History shows that teams with a top 4 offense are good teams regardless of defense.

Shut the hell up Rockets PR

 

Rockets were 22 in defensive rating last year and just got a lot worse.

No team on that list is below 23.

Assuming we can significantly improve the offense while not getting worse on defense is a bit optimistic

 

Typical if you have a great offense, you have a pretty darn good team. There are exceptions to this rule however and it shows by some of the teams you listed which have a defensive rankings in the 20s. This list does not provide any confidence in the Rockets having a strong defense.

 

The name of the game has always been, will always be who scores the most points. Top flight D however, minimizes the impact of the inevitable offensive lulls. When the offense is bombarding defenders with 3's however and not missing, usually no amount of D can stand against that. Superior firepower always trumps anything defense has.

 

How did we get worse exactly? We lost a largely ineffective Howard on both ends of the court; combination of age, injury, and (let's call it) frustrations. We kicked to the curb a nosediving PF in T-Jones, who for all the strengths and promises shown, D was never really one of them. We are replacing them with Capela, who I honestly think is just as effective if not more on D compared to the current state of Dwight and Ryan Anderson, who I really can't see as doing much worse than T-Jones, but can at least do something on the other end. Am I missing anything here?

 

Yeah, Dwight wasn't largely ineffective. He wasn't as good as he could have been but he was still an automatic double double.

We already had Capela so that's not an upgrade

Btw, odds for the Hawks improved (despite losing horford) and ours tanked

 

Well, clearly you're missing that Dwight was our best defensive player, and that our defense was bad last year, and the two guys we signed don't play any. So yeah, we got worse defensively and that's pretty obvious, but only if folks are willing to look at things objectively instead of being apologists for bad management.

 

Yet nba champs always have good defense hmmmm

Same for nfl football hmmm

 

As long as we make all our shots, the defense doesn't matter.

 

Our defense won't be as bad as people are predicting, anyway..RA is the only guy that really cant play defense..

 

One of the main problems last year was players not giving a crap about D and so many mental lapses. On paper we have gone backwards on D with the current roster, but if the players actually buy into a basic defensive scheme this year surely that will be an improvement. You don't have to be a gun defender to run back on D to prevent fast breaks, but you need to be mentally switched on.

 

Funny..

Tell that Don Nelson and Doug Moe....

T_Man

 

The Rockets defense didn't get "a lot worse"..... It is a myth that Howard was a good defender last season.

 

putting the ball in the net and chucking less bricks should improve the defense by itself

 

I dont see any team in that list with bottom 3 defence? So what's your point?

 

just make 100% of our shots and we'll show the warriors durant's too skinny to be an impact player

 

He's point is that it was Dwights fault.

 

But as many coaches (including those known for their defense) will point out, defense is all about effort. There is nobody on the team that can't play defenxe. I am going to hold out hope that Jeff Bzdelik can get them to buy in and do the things that will help them iprove defensively, even if they don't acquire a single elite defensive player.