I'm more concerned about our offense than our defense this season. We lost our 3 best 3 point shooters from last year, so our offense will depend heavily on Kmart, Parsons, and Delfino hitting the 3. If Lin can make 3's then that will help a lot. With Scola gone, Ppat has to be our inside scorer. If he can't score inside (without just resorting to jumpers) than we don't have a big man inside presence. That's going to hurt. Dmo and TJones aren't ready yet and Asik will be lucky to score 8 points a game on putbacks. We'll live and die by having guards slash to the basket or make open 3's.
Parsons will nail and score more than most NBA rosters combined. He can pretty much score at will as long as his physical stamina allows it.
I'll respond to this the same way I responded to the concern about defense....who cares? Winning or losing should not be much of concern to fans. The only real concern you should have is how do we get that franchise player?
I agree scoring will be a problem but only against good defensive teams. I think we can run and break down the defense of most weak defensive teams because we have the talent to do so.
Sometimes having more balanced, well distributed scoring numbers can be massively helpful. Especially for those teams who don't have a marquee player. You get 7 guys dropping double figures, one guy can have an off day and you still get decent production. Have a superstar who has a bad game or is injured and you lose 20-30 points.
The gameplan should be simple- Run, Run, Run in the 1st, some 2nd, and the 3rd quarter, and grind it out in the half court P&R in the 4th quarter. -One thing McHale might need to do is to have Martin & Lin leak out on defense. Martin is pretty much the master of getting points this way like he did under Adelman. Last year McHale really emphasized the backcourt staying home to help defensive rebounding, but this year he might have to utilize the cardinal sin of leaking out on defense to put points on the board. In the 4th quarter if the game is close you do have a couple guys who can operate in the P&R and play a little hero ball in a half court setting. Thats almost why I think you might be better off starting D-Mo at center and bringing Asik off the bench to play heavier minutes in the 2nd and 4th quarters when the game slows down a bit. D-Mo runs the floor better than most 7 footers in the NBA, and can really be a matchup nightmare against most teams. I dont know if McHale has the stomach for this, but if this team wants to score alot thats what they need to do. Doesn't mean they are going to able to grind out wins, but I guess we will see soon enough how important that really is to McHale. You run & gun with this lineup in the 1st and 3rd quarters- PG: Lin SG: Martin SF: Parsons or Lamb PF: Patterson, Jones, & White C: D-Mo and you grind it out in the P&R with this lineup in the 2nd and 4th- PG: Lin SG: Delfino SFarsons PF: Patterson C: Asik Thats your 10 man rotation right there, and Dobro's coaching tips for making this your team fun to watch & still have a chance to win games.
It don't matter how much they would score. Its more about how well our young rookies develop and how can the Rockets get a star.
I like most of your points but have the most trouble with these. I'm afraid D-Mo needs more work before he can be put into NBA games and be effective. Will he really get more than 15 min a game this season? Can Dmo play C or is PF a better position for him. The run, run, run style is intriguing and we have some players for it, but I think we'll have growing pains with TOs and young players getting winded. If we run a deep rotation (10 players?) then that should help. If we go 8-9 then it will be more difficult.
No way does D-mo start over Asik. We are playing Omer 25 million dollars he isn't coming off the bench. He came to Houston so that he could start.
Hey, the OP was asking of ways to boost the scoring with this team. The main way for a young team to accomplish this goal is the run. What better big do the Rockets have to run the floor then D-Mo?? Yes, I get that he's not ready to start, Asik is making more money, and D-Mo is more of a natural PF. I didn't just wake up yesterday. Just some ideas of what a coach could try to boost scorinng. I never said it would actually be a good thing for this team to do.
If the pace is fast, scoring should not be a problem, its the half court offense that scares me, is there any other options than a PnR?
