[CBS Sports] Did the Houston Rockets get better by subtraction this summer?

I think the 'no midrange jumpers' policy is stupid. DMo's got a really nice midrange J, but he's forced to brick threes one after another. I think having DMo shoot from the midrange would the Rockets offense in a much greater way.

 

DMo shot 29.1% on all shots outside of the paint area and inside the 3-point line. That amounts to a paltry .583 points per shot out there.

By contrast he shot a measly 25% from the 3-point line. That's a still crappy 0.75 points per shot.

What you are advocating is for DMo to take more of the WORST SHOTS IN BASKETBALL that further drives down his efficiency from taking a crappy 3-ball shot.

 

This misconception is getting old. The reason our team doesn't shoot many midrange shots is because we don't have the personnel for it. Harden became a decent midrange shooter last year and that's about it. If we had a Chris Bosh or a LaMarcus Aldridge, I guarantee that you would see a sizable increase in the amount of midrange shots taken. Do you really think the staff wouldn't put D-Mo in a position to get midrange shots if he was an efficient shooter from that area?

 

Addition by subtraction is not applicable if you are replacing what you lost. That is merely addition by replacement. Addition by subtraction is what happened when the linsanity Knicks lost Carmelo Anthony.

 

Sample, sample, sample. How big of a sample is that exactly? I don't think it's big enough to draw any conclusions.

 

They didn't add by subtraction, they multiplied by division.

 

We have ample long-term history that proves that the long 2 is the WORST SHOT IN BASKETBALL. We knew that before Morey was here and Juwan Howard and Rafer Alston were clanging all those shots. There are very, very few (you can count them on one hand) big men in the league who can consistently hit the 16 to 20 footer at 50% or above. DMo ain't one of them right now.

 

Addition by subtraction is a dumb idea in general. But, you don't even apply the concept when you've lost guys that were not distractions and were productive players. Maybe you could say that a bit about Asik, but even there I wouldn't. That they cleared space for our bench scrubs... well, if they were so good, they'd beat the rotation guys out for PT anyway.

 

Is this a serious question?

 

We can also do division by multiplication!

Just because Harden lost the ball on that overtime possession doesn't mean he cost us that game. There were a ton of other players that messed up before him

In Game 1, during overtime, we scored 14 points: Lin had 7, Howard had 6, and Garcia had 1.

In Game 3, during overtime, we scored 11 points: Lin had 4, Harden had 4, and Daniels had 3.

In Game 4, during the overtime, we scored 14: Howard has 6, Daniels had 6, and Harden had 2.

So in the 3 overtimes, the tally is:

• Howard with 12
• Lin with 11
• Daniels with 9
• Harden with 6
• Garcia with 1

 

DMo #s do not reflect reality, the guy was never allowed to be in good rhythm , not given consistent time or play etc , and regardless of how good or bad he played, nothing was' relevant to McHale

 

Comparing Harden to Linis ridiculous. They are not even on the same level in clutch time You are a Lin fan throwing fancy stats around
The stats does not match my eye test. There are advance stats confirming harden is the best player in today 's NBA.

BTW: I only open my eyes when Harden has the ball... How dare you telling me I have a biased sample.

 

This type of statement has been made a couple times this offseason. It paints a false distinction to prop up its argument. The dichotomy it draws is:
-Parsons, Asik, and Lin
VS.
-Ariza and the continued improvement of young players Canaan, Jones, Motiejunas, & Daniels

If that's the parameters of the equation then yes, the Rockets came out okay and they'll still be in the race for HCA in the first round. That much I agree with. But the continued improvement of young players was going to happen regardless of what transactions occurred. You can't count it as "addition by subtraction" if your main argument is just that the team was going to get better with or without addition and subtraction.

 

You could argue that players like Canaan, DMo, and Johnson wouldn't get the same minutes to develop into viable role players with Lin and Asik still on the team.

I still feel that there will be a significant transition time for these guys to adjust to their bigger roles, but by the time the playoffs come by, the combo of their development and whatever moves we make by the trade deadline will make us a better team than last year.

 

If it forces defenses to open up while making the offense less predictable, then I'm all for the one or two less ppg dmo would net.

 

Seriously?????

Defenses will gladly give us all the 29% 2-point shots we want to take. They'd love it if we started shooting 17-22 footers.

And it would equate to more LOSSES.

 

Dude, it was pretty much a Harden turnover that led to Daniels' game winning three. Harden got stripped, Lin dived and saved the loose ball and threw it to daniels: sooooooo, yeah. I think you're experiencing a case of confirmation bias.

 

Cool.

 

I personally think we need veterans around Harden and Howard. Having two top players at their positions with a solid group of veterans who know their role should be enough to have a good chance at a title.

 

I think Rockets will be better at SF with Ariza replacing Parsons, IF Ariza played on both ends like last year (big if because he was definitely motivated in contract year). Parsons now has a salary jump from less than a mil per to $15mil per, it's a massive jump, and my guess is it could be detrimental to his play because psychologically he will feel like everyone's watching him if he's worth that money and he will have tremendous pressure to perform, esp ramped up by his own self proclaiming statement that he's a star, etc etc.

But Canaan is now better than Lin? lololol


Someone here said Rockets need more playmaker, I think it's absolutely spot on. Losing both Parsons and Lin basically left only Harden as true playmaker. Ariza may be able to shoot 3s and defend, but he can't create nearly as good as Parsons. When Harden sits, or worse, if he gets injured, the team will be in world of trouble without a real playmaker, unless Beverley or Canaan learns how to make plays in one summer or Terrence Jones turns into Magic Johnson. Your only hope in this case would be Nick Johnson, who looks really solid in summer league. I am one of few who would give benefit of doubts to rookies' potential, but playmaking issue is real a make or break for this team and counting on a rookie to solve it? Not wise. I guess this will motivate McFail to play Harden 44mpg this season.


Oh Lin will be the best among Lowry and Dragic. Buy the tissues now, you all will need it.