Spears: Ex-NBA player felt like a lab rat playing for RGV

I don't blame him. Basketball should not be confined to limited plays.

 

Houston Lab Rats: Experiments gone wrong!

 

I agree. I'm good with the Rockets organization trying to play as efficiently as possible. I don't mind the system, but you have to have the players that fit that mold. Utilize the players strengths, don't force them to do something they aren't good at.

Personally I think the Warriors get it right, they are capable of playing more than one way. You bring guys off the bench that play differently and it gives them a different wrinkle.

I'd like to see the Rockets be a little more open minded when it comes to the offense. I'm all for analytics and how the Rockets use them, but I think they can be a little more dynamic than what they are.

 

That "Ex-NBA player" sounds like a whiny baby. I bet his real gripe is that he wasn't good enough to make it in the league.

 

No offense, but RGV is exactly that ... a lab experiment. It's not like they tried to hide it. In other news, they aren't the only NBA team using the D-League as a "lab experiment" or proving grounds for ideas. The Sacramento Kings use the Reno Bighorns for their experiments in run-and-gun basketball.

As for Livingston, he'd been released by numerous teams prior to the Warriors. Playoff teams such as the Clippers, Heat, Grizzlies, Thunder, Hornets, Wizards, and Cavaliers have released him... and some of them acquired and released him multiple times. Hell, almost every team that's ever released him is/was a playoff team.

 

Thread should be in the GARM IMO, I almost missed it. I don't think RGV is supposed to be an 'experiment'. As I recall they used to run the Adelman system there (under Finch) when Rick was coaching the Rockets. To me that sounds like the purpose of RGV is to prepare guys for the NBA team, unless something has changed.

 

RGV is both an experimentation training ground and essentially a JV of the Rockets. The foundation is the same as Houston's - i.e. play-calling, offensive and defensive principles, etc. - but there is very much leniency in ideas, such as maybe playing a five-guard lineup, players working on extreme aspects of their game (think Harrell taking a lot of 3s to improve his perimeter game last season) and such. It is very much true to the "developmental" tag, both in team and individual.

 

This is actually at least in part, a myth. The Vipers actually started out being affiliated with the Cavs, Hornets, and Rockets. It wasn't until around 2009 that they became exclusively the Rockets' "property" (which was toward the end of Adelman's tenure here).

The D-League is used by some NBA franchises as a way to execute "what-if" scenarios. The Kings even did it when they had the Reno Big Horns jacking up shots like mad. Read this article and their coach's quote below : https://www.grinnell.edu/news/external/david-arnsenault-jr-takes-grinnell-system-nbas-d-league

As for preparing for the NBA team, that's exactly what they're doing, but I don't think it's their primary purpose. They're taking what they do in the NBA or could do in the NBA and taking it further without risking utter failure in the big leagues. After all, who cares if the D-League team loses (I guess). For example, at one point, the RGV Vipers were preaching what the Rockets preach at the NBA level and trying to take 3's and layups at all costs. This was to such an extreme at one point that the following article states that 92% of their shots were within 8 feet or 3 pointers. That's an insane stat. Troy Daniels states that they were told to take 50 3's per game.

http://houston.cbslocal.com/2014/03...ts-the-goal-for-the-rio-grande-valley-vipers/

Grantland had a great article a couple of years ago about what they were trying to do with this experimental basketball : http://grantland.com/features/nba-dleague-rgv-vipers-houston-rockets-future-of-basketball/

The flopping rules were first implemented as an experiment in the D-League... it's all one big experiment! :grin:

http://www.nba.com/dleague/news/nba_dleague_flopping_penalties_2014_02_19.html

So, like I said... this is nothing shocking or revealing...

 

Why not try experimenting with defense?

 

a lab rat?

Pfft.

It's called implementing a system. It's called a game plan. It's called Basketball.

Look, not everyone will agree that the uptempo, high % of 3's and layups approach is the BEST way to go. But it's something. And the D-League team should serve as an extension and breeding ground FOR THE ROCKETS. If they have committed as an organisation to play a certain way, it would be folly to let their D League affiliate do whatever.

 

Does anybody know of any strategic breakthroughs Morey can legitimately take credit for?