Obviously with the Howard signing this team got a lot better & are now considered by most as "in the mix" for a championship run. Objectively though, can the Rockets go all the way this season? There is a very old cliched saying in sports, not just basketball, that defense wins championships. After a very competitive finals series between the Heat & Spurs I was curious to see what Morey would do next after signing Howard, to make this team capable of going one further than what the Spurs were able to achieve. Keep in mind the Spurs were a brilliantly coached team, organized defensively with good defensive players & offensively had the 3pt threat of Green & Leonard with penetration of Parker, Ginobli & interior threat of Duncan. The problem was when the 3 point threat is no longer a threat as seen with D.Green who was unconscious for the first five games, then can your defense keep you in the game when it's harder to score? Or more importantly, can your team make defensive adjustments like the Heat did to kill the 3 point threat & in doing so win the championship? This brings me to the recent 3 point specialist acquisitions. Morey signs Garcia, Casspi, Reggie Williams & Cannan to all very favorable contracts once D12 is signed. Arguably Garcia was the only player with anything close to a defensive reputation but you wouldn't of said that pre Thunder series. Morey also insisted on keeping Asik and stated "Asik coming off the bench at the center position for 15-20 minutes is more valuable than upgrading at the 4 spot that isn't an upgrade of all star caliber", not the exact quote but you get the point. So after the previous season of having one of the worst defensive teams in the league, does bringing in the best defensive center & benching the previous top 5 defensive center improve the team so much, that the team goes from one of the worst defensive teams in the league to potentially going all the way? Is Howard that good? Does Morey know something about Casspi, Williams & Cannan defensively that we don't? Or does Morey believe that putting 3 point shooters (two of which were poor on bad teams) with two, potentially 3 all stars is a recipe for success? There is still the unanswered question of potential Lin & Asik trades & the room exception roster availability. What we can answer though, as the roster currently shapes up, is the certainty of Harden, a huge defensive liability last year, D-Mo, T.Jones, G.Smith, Lin, Beverly (good ball pressure) struggled with defensive duties. Inexperience or just incapable? Parsons a good defensive player in his rookie season also struggled to improve that side of his game. Adding to that the new recruits & it doesn't look like a very good defensive team. What happens when like the Spurs the 3 point shot isn't falling in the crucial series game & you have gone all in with that play with your roster make up? Is Morey a god amongst men when it comes to building a roster filled with talent without tanking? Yes, this isn't in question but there are several questions for you clutchfans that need to be discussed. Is Morey trying to create a championship team that doesn't focus on defense? Can it be done? Is this that team or do we need to be patient with small or big moves made? Can McHale improve the current players enough defensively to challenge? Can Harden step up & be a leader on both ends of the court? Is Howard & Asik at center for ALL 48 minutes enough to offset poor defensive players in the other positions? Discuss. My 1st OP. I'm not a good writer, just your average fan but felt the issues needed to be discussed. Hopefully those issues are presented with reasonable clarity & logic.
Well, the question is how the other players react. Harden is perfectly able to defend - he just didn't put any effort into it last season. Was it because he spent all his energy on offense? Was it because he just didn't care? Either way with Howard he doesn't have to do as much on offense - and I hope Howard gets into other people's faces when they slack of on defense. Same thing with Parsons - he was way better his first season. Last season he did much more on offense... So if both of these guys turn it up a notch on defense, the team defense improves a ton. We will probably have a problem at the four though. Lin wasn't as bad as some people thought last season, but he should also be able to improve a little. Our bench isn't bad with Garcia, Beverly and Asik.
Kudos on this being your first thread- well thought out and laid out nicely. Would tell you to write a little less tho lol. I tend to agree- everyone is saying that we're a good defensive team now, but I'm not entirely sold on that just yet. If you want to compete, you MUST have a good defense. Also agree on Parsons- people just keep saying he's a great defender, but he wasn't that great this year. He's one of the better defenders on the team, but that isn't saying much. I'm pretty sure Harden will never be a good defender- he might be upgraded from abysmal to adequate, but I don't think he can do much better than that. For that reason, we have to upgrade defensively around him. Howard is a great start. He's not a lockdown defender, but he intimidates players driving in the lane, so Harden's man will have to think twice if he blows by him. I'm big on Beverley also for this reason- he plays every inch of the floor, and its great to watch. He can guard well (and even block a shot every once in a while) and plays with a chip on his shoulder. Don't know if he can be a starter though. Maybe he can with a 2 superstar lineup. That leaves the 4 spot- this is why so many people were intrigued by Josh Smith. There are a lot of talented forwards in this league, and you need someone who can stay with them. Don't know how this will pan out- DMo is not the answer, and we'll see how much bigger Jones has gotten. I think the Rockets would benefit by signing a "lockdown" wing defender (similar to Tony Allen types), just to bolster their ranks.
2012-13 stats: Lakers defense with Howard on the court: 105.5 points per 100 possesions Lakers defense without Howard on the court: 110.5 points per 100 possesions Rockets defense with Asik on the court: 104.2 points per 100 possesions Rockets defense without Asik on the court: 110.0 points per 100 possesions League average was 105.9 points per 100 possesions, 104.2/100 would be enough for 10th place last season. I'd say defense should be between 8th and 13th place, depends on pace and how healty will Howard be.
glad im not the only one trippin about our defense. just cuz we got dwight howard doesnt make us an elite defensive team. first of all, im confident lin, harden and parsons will start playing defense more consistently for obvious reasons. but how good will they really be? they cant all be average defenders if they're gonna play 30+ minutes. hopefully parsons works on his defense this offseason. they all are capable of playing above averaage defense, its up to them if they actually do it. 2nd, our backup wings. garcia is the only one who can play good defense, but he's 190-195lbs - thats terrible for a small forward. he'll get eaten alive vs a sf who can post up. we need a backup sf who has size and can defend. if parsons bulks up and works on his defense then garcia is the only defender we need off the bench. that kostas guy we got from the robinson trade has potential to be our 6'8 220+ backup who can defend. he has plenty of exp overseas and isnt hard to bring him over. i'd much rather have him than casspi. hopefully morey sees something that we dont. we're good on defense from the pf/c positions. asik can defend most pfs, and dwight can defend any pfs. and jones is athletic and good size for a pf, he'll do fine with dwight or asik on the floor. its up to the team to buy into playing team defense.
McHale will bring the smack-down until every player gives 10,000% into playing Defense. I expect Jeremy Lin, Dwight, Garcia, and Parsons and the rest to push for a united team defensive front.
I think Parsons can go back to spending a little more time on D. We will have a much bigger dose of Beverley. T-Jones needs to get his assignments down, but he has the potential to be a weakside shotblocker. Overall, I think we COULD improve. But D is also about effort. I've also observed that having an excellent defensive anchor like Howard makes it much easier to have a good defensive team based mostly on effort. I think a line up of Howard, Jones, Parsons, Harden and Beverley can really shut teams down. Garcia looks like he is committed to becoming a very good defender. Asik is an elite defender. I think we're good. Maybe one defensive PF who can hit a mid range J, but those are expensive and hard to find. You want to have a good defense, but you don't want to be the Grizzlies. Spurs throw out a lot of poor/average defensive players like Ginobili, Parker, Bonner, Splitter and Neal. They make it work. Luckily this team is given 100% freedom on offense, and 0% freedom on defense. As long as we have a good defensive strategy, I do think we have the personnel to achieve a top 10 defense.
Considering the Rockets point differential, there defense wasn't all that bad. I believe they were ranked in the middle of the pack right above the Lakers. Teams that constantly push the pace usually give up a lot more points. With Howard here, the offense will probably slow down which should help out the defense. What I noticed a lot about Harden and Lin on the defensive side of the ball, they like to go inside and help Asik (probably trying to strip the ball) and leave their man and when the ball gets kicked back out they are caught out of position. I never thought they needed to double down when Asik is down low and if Howard notices this, he will probably tell them to stay on their man.
One shot blocking center makes a world of difference. Didn't matter that Kenny Smith played defense like a matador...Hakeem was in the paint to bail him out. (No, I'm not saying Dwight is Hakeem...same concept though). Their defense will be wildly improved by the addition of a real defender in the post. And the fact that Asik is there to cover minutes Dwight is resting is huge for that. If Parsons can develop into being a really good defender...and there's at least effort from the rest...they're going to be good enough on defense to win big.
The defense concept is going to be really simple. Scramble at the 3-point line on the perimeter and force guys to step inside the line. Then it's up to them. They can attempt to go to the rim or shoot the long 2. We're fine either way. The key is our perimeter guys scrambling out there and not allowing the open spot up 3s or players like Westbrook/Durant to simply dribble right up and take the shot. If we do a good job of that...lights out. Offensively the whole key is what are we going to do to keep turnovers down? Shooters...we got 'em. They blow hot and cold. So what. That's not an issue. Bad free throw shooting big men. Not a problem. Both guys will only be on the floor together for around 10 minutes a game. And they'll probably both hit 60% or more. The area of our offense that we have to be most concerned about is turnovers. Harden and Dwight....those 2 guys...have to figure out how to keep their turnovers down. If they do that...and everybody stays healthy....no reason we can't be in the Finals.
Are you saying Asik wasn't a real defender in the post? Also I don't think comparing teams from 20 years ago is relevant anymore? That is why I used the Spurs, Heat as an example. The Spurs relied heavily on their 3 pt game but also had dribble penetration & an inside presence which we have but do we have the defensive capabilities to match?
No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying Howard is a better defender...and last year when Asik went out of the game, we didn't have anyone in the post to take that role...now we have Asik or Howard in the game all the time, assuming they're healthy. I think basic concepts...like the advantage of having an elite defender at the post...are relevant all the time. You could get away with Kenny playing the point on defense because you had Hakeem....that is still applicable today, regardless of how much time has passed. Having an elite post defender is a luxury that allows your guards to funnel instead of having to get stops...that's as true today as it was 20 years ago.
Howard makes a heck of a difference. I think Morey is not only going for shooters but also length to disrupt passing lanes on D. I was looking at some basic analysis about these players and all 4 have a common theme of lengthy, above average or solid wingspan. Obviously this disruption to passing lanes complements a run and gun kind of offense and spreads the floor during half court sets because they can shoot. As usual we shouldn't be surprised if one of these guys turns into another solid defender as we saw in Garcia against OKC. We have a way of bringing out the best in our players.
But didn't Hakeem have help? Thorpe, Barkley at PF for example. Where is Howard's help? He's not super man y'know.
If we hold onto Asik and can get him to accept the back-up role, our defense immediately improves, due to the fact that we could always have a rim-protecting rebounding machine in the game. Our team defense wasn't so bad with Asik on the floor, it was when he sat that it got so terrible. But of course, I wouldn't bank on his being with the team by the end of the season. He seems upset, and he has every right to be. But I sure hope he stays.
His help in 1995 after we traded Thorpe was, who? Chucky Brown? Horry was a good defender we asked to play out of position over and over again. Howard's help will be Asik. And I think Jones can be a real defender as well. I think Parsons is a good defender. It's not as if there's no one on this roster capable of playing defense.
Harden needs to play defense.....he should play less than 40 min a game, so he can spend energy on defense while keeping his offense efficiencies...
