Chuck and Shane both start about 60 games, and the Rockets are first in assists. No all-stars drawing double-teams to create easy shots. No one that can really create his own shot unless someone falls for a Martin pump fake. You can make a good defensive team out of bad defensive players by over-emphasizing that side of the court. However when that happens the offense suffers. On offense though, guys still have to make shots, which makes what the Rockets did this year so impressive to me. I don't think the D suffered for it, at 19th, which is a little below average. If your center is 6'6" and your PF isn't a good defender, a little below average should be expected.
To be fair, the assists are a team effort and a result on the Adelman offense. If a player like Chuck Hayes can manage to log a triple-double and have quite a few good assist games without the ability to draw a double team in his dreams, I'd definitely chalk that up to coaching. The closest thing the Rockets had to an All-star was Kevin Martin, and the guard spots are stacked in the West year after year. Had the Rockets managed to win more games early, perhaps Martin makes the cut.
Why do you mention Chuck's name? Chuck is a one of the best passers on the team. He does a good job of threading the needle to find teammates who were open for a millisecond. He initiates a lot of the offense by passing to the cutters, such as K-Mart, Bud, and Lowry, from the high post. His ball handling is exceptional for a center. I have seen him drive to the rim and pass to Scola or Patterson for an easy wide open shot on several ocassions. The Rockets are first in assist and Chuck Hayes plays a huge role in it. Explain why you think Chuck slows up the assist because I don't see it.
Neither Chuck nor Shane were offensive detriments. The Rockets were good on O partly because of them rather than despite of them. When they shot the ball, they hit a reasonable %. They are both good passers and do other things like offensive rebounding (for Chuck) and floor spacing (Shane) that make the offense run smoothly. Chuck had a TS% of .554 and and individual Offensive Rating of 120. Shane had a TS% of .577 abd ORtg of 117. Very good numbers. The Rockets offense were about 4 points better with each of them on the floor than they were without. It shows that you don't have to be a volume shooter or someone who "creates for himself" in order to contribute on offense-- as long as the rest of your team has no problem finding way to increase the volume of your teammates' shots and having them making a good number of them. This team did so through both ball movement (as you noted, a very high assist team) and individual talent (for example, Kevin Martin 29.6% Usage Rate, 9th highest in the league with a 60.1 TS% and, of course, Kyle Lowry and Scola often getting reasonably good shots for themselves or teammates).
The OP's point is that Hayes can NEVER draw double team and has little ability to create his own shots. Usually a man can get open because someone has beat his man one on one -- thereby "creating" a shot for either himself of his teammates. Hayes has little of that talent. So someone getting open must be due to the system. Like CH said in the post underneath yours, Hayes and Battier aren't offensive liabilities like most people think. They have offensive skills that does not show to casual watchers. The fact that Adelman is able to utilize their skills to perfection is a testament to both the coaching genius and the guys' intangibles. Yes, despite popular ridicules, intangibles are tangible if you look deep enough. There is a reason why an offensive minded coach like Adelman would use Battier so much, even though Adelman obviously likes Budinger a lot. With a defensive minded coach, Battier would be used for defensive reasons and the coach would try to hide his offensive deficiency. Adelman does not "hide" his players' deficiencies. Instead, he magnifies their strengths.
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I like Morey but geez, 2 years in a row and no viable big man over 7 feet besides fragile Yao?! its maddening and its inexcusable as to why we havent had any talented bigs who can rebond/defend etc since the end of the lakers series TWO YEARS AGO.. Morey has to take criticism because we are no better off at the C position than we were when we were eliminated by LA, its infuriating smh.. we were supposed to Chandler last summer but the Mavs get him, wtf? Morey has been VERY subpar when it has come to finding a good C, that has single handedly doomed our playoff hopes 2 years and counting.. do something FAST Morey or Ill no longer be a supporter #Im out
The thing you aren't seeing is just adding a stiff 7 footer isn't going to help us. They have to be better than what we got. They have to be able to give us more than what we are taking away when we move Hayes or Scola or Patterson to the bench. When you add Yao to that trio, you've got Yao Hayes Scola Patterson. Where's the trade or free agent acquisition that Morey should have pulled off to bring a better big than the bigs we got playing?
You can't beat Dampier's contract when it comes to rebuilding, that's not Morey's fault. There was not a single center available that was better than Chuck.
