Double bigs only works when you have three plus perimeter defenders that can switch, guard the 3- ball effectively, and keep turnovers very low. We were making our wins from possession differential derived from turnover and rebounding spreads. Last season we could run out three of dillon, amen, tari, and fred to play with the double bigs. Low turnovers. Everybody able to defend the 3- ball and dribble action and switch outside. Now dillon is gone and fred is out. Defensively we've replaced them with KD (who has to play obviously), Jabari, and either Okogie or Reed. KD is NOT that guy defensively. Nor should he be at age 37. And with Fred gone we've lost the turnover edge. What to do..... Play KD at the 4 and alternate the big man minutes between Alpi, Adams, KD with one of KD/Alpi on court at all times until game is decided. Dont put KD on the perimeter defensively in space and expect him to run around switching or expect that a big zone is going to work. Zone will only work against really bad teams or really poor second units. Put KD in the corner or in the paint defending 4's or 3's that have no off- the-dribble game. (He's actually sneakily underrated on the defensive interior.) Gonna have to endure the growing pains with Reed defensively and turnovers. No way around it. Jabari needs to play the 3 and get after it defensively or sit down. We'd be better off to start Tari with KD at the 4 and let him show defensively with the starters. He's a better perimeter defender and a better handle than Jabari. No double bigs with alpi/adams unless kd on the bench and we're getting major defensive hustle from the other the guys outside.
glad we have an I.D.I.O.T . on this subject. I agree, and I think this is one reason the offense looks so out of wack thus far (the other being the point guard situation). Personally, i'd start KD at the 4, Tari at the 3, Amen at the 2, and Reed at point. let Bari back up KD/Tari, and get Sengun back in the post. just because he can shoot the three, and shoot it well, doesn't make him a wing.
It’s really easy. Start Okogie and sit Adams. 3 man rotation at guard. Adams is a great screener and will help free up Sheppard for jump shots. DFS, Tari, and Tate can help Reed with bench defense. DFS and Tate are the defensive Calvary. Sengun, Amen, Durant, and Jabari is plenty of offense in the starting lineup.
The five best lineups (including the starting lineup) for the Rockets in +/- are all some version of the Double Bigs. Maybe the Rockets should focus on what's wrong with the non-double big lineups first. For Sengun, Thompson, Durant, and Smith with Adams:+5 with anyone but Adams -6 with Okogie -3 Small sample size, but what has actually happened has not fit the narrative on this board.
Nothing wrong with the double big, if you bench anyone it should be Jabari for Okogie because Jabari is not a good wing defender. Plus play Clint Capela more.
I haven't dug deep to see why teh "super big" lineup looks better on paper than it does in practice but the sample size is like 20 minutes, my guess is it's just shooting luck on either side. If you just use the Sengun-Adams pairing togehter - the "double big" from last year it is marginally ok to meh (+3.2) but it it is getting outrebounded, (-2.1) in 49 minutes- during the playoffs last year, most of us remember them obliterating the Warriors by +20 and rebounding everything in sight.
It depends on if you want to rate "+5" in 2 losses as a resounding success for your "best lineup". Seems like the data doesn't show a clear dominant combination. The roster is severely flawed.
It's been 2 games . Not enough data to see what works and what doesn't However, There's no excuse for not playing Tate
For 22 minutes of play, yes, a +5 is typical of what a 60-win team would do if all the other units were just as good. I don't know why the double big has performed as well as it has. I'm not a big fan of it being the key to the season. I'd prefer it more to be a changeup, but I just hate that it is being portrayed as the reason the Rockets aren't doing well when almost everything but it is sucking. The problems this season has been Reed, Tari, Reed, JSJ, Reed, and Amen. Double big worked last year as well. Considering the Rockets are shooting 18% from 3 with the starting lineup, I don't think it is shooting luck. I think it is mostly that teams haven't figured out how to handle it defensively, as it is different than most teams. From what I see, Sengun or Adams has taken it to smaller players inside either on 1st possession or on offensive glass. So far, the Double Bigs on offense has looked great inside on offense, and the defense part sucking seems to be more on the three smaller players not covering ground as well as they did last season. The paper stats mirror what has happened. i'm not sure if it will continue. I just don't people acting like it is the problem, when it hasn't been, yet.
We're overreacting with "who should start after 2 games...we could easily be 2-0 if: Game 1 vs OKC: KD hits both free throws or dont foul SGA in overtime Game 2: Ime needs to find a good rotation when he rests KD or Sengun...his substitution when we were up 6 threw off our momentum. If we continue to start the double-big lineup, we need to play Reed with Capela to give him a roll-mam/lob threat to keep the defense honest when subs into the game... Its not helping when Tari and Jabari not shooting well at 3 from the wing. Honestly, I prefer to start Reed over Adams and bring Aaron Holiday into our rotation. We need additional ballhandlers to free up Amen/KD to play more off-ball and get some pindown screens to get more player movement...too much standing around/stagnation on offense because our opponents know Amen is turnover prone and Reed likes to pick up his dribble. Heck, I would petition situational small ball lineups to relieve full court pressure from our opponents: Amen KD JD Davison Reed Aaron Holiday
The 2 game sample is skewed by the OKC game. The Thunder got a ridiculous 51 open or wide open three point attempts but only shot 25%. We got lucky that they shot so poorly.
double big on-off is skewed by...alpi... take alpi off and nothing works right now because we do not have a real creator after him but you should be able to use your eyes and see what is going to happen to us especially with kd out there teams are going to continue to seek the small big mismatch with kd on the perimeter and work off that while mashing our own bigs with their bigs run pick-and-pop action with apkd and hide kd in the corner defensive plain as the nose on your face
KD cannot be your guard nor Jabari on defense. It just is not working because they’re both too slow! It needs to be Okogie or Holiday or Reed.
Holiday needs to get minutes. Idk why he's in the doghouse when we clearly need a guard on the court at all times. You're right about KD not being able to play defense. He really shouldn't be asked to at his age and Stone should've accounted for this but he didn't. Instead, he wasted money on signing Capela to double down on grabbing rebounds when we were already a good rebounding team. KD is working harder than ever before trying to score now because the paint is always clogged and that will definitely wear him down over time. I don't even want to think about how bad we'll look if KD has to rest or go down to injury.
Maybe. I don't recall seeing Adams on the court without Sengun and without Reed. Reed has been horrible this year.
Well we're gonna use that lineup alot in RS and the playoffs, going big is our advantage and teams will have to matchup to it. Ime is just trying to get that lineup to play together in the beginning of the season, while everyone is fresh. No way Adams is gonna start the whole season nor is gonna play 30+ minutes. He's a backup with 20-25 minutes per game. So y'all need to chill the f out, Ime is playing chess
100% Jabari needs to come off the bench or start at the 4. Adams needs to come off the bench. The big lineup is just too slow and we no one can consistently shoot the 3 right now.
Double big has always worked what hurts the team is when the subs come in Reed and Tari have been ass. Why does double big always get the blame when just looking at the performances of these two show who is the culprit? Is it because nobody want to criticize Reed Sheppard?
