Chandler Parsons is the reason the offense was so much better last year...

Ariza has been a blackhole on offense this year - he is the flip flop of Parsons. It's too bad Ariza can't play D and hit a 3 to save his life.

But people forget how different this team was last year. Not only did you have Parsons, but you had Lin off the bench who was a very good back-up pg in breaking down defenses and getting others involved.

This team is struggling with those two elements - a pg who can break down a defense and facilitate and a forward who can consistently hit a 3.

Those were the two guys we lost.

 

Parsons offensive on/off rating last year?
112 with, 107 without.

Terrence Jones offensive on/off rating this year?
120 with, 103 without.

Why are there no threads about how Terrence Jones' injury is the reason why our offense is bad this year?

Honestly, if you want a narrative, you can always make a narrative and fit the facts/opinions to fit that. Is Parsons a better offensive player than Ariza? Sure. Is he the reason why our offense was better? Only partly.

 

This!! Combined with lack of defense in the playoffs it's not worth it. All fine and great if he's pulling in 18-20 a night but comes out a wash if that's what he's giving up on the defensive side of the ball.

 

I'll take Ariza over Parsons any day.
You just don't realize how Ariza defensive ability affects the whole game and make Harden looks like a good defender.
I like this nasty grit style rockets 100 times more than last year "don't mess up my hair" rockets.
This diference is represented by Ariza and Parsons attitudes.

 

If Ariza could just hit his career averages, we would not be having this discussion. The fact that Ariza has be atrocious shooting the ball(career lows) is what is causing this.

 

Exactly. Even at the trough as it seemed one day ago. the Rockets were matching the pace to 56 wins, better than the 54 of last season. Yet, people act like the sky is collapsing.

Look, this team is loaded and more equipped to a playoffs run than last year. Rather than missing Parsons trips to the paint, the Rockets should move the ball and move their own bodies without ball more often to make better plays. This was especially true when they face strong defensive teams with strong paint protectors. When the opponents clammed down the inside and post-ups were inefficient, the Rockets had frequently been reduced to perimeter one-on-ones without much ball movement. As a result, contested threes, turn-overs plagues the team.

It is true for both last year and this year. The coaching team need to find ways to play efficiently when more half court plays are to be seen in the playoffs.

 

Good point Baubo. Jones was improving as last season went on. If he can come back this season and regain close to what he was last season, the offense will be solid. He has the athleticism of a guard and still has big upside. And he'll get more rebounds than Parsons.

 

But this is really not a fair comparison.
You can't just look at one side of the coin because the whole game is played differently.
Parsons would run to the basket before we secured the ball. Rockets were a horibble defensive rebounding team that could only run and run faster.
Once the game slowed down they were clue less.
This year the whole mentality changed to a slower paced game.
Ariza is there to cover for Harden and Beverly when they lose their man, he cant just run for the offense like parsons did.
We knew he's not an all around player like Parsons, but looking at the whole picture, i'll take what Ariza brings, even as a one dimentional offensive player because he is superhuman hero on the D.
And by the way, once Mchale will put him in his position which is ONLY corner 3's his presentage will go up.

 

On offense, Jones was +3.1 last year. That's a pretty huge difference.

Plus, the Rockets have replaced Jones with the likes of Joey Dorsey and Tarik Black. You think that has nothing to do the Rockets dropoff in offense? But yeah, keep making it as if Parsons is the only reason why the Rockets offense are worse this year.

 

The playoffs

 

Oh I see a few people are starting to get it. The offense was very bad last year WITH Parsons in it until Asik was removed and a PF was placed in the lineup that was able to play off of Howard and Harden effectively. The offense took off as soon as the PF was replaced with a better fit. Also when Parsons missed time later in the year and Jordan Hamilton was making shots instead of having to rely on old man Garcia, the offense clicked just fine without Parsons. You have to have players around Harden and Howard that can either keep teams honest defensively for spacing purposes or make them pay for overcommitting. Ideally a good 3 point shooter would work, but somehow TJ's activity seemed to do the trick as well.

 

Who is to say that a drop-off isn't caused in most cases when the starting lineup is significantly changed?

For example, Josh Smith replacing Motiejunas.

I can see correlation but not causation with Parsons.

 

Hell yes, TJones matters, he is the most efficient PF we have on the roster.

DD

 

Agree that Parsons is a better offensive player than Ariza.

However, Cuban overpaid Parsons and we would all be upset if Morey matched that offer because it would have hurt the team.

When you're feeling high on Parsons, think back to last year when Lillard sent us packing.

Parsons dropped the ball defensively. Lillard literally clapped twice and it distracted Parsons from defending that shot. No way Lillard gets a great look like that with Ariza defending.

 

I hear you I just think when they get used to playing together the offense will be much better. I think the defense will also improve. I know I am partial but I am a Kentucky fan so I hated Parson in college and when he came to Houston he grew on me and then Dallas. I hate them five times worse than I do Florida ever since the video tape was sent in and the refs took Yao away in the playoffs.

 

Despite Ariza's horrific shooting, I'll still take Ariza at $8 million a year over Parsons at $15 million any day. His defense has been that good. Now if Parsons was making $10 million a year, that would be a different story.

 

Last year's team with Parsons sucked balls too. He is not the missing link...

 

LOLwut this isn't Rocket science, Parsons was a vital cog in the offense last year, he was an offense-oriented "glue guy" because he was versatile, he could drive, spot up and pass.

But none of this matters, being good on offense is useless if you are horrible on defense, and whenever the Rox faced a team with a high scoring SF last year they got owned. I'll take "Brickza" for the defense over all-offense-no-defense Parsons any day of the week.

Plus, with the Rox you confuse "great offense" with "shots are falling". The Rockets take a ton of 3's and/or drives to the rim. If the 3's are falling, the drives open up and the offense looks great. If the 3's aren't falling the opponent can clog the paint and the offense looks stagnant. Maybe you just saw a game where Parsons happened to be on fire so he looked better than he really was.