we've been obsessed with small ball. it is actually good for defense or against a perimeter offense like Golden state. but I think inside offense will never go away. rebounding is still key. there is a reason why shooting near the ring has a higher percentage than shooting outside. since we have bigs that shoot outside or if we get Mobley. i dont know if Mobley can shoot threes. We use a tall lineup like a Wood-Olynyk lineup. I know we have been losing but I think there are not maximizing their talents and they are not getting their touches on the post especially with mismatches. The most common double teams are in the post compared doubling an isolation player. maybe harden is an exception but even his three point step back is not a higher percentage shot than going to the rim. Wall and KPJ is missing more shots with their outside shots than if you give it to Wood or even Olynyk on the post. We do old school posting up with 2 or more bigs. better with 3 bigs. We switch everytime. Yes this is probably stupid but I will let our tall guys guard the guards and let them have the tendency to shoot threes than drive. It is similar to the philosophy of JVG. yes we can lose if they shoot 50% or more but that does not happen all the time. but we will operate on the low block more and get more fouls and tire them. kinda same philosophy of what the bucks did before or even now but we have shooters from 1 to 5 instead of a Giannis. We trade our opponent shooting threes compared with us operating on the post and getting more fouls with higher percentage shots. Bucks I think have the worst percentage guarding threes but they compress the paint and have the best defense at one time. I think that what we should do but we have better post players and all are shooters lets say you have wood, olynyk and a similar player like Towns together. yes they are slow but you will just let them guard faster players but let them shoot the outside more than drive. then in the offense, whoever is posting up with a mismatch after a pick and roll. all three bigs can shoot. if woods is posting up a small player, someone will double and anyone can shoot. a 1-4 offense. you overwhelm them with size and rebounding. this is not possible if one cant shoot. i don't like how wall and kpj shoot and hope they make a shot. even in their drives, they are all isolation and does not really command a double team sorry for the long post and i just want to let out the frustrations. i just don't think Silas is using Wood very well and looks like Wood is getting frustrated. Yes wood is not the most consistent. in fact, he has a hard time with some bigger players but with mismatches he can flourish. even Tate can post up
Well, yes. We should use the best strategy possible with the best players we have. Rebounds are an incredibly valuable part of controlling the possessions and pace of a game. A rebound can be worth 3-5 points if it leads to a second chance and prevents the other team from igniting the fast break. Small ball ignores the value of rebounding. However in today's NBA you need your bigs to be able to close out the 3 point line when needed, so tall ball can't neglect that either. You can no longer have two Yaos, Mutombos or Shaqs out there.
Skill ball is important, but it's also a bit of a surface answer. Can we honestly say our 6'3 - 6'5" guys are drastically more skilled than those of same height on other teams? Or more skilled at than other team's 6'7 - 6'8" guys. Harden did hunt mismatches and ate other team's super big for lunch; did that skew the org's perception in thinking that tall players suck? On defense, guys like Stephen Curry switch onto Olynyk and abuse KO but that still doesn't make Olynyk useless. Also did a shorter Avery Bradley contain Curry? If it's switch defense, we're currently ranked 24th in team defense. Rockets has talent, but I wouldn't say we have a 'skill ball' advantage over most teams. Average height of NBA players is 6'6". Currently, Rockets is average at 6'5" 7/64. We've actually improved on height.. This is because we have Wood, Willson, Olynyk respectively at 6'10, 6'10" and 6'11". Rocket's three tall dudes also get meaningful minutes. We're not the pocket rocket of last season, but still over-loaded with 6'3 - 6'5" guys. Nuggets - average 6'6" - but they have 7 footers if a line up calls for it. Nets also averages 6'6" - no 7 footers, but half the team is 6'7"-611" Lakers: - above average at 6'7" This is also putting things like wingspan aside. It varies from player to player; for simplicity's sake taller guys have longer wingspan in general. TLDR version: Rocket's is not as short as they used to be, slightly below average. Curve distribution: many 6'3-6'4-6'5" guys; no 6'7"-6'8" guys and no 7 footers. No 7 footers is fine my book, but for things like rebound, or putting hands up to bother someone's shot; being tall helps. Just because a player is 6'3-6'5" doesn't make them automatically skilled. If skills are relatively equal; why not get the taller dudes. Get actual wings, instead of slotting shorter guards at the wings spot.
The Rockets could use you in on their coaching staff, or scouting department. Basketball ops, anyway.
You need a team of like, 5 Anthony Davis-like players for 'tall ball' to have a chance. Guard play, today, is simply too good. Tall players will get burned 100% of the time.
I think Tall ball is more probable now and in the future than ever. Now a days the big men are taught essentially all the skills as a guard and Denver is probably the closest thing to going “tall ball” with an unlikely slow footed7 footer in Jokic as the PG. The wings MPJ and Gordon, Bol Bol is just flat out interesting in the few flashes of skill that he’s shown. The issue of shooting is less worrying these days, but finding bigs who can switch on the pick and roll is the most important factor. Guys like Gordon, Issac are really valuable with that. In the end, the positions don’t matter as much as if you have spacing for people to respect your shooters at the least then if you can switch on the PNR.
Small ball sucks, it has never won a ring. You need VERSATILITY, so you can match up big or small. DD
I really thought there was a 4th Ball brother that I was unaware of, and that this thread would be discussing if we should draft him.
