Didn't see this posted elsewhere, but here's an ESPN breakdown of each of our current players (sorry if it's a bit difficult to read): http://i.imgur.com/ydZRBMQ.jpg
[rQUOTEr]Here are our player scouting reports and 2013-14 projections for the Houston Rockets. (Note: Kevin Pelton's stat projections are for players expected to play 250 or more minutes in 2013-14.) PROJECTED STARTERS Spoiler RESERVES Spoiler [/rQUOTEr]
Here's the link: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/prev...4-hou-preview/houston-rockets-player-profiles Also, JR's post is a lot more convenient in case you're not an insider!
agreed. If someone went through the trouble to do the work, the least a reader can do is click the link and give them a hit so the author gets credit from his employer.
nice read, though i do think the profiles are a little superficial in that, even under a cursory glance, the author seems to (imo) mislead on a few points by not delving into them just a bit further. i dont think this was for want of space. ex: Lin -author mentioned lin's poor 3 pt shooting but didnt even hint at the fact that the bulk of it came from the first half of the season, when he was still partly injured. from all-star break onwards, he was shooting like 37% from 3 pt range and 44% overall, with an upward trajectory. that's got to be worth something -while lin is not a great defender, i don't think he is that below avg at defending his position. he cant guard a lot of PGs due to his lack of lateral quickness, but i mean, we got some studs at the PG position that almost every PG can't guard in return -also, i do wonder how much of lin's "over-helping" on defense is due to his own tendencies vs. the Rockets' coaching staff decisions. i see a lot of players on the Rockets making those mistakes. heck, pretty much all our perimeter players last season sucked on defense from a team perspective/rotation-wise, even bev, who the author seems to really adore...maybe too much haha [bev initiating the offense well? focusing on his 3 pt % but foregoing his horrible overall % from the field?] i will say though that bev is much better with one-on-one defense than lin/most of the rest of the team -lin is pretty good at defending players in the post. iunno why haha, but because he doesn't do it too often, i can only rely on the eye test here. seems to be pretty adept for his position as doing this. coupled with hakeem's recent comment about lin being strong enough and big enough to really do some dmg in the post on offense...and i wonder whether we'll see more of that this upcoming season -lin is pretty terrible at fighting over screens; that's another aspect of his defense that i really hope he improves on Harden: -agreed with most of what was said about harden, though id love to hear more about what aspects of harden's defense needs shoring up. we know he's bad at it, but is it from lack of effort or inability (in some areas)? -harden also tends to try to get the foul too often imo. make the shot, get the foul is better than look for the foul while taking the shot. at times i feel like he's trying to draw the foul so much that he really hampers his ability to just finish that shot successfully. can't always have the whistle bail you out, esp. in close game situations or the playoffs... Parsons: -while Parsons does give McHale the versatility of sliding him into the 4, when did that happen that often last season? lol i saw Delfino there WAY more often. hopefully Parsons adding 8 lbs of muscle this yr will mean he can play down low some more. id love to see how he does there in longer stretches of time (the short bursts of small ball with him at the 4 seemed to be pretty successful at least) -author mentions Parsons needing to be more active on the defensive glass. ive always thought his rebounding issues mostly stemmed from losing out on opportunities on the offensive end, but that that was due to the Rockets' strategy of sort of leaking out on offense to try to bolster their transition D. okay, so i was writing this as i was reading it...and now realize just how ridiculously long the article is haha. will spare everyone the pain of having to slosh through any more.
Pelton did not mention that LIn's overall defensive PPP is 96 while Beverley's is .98. That's about equal to me.
Sorry big error. He sees Beverley with very few faults. This is surprising as his FG% is low, he has very few assits,and he does not seem to create much. Puzzling.
Pelton referred to D-Mo has being "stout" and "lacking mobility." In reality he got pushed around easily by other bigs but ran like a gazelle (by seven footer standards). The problem with his defense and rebounding wasn't his lack of mobility; it was his cluelessness and lack of "stoutness." Meanwhile, Omer got praised for his mobility. Omer is such a great defender because he's very strong, understands positioning and has an extremely high basketball IQ. Even for his size, I'd say he only has average mobility. It's his strength and brains that make him great.
Lin actually looks pretty good on advanced D metrics. Look at this analysis by Kelly Scaletta. (It's unusually good considering it's Bleacher Report). Go to the front of the slideshow to have a description of what went into the rankings. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...est-defensive-point-guards-in-the-nba/page/11
The most suprising part to me is how low Asik's WARP is-- only 0.7 even though he is projected to put up 5.8 pts and 6.7 rbs per game, which means they are going on the assumption that he would get still significant minutes. Both Asik's raw Plus Minus and his RAPM (regularized adjusted plus minus) would suggest that he is a much better player than 0.7 WARP-- barely better than a scrub off the street. Actually watching Houston play without would also tell us that Asik has a huge impact on how well the team plays as compared to a "replacement player" (i.e., scrub off the street).
WARP Top 5 Harden 16.2 Howard 11 Lin 5.1 Parsons 5 Beverley 4.9 6. Jones 3.2 7. Casspi 1.5 Garcia 1.5
How is WARP calculated? Asik's contributions, apart from rebounds, don't really show up in a traditional box score. Apart from rebounding, his biggest contribution is lowering the shooting % of the entire opposing team.
I think the assist numbers are low for Lin and Harden. I think Lin will avg 7+ and Harden should still stay around 6.
A lot of the analysis is superficial In addition to what's already posted above, if DMo gets 20 minutes as a starter, he'll average more than 4 points. DMo actually don't have a tendency to drift out to the 3pt line, he wants to play in the post, but it's the Rockets system. Beverley and Asik's WARP seem wrong, and what's with calling Lin a below average defender when you're a guy using advanced stats to rate a player, while calling Harden 'not accomplished'? Harden did have a very obvious spike in turnovers last year as well. A lot misconceptions all around. Having said that, super enthusiastic about the coming season.
I love how this guy predicts that basically every starter for the Rockets overall stats will go down. This dude a hater.
