Yahoo Sports: How Rockets' STRANGE Offense Became The NBA's Best!

A genuine bromance is transpiring before us ....


Go Rockets!!!
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Today is a good day people--the Houston Rockets play basketball.

 

Our half-court offense will take us far in the playoffs.

 

We need diversity, they will figure out how to slow this down, we will need to counter whatever the league comes up with.

DD

 

Does @J.R. have a transcript?

 

Does the sun shine?

 

This is so annoying… Strange and weird? Coming from these guys?
It is "strange and weird" only because this exact bunch of nerds were spreading the BS about how basketball has changed, while fellating Daryl Morey and his BS "revolution".

Guys, this is called basketball, there is nothing weird about it. You win with post-ups and middies, and judicious use of high% 3pointers.
What was weird was your "revolution" that brought us the 0-27 atrocities. Meanwhile, you never figured out that your fat idol is a self-promoting BS artist, who went on to build his new team around a trad Center in Embiid, while you were still drinking his KoolAid…

Weird my azz… How can these people live in such delusion? Look at who is winning championships. Big men Giannis and Jokic, mid-range king SGA…That whole era of peak BS is what was weird, not what the Rockets are doing now, which is just normal, high-quality basketball.

 

That's an interesting video. The height of my NBA and Rockets fandom was during the Dream heyday in the 90s. I loved to watch the man play. As that evolved into the Steve Francis/Cuttino Mobley era with the isolation ball, it got a lot less fun (and the league agreed and changed some rules). Then over time we got Yao and things were really interesting again. And then James Harden, who was unique and interesting and highly skilled...but his style of play just didn't vibe with me. I didn't like (and still don't like) seeing the ridiculous Euro-step that used to be a travel. And over time the Harden era Rockets basically cooled my fandom to the point I quit watching.

But this team over the last couple years has reignited it. I love Sengun. I love Amen. I love seeing a real back-to-the-basket game with post-up moves. It brings me back to the 90s Rockets I fell in love with. Weirdly, I never made the connection until watching that video, but it's totally true. I hope they continue to elevate this year. There's no reason they can't ride this wave with continued improvements from general chemistry, amidst players like Amen and Reed continuing to grow and become more dynamic.

It's good to be a fan of Rocketball again.

 

100% correct….we were lucky to win the last two games. We are still one legit shooter away from being a Finals team.

 

The league will need to brace themselves, once the Rockets eventually gets all of the kinks out of its offense.

 

KOC: Is this offense for real? #1 offensive rating despite 30th in 3PA (1st in 3P%, 1st in offensive rebounding rate). Just a weird team.

TH: Mesmerized by this Rockets team. Imagine you’re Ime Udoka and presenting your vision on the Rockets this season. “Here’s my idea: let’s go out and build our offense around a 37 year old. Let’s not take threes. We’re gonna live in the post-ups. 2nd highest post up frequency. We’re also gonna take a lot of midrange shots. We’re not gonna pass the ball. 30th in assist rate. Post-ups, no threes, live in the midrange and lowest assist rate in the league and revolve around a 37 year old. You guys ready to sign up? You guys in?”

They’re #1 in offensive rating and have all the markings of retro 90s team. The retro Rockets are flipping the script of what it means to have a good, modern offense. It’s fascinating. I don’t know what to make of it.

KOC: It’s beautiful to watch. Everything on paper, you’re like “It’s not gonna work.” Then you see it, and “Wow, wait a minute, they do have the #1 offensive rating.” They do have a diverse half court offense. Sometimes through Sengun, sometimes Amen PnR, sometimes Amen in the dunker spot, sometimes it’s KD off ball coming off a screen, sometimes KD running PnR, sometimes Reed Sheppard is adding a new dynamic. It’s a funky team. Houston stands out as an oddball. Even if they beat Denver, it’s fair to keep them tier 2 below Denver and OKC. It’s possible they are also a level above everyone else.

Their best offense last year was Adams and Sengun crashing the boards. That’s still one of their best half court offensive attacks but now have a bunch of other ways to beat you. This team continues to check boxes. Sengun continues to look like one of the best bigs in basketball. He completely outplayed Evan Mobley. He is a better player than Evan Mobley. It’s not even a question or debate. He’s on an All-NBA pace. No doubt all-star. Rising star. This team is built around KD but it’s built around Sengun as well.

TH: He’s so skilled, so tough. How many times will he run the offense in crunch time and get to the cup? He’s so skilled. I loved it when I went on Le Batard before the draft and said the #1 pick should be this 18 year old from Turkey. Who? The numbers he put up and then you watch the film, he’s baby Jokic. He’s so skilled, crafty, finishing, passing, eyes on the back of his head. The way he sees the game is Jokic like. Who else doesn’t take threes and built in a throwback way? It’s the Nuggets around Jokic. The fabric of this team is Jokic like. He’ll be the hub and in a pinch, throw him the ball, he’ll get you a bucket and you got a crazy cutter in Amen Thompson the same way as Christian Braun, MPJ last year and Aaron Gordon. Now they got Kevin Durant, the most go-to bucket 7 footer we’ve ever seen pick up a basketball. There’s so many looks this team can give you. Here’s baby Steph Curry coming off the bench knocking down threes. I don’t know if this team snuck up on us but I don’t think we expected the offense to be this dynamite.

KOC: It’s worked out for the best.

 

The team will be complete and loaded when Tari and the other Smith are available. Lengthy 2-way players who can shoot 3s.

 

If Durant was 5 years younger I think it would work.

 

just to be clear, KOC asks the questions his chat wants. He is a MAJOR fan of this years rockets, he talks about them nearly every pod. It’s one of the better pods around.

 

The fact that we are doing all of this with Okogie as our starting SG speaks of what the team's true potential is.

 

Haberstroh doing some major strutting about his pick of Sengun in the 2021 draft. (And I'd be doing the same if I were that smart)

 

It’s unorthodox, not traditional, which makes it difficult to”figure out”. I don’t know that we have it figured out other than it works. I disagree on another shooter. Durant is what was missing. Another guy who could create his own shot when lights are the brightest.

 

This team is dispelling all the stupid beliefs that have been bandied about as "common sense" for the last decade...

"Defense doesnt matter in todays NBA..." - wrong!

"You've got to take a crapload of 3s and outshoot teams like GSW" - nope!

"Bigs are a defensive liability and unplayable in today's NBA" - we'll jockey 2 or 3 and dominate the boards!

Like I said... it's a copycat league and most try to do the same thing - until somebody builds a better mousetrap...

It's like watching Moreyball and MDA beliefs just crumble away... lol


fwiw... i think the next move is to utilize the double bigs to diminish Reed's defensive liability...