Assistant coach Chris Finch explains the evolution of the Rockets' read-and-react offense

Good read. Thanks

 

Fantastic interview with the elusive Chris Finch.

"that is the very nature of our offense: unpredictability and unselfishness."

 

Some key points stood out.

Finch said that last pre-season, they implemented a new philosophy. So they weren't using the same game philosophy they had with the Lowry/Dragic/Scola group, even before Harden came over.

He also said that the late game iso's weren't part of their offensive system, but because they abandoned the free flowing offensive system. This seems to reinforce when McHale called it sticky, because Harden chose to hold onto the ball instead of playing in the system. I guess the blame for the stagnant late game iso's might be more Harden's fault than McHale's, unless it was McHale's conscious decision to abandon the system in the late game.

I'm interested to see the more advanced stuff that Finch said they were never able to implement last year, but that he thinks he can introduce into the system this year now that the guys are more accustomed to it.

The part about Howard is a bit troubling. Especially if you piece it together with what Howard said about slowing it down in the other interview clip. And Finch's words here does seem to indicate some friction between the guards and Howard regarding how they want to play, which they can hopefully iron out in pre-season.

 

Didn't really seem like friction so much as lack of familiarity with the system; if the system can't get him the ball then I imagine friction might be the ultimate result, but having it actually work during the season should make a big difference.

 

great find. Now I'm really excited for the season to start!

 

This is on Harden. Most teams have this problem with the exceptions generally being San Antonio and OKC. San Antonio runs a non-iso offense better than anyone I can remember for 48 minutes. OKC's primary offense is iso so it really isn't a problem for them to run it at the end of games. Harden came from the OKC environment so it may take time for him to adjust.

 

As someone who likes to look at what teams do from an X's & O's standpoint, I definitely can confirm this.
With just about any other team it usually takes me no more than 5 games to have a good read on the team's offense and no more than 10-15 games to know all the different options of all the various sets/actions and all the early offense principles/actions.

With the Rockets, there's so much 'random' going on -- especially in early offense -- it took me a while to get a good read on some of the principles, because there really are no patterns to some of what the Rockets do.

 

Good points

I agree with you and Finch that Harden holds the ball way too long. We need everyone to be more unselfish and move the ball around

 

in some of his interviews, Morey has explained why teams go to iso. They are able to control the time better. And ensure the ball is in the hands of the #1 option in the dying secs. If he gives the ball up, no telling where the ball will end up when a shot has to be made.

I think the other players need to move without the ball throughout to keep the defense guessing. No Harden-watching.

I think in the endgame, they should run sets so everyone has a general idea what they should be doing and then read and react from there.

 

Finch said we're hard to scout because we're not running patterns. But last year, the players fell into a routine. Precisely we were easy to scout because we had so few patterns. Harden pnr, Lin pnr. Harden/Lin dribble-drive. Then isos at the end of the game.

Oh well, with a year under our belt, coaches will incorporate more "sets."

 

Good to hear. Can tell you know what you're talking about from those threads where you embed all the video analysis of plays.

 

Lol Hikanoo, the notorious Harden hater.

 

IMO this wasn't all on Harden. Other players got tentative in late game situations and deferred more to him, and he felt obligated as the star player to make a play.

It was a collective mindset, just human nature to go to what's comfortable in crisis, just give it to James.

You never saw other players upset at James or calling for the ball. That was all us fans.

 

I'll tell you the secret... flash screens. They are super effective... the problem is getting NBA players to play with complete abandon and screen for each other all of the time. Great stuff when it works.

 

After reading the part of the interview where Jason and coach finch discuss the ISO ball situation and watching the last play of today I feel that the rockets are on the right path on saying that they weren't before.

Reason being, the staff is aware of how the ISO ball game situations late during the games during last year where not always productive. Mchale and the coaching staff realize that and are working with the roster from day one to create more fluent offensive approach to late in the game situations. Seeing harden in the move, ball moves to him bringing defenders to him and kicking the ball out is a good start to a non ISO approach. The rockets have a lot of talent but come playoffs clippers/doc & spurs/pop maybe even warriors/Jackson can win a game just off there team being better prepared on how to defend the ISO or having different offense plays that they are well prepared to execute in these late game situations.

 

A player's mind is only as strong as his body allows. A big reason why read and react fails in late game is because players are usually not fresh enough to read by that time. When their minds couldn't read, they go into the routine of no react. The teaching is there but the body just won't move.

 

I predict more "McHale doesn't run any plays he r****ded why he a coach?" comments throughout this season too.

I agree. It's hard to run when you're tired. I hope the coaches can manage the minutes better in the regular season.

 

uhhh? Harden holding the ball was not the bad part. The others not cutting or setting themselves up through screens was the problem. Why didn't you have Lin using Asik's off screen to get open? But I blame that more on Mchale then the Rocket players. This year it should be better

 

well one player against 5 players is no better than having the ball in the hands of the lesser player if the lesser player has a better shot. just because harden is our best overall scoring option doesn't mean every situation should we run through him. I hope mchale and harden can grasp this.