Well isnt that a point by point dissection... lol. and my retorts are as follows: ↑ Size at the 4 - If by size you mean length, then yes. *** Primarily length... but we give up too much muscle and mass with CC... so size - which includes length... ↑ Focus and effort defensively - Right now they do not know the system well enough and Westbrook is a major change. I don't know that it is fair to conclude effort or focus is the problem yet. *** Hopefully this is the case... but our defense was also in the crapper last year until Bzdelik's return.... ↑ Unfortunately... these are all things that mgmt does not place a great deal of weight on.... - Yeah I don't agree with this conclusion but everyone is entitled to their opinion. *** I think for years our player acquisitions have been very weighted to offense rather than defense... as well as who makes it on the court... with PJ being the exception... ↑ loves his tweeners... and MDA is only to happy to play undersized - even at detriment to the d... - Morey loves long players that can defend and move. The problem is that those players are in high demand. He has targeted them in the past. Tall players that are not mobile are worse than shorter players with long wingspans that can move. *** Morey has been infatuated with tweeners forever... undervaluing size... I didnt think that was even debatable... lol - MDA wants to play good players. Give him good players that are tall and can operate in the system and he will gladly play them. *** Trez couldnt get on court in the playoffs even after Nene went down... Harden was expected to cover the likes of Pau and LMA... and MDA had issues with Pau in LA.... the guy prefers his smallball... again, I didnt even think that was debatable... lol ↑ is all about his precious offensive stats - and he puts guys on court to this end - defense be damned... - He wants to win...... and the players that fit his system on the offensive end typically fit on the other side of the court too.... long athletes. *** Its all about his system - not playing the best players and molding the game plan to fit the talent... horse before the carriage... ↑ nobody steppin at Harden about nothin - and it takes a team effort - no free passes... - *eye roll* *** aint nobody steppin at Harden... he's an MVP caliber player and MDA isnt gonna risk pissing him off... disinterested when off ball - and mum.... we all know its true... lets not bury our head in the sand and deny the dynamics at hand... ↑ D can be improved - I just dont know that we have the leadership to make it happen.. - *double eye roll* *** it was crap until Bzdelik returned last year... CP3 was a vocal guy... who's gonna champion the defense this go around - and be listened to? MDA? Harden? I'd say PJ but he doesnt really seem the kind to get up in guys faces... maybe WB... ↑ is happy playing small ball and running poor PJ into the ground... instead of giving up a little on the offensive end to shore up the defensive end... - PJ Tucker IS the Rockets best defender and the Rockets best post defender. He plays as much as he does largely for defensive purposes. There are no magical 4 defenders that MDA is just letting rot on the bench. *** let Trez rot... passed on Nene many times last year when available... heck, MDA will push PJ to the 5 and hurt our defense further (see our earlier loss) while CC and Chandler sit... ↑ We're a team that likes to cut corners... take plays off defensively... not box out... Harden checking out when the ball is not in his hand... play to get a foul and easy free throws instead of a bucket... 'turn it on' when needed instead of consistent effort.... - That is the NBA....... and isn't anything unique to the Rockets. *** never said it was unique... but if yer going for a championship you gotta shore up such shortcomings... not just assume your guys can/will kick it into gear in the playoffs... its about building a culture... ↑ The amount of effort it takes to win a championship is intense... Idk if our team is willing to put in the effort night in and night out... - The issue isn't effort, it is familiarity and personnel driven. **** You're entitled to your opinion... ↑ we'll see... - If the Rockets manage to add the proper pieces at the 3/4 and 4/5, they will likely compete for a title....... otherwise they will lose in the second round of the playoffs where they will be exploited defensively. ****We just need a 4 with good length who can bang down low... We're loaded at the 5... PJ/House/Thabo should supplement the 4 and cover the 3... leaving JH/WB/EGo/Rivers for the backcourt... we dont have as many holes as people think - we have 1 hole and guys playing out of position... of course, depends on what we give up to get that 4.... #38Nook, Yesterday at 4:09 PM
You're not winning a championship with a top 15 defense unless you're an overpowered offense. Top 5 offense isn't good enough if even top 1 is.
Because we have an owner that would not financially commit to the head coach which hurt recruiting the best defensive assistants... and then ownership complained about the going rate for the best assistants and didn’t want to pay it.... so we got Elston Turner. He isn’t terrible, has coached many different styles and will put in the work.... he just isn’t elite.
Honestly what little I have seen of Clark isn’t promising. I agree with you that he at least potentially could help. I’ll just add this, if MDA and the staff don’t think Clark is good enough, he needs to be cut. There are other players out there in the D-League and Europe that at least have some of the traits the Rockets need from a 3/4, 4/5.... if we are struggling to trade for those types of players, then we need to try to develop them.
I largely agree with this except I think they can mitigate a lot of it by getting pieces (long wings) that fit our needs better. Chris Paul is criminally underrated defensively and he seldom made mistakes.
Man I just don't know …. I used to think you could fix this mess my moving Tucker to his natural 3 spot and acquiring a solid 3&D guy at the 4 spot …. that's 6'8" or taller …. but the guards are getting torched and the switching pulls Capela away from the rim. They need a complete defensive scheme overhaul and a quality 3&D guy at the 4 spot. Problem is , they don't have much in the way of assets to acquire anyone of substance.
Harden has consistently contributed to the Rockets defense for the past 2 years https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2019.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2017.html but these first 4 games of the season Harden and the rest of the Rockets defense has been bad Russ been pretty good so far though losing Jeff B has been huge
FO needs t o admit they were wrong on Turner and make a change for the better. Bring in someone from college ranks if need be.
They either have to move Capela for that 3&D guy and a decent rim running center, trade a bunch of their veteran minimum contracts and/or the small TPE’s they have for someone on a rebuilding team with an expiring contract (Jae Crowder, for example) or like @Nook said, scour Europe for players with length that the Rockets can develop.
So basically Russ is our new alpha-do-it-all MVP, while Gordon intercepted the launch codes and activated sabatoge-tank mode. One of those rare cases where the eye test easily vetts the data, but the data tell a much more dramatic story than initially perceived by said eye.
It’s really not all that complicated. 2017-2018 defense CP3: Elite Harden: below average Ariza: very good PJ: very good Capela: above average 2019-2020 defense Westbrook: average Harden: below average House: below average PJ: very good Capela: above average That has ripple effects across the entire team. We need a GREAT defensive SF.
Harden wasn’t below average defensively in 2017-2018 and likely will not be this year either when it is all said and done.
Moving Capela for Capela and a 3&D 4 …. yep , I can see it. They are going to have to get creative , that's for sure.
I'm just going to put it out here: With the 45 minutes the team played without PJ Tucker the defensive efficiency was 135 points per 100 possessions. So, ye, we have a problem and we need every second PJ can give us on the court.
Yeah, But did we outscore our opponents in that time. Haha You know things are wild when “yeah, but did we score 136 per 100” is a legitimate question.
