Small Ball Rockets at 118.6 points per 100 possessions

Right now they have the advantage that small-ball is part of a mixed strategy for us.

If we deal capela , "big ball" isn't an option.

think about points 3 and 4 .... right now teams playing us have to prepare attacks vs both a defense with good rebounding and a shot blocker .... and a smaller lineup that will double etc. If we commit to playing small the rest of the season, teams are gonna change how they play vs us.

This type of data analysis is just bad. They aren't controlling for anything .... and WB was hurt at the beginning of the year , making the already small sample even less trustworthy.

 

That article is from 2017 and October 31st at that. There was still plenty of basketball played after that and this year is a new year. He has regressed. I don't like regression.

 

Im sure it has nothing to due with the fact that harden can make ridiculous step back 3's at 40% .... nope , just math.

MIL being great has nothing to do with Giannis being an mvp level player with a good roster with size surrounding him , nope just math. You wanna know what brook lopez' 3 point percentage is this season ?

MIL is giving up more 3pa and 3's per game than we are , yet they have the number 1 DRTG ... because math ??

 

If you investigate you will see that Magic went back to their slow ball full court system soon after. Playing AG with 2 bigs is lose-lose, the new NBA is showing us that.

Systems matter.

Harden was a 6th man before being traded to Houston and playing in complete different philosophy and system.

Harden is now being compared to Wilt, MJ and Kobe.

 

Rockets are not only team to play smallball, just only team to use exclusively.

Other teams playing 5 put - Mavs, Bucks, Celts, Heat, Blazers, Raptors, 76ers (w/out Embiid) and if course the best NBA team ever, GSW.

 

If it happens, I will believe you like I believe in my Rockets, but something seems fishy to me. I see what you're saying though.. Vucevic and Isaac are on the court quite a bit and a guy that can get to the rim would suffer in that situation.

 

I understand that. Small ball is fine in intervals. Even the best ever GS Warriors didn’t just run that exclusively though. Why not? They would run unskilled big dirty players out there too. Sometimes you got to beat up the other team a little. Make the small shooter try to push the giant center out of the paint. Wear those smaller guys out. Use up some hard fouls. Set some dirty screens.

Then when it’s crunch time they went small and locked **** down. That’s what I saw them do anyway.

 

Do you want to pay nearly 20 million for a big dirty player at C?

The point is, you spend your money on your bread and butter, which is 100% our small ball death lineup. Has been for 3 years...

Getting Looney back at 5 million a year when you want to be more conventional , or when Westbrook goes to the bench, is dandy.

 

"Basically, Hartenstein more likely to play if the Hornets are not in a zone. Frazier more likely to play vs. Hornets zones. "Without Russell, it's a little bit easier to go bigger," D'Antoni said, "because of the spacing. Against a zone, we need some shooters. The game dictates."

Can't play Russ and a traditional C, straight from the OG's mouth.

 

I’m with you. I would absolutely trade Capela for Looney and a good defensive wing who can shoot the spot up 3. That would be perfect. We could go small in intervals.

I don’t want us to trade Capela if we don’t get a center/full size PF back though.

 

That's why Morey is looking to get a Looney type player back.

These type of players will be used sparingly however, vs. specific matchups. Harty will also play vs. certain matchups if not traded.

 

Agreed. For the 10-15 minutes Russ sits, it would be nice to have a solid lob threat for James no doubt.

 

Just imagine AG picking and rolling with Harden with EGo/McLemore, Tucker and RoCo (or Mikal Bridges) along the arc.

It would be just like a 6'8 Russ Westbrook driving and kicking or dunking.

AG also has gravity when he spots up in corners when Russ in lineup because he can attack closers by putting ball on court and attacking rim.

Rockets really should be targeting this type of player before RoCo IMO.

Collins, Clarke, AG, Trez. Get one of these guys first THEN send a FRP for RoCo or Mikal.

 

covington is average at best shooting the ball. its going to be a layup line out there for lebron, AD, jokic, kawhi, PG, luka and kristaps.
its amazing you guys have created this narrative in your heads westbrook and clint cant play together. there is nothing wrong with our offense.

 

In Morey we lust.

 

That is Westbrook's spot, imo.

 

Yup, just like there was a layup line when we had our death lineup of

Paul
Gordon
Harden
Ariza
Tucker
...

Legit some the best defense we have seen the Rockets play in years, and it was without Capela.

Career Robert Covington
.555 TS%.
.358 3PT%

Career Trevor Ariza
.534 TS%.
.351 3PT%

Robert Covington has a higher steal rate, block rate & rebound rate.

 

Nah Bro we are just "creating a narrative"...