The season is still young, but I find our free throw situation maddening. Last year, we were 7th in the league in free throw attempts with 25.4 per game. This year we are dead last with only 15.8 per game. We knew the refs had a point of emphasis that was going to hurt Martin's attempts. And it has: he's dropped from 8.4 FTAs to 3.7. Lowry's attempts have gone up +1.25 FTA/48 minutes, and +0.07 FTA per FGA. But, everyone else has gone down. Martin's down -58% on attempts per 48 and -50% on a per FGA basis. Budinger -69%/-66%. Dragic -57%/-55%. Lee -62%/-65%. Hill -16%/+4%. Patterson hasn't shot a free throw yet. So they aren't calling as many shooting fouls on the perimeter? In the league overall, each team averaged 24.4 FTA per game last season and 23.2 FTA attempts this season, a 5% drop. We've dropped 38%. So what's going on? Did we really rely much more on the ticky-tack call last season than other teams? Did McHale change our offense so we don't get as many calls? Is it because we've played a lot of very good veteran teams so far that don't foul? Did we stop flopping? What's up?
well morey wanted players who could draw fouls to give us an advantage, it worked, but now the advantage is taken away. Anyone know the numbers on the location of shot attempts compared to last season?
We aren't attacking the rim like we did last year. It is on the players. Martin needs to man up and attack the rim to score, not to draw the foul...
I think perhaps you should wait til the Rockets played a more balanced schedule(home vs road, good vs bad opp) before comparing stats. Also, you need to take into account pace. We are playing slower, getting ~3 possessions less per game than last year. Doesn't account for the entirety of the difference. But in general all raw stats has to be adjusted a bit for different factors.
Martin's not getting the calls is the biggest reason. When you are not getting calls early, you don't get to the penalty and the whole team don't get to the FT line as much.
Good point. It would be interesting to see how many minutes per quarter it takes us to get the other team into the penalty compared to last year. Or just see how many non-shooting foul FTAs we have this year vs last year.
Without Chuck Hayes on the roster, teams won't foul us as much. Sacramento Kings FTA per game have already risen about 12%. Spoiler
Combination of things: Besides the rule change, the lack of a high-post passing corner set seems to hurt a good deal. Opposing bigs more likely to be in position to play good help D on the penetrations. It seems KMart is not getting all the way to the basket as much and is pulling up for floaters. The backdoor cuts with the motion set are also a good way of getting a guy to the basket for either a layup or a foul. Also, I remember reading that KMart is much better at drawing fouls and driving when he gets the ball at the FT-line extended rather than at the 3pt line-- make sense since he doesn't really have great handles. It seems that the offensive sets now often result in him getting the ball closer to the 3pt line rather than the FT-line extended. Anyhow, maybe there isn't anything you can do with the rules, but it may be useful to look at where Martin was getting the ball before and in what sets in order to see what's going on.
Also, simply strength of schedule. I haven't checked it, but I assume the Rockets did not get to the free throw line as much in games they were expected to lose last year. You play more against good teams, and more on the road, you're bound to not get the same calls or fouled as much. Have the Rockets been favored to win any game this season?
Scola's FTA per game/shot/possession are all way down as well, drastically more so than Martin's. That is a function of taking all those 17 footers and not nearly as many of those spin moves down on the blocks. And that is a result of not having Chuck Hayes planted at the top of the key zinging passes to these guys either cutting to the basket or to Scola in the low block for all those ice cream scoop shots. I think I've seen about 2 scoop shots from Scola in the low block this season. He's not working down there enough. The rules have something to do with the FT attempts being down across the whole league. The style of offense we are running with Hayes gone has a lot more to do with why our teams FT attempts are down so drastically.
Guys above have spoken to the difference between this year and last. But we are dead last now because we don't have physically superior, skilled up players who demand being fouled, or it's two points.
I think the reason is the change in offense. Personally, I thought the offensive assistant coach was supposed to bring a continuity from last year's offense to this year's but I'm seeing several symptoms that it is not happening: 1) The free throws as noted here. 2) I'm not seeing very many easy baskets and easy shot attempts. Last year our guys were taking easier shots because they were moving more without the ball and getting to open spots. A lot of times last year, the defense's only way of stopping a shot was to foul. I don't know our assist numbers, but it sure feels like they have dropped quite a bit for this same reason. 3) It feels like our transition game has also been suffering. Transition baskets = foul shot attempts. Is McHale keeping more guys back on D so we aren't getting out on the break? I haven't seen enough games to judge. 4) Scola and several other players seem to be getting their shot blocked more. That is because of worse shot selection and trying to force the shots more than last year... same basic point I made in #2. The result is a blocked shot instead of a basket and plus one.
Martin is a stick figure as stated before. He can only draw foul while driving with a screen set.... He can't do nothing in a huddle
You might not want to trust me before you see proof in video, but McHale is playing the flex offense. I study this game....I love this game. There are not two bigs out front...but that doesn't mean the offense is not capable of getting Martin around picks. I contend that Martin is still figuring it out himself. bottomline: a flex offense is not the reason Martin's scoring is down. Don't call it a system reason.
Lol, the conspiracy theory that the league might use the refs to make Scola and Martin look bad to help justify Stern's actions regarding the Hornets trade this offseason did not even occur to me. Could it be...? Eh, I'm not much one for conspiracy theories.
Part of it is likely the lack of training camp. Not much time to implement a new system. Another part is the lack of personnel (passing big man) to execute the old system. Keeping thing simple is probably preferable to trying to get too complicated and confusing your own players. Also, league-wide offesnive efficiency is down from 107.3/100 possession to 102.5/100 possession, almost a 5 point drop. The Rockets 6.5 point drop is not out of the ordinary.
That's the most telling part, but it is very much expected. New coach, new staff, trying to get used to the players that we have (players tailored for read & react) are possibly making things too simple. The boost in Kyle's numbers have been clear, but it makes the team way too predictable. I initially thought this would improve over the next few weeks, i.e. more offensive plans will be introduced to our guys especially since we play our next set of games at home. Now, however, I think coach has fallen into a comfort zone with Lowry just operating the offense through the game.
