Thank you.. I'm nowhere near ready to give up on Lawson like some others are doing on this forum. They have chemistry issues so let them deal with it. But that guy is capable of so much that our team can use. He just needs to know his role. Looking at numbers, his turnovers have been much lower than Harden's and that is definitely a good thing. I really hope this thing boils over fast because all our flaws are being concentrated right now - the inconsistency and bipolar play of our superstar is at the forefront because of this. If we look at our losses last year during the playoffs we definitely see a similar pattern. I think the team thought that bringing in Lawson would get us that far or further into the playoffs. Well... think again The idea that Lawson can take the offensive load off Harden so that he can concentrate on his defense is legit. I understand Harden saying that he tries really hard on the offensive end and when shots aren't going in and teams make runs, it can be draining. But this is where we develop resolve and mental toughness. Like so many on this forum say, Harden needs to develop his defense. There is no other way around this - McHale will need to play both Lawson and Harden at critical stretches during the year. You cannot stagger their minutes where they are not on the court together at all. And yes, I said McHale because I don't think bringing in a different coach will cure the problem. Thibs would be great for defense but we need offense too especially in today's explosive NBA. We can guard the paint but if Curry launches repeatedly from the parking lot, we need to counter his 3 point barrage with 3s of our own. If we get it together, we will be close to unstoppable. If not, we will miss the playoffs by a mile. LET'S GO ROCKETS!!
Let's give it a little more than 10 games to start throwing out Harden trade proposals, don't ya think? It's been terrible watching him this season so far, but he deserves a little benefit of the doubt after these 3 years with us, I think.
I completely agree with bballholic too. Sorry basketballholic, I just read your post after putting mine up (I swear!).
Need spacing the only time our offense looked good was when thronton was in the starting lineup with dwight as the only true big. It allows harden and ty to get into the paint and make plays for themselves as well as others. Harden was avg 38 ppg and shooting 46% ty was getting double digit scoring and assist games. Thornton was getting 15+ ppg and lighting it up from 3. Best of all we won 4 games in a row and 2 against very very good contending teams. This team can still be very good and dare I say a contender but we absolutely have to play small and have spacing till Dmo gets back and can sit at 3 point line on offense but play big on defense. Until then you have to adapt to your injuries and right now the rockets stopped doing that after the Brooklyn loss which ironically was thorntons last start while also being the last game we were in and didnt lose by double digits. Simple as inserting Thornton back in the starting lineup im sure we wouod see a big uptick in our offense resulting in some freaking wins and better product on the court. We're going to suffer on defense till dmo gets back but the offense would be great and as of now with jones in the starting lineup were very bad at both.
Mostly agreed . I think a lot of the problem stems from harden having to adjust . Maybe it's because I've been at the games and not watching on tv where I can usually get a better analytical view , but harden is not being officiated the same way . Unfortunately his shot isn't falling either . He has been attacking a lot but not getting great calls. I understand him continuing to try what worked so well last season , but if the officiating keeps up he will have to adjust .
Bing. Bang. Boom. Dead on. It makes no sense for us to play double bigs together. Because the second big (Terrence/Harrell) simply isn't a good enough defender/rebounder/floor spacer to have him in there. Gotta get the smalls in there, have Harden work defensively against a bigger, slower player and get our spacing going on offense. The only double big line that could POSSIBLY work with these active players is the Howard/Capela double big lineup and McHale does not think far enough out of the box to even have a machination of such.
You made a great point about keeping Harden fresh. That's another key reason why he simply has to move off the ball more this season. Gotta have him fresh at the end of the season and post-season.
We've actually had limited success with the double big lineups . It can definitely work if we rebound at a high enough rate . The underlying issue that our offense sucks regardless . Thorton is nice , but streaky . Our PG play is atrocious and we turn the ball over or shoot an early three leading to a long rebound and us having to defend transition. I'd almost prefer to turn it into a slugfest , say we are gonna pound you in the paint , you are gonna have to box out and therefore stop some transition offense that's been killing us . Run some pick and rolls , who cares if they know the big is rolling , harden/ty can stop and pop . Harell, Capela , jones , and Dwight are all adequate roll guys . Even though the threes are efficient most of the time , when you don't make them they ignite the other teams offense . We get into holes where we lose focus , and dig ourselves deeper by playing small and jacking up 3's and no one hits. Harden isn't getting calls going to the rim this year . Lawson doesn't ****ing attempt lay ups this year . The other team knows we are going to shoot threes , hey aren't sucking in as much and making those shots harder . We played big in the first half and went on a few nice runs . The issue is that Capela and montrezl and jones are ****ty/ inexperienced team defenders so they aren't always good . We need them to pick up the rebounds overall
Simple: hold all players accountable, especially Harden when he's not playing well on offense or defense.
Limited success means nothing. We cannot win consistently enough with our double-big lineups involving either Terrence or Harrell as the second big. We're already resorting to playing a zone with it. That is a gimmick and won't last. We'll eventually get destroyed doing that. This is the NBA. Too many good shooters to try to cover our defensive weaknesses by zoning up. Only way you can use zone is to mix it up with our primary defense to throw off the opponent for a possession or two, kinda like the NFL does with defenses disguising or attempting to disguise their coverages and blitz packages. Rebounding???? We need them to pick up their rebounding. No dur. But it isn't going to happen. They simply cannot rebound well enough against the vast majority of the NBA's bigs. They're just not good enough. You can't expect them to magically become significantly better rebounders during the season. What we need is for Harden to drop down to the 3/4 defensively and to actually play some D and box out on the boards and increase his rebounding count Harden IS capable of doing that.
It's definitely possible maybe even likely for young players like Capela and montrezl to improve through the season . Jones I know you don't think much of , and while I tend to agree ; however, when his motor is turned on he is a fine regular season rebounder. In terms of scheme , yes the zone will not work , and in those match ups sure play small . I'm not suggesting we play big the whole game , but we need to establish ourselves in the paint before we go three crazy. Sure harden is sometimes a capable post defender , in fact he normally looks good doing it especially when guarding guys of similar size . But he has not looked good doing it so far this season . I would go as far to say that our main problems this year have been turnovers and rebounding . Most of our rebounding issues have come from us playing small . Also with the small lineup you have guys running out on the break instead of going to secure the rebound because that's their natural role and instinct. Mchale should temporaryily let guys like jones and Harell shoot the midrange two . I'm not sure how well they will hit it , but I would guess that wide open they are at least passable . Also it means that they will be closer to the basket and can try to go for a rebound , also the probability of a long rebound leading to transition goes down . We've tried playing small and it hasn't helped harden or Lawson get to the rim more frequently . In this small sample so far they've officiated harden differently and Lawson is too much of a wimp to go up for lay ups . Playing big can work if our guys can rebound better and learn to play better help defense . Playing small can work if we start lighting it up and stop turning it over . Both ways will be used in the same game . When you have guys like Dwight and Capela and montrezl who bring a lot of spring and size , we ought to try slowing it down a bit and use that physicality to our advantage.
That's just not going to work longterm, I think. We won games and put up great offensive production starting Thornton at sg with ariza and harden sliding down one position. That's just the most effective lineup clearly on offense and maybe even defensively as you have active fast players who can rotate proper. We absolutely have to go back to that lineup till DMO gets back of we want to gain traction and really take off when our real floor spacing Pf comes back. It's not a coincidence that dmo has been practicing his 3s so much and morey saying when he does play he'll be an even better shooter. Spacing is that important for this team to maximize harden and ty Lawson on offense.
If Harden is going to play like he was with Beverly when he plays with Ty, then Mchale might as well replace Ty with Bev. Ty isn't a good three pointer shooter. And he needs people moving to create plays. Nobody moves in our offense. We just sit and wait for a pass from Harden. If we're gonna continue to play that way, might as well put in a better three point shooter.
Agreed , but we won those games not really because of thorton ( yes he shot well , he would have shot well off the bench too ) we won those games because harden shot lights out from distance and from mid - two range . Also Dwight played exceptional in those games . Dmo is gonna solve two problems with one bullet , he can space and he is big defensively . I also think they want him outside more to minimize stress on his back that banging in the post will create.
Dwight is a great rebounder. Capela is a very good rebounder. Terrence is a poor rebounder. Harrell is an even worse rebounder than Terrence but he is a rookie. Terrence's rebounding has regressed back lower than his rookie year levels and it never got very good even at his peak production early in the 2013/14 season.
Mostly agree , I think jones and Capela can both be adequate rebounders on any given night though , the motor and lack of mental awareness is what causes the inconsistencies . Another , perhaps hidden advantage of playing big is on the fastbreak . Having jones or montrezl run down the middle of the lane is better than setting up a 3 . The layup is much higher percentage , there is a chance for an and 1 , no long rebound from missed three leading to an opponent transition opportunity . As bad as we have played , I think the players that have hurt us the most are TY and Brewer . Brewer as a 4 cannot happen , ever . Lineups with thorton have been good , I don't think it has to do with playing small vs playing big , thorton is just a better player than montrezl and jones at this point . Our defense suffers due to lack of rebounding and being in transition , our offense is suffering because we can't shoot and because we turn the ball over . Playing big minimizes the lack of rebounding and will reduce our 3 attempts thus reducing some opponent fast break attempts . Yes our spacing will suffer , but at this point I think it is a risk you should take. I have high hopes for when Dmo comes back as I think he can potentially solve a lot of our issues . I think in the meantime you put bev back as the starter and tell the guys to play like last year . Off the bench put Lawson with montrezl , Capela , Brewer , and thorton . Go for steals try to play decent defense ( it's gonna be against 2nd units ) and out hustle the other team . Lawson in transition to Capela and montrezl theoretically should be awesome . Of course you will have times when Lawson and harden are in together . I alsmot think you have to have another big in there to cover up for them when they get have defensive issues on the perimeter. Offensively use he two bigs to set screens and move the ball around a lot , harden is unstoppable off the catch and with big bodies we should be able to create space . If the opponents just lay back and play zone then bust it over the top by launching and having Dwight/ Clint/ TJ and montrezl go in for the putback .
I don't think Jones is a poor rebounder. I would say he is an average rebounder. He has averaged about 9 rebounds per 36 minutes for his career. He's averaged a little less than that this year, but it's a very small sample size. Also, I've seen Dwight and Jones play well together in past years. I know you don't like Jones, but he's one of the few players for the Rockets that has at least been able to play close to his career averages. Harden, Ariza, and Lawson have been embarrassingly bad. Harrell has been somewhat disappointing on the boards. I thought he was supposed to be a stud in the paint. Still early though, and he looks pretty good for a rookie.
Your proving my point harden shot well because he had room to get into the paint make a few easy layups and get into a rhythm early. Thornton was out there making defenses pay for leaving him with his ability to take an open 3 and hit it at 40% when open. Thats the reason why harden shot lights out. It's also why ty Lawson was able to have his best stretch yet as a rocket... He had freaking space to operate and use his vision to get guys open. Dwight played well because he had one on one to grab rebounds down low off misses and roll to the basket for ally oops because it was 1 in 4 out. Harden and Lawson needs space and Thornton spaces the floor much better than jones Harrell and capela do. Not to mention jones and Harrell really arnt that much better rebounders than thronton and that's pretty sad.
Terrence's career TRB is 13.9% during the regular season and 12.3% in the post season, Newlin. He isn't average for a big man. He's way below average, the bottom third in TRB for bigs. This season he's down to 12.2. That's downright bad for a big. There are 50 big men who have played in the NBA who have a worse TRB than Terrence. And there are 123 big men who have played in the NBA this season who have a better TRB than Terrence. That's bottom third. If you want to look at the post season, the picture is even bleaker. There may not have been a worse rebounding big in last year's playoffs than Terrence. He's not even an average rebounder. He's a poor rebounder. We don't need to talk about career averages, etc. with Terrence. He simply is not good enough to help us win a championship and he's bad enough to make us lose an opportunity to win a championship by being on the floor playing in the rotation. We already know that from watching him through 2 post seasons. Poor shooter, poor defender, poor rebounder. Harrell had a career 14.7 TRB at Louisville and the Association is much better than the competition he faced at Louisville. Harrell is a ball-gawker. When the shot goes up he freezes and watches the trajectory of the ball, just frozen in place, looking for the thunderous putback slam instead of finding a man to body down and rebound soundly. He is not a good rebounder. But he's got some time to improve. Terrence and Harrell are not good enough to be in a double-big lineup and help us win. The only double-big lineup we can possibly come up with right now that may have a chance at being successful is a Twin Towers combo of Dwight and Capela. Other than that possibility, we should be playing small virtually all of the time.
Change the lineup rotations Starting - Dwight Harrell Ariza Harden Thornton Bench - Capella Jones Brewer Terry Lawson
