http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Rockets_bring_new_approach_int-241849-34.html Rockets seek more balance heading into home opener SALT LAKE CITY -- During the past four seasons, the Rockets developed a reputation as one of the toughest defensive teams in the NBA. They're hoping to be known for more this season. Nearly a month after an offseason makeover and shift in coaching philosophy, the Rockets head into Saturday night's home opener against the Portland Trail Blazers seeking a more-balanced identity. Rather than only being recognized as a strong defensive team, they'd like to be known for what they're getting done on the offensive end too. Despite winning 52 games last season with a grind-it-out approach, the Rockets opted for a coaching change in hopes of making a deeper playoff run. Houston turned to Rick Adelman in hopes that his high-motion, high-tempo offense will create a more balanced and potent team in the postseason. The question now is how quickly the Rockets can develop that ideal approach. "I think Jeff (Van Gundy) did a great job," Adelman said. "How do you argue with 52 wins? He developed Yao into a great low-post player. He limited turnovers and he put the ball in the hands of his playmakers. "Now, maybe it's my job to expand that," the coach added. "I believe in pushing the ball and giving guys the freedom to make decisions. Jeff wanted a little more control over that. I don't know what's right and what's wrong. But if we're struggling at all, I may take a few pages from his book. It's not going to happen all at once, but this team has the ability to push the ball, move the ball and still be effective." The Rockets are well aware that they'll have to exercise some patience before becoming well-rounded on both ends of the floor. Still, they're already seeing some positive results. During Thursday's win over the Jazz, the Rockets looked like a different team than the one that was eliminated by Utah in the first round of the playoffs. Instead of settling for jumpers or waiting for McGrady to create for everyone else, Houston found openings down the middle of the lane. They ended up netting 48.8 percent of their shots in a 106-95 victory. That doesn't mean everything has been smooth. The Rockets are, after all, averaging 16.5 turnovers in their first two outings. But if they can fix that and develop chemistry within a new offense, the Rockets could become a much tougher team to defend than past seasons. "If we can keep the turnovers down, we can get even more shots and opportunities at the basket," Rockets point guard Rafer Alston said. "We can be a really tough team to defend if we get those turnovers down." Besides adapting to a new offense, the Rockets are still getting familiar with each other. Houston essentially has three key reserve players -- Bonzi Wells, Mike James and Luis Scola -- who weren't in the rotation last season. The Rockets hope the adjustment period with those new additions will be expediated since the team isn't trying to mesh a bunch of young talent into the system. "Besides Scola, our new guys are a bunch of veterans," Alston said. "They'll be smart enough to understand where they fit into things. They can still be aggressive, but they also have to understand that we have two superstars that are going to carry the team. Right now, we just got to get our chemistry down. That's something that you work on as the season goes along." McGrady and Yao are expected to benefit the most from the new offense. Over the past three seasons, the Rockets have generated nearly all of their offense through the two stars. Yao handled things in the post, while McGrady was asked to take his man -- or two -- off the dribble. But in Adelman's system, the duo will be able to get more looks through the offense itself. McGrady is catching more passes off screens and Yao is becoming more of a playmaker from the high post. McGrady, at least, seems to be already benefitting from it. By finding a variety of shots in the new offense, McGrady opened the season with two consecutive 30-point games for the first time in his career. The seven-time All-Star said he sees endless possibilities for how he can score in Adelman's offense. "There are a lot of opportunites for me on the offensive end," McGrady said. "I can play off the ball and I can come off screens. I can hide behind Yao sometimes. There are so many ways I can score in this offense. It's great." The Rockets would still like to resemble the team that was one of the best defensive units in the league last season. Since Houston's own pace should increase the number of possesions in a game, the numbers might not show it. But with solid defenders like Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes, they don't expect much of a drop off and will still make plenty of stops. The Rockets are so far allowing 94.5 points per game. Adelman has told his players to apply the same defensive principles that the team had under Van Gundy. By taking that approach, the Rockets are hoping to become a team that is sharp on both ends of the court. "We are going to be more of an offensive team than we've been in the past," Rockets guard Luther Head said. "But we're still going to be a pretty good defensive team. We aren't forgetting about that end." The Rockets just don't expect their defense to necessarily be their lone calling card like it was over the past four seasons. They're hoping to be more well-rounded. "I want them to keep the same identity that they had last year as a defensive team," Adelman said. "But I want to push it more and have more possessions and that sometimes causes some defensive breakdowns. But we want to be difficult to guard. We want to give the ball to Tracy and Yao in situations where you just can't lock in on them. That's going to take some time."
It's a good change, and I think with the better offensive talent amongst our role players, it's a change for the better. JVG did about as good a job as could be expected with the players he had last year, in my opinion. But I have full confidence that Adelman is the right guy to take advantage of the new roster.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems that the Rockets went off to slow starts both of the first 2 games when they tried to run the new offense. Then Adelman decided "Screw it, I'm getting into Gundy mode and taking charge." That and putting in Mike James to be the designated gunner helped jump starting the team-- but the effectiveness generally continued for the rest of the game with different personnel packages. In any case, the Rockets seemed to have more success in the set plays so far.
true. suns and warriors we are not. the difference isn't in the initial style of play. our first option is to run a set play for yao in the post or tmac off a curl. however, if there is a chance to gain a couple easy points along the way then adelman wants them to go for it. that's the difference.
I agree but Yao being out high so much has clearly opened things up in the paint for Tracy. That's because of Adelman. MJ's marksmanship is clearly another big difference. The offense will probably look a lot different later in the season than it does now, with more scores coming from cutting and motion vs set plays and isolations.
Good points, but it's only the 2nd regular season game, I'm pretty sure that the motion offense takes a lot longer than that to implement. A coach's main job is to win games, and RA realized that he'd have to go with what the team is more familiar with. I still see some JVG in the offense, but I also see RA's influence starting the take root. T-Mac is now coming off picks more and looking to score. Yao is not nailed to the low post. Transition buckets. More lay-ups. All those things tell me that RA is trying to make the transition for his players as smooth as possible. He's doing it while giving the team a chance to win every night, and I think he's doing a great job.
That's why I wrote it. He put the ball in Tracy's hands and said "just make plays". That was all thank you very much
and thats the problem.. tmac wouldn't have gotten 47 points if he was the primary playmaker in the game against utah.. let other people make plays and have tmac finish thats the diffference..
Exactly. This is troubling. Double-digit deficits against 2 good teams. James wasn't the "spark", he was the explosion that dug us out of those holes. Tonight the starting offense should better since it's Portland, but it will be interesting to see if the hole digging continues on Monday and Tues. against the Spurs and Mavs & Spurs. If it does, then Adelman would be foolish to continue starting Rafer. Start MJ and have SF/Head/Alston/Brooks be your "spark".
"There are a lot of opportunites for me on the offensive end," McGrady said. "I can play off the ball and I can come off screens. I can hide behind Yao sometimes. There are so many ways I can score in this offense. It's great." That says a lot... He feels free, and Yao on the high post opens up lanes that weren't there last year... You could see that in the game vs. the Jazz... Adelman's style is different you can tell already... He lets the teams play through bad stretches, even when they fall behind, Adelman doesn't have an itchy time-out button like GUndy did... Adelman let's them figure it out... The defense is still there, and it triggered the comeback vs. the Jazz in the 2nd quarter... Scola had two key steals that sent the ball the other way... This team is finding ways to win, even if they aren't playing their best, and they don't have the new offensive scheme down pat... I like the improvisation involved...
Las night, during the Boston game on espn, VGD happily said that Rockets won two tough road games and Tmac got 47 pts.
i don't think caoch RA's offensive scheme was causing the slow starts.. the starters were simply not making their shots and not penetrating/cutting
Tmac is getting some open looks and some more space in the line to penetrate but to me it is more about his conditioning and confidence. He came into last season fat, slow and scared to attack the rim even when the opportunity was there. This season he is in fantastic shape, he is aggressive and that jumper is falling. Remember last season, he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn for the first 15 games and his jumper looked almost as bad as Chuck Hayes' (little exaggeration but you get the point). Before the back injury shut his season down in 05-06 he started the season like a demon. He looked like he was going to single handedly destroy every opposing team. I think maybe we have forgotten how good he is when he is not concerned about the back and in great shape. 3-4 years ago a fair amount of people (including me) thought he was better than Kobe. Let's hope that Tmac is back for good.
That's exactly the problem. With Alston, you remove any offensive threat. Our opponents know his job is to push the ball to Yao/Tracy, so they expect it and turnovers ensue. Or if Yao or Tracy aren't hitting their shot, don't look to Rafer for any help..he isn't able to create any offense on his own. It just seems like we handicap ourselves putting Alston out there as a starter. I'd rather put the opposing teams on their heals at the beginning of the games instead of giving them a leg-up.
exactly. tmac was playing off the ball for most of the game. infact, in the new offense he has been off the bal most of the time. I think thats the main reason for his scoring thus far.
