Durant traded to Houston for Green, Brooks, #10 pick, and multiple 2nd rounders

I'm really shocked to hear that.

We've tried this offense with Cam Whitmore and Jalen Green, we've tried it with the most athletic player in NBA history (Amen) and now with one of the flat out best scorers in history. I've demonstrated it in the past regarding Brown and Tatum. Is there a blueprint you can share with us on an Udoka team?

The results have always been the same: disappointing at getting to the rim and finishing. Udoka's wings always have sub-optimal efficiency driving to the basket. We have 200+ games and 6 scoring wing players' data over 3+ seasons.

It's not reasonable to just clap and say make more shots. I don't know if you've properly watched KD before but he's never had to work this hard in the regular season to get points. They're doing to him what they did to our other lead wings: guard him tight (no space to shoot) and pressure him to drive into 4 bigs standing around in the paint while you attempt a chase down block from behind. When you say he just has to be better, I wonder what's your advice in this specific instance? Do you realize how easy this defender's job is to disrupt the jumper and not care about him driving? I've never seen a team do this to itself except Orlando.

There's no chance it's a KD thing. God dropped the perfect fit in our laps, a player who has been elite at scoring from everywhere forever. If it hurts his efficiency, it will hurt anyone's efficiency.

Here's the good news though: as soon as we replace Adams in the lineup with someone who can shoot, KD and Amen will improve and Ime will say "just shots falling". I'll want to kick Ime in the head, but at least we'll have what we need, he doesn't need to understand it.

 

Adams is +4 on the court last game.

 

Silly strawman - who was ever saying Brooks was a problem in Houston? He was a key part of the team exceeding expectations … if anyone in the league still thought of him as a ‘problem’ due to Memphis, they haven’t been paying attention for 3 years.

 

Exactly! It's pretty obvious DB was the only real value the Rockets gave up in the trade.

 

Right? Every top 5 team we've lost to has been very close.

 

I’m sure getting back DFS and a continued improved shooting Tari will help. But KD is missing a lot of mid-range shots he normally makes. I don’t think it’s all just personnel/scheme, but agree it’s a big factor.

 

cupcake really pussied out you know bro was ready to drop a solid 8+ turnovers

 

What % is he shooting from midrange compared to before? Or you going by eye test?

Also curious about:

 

His 10-16, 16-3pt, and 3pt shooting are all the lowest they have been in a decade+, so its not eye test.

 

just look up the stats yourself. The stats are clear. It would be good if he shot career averages from the field and the 3.

It’s early and small sample, so hopefully the efficiency will improve.

 

Suns made the best trade they could in getting Green and Brooks.

Kevin Durant was exactly what the Rockets have been needing.

 

Ok don't mean to irritate you. @astrosrule backed up your claim.

I just don't understand why someone would achieve the same efficiency in a more difficult set of shots and especially with him naturally declining very slowly.

Seems to me he should be taking double the amount of 3's if he's the SG/SF on offense. Taking almost a career-low attempts in this many minutes with a packed paint feels like a bad idea.

 

His shot selection has always been ATROCIOUS. He takes some of the worst shots possible, always has. What made him so special was his ability to make them. Now that he’s gone from old to super old, he SHOULD be worse. At his peak he was around 22% of his shots from 0-3 feet, now it’s sub 10%. He’s still really good, but a shell of what he once was.

 

I think you both are correct here. KD has missed shots he normally hits but at the same time this arguably the hardest he’s had to work on offense. I also think age may start to become a factor here. He doesn’t exactly move like he use to.

 

Damn, I love Cade - such a mature dude. They both kind of drop props to Houston around the 9:33 mark... and slap Cleveland. LOL.

 

Selection doesn't seem like it would correlate with age though.

If you're the greatest midrange shooter ever, isn't it likely your shot chart won't have the otherwise standard mix of shots? Reminds me of CP3 who I also think should have had more FT's and 3's in his career.

I think we're about to make excuses for Ime again to be honest. In 4 years there's not a single wing scorer who didn't have an iffy or declining offensive season under his coaching. Under Udoka we've seen stories pop up like:

"is Tatum even competent at driving?"
"Can Jaylen Brown dribble?"
"Jalen doesn't understand basketball"
"What happened to Amen?"
"KD can't apply minimal rim pressure"

At some point even though we can create a narrative for each of these situations, maybe we should say that's a concerning big picture pattern. It's more likely a prime KD would take a hit too.

KD and Tatum can transcend this because they can shoot the **** out of the ball (over a packed paint). I just wish he was taking 8 3PA. That would make the drives easier for him and the team. I know he says it's not his game, but that's the sacrifice we need.

 

I 100% agree he should be taking way more 3s and playing more off ball.