Is the Rockets' defense actually.... good? Check out this stat...

Yes it is a different skill, but the most common way a defense successfully ends an offensive possession is thru a defensive rebound. If you can secure a defensive rebound then the offense can keep rebounding until they score.

 

Oh the other interesting tidbit is we lead the league in Offensive rebounding but at the bottom of defensive rebounding with MIA

 

I think Dwight commits to the block too much sometimes, which leads to him being out of position to box out or rebound. If he goes for a block, other players needs to box out and ready for the rebound.

 

Parsons' defense, in my opinion, has regressed. Harden is a subpar defender, and that's being kind.

Defensive rebounding and turnovers are this team's warts. A team can shoot 40 percent, sure, but if it keeps getting its own rebound and still gets something out of possessions, it all adds up.

 

Blocking shots and ball pressure on the perimeter are also different skills. They're both defense, are they not?

 

They are related, but it all depends on the team strategy:

Crash the boards - all the players go for the rebound. You get more rebounds this way, But then, the offense suffers because there will be fewer fast break points.

Run the break - after the shot, everyone runs down court to get in position to score. If you get the rebound, scoring is easier, but you will get fewer rebounds overall.

Rockets current strategy is to run the break instead of crashing the boards too hard.

 

Uh 1/3 of those shots are 3's so no it's not a great percentage

 

I will say it again, block is overrated. You don't need a block, just change your opponents shot, force a bad shot. This way, basketball will stay in court and you will have bigger chance of getting rebound.

 

I am not surprised by this data - intrigued, but not surprised. It totally makes sense. The issue really isn't defensive rebounding. Well, it is, but it's not because we aren't TRYING to get defensive rebounding. It's not a hustle issue. Because we are hustling on defense. The issue is an IQ one on defense. It's the fact that we're still LEARNING to play defense. The fact that we give up a high percentage on 3 point shots and that we give up a lot of offensive rebounds are related. What it says is that our interior defense and initial defense is very good and force a lot of poor shots.

In other words, we're playing great defense initially - we've got that down.

We get into problems in one of two situations.

1. Opponent penetration than ball movement. We stop the initial penetration but the ball is being passed back out for open 3's. This is because our defenders are not rotating correctly, they are overcompensating or moving too far out of position to rotate fast enough back to a perimeter defender.

2. After rotating, the defense is scrambled and no one knows whom to box out. I see this multiple times where Dwight is boxing out but no one else is because Terrance Jones has been moved out to the perimeter to contest a shot and it's a guard who switched into the interior and they just aren't familiar with boxing out on a shot. So a player just slices right through and snatches up the board.


These are just things that we need to work on. Boxing out and better rotations. It's scary to think how could of a defensive team we could be if we did these two things better.

 

I completely agree. This is where Asik and Tjones pairing could work, Asik does a better job in boxing out his man and Tjones is athletic enough as weak-side block. I rather have our bigs go less for blocks and more box out then secure the defensive rebounds. It is painful to watch Howard got out-rebounded by Koufos last night.

 

Our field goal % defense is very good, and that is a necessary part of good defense. However, you need to rebound, force turnovers, defend the 3, and minimize fouls in order to be great on defense.

For instance, the Pacers have the #1 field goal defense, but they are also #3 in 3pt %, #4 in free throw rate, #11 in turnover rate, and #22 in defensive rebounding. Top 4 in 3 categories, and only 1 below average.

 

Very insightful! I remember when I played on a bad team (wasn't so great myself, haha) and during one possesesion all five of us successfuly boxed out. You can figure out what happened - the ball fell on the floor since we were all busy keeping our man from rebounding and we just picked it up.

Yep, we were bad

 

Ha. Funny guy.

 

This is the Rockets, not the Knicks or Nets. Rockets need young player, not older player.

 

This is encouraging news. I believe that if rebounding is the issue, it's something we can fix. We have players who can rebound, but they have to be committed to crashing the boards, especially when they're in a shooting slump. Good defense ends in a rebound. Blocks are nice, but if you always go for the block you leave the lane wide open. I believe this is something we can work on and get better at.

 

I would say (without an in depth look) that the problem is more likely turn overs.

And I would suggest using PPP (where the Rockets are 2nd in the NBA) instead of PPS. PPS does not take into account free throws.

 

How about this? We are 2nd worst team in the league on opponents point per game.

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/team/_/stat/defense-per-game/sort/avgPointsOpponent

 

A meaningless stat by itself. Pace and all that other stuff. The important stat is point differential where the Rockets are currently 8th in the league.

 

The good news is that both defense and turnovers can be a function of youth. As our players gain more experience, they should improve in both facets of the game.

That said, eventually we will need someone that's naturally gifted as a defender. Almost every good team in the league has a stopper:

Miami - Lebron
Indiana - George
SA - Leonard
Bulls - Deng
GSW - Iggy
OKC - Sefolosha
Mem - Allen
Port - Matthews/Batum

Besides us, the Clippers and Wolves are the only "good" teams without an elite defensive player, and I don't expect either of those teams to make it past the 1st round in the playoffs.

 

I dont know how this is true since terrible teams end up shooting lights out on us toward the end of the game.