From watching the games, it seems like the Rockets aren't getting as many easy fast break points as last year. I haven't looked up the stats, but they seem to be playing more in the half-court this year, and their stats weren't great in the half-court last year either.
100% agree. I just keep thinking about this. Would I rather have Harden passing the ball to Beverley for a shot or would I rather have Rondo passing the ball to Harden for a shot or drive? We can't do Rondo to Harden without Rondo being here. But we could still do Harden to Beverley with Rondo being here.
My recollection is that the Rockets offensive efficiency in the half-court ranked quite high last season. Not sure where they are now. But yes, the loss of fast breaks is a big part of the equation. The team's paced has slowed-- from 5th to 10th overall. The loss of Parsons and Lin, plus Jones, have robbed the team of a few guys who would push the ball on the break as well as run out to finish those. And this doesn't seems to be a matter of the Rockets focusing on getting the defensive rebound before running out, either. The Rockets' defensive rebound ranking remains at 20th overall. Nor is this a matter of the team smartly avoiding high risk plays since the team is still ranked 29th on turnovers. The Rockets are also getting more steals and far more opponent turnovers (ranked pretty much dead last last season and top 5 this year) and have not managed to convert those into a higher number of easy early opportunities. In the NBA, fast breaks are important. They are just easier scoring opportunities than half-court ones no matter how good you are at half-court offense. Besides, they help you avoid as much wear and tear on Harden having to do a bunch of hard work against set defenses.
Getting everyone back healthy doesn't fix the flaw in this roster - That is Harden being the only playmaker / facilitator. When your second best facilitator is KPap .... You got problems even before he goes down with an injury. That's why I think Dragic is the perfect fit for this team , he can get the offense going when Harden is on the bench and can play off of Harden much like PatBev does when they are on the floor together , shoots a solid percentage from three , isn't a zero on the defensive end ..... and isn't a crap shoot from the FT stripe.
the pace and the conversion of offensive rebounds, we've been pretty awful at the latter (and the rim in general, both dwight and jones are 72% rim finishers, dmo is 61%, black is 63% and dorsey is 52%, plus dwight is a better free throw shooter thsn those 2...), with our 2 best players for it wearing McGrady's uniform
if we end up trading canaan and the pels pick i hope the suns give us either tyler ennis or tj warren along with dragic
There's a suns fan who wrote a pretty extensive piece on how dragic struggles without frye (and a stretch 4 in general), which we don't have, perhaps harden's gravitational force would be enough, i'm not so sure. http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1307771
The pick is top 3 protected. Anyhow, what is the quality of the 2015 class? Is it deep or shallow? Are the projects in the 12-14 range any good?
Doesn't he make way too much for us to be able to get him? He's in the first year of a 32mil/4yr contract this season.
lol Morey will not touch that player option. Give up the dream because Morey will not mortgage the future for a one year rental and that is all Dragic is at this point. He will also not lock the salary cap down for a PG when our team needs a top tier PF to get that trophy. We have guards.
This draft class looks better than last year imo. Take it fwiw but nbadraft.net is projecting Willie Cauley-Stein at 13 not sure why. I only saw him versus UT and he was pretty damn good. Draftexpress has him at 4. Conversely, draftexpress has Myles Turner at 12 for some reason, but nbadraft.net has him at 5. If for some strange reason either of those guys was available at 12-14 then it would be amazing. Frank Kaminsky wouldn't be a bad pick up in that range either.
They should give up the NO pick for Dragic. If they wait till free agency, there will be more teams going after Dragic, thus more competition and the bids go up. Not many teams will give up a lotto pick when Dragic can leave during free agency, but Morey will do it.
Something like Canaan and the NOP pick for Dragic is very fair for both sides IMO. Dragic just seems so perfect for this team. Bench of Jones Papdog Terry Bev needs the 10th man to be a true center but that is a team that can go all the way.
