i'll just say that it's borderline a criminal offense that a team as athletic as this can barely average 1 alley-oop a game.
That’s because we have bad passers. As far as Ime goes, if he was a top 10 coach, he wouldn’t keep repeating he likes the shots we’re getting.
Ime Udoka doesn’t have much to work with offensively. He had terrible perimeter shooters and only one player that can really drive the lane - and he struggles with contact. He lacks a franchise player or elite offensive weapon that gets him 27-28 points a game. There are very few coaches that would win as much as Udoka does with this group of guys. When he has players that can hit open perimeter shots, his offense will look for better.
The trade off was to become better at offensive rebounding thru Hartenstein and having no defensive sieve ....by going with Caruso who is a little challenged at shooting himself But make no mistake Giddey was their best playmaker and they are missing his creativity already. (Triple Double Threat) They try to make Jay Dub a better playmaker and emphasize the High post passing of Hartenstein but it will take a lot more time.....and they bank on Chet to become even a better shotmaker...... Also Caruso is not a good shooter....... They bank on the Defense to be historic but that is really a slippery slope.......their spacing has improved a little but the shots have to go in...... Unless someone explodes offensively, their Big 3 cannot be injured because otherwise their Offense is still toast. This is why I was curious of how good of a scorer Topic could be.....and if the 2025 Draft day can net them a shooter.
They do not have the same shooters Golden State has.......they need to be better at generating Free Throws (could be a ref thing). They are generally in the Bottom 5 of getting to the line, their Small ball lineups foul a lot, they are in the Bonus a lot. Is the rebounding really fixed? There was a reason Dallas beat them and it wasn't Luka. The Offense was sluggish in the Playoffs.
Sentence number one of my OP clearly stated he's an elite defensive coach who is overachieving against an easy schedule. No one is denying or arguing that. This franchise has plenty of experience with elite defensive coaches who get more out of their roster than other coaches. We've never had a good experience with it. Always got bounced early. There's no difference between an defense-only and offense-only coach. The net result is the same. Any coach would do better with better shooters, that's not a real solution. We have the shooters we have and we have to design an offense that suits the type of players we have. There's no reason we should be playing like we're the Celtics or as though Jalen Green is Klay Thompson. We're the team that has to be aggressive in getting shots that suit us - exactly the same as our defensive identity. What we're asking is whether there are coaches who would run a different and maybe better offense with this exact balanced group in order to understand why our wings are struggling to score off drives in half court sets. To understand why on earth as an elite athletic team we're not an elite vertical or transition team gobbling up high efficiency points there to bring consistency to our offensive efficiency. The Brooklyn Nets have a better offensive rating than us against a more difficult schedule and without a better lead scorer. It is totally fair to appreciate our record at this point while asking questions about the offense. His offense with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown was atrocious till January - and with your mindset instead of questioning his offense you would have said Jaylen Brown is overrated because he's struggling with "good" shots. Turned out to be totally false very shortly after. This is the exact same cycle we went through last season. Everyone got defensive about criticizing Udoka's offense after our hot start. 1 month later the team is exhausted and can't score, then he just criticized it and changed it himself. His hands are not tied. He is just slow to adjust. As we always say with Green too, there's multiple seasons of proof of Udoka's offense being under-prepared for a large chunk of the start of the season. I know he was hurt by his offensive assistant taking his job but that's no reason to not have the next Joe Mazzula on your staff. He needs someone or he needs to be better at this. It's a lost opportunity on top of our success. This is a pattern of stubbornness. Here's a prediction: before the trade deadline, Ime Udoka will criticize his own offense, he will change it and with the same players will achieve a higher efficiency on 2PTers especially for his wings.
I voted him top 5 by accident, lol. I meant bottom five. It won’t let me change my vote so the whole poll is screwed.
The problem isn't the offensive system. The Rockets are getting good open looks - they are just not making them. Right now - Jalen Green is shooting 32% from 3 Fred Van Vleet is shooting 34% from 3 Jabari Smith is shooting 31% from 3 Alpren Sengun is shooting 30% from 3 Amen Thompson is shooting 25% from 3 That is the reason that the Rockets offense doesn't look better. It isn't the scheme - it isn't the coach - it is the reality of NBA basketball in 2024. If the Rockets start making open outside shots - the lanes will open and the offense will run smoother. I am sure Udoka will make tweaks - and possibly even starting line up changes at some point in the future. However - none of that changes the fact that until the Rockets make a higher percentage of three point shots, the land will be clogged and teams will dare the Rockets to hit open shots. This has less to do with Udoka and more to do with a poorly constructed team from a drafting perspective - and also slow starts by some key buys, especially at the 1-3 spots. No one wants to discuss it - but the Rockets core right now isn't as wonderful as a lot of fans believe, it is very deep but shallow at the top half. There isn't a franchise player - there isn't a lot of efficiency outside of Sengun in the top 4-5 players. The Nets have very little to do with the Rockets. The Nets are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA. Also - Cam Thomas is a better scorer than anyone on the Rockets. He actually can stretch the defense because he can make his shots from the perimeter. The four best Nets players are shooting a cumulative 40% from 3 this season. The four top Rockets players are shooting a cumulative 32% from 3 this season That is the difference - that and the Nets don't even try on defense.
I expect Jabari and FVV to be better than their current %s the rest of the season. The real problem is Jalen...I don't know if anything changes there based on what I've seen. This team would be considerably better if you swapped him for Cam Thomas.
If the Rockets start shooting better from the outside, I expect Jalen to improve because the lane will be open. I also expect his shooting from the perimeter to improve at least a few % points if he is driving to the basket more because it will help his confidence. A lot of the problems will improve with better perimeter shooting - but not all of them.
I'd love to see to that for Jalen but I'm skeptical even if they start shooting better from the outside.
