This season is too early to tell. In past seasons, the problem to solve is playoffs. I don't have time to check the numbers, but the eye test tells me that the offense got bogged down in the playoffs once the opponents started to double Harden before he could get into his ISO position. We had no other recourse to counter that.
The whole point of this debate is exactly that: we are doing exactly the same thing and we are inefficient. It is too early to tell this season with a big roster turnover. We were doing the same thing over and over again in the last playoffs and was not very successful.
Worry about the inefficiency and underperformance in THIS regular season first. Last playoffs performance is a dream at this point.
Well, that's one way to look at it. And that's historically been our approach. Other teams, like the Spurs, have had a different philosophy on regular season games.
Are you seriously comparing Silas to Pop and Stone to Bufford right now? Not only have we gone off tangent by a LOT but dove straight into fantasy land.
I'm comparing an approach that is focused on the bigger picture of success over a season rather than immediate regular season wins to what the Spurs did. Does that mean SIlas is as good a coach as Popovich? Of course not.
You have no basis for this statement whatsoever that Silas and Popovich even share the same philosophy. Zero.
What basis do you have for thinking that Silas doesn't have longer term goals in mind and that he's exclusively focused on winning now, as you want him to be? https://rocketswire.usatoday.com/20...-rockets-to-add-center-play-different-styles/ In an appearance on ESPN’s First Take, Silas was asked about his commitment to Houston’s smaller lineups. Here’s how he replied: It’s really based on how Rafael [Stone] and I, and mostly Rafael, puts the roster together. The small ball was very much a product of the roster that they had. Obviously, I want to have multiple ways of playing. To have playoff success, you have to have multiple ways of playing on both ends of the floor. So, having a traditional center would be good for me, so I would be able to play small like they’ve done in the past and like I did 15 years ago when I worked for Don Nelson. And then play big, with a rolling center and someone playing in the dunker [slot], and the matchups would be a little bit better for our group. And then the defense and rebounding would be a little bit better, as well. My goal is to have multiple ways of playing on both ends of the floor, and Rafael is looking to put together a roster so that I can do so. ... You use the regular season to prepare for the playoffs, right? If you have multiple ways of playing, if you have the ability to play bigger or play smaller, now when you get to the playoffs, you have multiple tools in your toolbox to go to. There won’t be quite as many isolations as we’ve seen in the past. Those guys have had to work so hard to get to their greatness, and get to what makes them really successful. But in the playoffs, it stalls because there aren’t really third and fourth options to go to. From my point of view, optionality is going to be everything. Getting a little bit more ball movement, more player movement, and letting those guys play on the move a little bit more. So they won’t see quite as many double teams, and then as the playoffs come, we can go to that stuff to where it won’t be quite as predictable, especially in a 5- to 7-game series where you’re trying to deal with someone who is preparing and sees you game after game. You have to have something else to go to, and that’s what I’m planning to do.
You literally just said John Wall, the other primary playmaker on the team, found him "a bunch of times", but he was not engaged enough off ball to be ready to catch and shoot. I'm not saying we have to become the 2015 Warriors. I'm just saying playing 4 on 5 offensively half the time isn't ideal. I'm surprised that is a controversial point, but so be it.
No, he’s not used to catch and shoot opportunities. He is not used to them. That doesn’t mean he's no engaged,it just means its an adjustment. Westbrook never found him. No one usually gets the ball to him. Its not controversial, yea he could move more. But what I dispute that it is an outright refusal to move on his part or that he doesnt care about winning or that he is tanking games. That's that no fair. I also dispute that we were doing last year wasnt maximizing our roster. Dantoni knew what he was doing.
The problem is you are likening Silas/Stone philosophy to Pop/Bufford without an inkling of evidence to support that take. Not all plans or systems are created equal, so please dont name drop the Spurs so casually. As for Silas/Stone's long term plan, I leave you with a quote about plans: Everyone has a plan ... until you get punched in the face.
And as for optionality - Morey/MDA went through all those options that Silas speaks about and they whittled all those options down to their bare essences. If Silas was as smart as I think he is, he would stop trying to recreate the wheel when the Ferrari staring him in the face has got 4 high performance wheels and revving to go. Optionality can also be translated to "jack of all trades, master of none".
Wrong Wall literally said he'd do whatever Harden wanted he just wants him to stay. Please stop putting words in people's mouths and making **** up.
you play 'team ball' so everybody is in a position to hopefully contribute... that way when the other team decides to double team your superstar you dont have 4 guys standing there looking confused... those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it... smh...
You wrote "Need to win regular season games first before worrying about playoffs." -- I said there's other ways to look at it. Spurs are but one obvious example which I mentioned. The point is, Silas is purposely doing stuff with the offense with the playoffs in mind, and I even quoted him directly saying this. You're hung up on this notion that I am likening Silas's coaching style to Popovich's, whereas the point I was making is that focusing solely on what wins in the regular season is not the only way to coach a team and is clearly not the approach Silas is taking. You think that's a mistake, while I'm not at that point yet. Don't see any reason to argue about it any further, especially this early in the season. Pelton has an article up on ESPN about the unpredictability of results thus far in the NBA season due to the pandemic, and that's something I'm keeping in mind before scrutinizing too closely what the stats show thus far.
I guarantee that Silas is trying to win every game instead of whatever mystical voodoo you are trying to attach to him. Silas has repeatedly characterized himself as "win now" coach. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/te...as-ready-to-win-now-with-Rockets-15706054.php And Silas was visibly shaken and stirred when Rockets lost to his former team, Dallas Mavericks.
If we play heavy iso ball with our current roster we will still be lucky to get steamrolled in the second round.
