R&R Offense or Why Set Plays are so Infrequent for the Rockets

I stopped here.

 

A high post passer would work wonders for our offense

 

It is not a "flexible" system. Stop making stuff up.

It is very specific in how it is to be ran. The thing that makes it "unscoutable" and "unpredictable" is that players can choose several different options during certain times in the offense depending where they are on the floor.

Sometimes, there is NO decision. There are things a player MUST do, EVERY TIME.

So to reiterate, the system has a very strict set of rules. The "freedom" comes from giving players different choices to make, and then other players making choices based on what choices another player has made.

That is why it is called "read and react"... you are reading your teammates and making decisions based on what they have done.

But there are very specific rules in the system. It isn't "flexible" in that regard.

 

jtr got exposed and wrecked in this thread.

 

This still does not explain the lack of effective set plays out of timeouts and inbounding sets, especially in late game situations. The other teams you mention, Bulls, Spurs, and Timberwolves, all have situational set plays that they run when they absolutely need a basket. In fact, Pop and Thibodeau are two of the best in today's game at coming out of timeouts with scoring plays.

I actually really do like the R&R offense, but it's to be used as a basic offense to be run for the majority of the time. Not the entire time. Iso-Harden and Howard postups should not be our go-to-plays in certain game situations. Although, I did like the way McHale went to the Harden/Lin PnR late in the Knicks game, which I believe we should go to more often down the stretch (with the way Howard shoots free throws, he's a liability to get fouled once he gets the ball in the PnR).

 

R&R is fine, but what if it is last second shot to tie or win the game? We need a set of fixed effective plays that players know exactly what to do in those situations. If we don't have those, we don't have much chance winning the playoff games.

Even just coming out of regular time outs, that is when you need to make a stop or make a basket, but many times we fail to do either. Players look more confused after the time out.

 

When I watched the video, I saw lots of things that the Rockets USED to do - mainly the "4 out" and "3 out" where everybody rolls along the 3pt line and someone cuts to the basket. That was pretty much the whole offense from Adelman days until this year with the addition of Howard.

Isn't that the reason they brought in Finch, to keep the R&R system in place for McHale?

The addition of Howard, and experimenting with TT, is a huge change to the system, so of course it looks different today. That's why the Rockets need a stretch 4 so badly.

 

It's flexible for the coach - with 30 different "layers" or configurations to fit the personnel.

There is a learning curve as players learn the system and their teammates. It allows for easy ISO play for star players for this purpose.

 

That is not what I was talking about... you are not taking into account the context of our conversation.

jtr was saying that the reason you do not see basket cuts is because "it's open to the coach's interpretation, and it's "flexible"".

But there are some things that are NOT flexible. The basket cut after a pass is one of those "non-negotiable" things.

There is flexibility in terms of the options you give to your players as to what they are allowed and not allowed to do within the system. But the coach does not have flexibility with the "bones" of the offense... the things that make the R&R the R&R.

 

Lin has a higher PPP than Harden for the season. By your logic, we should just give the ball to Lin over Harden.

Sure, scoring goes down after timeouts on average, but that doesn't explain why we often look confused and and run the same basic offense (or iso-Harden or Howard post-up) coming out of our timeouts. If the defense is given time to set up against what you're doing all game, why not put in wrinkles in the offense by coming out with an effective set play, which the opposition has not game planned for?

I'm confused as to why you're opposed to putting more effective set plays into the offense. Yes, we run the R&R offense, but similar to the motion offense, it's to be run as a basic offense for the majority of the time not the entire time. When we absolutely need buckets to stop a run or in late game situations, our best option thus far is iso-Harden. Yes, it will work some of the time since he's a great player, but why is it our go-to-play when most teams have situational set plays to score easy/easier buckets. (I'd also like to point out Harden's shooting 31.3% in clutch time [4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points] according to 82games).

 

No way OP. I've seen the Spurs play and they run set plays for game winning shots or 5 second on the clock situations. You can't run R&R when you have little time. You need to setup a situation where someone can catch the ball when hes open (by having other players screen their guard) and shoot. You don't wait for someone to just be open in a final play situation. You need to create it.

 

That's my mistake, I honestly thought you brought up those points to counter what I posted.

But I'll be honest when I say, I'm not sure I like the way you look at those stats and completely disregard Harden's FG%. Dwight averages 3.23 points per shot in clutch time. By that logic, we should go to Dwight.

http://www.82games.com/1314/13HOU15.HTM#clutch

Yes, I know the statistics are not exactly comparable due to Dwight's smaller sample size, but I brought this up to show that advanced statistics don't always overshadow basic statistics and our observations. The reason I brought up Harden's FG% in the first place was not to show that he should not be shooting in clutch situations (there's no question he should be shooting), but to show that iso-Harden is not the best/most efficient/easiest way to score when we need baskets. Increasing effective set plays in our offense (in addition to our current R&R offense) would give the players easier buckets, especially down the stretch and out of timeouts. That's all I was trying to say. (I believe it would also increase Harden's FG% in clutch time, which would increase his points per shot attempt -- say, if Harden came off double screens for an open 3 a la Ray Allen as opposed to dribble, dribble, step back 3).

 

Here is an example of a Spurs set play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbVIw7Olg1g

The Sixers game where our players looked lost at the game ending shot is what I complained about. If McHale ran a set play we would've had a better opportunity to win or tie into 3x OT.