Only 2 games so far but early observations say that we are having a really tough time against teams playing more physical than us. Last year we were the team that sets the tone when it comes to physicality but this season, the teams look like they have figured us out and we won't be the better physical team anymore. That alone takes out a huge edge since that makes up a huge chunk of our team identity. Solution: we need to compensate for that loss of edge with offense and unfortunately, our personnel is not built that way. Both coaching and players
It's nice that Sengun is building confidence playing outside the paint but unfortunately that hinders our offense since you now only have 3 guys outside the paint that you need to rely on to make shots when his middy and 3s are not working. We need to bring Alpi back at center and do a 4 out motion offense with Alpi as the hub. Bring back the dunker spot offense and have KD operate on top
Ime and the coaching staff are trying to reinvent the wheel with Alpi too much. I also don't see us scoring a ton of fastbreak points compared to last year at this pace
Sample size is too small to make that conclusion. OKC are champs for a reason and Detroit was playing undisciplined
They struggled against the Pistons, but this team hasn't played enough games to define itself. That said, it is very obvious that the loss of DB's emotional gravitas has changed things. How much is to be determined. It's possible DFS will bring back some of the "dawg" mentality when he starts playing. There are way too many new Woe-is-the-Rockets threads started by people panicking after two games. Ime's teams always start the season like junk and figure things out after a few games. Take a chill pill. The front page of the GARM is a flaming train wreck right now with junk threads like this.
The KD and Alp two-man game is going to be nasty once we start using it more. I also want to see more pick-and-roll between them because Alp’s reads and KD’s gravity are a problem for defenses. Just feels like something we need to tap into more.
Yep. I always judge a team on their last 10 games. It's always a big enough sample size to know how things are going. We lost to two very good teams that could make deep playoff runs, no shame in that, Pistons are also a very good road team, one of the best IIRC. They got us on a night where their guys were hitting their shots, ours were not, and Sengun played way below his average ability and so did Amen. It happens. Hosting the Nets SHOULD be a win and would be a red flag if we lose that one, not an 'season over' thing if we lose, but they have two days at home here, should be hungry for a win, that should be as much of a must win game for an 0-2 team there is. I do think they will need to do something about their guard situation. Reed is not ready to play major minutes, that much is clear, I still want to use him in the rotation so he gets experience, but they really need to figure out who will be the lead guard this season or at least until the deadline.
If you've read my post carefully, I am merely stating that adjustments are needed. It is indeed early in the season and this is the best time to make adjustments and the coaching staff needs to take advantage of that early on rather than later in the season. You are correct that DFS might add some of that missing toughness but until he is ready, we need to mix things up a bit to find out what works.
