lol at Sampson saying coaching is overrated when it comes to defense. Deflecting all blame from himself
I have the same impression as yours. we don't switch a lot. because of that, we had trouble to communicate with each other when we need most, like vs lakers.
Not quite that simple. Just keep in mind that this group has been together a very short period of time and the team is having growing pains both defensively and offensively. With time you will see more PNR with Howard and the Rockets defensive rotations will improve. The ingredients and trade pieces are there for the Rockets to be an elite contender. Other than Jeremy Lin no one has really played well and Harden has some serious nagging injuries.
Van Gundy never much liked the straight post-up anyway. If Howard was going to get the ball on the block, Van Gundy preferred it to come either in semi-transition or after Howard set a high screen and rumbled down to the block. He could get deep position that way, so that he could catch and go right into a monster move. "We wanted to get it to him as close to the basket as possible," Van Gundy says, "to a place where no dribble was necessary." Howard mostly catches the ball two steps outside the paint now. Basically, every defender is Jason Collins from the 2011 playoffs. this is exactly what they should be doing. we gotta push the ball every possession and howard needs to run the floor. get the ball to him early before the defense can settle down. that way he can post right away, never letting his man plant his feet and never letting the help defense double him, especially from the blindside. on the other hand, if he's not open, harden/lin etc can run the floor just like last year.
I have watched every game so far this season, and Howard's post-up game truly looks bad. To see the percentage of Howard's post-up moves that result in turnovers, offensive fouls, or missed shot is disconcerting.
I'm not sure how players are supposed to just figure it out on their own. It's easier to show better effort, if your role and assignment is clearly defined. The players don't even seem entirely sure what they're supposed to be doing. I'd love to see what Howard/Asik and our perimeter could do under SVG's coaching.
Oh yeah, watching us spend 10 seconds trying to get Howard the ball, is lunacy. I'd rather have Harden/Lin/Bev just jack up a 3pt shot from 27-30ft. I'm 100% sure that's a better shot.
I warned Rockets fans about Hardens defense BEFORE OKC did the trade. This is the private reason he came off the bench in OKC. It was better to have him defend bench players and keep him in with crunchtime lineups. I glad Mr. Lowe wrote this article
Agreed. In addition to the worst lob throwing team, we have to be worst passing team into the post. Lack of fundamentals is surprising: Dwight doesn't seal his position and none of the guards/forwards do the elementary fake-a-pass-make-a-pass (they all just hold the ball up high for literally 5-7 seconds before tossing the ball down).
+1. The Rockets will eventually figure out a scheme defensively that will work for their personnel. They need to keep going over screens vs any playing with shooting capacity, and guards need to quit chasing down their cover once they're beaten off the dribble. Howard is waiting in the middle, so the smalls need to start switching to a big defensively and trying to box out so Howard can protect the rim. People need to keep in mind that Orlando had a near-impenetrable defense for quite some time despite sieves on defense like Turk, Nelson and Lewis on the perimeter. They'll get it someday.
Don't forget that this team is just learning to play together and trying to figure out what combinations work best on the floor. The Rockets have the number one post defender in the league and the number one scoring 2 guard in the league. They also have many good pieces around them. I think the number one thing to improve on is just not acting like Howard is Dream or even DMo, and not try to force feed him in the post over and over. Many people are crying that we suck now and don't have a chance, but I really think that this will all change as this team proves they have what it takes through out the season.
Let's be fair to the passers - in today's NBA you can't throw a telegraphed pass to anyone without a fair-to-decent chance that someone is going to get a hand on it. It's hard to force-feed someone like Dwight because everyone knows it's coming and everyone knows where the ball is going. You literally have to throw it where only Dwight can get to it but no one else - his man defender, another player hedging, someone cutting into the passing lane, etc. - can't. The real problem is that we are trying to get Howard buckets without forcing the opposing defense to make a tough choice. That cute little play with Beverley? What happens if Beverley's screen doesn't work? The entire play falls apart - there's no outlet pass and no easy second option. Beverley himself isn't a threat to score (especially not from that position). It's literally a screen play built explicitly for Howard to score. That's not good basketball. That's cute basketball. That's "let's just throw this in there to change things up" basketball. It's not something you want to run constantly or as a fundamental part of your offense. And it feels like every single play we run for Howard is built like this - with Howard as the focus and no other threats being leveraged. The basic Pick N' Roll is a staple precisely because it forces defenses to make a hard choice. You have to choose between defending the ball handler or defending the rolling man - but you can't do both very well. If all we did was use the PNR more often, Howard would be getting far more easy buckets because there are less than a handful of big men in the league who can stop him once he gathers momentum without drawing an And-1 (or, at the very least, just a foul). Also, all of the defensive problems can be boiled down into two issues: 1) No set play for the defender being screened (over/under/force/rotate/etc.) 2) Poor communication from everyone on the court, particularly the bigs who can see the screens coming If they just fixed those two things, then the defense would at least be more consistent. You can't defend without a core consistency - force the offense to work against a set defense, and then you can adjust as each possession progresses.
It is probably a fair assessment, though. I am pretty sure the coaches didn't tell Harden to stand upright and not pay any attention to his man while watching the ball.
Jeff van Gundy would disagree that coaching doesn't have a role to play in the quality of team defense. Tom Thibodeau would disagree too. I really wish we had one of those top defensive coordinators coaching the team, but the tradeoff to revert to Gundyball is just not worth it. Ronnie Brewer would probably play 35mpg if JVG was coach.
This. I am the girl who opted to be an office aide in middle school to avoid PE -- unathletic as they come. But if you threw me into a basketball game and asked me to guard someone, I'd at least bend my knees and put my arms out. LOL.
I think the communication will come for ice when they use it. The big thing is that until that happens, the Rockets will have the ball handler either getting access to the middle of the lane if his defender goes over the pick or a wide open shot if he goes under the pick.
ICE isn't effective in the western conference, it's an east coast defense, which is why you really only hear so much from least coast centric people like Lowe but he doesn't seem to realise it. Marc? nope, Duncan (or Parker)? nope, Aldridge? nope, Love? nope, Curry? nope, Harden (or Howard)? nope, I might run it against the Clippers but I'm not so sure, it's one of the many reasons why the least gets routinely destroyed by the west. Watch Memphis, that's how you defend the pnr in the west.
