[ESPN] Rockets' fall this season no reason to bash Morey's analytics focus

100% !

This is exactly what I believe as well.

DD

 

Timing is everything and so is luck. We probably would be better off if we had kept one of them and we would have definitely been better if DMo never had a back injury and TJones never had a nerve injury.

Would you have been okay with keeping both of them over never developing DMo? There are only so many roster spots. Just curious.

 

If you put you're eggs in the Superstar basket, your going to get an omelet sometimes. But sometimes it will be rotten - that is all I am saying.

DD

 

Last year was a success for Morey analytics but I think this season he somewhat abandoned his original process in favor of using an approach not suited for his style of acquiring talent. Ty Lawson was a fine example of this and a big mistake that cost Morey and the Rockets.

 

When people talk about the Rockets' use of analytics it seems like they're invariably talking about our offensive strategy. It doesn't seem clear to me how Morey uses analytics for our defense or for player acquisition (i'm sure he does use them for those purposes but it's more subtle). But in terms of the offense - we actually improved this year - from 12th to 7th in offensive rating.

No matter how you cut it, our defense is what sank this ship this year. There are other problems but the glaring hole is how our "elite defenders" dropped off this year - due to a combination of wear and tear, heavy minutes, injury, poor coaching, a poor team culture, etc. When they dropped off we didn't have the strong team defensive scheme needed to recover from it.

We clearly need a defensive coach. A JVG-type (not necessarily him) can create a top 10 defense with only a few "great defenders". The Spurs led the league in Def EFF with Kawhi Leonard and the men's senior league. It's about knowing your rotations, doing your job - playing smart positional defense.

TL;DR - our offense is fine, analytics is fine. now use - analytics/ a ouiji board/ a fortune cookie/ common sense / clutchfans poll - to get us a good coach.

 

We are at least 5 years away from wining an NBA title, Milwaukee is closer than we are. Morey keeps thinking getting 3 superstars with nothing left to fill in around them is the way to go. Not, especially if your leader doesn't play D!

 

that's the common thread that binds all of DH's teams.
his Orlando teammates considered him a chicken bleep, w no heart. so did the lakers, in particular Kobe.

it'd appear that Morey didn't do his due diligence, putting full faith on analytics, which do not factor in a player's heart

 

Most people don't understand basketball . Sure as **** most people don't understand analytics . Just becuase Morey never played at a high level doesn't mean that he doesn't know **** about the game and doesn't value traditional input . The narrative that he solely uses " analytics " is laughable and wrong .

 

I agree with seeingred, it's a commentary of the bombs away mentality.

We all know, the idea is that merely average 3 pt shooters can be efficient scorers. That shooting 33% from 3 is just as good as 50% inside the arc where open shots are harder to come by.

The thing is, Brewer, smith, jones, dmo, Beasley, aren't merely average. Some are well below that measure and thus are not efficient scorers. To boot, the guys who do stand up to that measure are wildly inconsistent night to night. Ariza did not shoot 2/6 from 3 every night. It was way streaky, 1/6 3 games in a row followed by 1 game going off 5/6. Sure it was a big boost when it came but you definitely need more consistency from a guy you believe to be your 3rd best player game to game. Bev almost makes you think he stepped up the 3&D until you remember his 3 pt shot in no way made up for the terrible handles, no court vision and no floater/runner nor touch around the basket.

Truthfully, how much have you embraced the analysis when you continue to acquire and over play guys who flatly don't meet the mark?

 

No context! I can do the same:

0.545 - 0.582 - 0.585 - 0.500 (interim)

Boom. You just got analytic'd.

 

And this is why you can't use stats as an end all to any argument.

Rankings.

1. Adelman
2. JVG
3. Mchale (DISTANT 3)
4. JBB (DISTANT 4).

DD

 

And only one went to the western conference final.

 

Lol my post was more a joke than anything but the trend is the trend. Wins went up and we went deeper into the playoffs. I don't understand why stats are no good, yet you think you can use your own opinion as the end all here.

I don't disagree with your ranking of adelman but I'm not convinced on JVG at 2. No doubt JVG would be better today than he was in his past stint, but McHale did more for us in his time here (even though I'm not a McHale fan).

Again this is all context aside. Just results.

 

Aside from the obvious part about Thompson and Curry being excellent shooters, I think the Warriors benefit from much higher quality looks. They get shots off of (moving) screens, quick passes and beautiful ball movement. Same goes for the Spurs.

Meanwhile, Rockets players get junk looks because our coaches don't understand anything but Harden-drive-and-kick.

 

Technically two of them did - it's just one as an assistant.

 

I am not saying they are no good, but they can be used to attempt to prove a point, when most of the time it is apples to oranges in data input.

DD

 

Not saying that the coaching is blameless. But sometimes you have to believe that the coaches have to be smarter than what we give them credit for. If a couple thousand amateurs posting on a fan site see the problem, it's pretty hard to believe that a professional basketball guy who has been with the game of basketball the whole life doesn't see it.

Maybe, just maybe, it's not just the system but also the players. I mean, maybe the players' collective IQ is just too low to execute any system consistently.

 

bingo we have a winner, watch dwight go to the blazers and destroy their young chemistry

 

Do people seriously believe 33% from 3 is equal to 50% from 2 or whatever the formula is? More importantly, you really think Morey believes this to be true?? It is complete horse**** if you just look at those percentages and therefore shy away from the long and midrange two point shots.

 

Riiight, and snake oils' failure to cure your cancer is not reason enough to question their medical efficacy.