It's likely no one responded to you because you are arguing against a point no one is making. Everyone knows we need more talent and shot creators. Everyone wants a dragic or a Lawson. Beverley is the least worst option right now and still posts fairly positive contribution metrics on both sides of the ball. Better than Lin, better than Terry, better than Canaan. As soon as talent a talent upgrade is available, the Rockets will jump on. It really is as simple as that.
Someone isn't a championship player until they are. Some guys mean more to a championship team than others, but Bev is surely enough of a player/contributor to be some part of a championship team.
Yes. History has proven as much. On a side note, I can't help but think there are ulterior motives at play here. Remnants of the last two seasons.
The current Beverley? Yes, as a backup. The only way Beverley can be a starter on a championship team (this team) is to revert back to his old defensive ways. It would be funny if it didn't hurt so much - to hear so many people continue to call him a great defender. It is like the opposite of Harden.
Its his contract year. He'll be focusing on offense, not defense. Just like Parsons. Dude want to get paid.
lol Over a month now Bev has shown this is correct. Love the guy but he is not bringing it on the court defensively except in small spurts.
our current defense is system/scheme based so we don't need strong on the ball lock down guys anyway which is bev's strong point. so his D wouldn't be missed as much but his lack of scoring would be. should be a backup pg.
Beverley would be an awesome 3rd guard. His spark and tenacity off the bench could be game changing. He is simply miscast in his role as the starting pg. That isn't on him.
Per NBA.com For the 2014-2015 season up till Jan 20. Regarding defense, the opponent's shooting % against the Rockets. Here are the breakdown : 25-29 FT, Rox opponents shooting 28.5% (Ranking in all NBA teams : No. 2) 20-24 FT, 34.2% (No. 1) 15-19 FT, 38.4% (No. 3) 10-14 FT, 37.5% (No. 7) 5-9 FT, 40.2% ( No. 15) Less than 5 FT, 60.3% (No. 25) The defensive scheme of the Rox will be always switching on pick and roll, and hence you will see our outside defenders will most likely go around the pick rather than go under it. Its about the other guy to pick up the ball handler and then the teammates to adjust and rotate to defend the other guys on the floor. Hence, under this type of defense, for the outside defender, its not about to block the shots of the ball handler or block his lane to the basket, its about keeping pressure on him and how the other teammates will rotate. The Rockets will love the ball handler to take an jumper after the pick, that's a low % shot, as the number shown already. We are not doing a bad job on most if all the outside shots. For less than 5 FT FG, we are giving up a ridiculous 60.3%, ranking 6th worst in the league, and we have Dwight, whose opponents only shooting less than 20% when he is around 2 FT under the basket, so what does this number telling you? 1. We are such a horrible transition team, we gave up too many fast break points, we don't run back for defense that hard, we are give away easy baskets with TOV after TOV. 2. Also, our rotation is late, we are not trying hard enough, the penetration are creating problems for us, especially of late. The defense of the whole team is not playing at a high level, that of course including Bev also. But just blaming on him without looking at the facts and really understand how the Rockets are doing as of late, its just stupid nonsense.
Great post! Very insightful. Our team defense has bee HORRIBLE lately. But if we lose it's Bev's fault
The problem is indeed transition defense or lack thereof, but the root cause is turnovers, we are horribly sloppy with the ball, from Harden and Smith at over 4 a game to Howard as well, we turn it over far too much and are either last or 2nd to last in the league, that right there is our biggest weakness. DD
and those high turnovers are because they have to handle the ball so much since their pg isn't cable of doing so at a high level.
What? You sir, are incorrect. Their turnovers are because they are individually sloppy with the ball. Josh Smith is ASKED to initiate the offense - as is Harden, and Howard is just a turnover machine because he refuses to play PnR. We don't need another PG, HARDEN IS OUR PG. DD
What happens when Harden isn't in the game? Or god forbid he gets injured? Or in foul trouble? Or is being doubled? We do need another "playmaker" for the Rockets to take it to the next level.
How anybody could watch this team and think we don't need another playmaker is beyond me. For all of his inconsistencies and missteps, Lin was the guy we could lean on to facilitate when Harden missed time. We don't have that guy on the roster anymore, and we've just been really blessed that Harden hasn't missed any games. Smart teams know that taking Harden out of the game shuts us down completely because he is the only guy who can get others involved. There's a reason it seems like Dwight's big games are always wasted -- Dwight going off is just Dwight going off, individually. He isn't going to create anything for anybody else. To me, saying "we already have a facilitator, we don't need another" is akin to saying, "we already have one guy out of 15 who rebounds, why would we need more?" Well, because that one guy could be well-defended and effectively taken out of the game. Or get injured and miss significant time. Or hell, just have the sniffles and need to miss a few games, which is a huge deal in this ridiculous conference. Last night was a prime example. Harden can't even sit in a blowout game because you're forced to trot out 5 guys who are individually talented, but can't create anything for themselves or each other. That's a problem. I think they had the right idea casting a playmaker in the 6th man role last season and just filled it with the wrong person. I still think that set-up could have worked (and could still work) with the right guy in that role -- or even with a playmaking PG starting alongside Harden and staggering their minutes thereafter, if you're bringing in someone who will expect to start.
damn i wish there was a way i could give you more rep for this sensible post. last year we had 3 guys who could create for teammates, albeit on different levels. Harden, Lin, CP. This year we have 1, and he cant even be as much a facilitator role because noone else can score. We win games against mediocore or bad teams because we have superior talent, but we lack a cohesive gameplan against the good teams. I don't seriously effing understand how people can be so effing short sighted
Can anyone shed some light on who could be probable trade targets that could fill the role of 2nd playmaker except for Dragic (I believe getting him is just wishful thinking, just can't see Phoenix trading him to a west team)
