A brilliant analysis Carl. Thank you. It is so good to see actual content on this forum, as opposed to just baseless opinions.
Our offensive rebounds per game have gone up too. I guess it makes sense seeing we are missing more shots, but I imagine that's helped our offense quite a bit at the same time when it comes to the bottom line. We went from 11.2 ORPG to 12.4. This after losing Asik and Howard missing as many games as he has. I'd add that our shot selection is probably helping us get back on defense and pressure the opposition more quickly too.
I wouldn't say that there's anything particularly mind-blowing to learn from this - missing Howard and Jones for major stretches is the obvious culprit to the decreases in free throw rate, interior efficiency, and interior volume. But it's still nice to see the data showing what we're seeing. To the person who asked if our decreased pace affects the percentage of interior shots - yes, but only to the tune of 1.9 fast break points a game, so the absence of our big men is likely the much higher driver for not getting to the rim.
The offense was always going to crater with three starters out. Unbelievably the defense has remained strong. Therefore we are 6-2 without 3 starters. Team commitment and coaching. Those could not be better. Once the Rockets start getting injured players back the league had better watch out.
I imagine north-south guys who can hit the three ball well aren't that easy to find, esp. for the price we can offer. Ramon Sessions, who was signed at the vet minimum, was definitely a north-south guy, but he is not known as a three point shooter. It would be nice to get Canaan back. Even he has not been attacking the basket as much or finishing as well as I'd hoped. Thanks for the analysis, Carl!
Ramon Sessions also stinks at defense. Maybe the need for a penetrator won't be as big if D-Mo continues to perform in the post. it doesn't really matter if it comes from a drive or a post up, as long as a double team is drawn & the open man is found.
Agreed this isn't necessarily surprising. Just thought they are useful to see especially in light of public comments by Morey and McHale on the "north south" guys. Probably an indicator as to what they may be looking at first for trades. It's also kind of interesting to me to see how much playing style may have resulted from personnel rather than philosophy. We lost guys who are good at driving/cutting/pushing the ball on breaks and signed strong spot up shooters, so now we are shooting 3s at a historic pace but getting to the rim less and playing at a slower pace. Some people said the Rockets are no longer playing a "run and gun" offense-- my guess is they would go back to playing fast if they have players who can do so successfully (and they are certainly still "gunning" from deep). Another set of stats I find interesting are the team's "defensive 4 factors"-- eFG% allowed, FTA rate allowed, OReb% allowed and TO% by opponent. Last year's Rockets were strong in holding opponents down to a low shooting % and didn't foul much but allowed too many OReb and didn't force TOs. This years version still holds opponent down to a low eFG% and still allows too many ORebs but they are forcing a ton of TOs while also fouling more. This makes sense in terms of playing a more "aggressive" style of defense that McHale said JB Bickerstaff is running. I wonder if Dwight's return will help improve the teams' weaknesses on ORebs and allowing FTs some more.
