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Rockets don't like "in-between" shots

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by durvasa, Nov 25, 2012.

  1. cheke64

    cheke64 Member

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    In order of importance.

    1. Post plays
    2. Lay-ups or attacking
    3.mid-range jumpers
    4. 3 ball
    5. A scrub trying to create ala rafer.
    6. Kobe shooting 10-30 field goals for 30points.
     
  2. formido

    formido Member

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    "The whole team is taking on the scoring trends of Harden"

    They aren't just taking on Harden's game. Lin played for D'Antoni who is an extremely outspoken proponent of shooting only at the rim and 3s. Lin has talked about this in plenty of interviews. It's been reported widely, and Morey confirmed in his post on Quora regarding Lin, that Lin was ranked #1 among point guards last year in percentage of assists leading to shots at the rim and three pointers. Lin doesn't get as many assists as some guys right now, but his assists are higher value because they literally create points. When he's making plays, he doesn't encourage guys to take low value 2 pointers. If for every assist there were a missed shot or two in space, that's not a high value assist profile. Teams will let you take long 2s all day long. It's easy to get those assists, and lose games. Houston's smart basketball here leads Houston to have >.500 record despite deficiencies in some players' traditional vanity stats. Over time, I expect shooting percentages and team defense to improve and, in combination with their high value shot selection, surprise a bunch of people with low expectations.
     
  3. just a word

    just a word Member

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    So I stumbled on this article at hoopspeak today, talking about Rocket's shot selection this year.

    They ran the numbers for % shots for Houston current distribution, and as if they had league average distribution, and running the numbers, purely based on shot selection, Houston is getting more than 5 points better with their current FG%. 82.9 points per game (minus FT) versus 77.7 points per game.

    So, whoa, I think, what happens if Houston's current shot distribution happens with league average FG%?

    If I ran the numbers correctly, that equals in best case scenario (ie. improving all FG% to league average except the 10-15ft where Houston has slightly better FG%) 86.6 points, an almost 4 point difference, and an eFG% of 0.5138. Which, if this is current, means that the Rockets would be 6th in the league. Instead of it's current 12th.

    ORB% is 12th, FT/FGA is 6th... but 25th in TOV%

    Given that it's a super young team (ie. pass miscommunications) with super young players (ie. young player mistake TO's), I expect the TOV% to improve to at least average.

    Given how hard all the starters seem to work, I wouldn't be surprised that they all continue improving their shooting, especially on break/off-season.

    tldr; good things should happen if we all just have a bit of patience and watch this team improve.
     
  4. rocketsfan4

    rocketsfan4 Member

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    Thanks for bumping this thread. I knew I saw something saying Lin had been avoiding taking midrange shots since joining the Rockets (one of his strengths and IMO key ways for him to find his shooting rhythm). One factor that we need to consider is that shooting decent percentage midrange shots can help decrease opposing fastbreaks, and the Rockets' transition defense has been its downfall this year.
     
  5. just a word

    just a word Member

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    Actually I read today that D'Antoni stressed avoiding the mid-range too, which is why Lin's assist patterns last season avoided the long-2 more than most PG's; it's a pattern that's apparently carried through to this year.

    If nothing else, the transition D seems somewhat better against the Wizards, though there were still bloopers.
     

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