I guess people are saying it worked better than the sh*t offense we sent out last year. I sure hope Ime doesn’t get married to it. Defensively it pretty much will suck when one of our diminutive guards is on the floor. Adams is too slow for a switching defense and Shep, Holiday, and Jd don’t have the sand in their pants to not get overpowered. The lineup won’t work against most good teams. It worked better than our regular sh*tty offense with FVV running the show against GSW, but it didn’t work well enough to not get beat by an aging 7th seed. I like Adams as a backup center, but he is a 15 minute one trick pony (offensive rebounding).
I like the double big, most teams can't match up. It's a modernized version of the 90s. I think we should make others adjust to us. Only times I might adjust is if we face a team of gunners that is hot all 4 quarters.
I think it’s only going to be used against specific teams with big front courts, OKC and Dallas come to mind. I’m pretty much as big of a Reed fan as it gets, but he’d have to guard Jalen Williams or SGA for a substantial part of the game and I don’t like that match up at all.
From what Jackson on Locked on Rockets was saying earlier the double big lineup was insanely dominant by the numbers. I'd just run with it regardless of how ugly it is if it's genuinely just that overwhelming.
I like the double big lineup... I think it throws other teams off and sets our identity as a physical defense-oriented team... I esp like limiting any easy shots at the rim early for the other team, to delay them getting in a groove... That said... I dont think we should be stubborn about it and need to be fluid regarding our line-up. Some nights it will work well and other nights we may have to shelve it depending on the matchup... Its like back when we were doing that small ball nonsense and didn't have a single situational center riding the bench - that was just stupid... One of MDA's stupidest remarks was "We dont adjust to them - they adjust to us!" I couldnt disagree more with that sentiment. Sure, you try to impose your will - but you better have a couple backup plans if that dont work. Imo we should have 3 or 4 potential starting lineups (excluding accommodating for injuries) that we can jockey depending on the opponent.
I do find it pretty hilarious that we're now basically the complete polar opposite of the Harden years. Heliocentric then vs star-by-committee now, all tiny then vs all massive now, all offense then vs all defense now.
12 minute sample size Against the Pelicans In Birmingham preseason My guess is if the double bigs end up as 3 point shoot outs for both sides due to spacing clogs (and bc long rebound gives the small team a chance) the Rockets over time begin to lose more & more due to a dearth of off the dribble shooting on the floor
Sure but I'm not exactly advocating full time use but I think it definitely has a place and should have a place in our season. Thread starter is not a fan. I disagree with that premise. We'll see how it plays out.
I think it can work I think also though the more the Rockets use it the less effective it will be (either it will get solved or Adams will be in a wheelchair)
just like the wildcat in football, the jumbo bigs definitely caught the league by surprised. i don't think it will be as effective this season compare to last because teams had the entire offseason to prepare and game plan for it. and when the jumbo bigs lineup isn't as effective, prepare for Durant isos
I think you're right but I also think Durant iso is going to be a pillar (crutch) for a team with a shortage of outside in game in any event We did need FVV even though he kinda sucks sometimes
It didnt work because Jalen Green sucked and had the worst meltdown in recent memory. If we had KD instead of Jalen we would have won. The only small guy in the rotation is Reed, everyone else is 6'6+. Holiday and Davison shouldnt play if everyone is healthy.
I miss the days when all our big men were 6'8 or under. We used to joke that any guy taller than 6'9 would be too big for Morey.
Jabari, Amen and Tari had 20+ so its not like KD did all the work offensively. KD only had 15 so we didnt rely on KD as much as you thought.
We have 4 players capable of 30 point nights. I expect Durant will average less per season this year than he has in a decade. If Ime doesn’t get scared because of the increase in TO’s this offense will be one of the best if not best in the NBA. We have incredible flexibility with our offense this year.
KD is really more of an escape valve, if we cant get anything going he is there to take the shot and create something for nothing. I think also why double big is important we play defense and crash the boards. We wont be able to out offense and outshoot the best teams but if we are big and get the rebound and defensive advantage we can win by getting all those 2nd chances and giving them to KD, Sengun and Amen.
Reminds me of the Wildcat offense in football. Feels gimmicky. Works for the Thunder because Chet isn't really a big. He's more of a roamer. It doesn't work in Cleveland because Allen and Mobley are both bigs. I feel like it works better here because Sengun is way better than Mobley and Adams is way better than Allen.
If Sheppard is playing against the OKC starters, I'd expect him to defend Dort. That seems to be what most teams do. Dort is such a low volume guy that even if he shoots a good percentage, he's typically not going to really go off. I'm guessing that Udoka would much rather Dort be taking shots than SGA or Williams. SGA and Williams are going to get theirs. It's guys like Hartenstein who we need to do better on. If he shoots almost 80% fg% against us again this year, then thst doesn't bode well for us.
