This team has too many players without clear roles

Agreed, especially because we’re young and are ready for more than just ball watching. My trust in Ime is at an all-time low. At least JVG had self-awareness, along with self-deprecation, and looked at his own failures. Ime’s whole schtick is getting old and I am starting to see why Celtics fans didn’t mind his departure. He has a skill, of that I have no doubt, but if this is our offense with the amount of talent we have on the team then we’re hopeless.

 

Run the Fuhrer's offense. Bari, Cam and Amen all excellent cutters.
I don't know how Ime's mind works. Back in the day, Bellichick would run some Kubiak plays to shove it in our faces. When we played the Kings last year, Ime ran the Kings offense.

 

The ball should be in Alperen’s hands as a passer, like Sabonis and Jokic.

Udoka is intent on pick and roll and old fashioned postups. Should be D-HOs and off-ball movement.

 

I think mediocre is too far of a statement on the necessity to shoot. I agree you have to be able to shoot to be a good team. But there are a number of teams that easily get into the playoffs without having great shooting.

Even the good offenses shoot less league average often enough, and those teams still have winning records in those game. Basically even if the Rockets cannot hit their shots, they should be able to manufacture enough offense to beat a Hornets team that is fighting for the play in tourney especially when they are up by 18 points. And having any kind of system in place would help create some offensive floor.

Right now this team doesn't have a plan or system to create that offensive floor, much less trying to get your best shooters open 3s like say Reed who was drafted highly mostly due to his shot. If anything, the Rockets seem to play a style that makes their guys shoot worse.

 

Coaching, coaching, coaching. It is not the level of talent, it is what you do with what you have. A great system can overcome even one or two great players.

 

I didn't say were were a mediocre team. I said we have a mediocre offense, which we do. Last year we were 20th in offense at 115.0 ORtg. 24th in EFG%.

When the league's good offenses are having poor shooting nights, the defense still guards them as if they can shoot, so their offense still "works". The threat of the 3 is the basis for everything.

The ability to have the pace, space, rhythm, clean shots at the rim, decisiveness etc. that we see from the good offenses in the league isn't just because their coaches scheme it on the white board better than Ime.

Defending against a team with multiple shooters you can disrespect is a solved problem. Just play a deep drop / pack the paint / go under on-ball and off-ball screens.

Last night Charlotte disrespected FVV and JG's shot in our bread and butter PnR. Step #1 to beating that defense is making them stop disrespecting you. If you can't do Step #1... you're not gonna get to a >115 ORtg, even if you have John Wooden drawing it up.

 

Jabari needs to play the same role his Dad did on the Kings.

Rk Player Age Pos G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% 2P 2PA 2P% Effective Field Goal Percentage
This statistic adjusts for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth one more point than a 2-point field goal." data-filter="1" data-name="" style="border-width: 0px 0px 1px 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(116, 118, 120); border-image: initial; padding: 4px 3px; vertical-align: middle; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); text-wrap-mode: nowrap; background-clip: padding-box; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">eFG% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS Awards
1 Peja Stojaković 26 SF 81 81 40.3 8.2 17.1 .480 3.0 6.8 .433 5.2 10.3 .511 .566 4.9 5.2 .927 1.1 5.1 6.3 2.1 1.3 0.2 1.9 2.0 24.2 MVP-4,AS,NBA2
2 Brad Miller 27 PF 72 53 36.4 5.2 10.2 .510 0.2 0.5 .316 5.0 9.6 .521 .518 3.6 4.6 .778 2.7 7.7 10.3 4.3 0.9 1.2 2.0 3.4 14.1 AS
3 Mike Bibby 25 PG 82 82 36.3 6.4 14.3 .450 1.8 4.6 .392 4.6 9.7 .479 .514 3.7 4.5 .815 0.8 2.6 3.4 5.4 1.4 0.2 2.1 1.8 18.4
4 Chris Webber 30 PF 23 23 36.1 7.6 18.3 .413 0.0 0.2 .200 7.5 18.1 .416 .414 3.5 5.0 .711 2.1 6.6 8.7 4.6 1.3 0.9 2.6 3.3 18.7
5 Doug Christie 33 SG 82 82 33.9 3.9 8.4 .461 0.6 1.7 .345 3.3 6.7 .491 .496 1.8 2.1 .860 0.8 3.2 4.0 4.2 1.8 0.5 1.9 2.3 10.1
6 Vlade Divac 35 C 81 81 28.6 3.9 8.2 .470 0.0 0.2 .154 3.9 8.1 .476 .472 2.1 3.2 .654 1.7 4.0 5.7 5.3 0.7 1.0 2.1 2.7 9.9
7 Bobby Jackson 30 SG 50 0 23.7 5.3 11.8 .444 1.6 4.4 .370 3.6 7.5 .488 .513 1.6 2.2 .752 1.1 2.4 3.5 2.1 1.0 0.2 1.3 2.1 13.8 6MOY-4
8 Anthony Peeler 34 SG 75 0 18.5 2.1 4.6 .448 0.9 1.9 .482 1.2 2.8 .425 .546 0.7 0.8 .836 0.4 1.6 2.0 1.6 0.7 0.1 1.0 1.4 5.7
9 Tony Massenburg 36 PF 59 0 13.4 1.8 3.7 .475 0.0 0.0 .000 1.8 3.7 .477 .475 0.7 1.1 .683 1.0 2.2 3.2 0.5 0.2 0.3 0.8 2.4 4.3
10 Darius Songaila 25 PF 73 7 13.4 1.8 3.7 .487 0.0 0.0 1.8 3.7 .487 .487 1.0 1.2 .807 1.2 1.8 3.1 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.6 1.7 4.6
11 Gerald Wallace 21 SF 37 1 9.1 0.9 2.4 .360 0.0 0.1 .000 0.9 2.4 .368 .360 0.3 0.6 .458 0.9 1.1 2.0 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.2 1.0 2.0
12 Rodney Buford 26 SF 22 0 6.4 0.9 2.5 .339 0.0 0.1 .000 0.9 2.5 .352 .339 0.1 0.3 .500 0.3 0.4 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.2 0.4 1.9
13 Jabari Smith 26 C 31 0 5.4 0.8 2.3 .371 0.0 0.1 .000 0.8 2.2 .388 .371 0.4 0.6 .600 0.4 0.6 1.0 0.4 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.8 2.1

 

Yeah, we can talk about tinkering with lineups, but our horses are just not that good. We have a couple of guys who could be #3 or #4 on a great team. Then we have a bunch of guys who might be a good #6 or #7 on a great team.

That's just not going to get us anywhere. You just have to hope the two new big contracts can look tradeable once the cap increases (?)

 

The takes after one game in the season with a core of 22-year-olds is crazy

We'll see where people are at the end when the dust settles a bit

 

Yeah, our vets certainly took a s*** last night. Udoka does have a blind spot for Brooks. If Brooks continues to be Brooks, I hope it won't last; but that "vet presence" thing....well, if the vet's stinking up the place...

 

That's why you need a strong GM. One that goes
"Oops! I dropped him in a trade, were you planning to play him tonight? My bad."

 

I think this is mostly right - we have guys you don't have to recover hard on and even our very best shooters are iffy if they will make it when open - not the guys who maybe shoot lower percentages but see their numbers jump if left open.

Last year's league average on 3pt% was 36% and Fred and Aaron Holiday were the only two guys who got consistent minutes who exceeded that with 38%(we had 5 total players but the other 3 rarely played). Meanwhile Boston had 12 guys on the roster who hit above league average including all their starters but Jaylen Brown(who missed it by .04%). Charlotte had 10 players on the roster who shot over league average and Ball and Rozier were also within .06% of making that cut.

To put it another way - we are in the bottom 1/4 of the league in terms of 3pt shots made but we are also in the top 1/3 of the league in 3pt shots taken so I think your theory is correct in that we want to play in a modern way but we don't have the shooters for it and teams are more than happy to let Jalen and Fred come around screens without much help. Part of that is just the extreme youth on this roster - shooting consistency IS something that goes along with more veteran players. If we were going to change the paradigm a bit we could upgrade a Brooks or FVV into a vet with better shooting because both of them are shaky shooters as vets go but it would certainly cost us some of our youth to "upgrade" - which might not be a bad thing given we hav too many players we are trying to develop and not enough minutes....and I think you are right that when the shots are falling, then our team looks awesome because all of a sudden the passing lanes are there. When they aren't - it gets ugly fast but hey - that's also something we saw with some of those Harden teams too. Live by the 3, die by the 3.

Fred and Jalen walked into some pretty easy 3s and just bricked them - a handful of those open shots fall and it's a different result entirely. What I found more concerning last night was the defense couldn't stop guys like Mann and the offensive ball handlers on our team were mostly black holes taking contested shot after contested shot. They have a responsibility to get other involved and didn't. Jalen I somewhat expect that but Fred and Sengun have to be better. Udoka needs to sit FVV/Sengun/Jalen when they forget their teammates in the first/second quarter(regardless of the score) because when they get others going, it makes their games easier down the stretch.

FWIW, there were a few reasonably offensive plays that Udoka called - the one that got Cam alley oop layup is a notable one but the timing was off for most - the team needs to work on execution. It seemed like the plays were developing asynchronous to each others.

 

The best NBA teams can shoot the 3s. If the Rockets want to be one of the best teams, they will have to become a better 3 point shooting team.

This is not news. This was who the Rockets were as well last year.

 

We don't have shooters nor an offensive coach. The result is what we've got. It seems like we had a lot of these games with big leads last year that evaporated. You would think a team with good defensive could keep a lead.

If our shots fall, we win. See the first half. We looked loads better than Charlotte. In the second half, though, we keep shooting the 3's and they weren't going in. It feels like that was a frequent problem last year. (Also, Lamelo is awesome but that Charlotte team SUCKS. This is embarrassing.)

And others have said it: our personnel don't shoot well enough to win.

Unpopular opinion: Players who can't shoot will have to go. This has been talked about before. FVV and Jabari are the only players that can shoot 3's about average in our starting lineup. Brooks can't, Jalen can't, and Sengun is a center. To make this work, we need either four good shooters and Sengun or three great shooters, a fourth shooter, and Sengun. Brooks and Jalen have to go. And Amen can't be in the starting lineup, sorry, he can't shoot and that limits who he can be on the floor with if we want to win. FVV, Green, Amen, Jabari, Sengun can't shoot well enough, it won't work.

I really wish we had plays to get Reed 3 point looks.

 

I hate to say it but I’m getting there with Cam real quick. His game is pretty bad until he goes battering ram Cam for a couple plays. You just don’t know when those couple plays will be and in between outbursts he contributes precious little. S tier chucker, doesn’t really have a dribble drive game, plays 1 on 9, doesn’t defend, low effort, with the disinterested vibe too. And all I see is people want more, idk what yall are expecting.

Last year the shots just went in. Idk how but he makes them. He isn’t making them this year. What now?

 

If the ball is in Sengun's hands the offense is not flowing & slows down tremendously

 

Sengun would be deadly in an Adelman offense.

 

As opposed to what? Someone dribbling the air out the ball? Iso's and pick&rolls are just part of the mix not the whole sometime its better to pick your spots. If Sengun went one on one in the post he would win most battles and if he can't his passing ability is just as valuable at his position. He's like Paul Gasol but with way more skill and feel for the game.

 

There is motion style offense where off ball players using off ball screens and Sengun being the DHO hand off guy can generate easy looks for everyone on the team.

Also DHO plays can be very versatile. Sengun doesn't have to hand it off everytime. Depending on which way defenders are leaning he can fake the hand off and go to the rim himself with the ball and do his thing.

It takes coordination and teamwork to have that off ball chemistry of multiple players moving and setting screens off ball in a unified motion. A lot of times you see our guys just hovering and standing around bunched up with 3 people on one side figuring out who needs to change position to generate spacing.

I don't know what this team does for practicing offensive sets in practice. But this team has zero off ball chemistry. We got simple cuts from defenders not paying attention. We don't have set motion plays by design though besides like 3-6 possessions a game.

 

Yes and no. We've seen a lot for the last 165 games or so, but .... I basically agree with you. In my case, my expressed vinegar is less reacting to one game than it is to giving big contracts -- which we basically had to do -- that will ensure probable (not certain! we can hope!) mediocrity for years to come. Sigh.

I will follow the team and pray they prove me very wrong.