Is the dleague really the best way to progress rookies?

I think one added bonus of the "no play first year" is the youngsters take significant steps forward just after their RFA period which allows the Rockets underpay most of their players.

The system really works well to be honest.

 

Those who think Rockets have something against playing rookies, take a look at Jeremy Lamb, who can play both SG and SF. He was our highest pick among rookies 2012 but now shifting between DL and NBA in OKC.

Player MP
T Jones 91
Lamb 64
D Mo 51

Lamb is shoot .429 from 3's during garbage time. Why doesn't he have more PT? Lamb just isn't NBA ready and defends like a DL'er.

What's more sad than watching Lamb and DMo play defense? Watching Royce on defense!

I hate Morey who keeps drafting first round softees. PPat, Morris, Brooks, Lamb, Jones, Royce, DMo....

The best first round defender Rockets have officially drafted in recent years was Batum. Wait...Morey didn't even draft him!

 

The D-League is a better way to develop rookies and young players than sitting them on an NBA bench and never playing them. Especially since NBA teams very rarely have practices.

However, with that being said, the D-League is defintely NOT an ideal way to develop young players. It's much better to have them getting playing time in NBA games.

Simply because the level of the D-League is so incredibly low. It's lower than the Belgian League. It's lower than the Chinese League. It's even lower than the second divisions in places like Italy and Greece. Not the actual top pro leagues there, but their lower level leagues, are far better than the D-League.

There are 15 or so leagues (maybe more) in Europe that are better than the D-League and plenty other leagues around the world also.

So the D-League is better than just benching guys and never playing them, but it's extremely poor for improving players. The level is pathetically and shockingly low and horrific.

Basically, it just keeps guys sharp and in game shape. It does nothing beyond that. Probably 50% of the players in the D-League could not even pass a tryout for the average club in mid tier European leagues.

 

Most players who are sent to the D-L are given specific check list of things they need to work on, unless an established player is sent to the D-League after an injury to get the cob-webs off.

 

They're not "versatility" players, they are "hybrids" and apparently other teams are looking at hybrid 4's as the future.

 

I dont think its as effective as playing limited nba minutes.
Rookies will find out their weakness faster and try to improve it. Meanwhile, on the d-league, nothing buts scrubs and you'll just ask yourself why am I not playing in the NBA. Thus pissing you off and blaming it on the coach ala D-mo.

 

Rockets have one of the best records in developing talent.

There's a reason D-mo asked to go back to the d league. And where you play won't fix how much bulk you have. That's something he has to work on in the off-season.

 

If you're learning the same system and conditioning yourself to be in certain spots wouldn't that translate well when you move up to the NBA? It would just be one less thing to worry about. The player can still work on aspects of their game even if the level of competition isn't as high.

 

I've been following D-Mo on twitter and he just says he's living his dream and working harder and hopes he can get some NBA minutes. Where did you get that he's pissed off and blaming the coach? Are you confusing him with Royce White? Maybe you have some sort of inside scoop?

 

The ideal place for a rookie to develop their skills is in live NBA games, however it is not the best option for every team.

Depending on the players on the team, who already is on the rotation, and how many minutes are available all impact the value of the D-League.

When you have very rough players, the D-League provides multiple benefits. Aside from the benefit of adjusting bodies to extended minutes, and the opportunity to learn and execute team play sets in a live environment (slower than the NBA but faster and more frequent than walk throughs), it gives them an environment to learn, integrate and test new skills while also keeping their current skills in use.

Most rookies are terrible defenders. That's a fact. And the only way to learn defensive fundamentals is repetition. Rookies are NOT going to get that sitting on the end of the bench.

The same applies to shoring up weak parts of their offensive game like passing, recognizing opposing play sets, and shooting from various parts of the floor.

Is 30 minutes in a NBA game the same as 30 minutes in a D-League game? Of course not.

However, 30 minutes in a D-League game under close coach supervision is FAR superior to 6 minutes at the end of the bench especially during stretches where there is Not a lot of practice time (like the Road trip we just did in January). And is definitely better in terms of maintaining physical conditioning and player rhythm.

In the specific case of the Rockets (which are a borderline play off team), the minutes differential between the bench and the starters is even more extreme. For many games we're running the equivalent of a 8-9 man rotation -- ie, a play off game rotation. We're doing this because the skill differential between the Starters and the Bench/D-league is not small, it is actually dramatic. And as long as reaching the play offs is a stated goal, it will probably stay that way.

It's easy to give rookies tons of minutes when you are completely out of the play off race. It's easy to give rookies tons of minutes when you have loads of talent and can rest your starters without a huge drop off in skill sets or can build up huge leads by the time you're late in the game.

Finally, the idea of our Rookies going down and always dominating is pretty far from the truth. The ones that actually do dominate don't stay there for very long. However, a lot of them Don't dominate initially. Some of them never end up dominating.

Just ask Scott Machado how his D-League stint went.

While it would be nice if we could give every rookie more NBA minutes, the fact is every team's situation is different.

If the Rockets feel the team is best served by a specific player spending time in the D-League, I have no problem with it.

 

D-league definitely good to weed out player that should not be on NBA roster.

You know Mr. Machado

 

We dont try to draft role players - we draft players with potential that slipped because of any risk involved. Of course most of them end up being role players or even get out of the league, but Morey is always trying to hit a home run and is willing to strike out on a project every now and then.

DMo and White are the best examples - but also Morris (elite scorer in college, but questionable where and how he could fit in the NBA) falls in that category.

Oh, and don't forget about Parsons - when we have a player that is ready to contribute, we play him. But most of the players we draft need time and practice. DMo can't help us right now (based on his limited minutes his body is not ready and he is overwhelmed by the big stage) - Jones is close to being ready to contribute (played well at times, horrible at other times) - and White is, well White. So instead of rotting on the bench, Dleague gives them real games to perfect their game...

 

I don't think the Rockets have any hard rules or guidelines about how or where to play rookie players. Every year you have a new set of variables that can dictate how to develop a rookie player.

This year it makes all the sense in the world to play Morris and PPat, and let D-Mo and TJones practice with the Rockets and get some minutes in the D-League. The Rockets are not a Championship contender this year. This year is about building for the future. Morris and Patterson are key pieces to building the Rockets into a contender. This is the year for the Rockets to determine if Morris and Patterson are capable of being future starters, or future bench players. It's also time to build up trade value in both Morris and Patterson. If we remove Morris or Patterson from the Rotation and insert a rookie in their place, then all we do is diminish trade value for Morris and PPat.

The Rockets are doing what they need to do to build for the future, not so much about what happens this year. Fans are looking at what is happening on the court right now. But, the Rockets organization is doing what is needed to make us a true contender after this season and beyond.

I love the way the Rockets are using the Vipers to develop their rookie players this year. It should be noted that the Rockets are one of only eleven NBA teams that has complete control over their D-League team. When the Rockets send a player to RGV, the Rockets can dictate to the Vipers exactly how that player is utilized and developed.

The Rockets are probably going to make a lot of moves before we have what will eventually become the team we make our championship run with. Let's not get too concerned about how many minutes a rookie is getting, and give Morey and McHale the time to finish building this team.

 

The way that D-Mo keeps getting ping ponged has really soured me on it's value other than as a glorified IR list.

 

Making the Vipers competetive is ecnomically more important to the francise. We still have two more years to expect contributions from them to the Major League team.
The Vipers are in a big market the population in South Texas has boomed, their is money to be made their for Les.

 

How do you come up with this? Players don't practice with teams before they are drafted. They work out for team, and go to pre draft events, but that's not the same thing.

 

They are sent to the NBADL because they get playing time, and coaching in the system the Rockets play. Midseason practice almost doesn't exist.

It is also pretty good because when they haven't played in the NBA before the trade deadline they still have almost the same value they had the day they were drafted. Imagine if Austin Rivers wasn't in the rotation, people would still think he was good, lol!

 

Well I am takling about our first round picks.

Every one of those guys go down there and dominate for RGV. Machado wasn't even drafted for us or drafted at all really so it's understandable that he'd fail at the d-league.

They don't 'practice' but they do drills that teams would run in practice. They also have individual workouts.

Either way this whole theory that D-Mo and other players aren't doing well in practice is just a assumption. It doesn't really explain how Beverly got more PT than both of them coming into the team in pretty much a middle of a brutal road schedule and he probably had time for one or two more practices.

 

I don't believe it has anything do to with skill, but position. We have 5 players (if you consider Greg Smith playing some PF) who wants PT while there are only 2 PG's. Beverly is not competing for the same spot.

 

While Beverly isn't competing for the same spot obviously...but he for a while replaced a guy who was playing well at the back up spot. The PF spot was literally getting no production for a long stretch of games and not once did the coaching staff try anything different, not even try. It's just unusual.

Maybe D-mo and Jones are just that horrible I guess.