Wow. Just wow. Bring in a top drawer defensive coach, Morey. That might be more important than a deal for a player.
Most relevant post in this thread. Not saying the Rockets defense is good, it's probably around below average. Their offense surprisingly is worse. The offense is 20th in the NBA right now which isn't at all to be expected for an MDA coached team.
The Rockets' defense sucks, but it's not far off the rest of the league. And this considering most of their games have been played with a new lineup and a star missing and a coach gone. We're playing average-to-mediocre at times, but the season's not over ... yet. I was also shocked people weren't more pissed about the offense. WHY R WE NOT SKORIN 200 POINTS?! TWO SEKUNDS OR LESS!!!
Just wondering why other good defensive teams from last year like Boston, Toronto, and GS still top 10? Dantoni tonight: "We could not stay in front of anyone tonight ON THE PERIMETER " I'm sure you heard PJ and Chris after the game tonight as well who basically said we dont have the same players(PJ), and we have to stop hoping people miss and make them miss(CP), implying that we are not aggressively contesting shots inside or out. CP3: "its hard to get easy buckets in transition when you are constantly taking the ball out of the net". That was his response to a question about why the offense is sputtering. Is this all because of the new rules, or Roy Rogers, or do the actual players and coach know what is going on? Why are we ignoring the obvious? I guess we will blame the new rules after every lost, while a team like Boston is still holding teams under 100. If we are comparing ourselves against the " league average" i get it if we are not competing for a playoff spot. But the elite defensive teams who are competing for a ring are still top 10. Do our players have any accountability? What gives?
I mentioned this the other day, but will repeat for those who missed it. Scoring is up 6.3 points per game from last season, which (if it holds) would be the largest single year increase since before the merger. Nothing even really comes close except 2000 (+5.9 points), and that's really only because it followed the strike shortened 1999 season where league scoring was at its lowest since 1954. Anything over a +/-3 change from one season to the next is historically rare, so +6.3 is just nutty. Perhaps even more telling (since it takes pace into account), is that the league's Offensive Rating is currently the highest it's ever been, and significantly so. The gap between this season (110.5) and the 2nd highest season (108.8) is larger than the gap between the 2nd highest and the 19th highest (107.2).
I think the league just got better over night with the Freedom of Movement rule. Mediocre teams are scoring 125 - 130 points more and more. The Rox are stuck at 110-115 ppg.
currently 25th in defensive efficiency and have Portland and their 2nd ranked offense coming up Blazers have scored over 120 in all 4 of their games
We really do miss Ariza I knew he was going to be a big loss. It’s not even that he’s some great player on either side it’s just that he understands harden and cp3 and was always in the right place with his communication with others. He was stable and played a lot of minutes. I liked Luc also wish he was still here but he also missed so much time last year including the playoffs that I think ennis was a decent replacement. If we still had Ariza this team would be fine defensively. Also harden is underrated on defense, he’s able to switch onto centers and Power forwards and more than hold his own. Everyone pokes fun at him on that end but he’s actually an asset on that end.
I don't know why people are so surprised. It was terrible having to let them go, with regards to Ariza what can you do though? He got paid stupid money. The only criticism I have is the rockets still don't understand the importance of role players, it goes all the way back to when we were ready to trade half our team for melo. Now Jimmy B (love the guy) is supposed to be an easy fix?
