The Rockets top assist man this year is Harden ranked at #19 with 5.7 per game -- our point guards are way down the list. We are playing great, but would we be even better if we were moving the ball around more on the offensive end? link
I'm going to say don't fix what's not broke. Harden ISO ball was so frustrating last year and earlier this year, it's good enough that he's limited those type of possessions, so let's not push it too much. Our primary focus is to limit turnovers.
There's a great saying in football: "Three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad." Somewhat related to this in basketball, a pass can lead to a good shot (assist or hockey assist) but can also lead to a turnover or hockey turnover.
It just seems that with our high scoring rate and fast past we would see more assists -- I was really surprised that Harden was leading the way this year.
Lots of post ups, lots of isos. We don't get as many assists from the half court other than pick n roll or drive n kick.
Poor 3PT shooting. We shoot .353%. One extra make from 3 raises our 39.1% Rockets are ranked 21th, averaging 20.9 asts/game One extra 3PM jumps us to 13th.
Dwight's alley-oops negate his post ups assists-wise. Meaning, we get so may assists with the dunks, the actual post ups don't matter. Rockets need make more 3's. These can come from perimeter penetration or Dwight kick-outs... direct pass or pass that leads to a pass.
I don't feel like we have a true point guard. Bev n Lin r good just not a passing guard. Harden seems to be taking over the assisting. Which is find Lebron n wade do the same thing
McHale likes to use the term "hockey assist" a lot in describing what he wants in terms of passing in this offense. And, it makes sense... often the most important pass is the one right before the one that directly leads to a basket.
A 'hockey assist' still precedes an assist... Some of it is the poor 3P shooting, some of it is our wings' tendencies to take it coast-to-coast in transition, and I think a lot of it is the team's abnormally high FT rate, which depresses FGAs (and as a result, assists).
You don't get assists when you get to the line. Assists aren't important, scoring points is, which we do fine.
In addition to the above, when Rockets players get to the paint they shoot. I mean, that's their offense. Beat their guy in iso/PnR and then put up a shot in the paint. Also the Rockets don't run screens for jumpshooters. A lot of teams get "assists" passing to a guy who shoots an open mid-range jumper. That doesn't happen with this team and assist numbers suffers.
