders).

 

If I'm reading your post right and you mean we finally get a win, it would be more like 130-129.99999999

But we'd get a W!!!

 

I haven't seen many situations at all where Kevin Martin has gotten "blown by" on defense this season. He's actually been pretty good in on-ball defense.

The problem is he loses focus when his man doesn't have the ball, and it ends with open jumpers.