Not counting today's game, we are 26th in FG% defense (bad) and 18th (below average) in DRtg. Compare that to last season's 23th and 20th. These are the changes that should greatly improve our defense: 1. We added a 7-ft shot blocker as our starting center. 2. We replaced Budinger with Parsons as our starting SF. 3. We replaced Adelman (supposedly not good at coaching defense) with McHale (supposedly a hard nose defense guy who is not afraid to bench players who don't show effort). 4. We have been playing two bad defenders, Scola and Martin, less PT and two good defenders, Lee and Patterson, more. Yet we are still bad in FG% defense and below average in DRtg. What do you think is wrong?
A 7-ft center was supposed to plug the biggest hole in our defense. Are you saying that Dalembert is really not helping?
We are one of the best teams at defending the 3-pointer, but one of the worst at defending at the rim.
Fans not working the thundersticks hard enough? To me, it seems that the Dalembert/Hayes "exchange" was kind of a wash. Sure, Dalembert is a better shot blocker, but Hayes brings a lot on the defensive end, too and is more consistent with his effort level and is more versatile. As for the SF spot, yes, Parsons is better than Budinger defensively, but lets remember that the Rockets also had Battier there for most of last season. The other part of it is that Patterson hasn't been 100%. So, overall, I think they end up roughly the same as they were last year. One more thing: I wonder where the Rockets are this year in terms of transition D compared to last season. My feeling is that they have been somewhat worse.
Good point, and in the last 7 (which the Rockets have lost 6 of those games), that seems to be weaker -- opponents are shooting near 41% from three in those games, part of the reason the defense is worse lately than it was in January/February.
Lost Chuck, no Battier, Dalembert can only be on the floor half the game and only effective for 15-20 minutes of that. He's the best backup center in the league but we still need a starting caliber center. Insert Dwight Howard into the lineup and start Lee and we're a top 3 defense... not that he will sign here... which is too bad because we are basically the perfect situation for him from a basketball perspective.
He blocks, he rebounds.... but in today's NBA one big is not enough... Ironical that now he is back to his double double, the team is out of sync.... At least we won in February when he had 5 pts and 4 rb games. Scola and Patterson have been through injuries are not close to 7 foot.
It usually means that our perimeter guys play too close to the shooters, letting them blow by and penetrate. Again, we thought adding a rim protector would solve our defensive problems.
the rockets are getting killed by a lot of outside jump shots. so many are usually well guarded, especially by lee/parsons.
My point was, we were supposed to be much better this year. It hasn't happened after more than half a season now.
you've posted often enough that i've noticed they're always one liners and never stray from a players rep w/o any regard of how the player is actually performing
