So I've been reading a lot of comments and everyone is focusing on the bad offense, the lack of pg etc But to be honest this isnt anything new, last year even with FVV Rockets also had a bad offense. We had JG, Sengun and FVV being low efficiency players at around 54% TS as our no 1-3 options (FVV even worse at 51%TS). What saved us though was our dominance at rebounding and defense, Rox were the 4rth ranked defense and no 1 ranked rebounding team. Basically JG and FVV would throw the ball up, clank it and then somebody would get the reb for the second chance. It wasnt pretty, but it was effective. This year though despite having the big ball lineup Rox lost their edge in rebounding and defense. Though only 3 games, Rox have fallen outside the top 10 in rebounding and have less ave rebs than Pistons and OKC, their two losses. While they pounded the Nets, for some reason they only got 2 more rebs than the Nets. The defense has also slipped, going from 4rth to 22nd (!!!). I admit this is something I didnt expect, why is it when we sized up and added KD and Amen to the starting lineup our defense and rebounding became so much worse? I think DFS coming back and Okogie playing his way to the rotation will def fix the defense, but I am not sure why we are losing the rebounding battle when we are playing Adams more and have even more size and length this season. My hope is its all just chemistry issue, once guys get more familiar and start communicating more we can get those rebs which is the whole point of running the 2 big in the first place.
It was a lil expected when you trade KD for Green and Brooks. . Kd isn’t a terrible defender but he is average at best and he is closer to 40 . I think that’s why Ime went with the double big lineup to start the season. It didn’t work. Moreso because they expects Jabari to become like an Ariza defense but he isnt Jabari has never been a good individual defender. He’s to slow for wings and not strong enough for bigs. He’s also not pesky like Brooks . Jabari is a good help defender. I think going forward we’ll see a lot more of Josh Okogie. He bring the energy and perkiness that Ime wants
This post is absurdly premature. We averaged almost 50 rebounds per game the first two games. We didn’t have as many rebounds against the Nets because a lot of our shots went in and sat our starters in the fourth.
Again Ime is insisting on playing this 2 3 zone leaving shooters open. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY. Ive been saying this since preseason and was hoping he wouldnt do it in the regualr and teams are having a field day with open shots. I think he is trying to save Durant on the defensive side and it ruins us.
We averaged almost 50 because the first game had a double OT which gave Rox more mins to collect rebs. In reality the 2nd game we had 45 which is in line with our current average. Our next opponent the Raptors are a bad rebounding team we shall see if Rox do indeed dominate them on the boards. If not then there is def a huge problem.
Yeah going zone when everybody has been much improved shooting from 3 is crazy. I dont even know why cuz last year we didnt run zone even with double big.
It is very early in the season. So I am apprehensive about making too many definitive statements. Having said that, I did expect that the defense would take a step back this season with the renewed focus on offense and with guys like FVF gone, and players like KD and Sheppard getting lots of minutes. I still think that getting rid of Green and improvements defensively from Sengun would leave the Rockets to be a top 5 or so defense. I did and still do expect the offense to overall be better. KD right now isn't concerned about numbers, but he is possibly the greatest overall shooter in NBA history and can also be isolated on offense....... I expect Sheppard and Thompson and Smith to improve at least some at shooting this season.
I mean JG is not the best NBA player but I am a bit tired of the hate.... Green was here for 4 years and at the very least he was familiar with the environment and while he isn't much of a defender, the 4th year was his best defensive year......he could hold his own in more than a couple matchups. Guys like KD and 2nd year guy Sheppard struggling there defensively to acclimate that is to be expected.
This usually happens early on with defensive teams who add a big offensive piece -- everyone's so concerned about their new offensive identity that their bread and butter starts to take a backseat. Orlando, a defensive team that added Bane to solve their shooting woes, was #2 in DRTG for the past two seasons, and is currently #16. Usually it fades as the team settles into an offensive identity, but we're at a disadvantage because FVV plays such a big role in stabilizing our offense.
I don't think Green was a good defensive player. He was better his last season compared to his first couple - but he wasn't even average defensively. He
If you watched him and we all did, you knew he would vanish in the 4th in tons of games, same happened to his Defense .... It was good that he was benched, I think he just did not have the stamina to be that 4th Quarter guy for a reason. The thing is Udoka knew and could preemptively react and bring players that could close out games for him. And then we figured that he was mentally weak as well when things got hard, the Defense overall still survived with him for a reason IMO he did not overdo things.
High ball pressure perimeter defense is the wave right now around the league. OKC vs IND in the finals was a perfect example. 48 minutes of extreme pressure on ball handlers for 94 feet. We had a lot of capacity to do that last year. Now we have three fewer guys to defend the ball (DB, JG, FVV gone), and Amen playing PG can’t simultaneously play up on the ball defensively. So now, we have nobody to pressure the ball (except Josh Okogie?), while the rest of the league is stacking up on this We’ll still be alright defensively because of size and big wing talent. But top 5 defense this year? I don’t think so.
Like we mentioned in one of the FVV threads, his absence would cause a domino effect. You now have Amen getting exhausted dribbling around fools and that takes a toll for someone that hasn't done it in 2 seasons. Team defensive rating is just where I thought it would be. 10-12th. Those teams are bunched in by 2. Houston is still top five in limiting fast breaks. +2 in steals from last season. 46% opponent FG.( 45% last season) There was a funny post game interview with KD. They asked him if it's possible to play at the pace of yesterday's game going forward. He took a deep breath. "Like tonight? We have to find a balance. Know when to slow it down." I took it as, "I'm too old for this sh**'" moment.
Not much but lost some versatility, speed and youth with Jalen and strength, edge, intensity, leadership with Dillon and now Fred. I doubt KD can replace all that for 80 games and still getting his typical stats of 26/7/5 (scoring is the easiest and rebounding second easiest).......on high efficiency every night and still play above average Defense moving like a smallish guard, that is just not realistic at 37.
Sengun, Adams, and Jabari got all the credit for that zone last year but they always had 2 fast POA defenders at the top doing great work. Shout out Amen, Dillon, Tari, Fred, Jalen, Aaron Holiday. It’s a hard job, chasing the ball around perimeter and switching on to everyone. It requires 2 very good perimeter defenders to work and Ime has been trying to make it work with just 1.
Sample size too small to draw any real conclusions as of yet based on the numbers. I don't expect our rebounding to be a problem this season. Defense, we'll see. FVV + Dillon were important leaders for us on that end of the court. It will be up to what we get out of DFS and Okogie, and how much effort KD can be convinced to put in at this stage of his career.
Last year the team played with very high effort all-season long, yes. I was wondering whether this was sustainable year in and year out.
Ja'sean Tate is also a pesky defender as well. Ime needs to go small with Durant, Tate, Tari, Okogie, Amen
