[The Athletic] Rockets Film Room: Russell Westbrook is Houston’s ‘5%,’ plus preseason clips

You want your centers at the rim to bother shots, anchor the defense and grab rebs. I know Capela has more mobility than your average lumbering center but you still want him near the rim and not defending people at the 3 pt line.

WB can be a better defender than Cp3 because he is 6'5 instead of 5'9 and hasnt lost his quickness yet.

 

The switch scheme is not fit for our current personel. It requires a lot of players with high defensive IQ who can forsee what the opponent is gonna do so they can switch immediately. Cp3, Ariza and Tucker when we had those 3 the switch was great cuz they can all switch perfectly. But now all we have is PJ Tucker the rest of our players will benefit more from having a "set" defensive game plan rather than being asked to anticipate and then shut down what the opponent is gonna do via switching.

Also GSW was really the only one switching was effective cuz they had like 4 great shooters, now the other teams only have 2-3 threats so switching wont be as effective asa traditional defense and then sticking Tucker on their best player pretty much all the time.

 

This is what I meant when I said I preferred Blossomgame over Clark @ApacheWarrior.

Rockets need more Blossomgame type players - lengthy, strong, quick, athletic, YOUNG, NASTY and PHYSICAL.

 

ClutchFans conspiracy

 

Luc was also important part of switch everything D.

With Luc, Ariza, PJ and CP3 - there was at least 2 defensive coaches on floor at all times.

Those 4 made EGo and Clint even more efficient on D.

 

I foresee a trade this year that finally shores up the front court.

 

Ehh, maybe. There were stretches during last season where our defense was effective. It's hard to say what's gonna happen with our defense this year, this is our biggest question mark.

 

I am disappoint. Why you no meme?

 

Did the Athletic coply what Tilman said or vice versa?

'We have 95% of winning ingredients, we feel Russell is our 5%.'

 

Really? I think offense is the biggest question mark because MDA's hallmark has always been offensive efficiency. Thats why he likes 7 secs or less because most of those shots go in, so the higher the pace the more points they score in a period of time. Thats why there wanst a huge struggle fitting Morey Ball into MDA system because Steve Nash didnt take a lot of mid range 3s in the first place.

OTH WB is pretty much the least efficient star in the NBA and he compounds that by having as much volume as Harden. Other coaches tried ti maskt his problem by slowing their team's pace and playing half court and making it a defensive match, I dunno how MDA can successfully integrate WB without marginalizing him. If WB became strictly a Rivers clone who just srove into the rim then fine but we all know WB isnt like that, he is Sir Chuck-a-lot.

So to me the bigger question is the offense. There arent any teams with 4 all stars anymore, so I think there should be less emphasis on D cuz as hard as they try they cant beat a defense with Kawhi, PG and Beverly. As long as MDA is coach anyway the focus will always be scoring more than the opponent than making them score less.

 

With Bennett having surgery there is room for both in my opinion; but the Rockets are sentimental and will
probably keep Ryno (against my wishes)......because that’s what they often do.

Difference is I think we project Clark differently. I project Clark gaining 8 to 10 pounds of muscle
and being Power Forward (obviously takes time.....rest of season). NBA is turning lighter and more
of a perimeter game and Clark projects right in there at Power Forward.

Blossomgame I project as more Small Forward, where the competition is Harden/Gordon followed by
House, Sefolosha (experienced defender), McLemore is 6’5” but listed as Small Forward as well. Outplaying
Blossomgame at the moment. So you now see why I think Clark makes the roster......less competition.
Rockets want players that are not shy of shooting 3-pointers. Clark will put up 8 a game. Clemons will put
up 10 easy a game. Blossomgame is too shy: 1 in the first game and zero in the 2nd game. Harden/Westbrook
are going to doing enough driving for 4 players........we need confident 3-point shooters to compliment them
(and Gordon as well). Part of the problem last season was CP3 driving less because he couldn’t get to the
rim as easily. Westbrook won’t have that problem with Rockets shooters.

Again, I hope Blosssomgame makes the team, because I don’t care to have Harden/Gordon/McLemore
playing SF.......but we are dealing with D’Antoni.

 

They will still switch.... just less often.

The Warriors exploited the Rockets total switch scheme in the playoffs, the Rockets were switching 40 feet from the basket and the DC made zero adjustments.

 

By every metric and the eye test Blossomgame is a better basketball player than Clark. Neither are "young" anymore but Blossomgame is only a year older than Clark so not sure Clark has anytime to get better. He is what he is and right now that's not as good as Blossomgame.