Schuhman: Rockets biggest regressor on D, 3rd best improver on O since January 1st

while its Dwight the lack of having a known shot blocker and intimidating player back there hurts the defense the most. Smith is a great shot blocker but doesn't intimidate the same way Dwight does. Terrence Jones and Dorsey do not have the rep of being a shot blocker at all even if Jones is blocking shots at a very nice rate since his return.

The reason being that just having a guy with that rep and presence alone deters players from attacking the paint because in the back of their head its there that man Dwight is back there he'll block this shot. Smith for the most part gets his blocks from the weakside. When Dwight first returned the defense between the defense was night and day. Guys were literally driving around the paint and did not want to come inside and challenge Dwight. It led to numerous missed shots and changed shots and bad passes to turnovers. Even if Dwight did nothing to actually block the shot he alters so many trying to go after them. With Dwight's length and leaping ability the trajectory of the shot really does need to change to get it over him.

All this factors - We dont need another all-star defensive center back there if we had a guy who is known for his shot blocking back there it would make a huge of a difference. For example if his head was on straight I would have been demanding the Rockets make a run at a guy like Larry Sanders. (but his head is any which way but straight)

Right now opposing players especially guard have no fear about driving into the paint. This in turn forces the wing players to guard more cautiously instead of the occasional gamble since if they get burned there is no one really there to help.



Another huge factor of course is actually having Dorsey start -- I do not think that its because he is terrible I think he has played admirably actually on defense the last few games, but not sure if its him or the other players communicating or what but it seems there are far fewer rotations to the open man when he is in the game its like he doesnt call out his rotation the same way as Dwight may have and his teammates cant react properly in time. Often time you would see after a made basket frustration on the players facing thinking a rotation was supposed to be made but there was no communication for it.

 

Losing Dwight alone has not cost us 13 spots in defense. The team is noticeably more lax on defense overall. Again, they just need watch tape of them in the first part of the season, when they were all playing hardcore D, then go do that again.

 

They have the easiest schedule in the early season also.

And they are also like 7-0 something when those games decided by 5 points or less.

Luck is a factor.

Overall, saying we are doing well defensively when Dwight is out is just an illusion.

 

I don't think that's as much luck as it is Harden just being phenomenal down the stretch of games.

 

The only thing that matters is that we will not beat any of the Thunder, Warriors or Clippers in the playoffs. To make matters worse, we have to try to get excited yet again for a summer of possibilities with the built in excuse of Durant being an FA a year later. At this point, the Thunder are more likely to reacquire Harden than we are to sign Durant if Morey strikes out for the 3rd time this summer.

I'm not going to flip out because I'm not one of those people who has been waiting for a chance to trash the front office. I've been one of the most supportive fans of the front office, check my history. However, the inexplicable McHale extension coupled with the inconceivable failure to land any of the 5 PG's which changed teams at the deadline has made me rethink Morey's (or maybe Les') obsession with winning single trades on a net asset basis. We should have overpaid.

These little statistical victories are meaningless. If analytics is the new form of NBA expertise, then these statistical tidbits - which tend to leak out when there is pressure on the front office - are the BS front office excuses of this generation.

 

Morey is willing to overpay to lock in a solid team. He would have overpaid the hell out of Parsons if Bosh had signed.

There wasn't a PG we could have gotten for a reasonable price. Even a mild overpay wouldn't have done it when you look at the individual circumstances.


The only thing I can see that could have been done is TJone plus Two First Rounders for what would have very likely been 3 months of Dragic.



and then what?

 

We signed Josh Smith and Corey Brewer at the end of December. Not sure how that factors in, but you would thing it does.

 

The story to me in the league-wide change is with the Warriors defense. Yikes, and everyone is penciling them into the finals.

 

The Warriors are still net positive since Jan 1. They have improved more on offense than they lost on defense. and they are still fantastic at both.

not sure where you're going with this

 

Oh, please. This is not about money. It's about assets.

We could have had ex-Sixer MCW for, AT WORST, the Pelicans and Knicks pick.

Surely we could have gotten DJ Augustin.

Both of those guys are 100% capable of competing for Beverley's minutes, if not becoming the starter on this team.

This is solely about getting a 3rd star. You don't need 3 stars to win a championship, unless you're being coached by a McHale or a Spoelstra.

I would much rather pay a painful price for an upgrade at PG than to waste 82 games again with Howard looking like he's on the physical downside of his career.

It was a good idea to go for a 3rd star. I'm sure it's also a matter of pride for Morey to show how neatly he can financially fit 3 stars into a team surrounded by underpaid role players. I would have loved that too. But when he was a few hours away from this year's trade deadline, the realization should have hit him that by the time he gets that "3rd" star, Dwight Howard may not be a star anymore and we might need to get another 3rd star.

 

Dwight Howard being out explains both of these numbers.

 

First of all - I don't know why you think that.

Second of all - you think MCW is worth it?


MCW?

 

I mean, Philly got the Lakers pick. A top 5 pick.

The NOP pick and the LAL 2nd rounder weren't going to cut it.

 

This. Complain about not getting an upgrade all you want, but MCW appears to be trash and Philly knew it.

I believe I saw the stat saying he shoots a whopping 25% from everywhere outside of the paint. That is otherworldly terrible. He racked up counting stats by getting the ball and the minutes on a garbage team. He has A LOT of growing as a player to do before being considered anyone we should feel bad about missing out on.

 

Like I said, we should have OVERpaid - i.e. of course I don't think he's worth it.

But context is important. Would you rather have MCW now or those two picks in the summer? What if we strike out and get a worthless player like Marcus Morris with that pick? Wouldn't we have preferred that we got MCW and worked on his game for 6 months while he challenges Bev for minutes? Would MCW not be the best backup PG in the league?

Does the addition of MCW + return of Dwight + fairly easy schedule to end the season propel us to the top tier of contenders? Let's assume that costs us a great young player or two. Is that not worth it, given where this team is in its growth?

As for what it would cost:

The overwhelmingly likely scenario is that this will be a 2016 late teens or early 20's pick. Lakers are picking 4th right now and are tanking hard so the pick won't be conveyed this year. Next season they will have Kobe back, lots of cap space, a top 5 pick and Julius Randle. They are not going to tank in Kobe's final season.

Is that really more valuable than our Pellies pick alone, nevermind adding our Knicks 2nd rounder which is essentailly the first pick in the second round (I would rather pick here than anything from 25-30).

These are all minor details. For the Pellies pick and the NYK second rounder and apparently other second rounders and one of our 3 PF's in a crowded rotation and Isaiah Canaan... are you telling me we could not find a deal to bring in another PG just the same level as Bev so that we can bench Bev's ass when he starts acting like Russell Westbrook? Prigioni is a good smart player and he will give us decent minutes, but is that all we can manage? The man is 36 years old.

All Morey did, IMO, was find deals on the table which would not allow him to redeem himself after he (stupidly) felt like he was showed up this summer. Seriously there is no bigger supporter of Morey on this board. Look at my posting history. However, I genuinely feel he is letting his personal agenda affect his decision making right now. And he knows this. And we will hear from him how Prigioni and McDaniels are statistical anomalies and the average GM just wouldn't understand. Who knows? Maybe he desperately called everyone back after he called their bluff and no one picked up. I'm still willing to see how this thing plays out THIS SEASON. I'm not happy to play along this summer if we fail in the first or second round again. I'm seriously losing interest in this team.

Like I said. For me, it's strike two and I hope Les is keeping tabs on this, because I promise Harden and Howard's agents are watching the situation closely. Maybe that's why Morey is trying to sign Perkins - to appease Harden lol. Look what OKC did for their stars - they moved mountains. They learned from their past mistakes.

 

Didnt see this mentioned, but losing Tariq Black i think has contributed as well. When the Rockets lost Dwight earlier, they had another 6'10+ guy clogging the paint. I think Tariq Black is more fundamentally sound defensively than Dorsey.

 

I think it has more to do with Josh Smith on offensive splits he has been playing within himself and being very effective....

DD