How can we improve on the offense especially in 4th quarter when opponent apply extra pressure? It's ironic that they hired RA to improve the offense yet it's the offense that often break down late in the game and we end up with a bad shot selection. Is it lack of chemistry, players fail to execute, inexperienced PGs or simply Rick's fault?
rick adelman has basically had high offensive production in every team he's coached. i dont see how anyone can blame adelman for our LACK of offense. i don't care if you are the greatest play drawer ever, at the end of the day your players have to execute and put the ball in the hole. ever think the players just might not be that good offensively? look at battier. usually your SF is your most dynamic athlete and scorer, but battier is a defensive player who can't create his own shot.
If offense was all about creating your own shot, then von wafer would be the best player on the team. Offense is about spacing, dribbling, passing, shooting, and rebounding. Battier does most of those things well. He's a poor ball handler, but what he lacks in that area, he more than makes up for it with the other aspects of his game. The biggest problem that i see with our offense is that our best scorer can't seem to get off more than 12 shots a game. I dont understand it. We have to find a way to get Yao good looks at the basket. Battier is probably the only guy that understands that, and also follows through on the court by seeking yao out.
The Rockets don't have an elite offensive player on the team, other than Yao Ming. And he needs others to get him the ball. Maybe we should temper our expectations of how good this team can be on offense.
Its the players' failure to execute well that is causing the biggest problems, IMO. Given what Rick has done with such adversity this year, its hard to pin the blame on him. I don't think its a lack of chemistry. We're nearing the end of the season and these guys know each other and know each others' tendencies. Its just failure to execute.
Actually von wafer is our best scorer, which is sad since the guy barely made the team, but it just shows how offensively inept we've been the past 3-4 seasons. aside from t-mac, Von Wafer has been our most dynamic perimeter scorer in the past 5 years. let me repeat that. aside from t-mac, Von Wafer has been our most dynamic perimeter scorer in the past 5 years!!!! it's plain as day to see that our players just aren't talented enough offensively as the lakers or jazz. hell luke walton has more offensive talent than Battier could ever dream of and he doesn't even get playing time. we've tried pounding the ball to Yao every time down with JVG and it only led us to a first round exit. i dont see why people think that would work now. Yao is still kicking out to guys like Battier if he doesn't get his pass deflected.
Offense isn't about creating your own shot? Name another good team that doesn't have a great player who can create his own shot. It's telling that a player like Wafer can come in and get big minutes on our team solely on that one ability. And while i don't believe Battier is a huge detriment on offense, i fail to see how anyone can think he's such a good offensive player. Of the things you pointed out the only thing he does well is space the floor. He is a poor ball handler, he's not a good passer, his shooting is spotty other than open corner 3's and he's an average rebounder. Again, not a Battier hater, i love what he brings to the table, but i don't think his offense helps us as much as it does with a Mcgrady type player along side of him. It's funny, you would think that with Tracy and Rafer out of the picture that Yao would be taking 20 shots a night but that hasn't happened. As weird as it sounds, since losing Tracy/Rafer, the only players we have that can think and drive at the same time are Kyle Lowry and Brent Barry. Much of this has to fall on Yao as well. If you think back to all of the dominant big men it was never necessary for there to be so many elaborate schemes to get them in scoring position, they just found a way to get there. It's shocking that as good as he is, he has trouble with fundamentals like sealing his man off and working himself into scoring position.
We don't have a Guard or wing man that can create for himself and others consistently that is why we struggle. It is easier to take a big man out of the game in the 4th than it is a wing man and that is why we are struggling in the 4th. When your big man gets taking out the game you need someone else to takeover on a consistent level which we don't have. We are basically the only team in the West that has this problem yet everyone wants to throw the blame at Adelman.
To call Wafer a more dynamic scorer than artest is a joke. If Brooks played off guard he would score alot more than Wafer too. What you're missing here is that its Wafer's role to score. He is on the court to shoot and drive. He doesn't do anything else well. Don't mistake that with him being the best scorer. Our best scorer is easily Yao Ming followed by Artest.
Our best chances to score is to give it to Yao in the low post. He's skilled enough to score on any defender but he has to be aggressive in wanting the ball. Another good thing about Yao is that he's a willing passer so when the double team comes everyone including Ron Ron will get their shots. Ballmovement to and from Yao will increase our chances of scoring. Entry passes is a still a problem due to Yao not holding his position or the entry pass being late or not thrown at all. I would like the coaching staff to find more ways of getting Yao the ball in better positions. All players must be on the same page for this to happen. I also like Scola and Ron in the low post.
It is all of those things but when they on go these long scoring draughts in the 4th quarter the blame has to be placed on Adelman, one of my biggest beefs with him is when they get into these situations, 4 or 5 minutes go by without a field goal that is inexcusable. Take a timeout, draw up a play, make an adjusment. You just cant let 5 minutes go by and do nothing.
I said its not ALL about creating your own shot. Obviously in a desperate situation, one is forced in to that mode, but most good shots come from A. good spacing B. Good decision making C. Good ball movement D. Offensive rebounding Scola is one of the better offensive PFs in the game, but its not because he creates for himself. People on this board overrated his ability to create his own shot. In fact, when he's forced to do so it usually leads in a turnover or a wild shot attempt.Scola is an efficient offensive player becase he rebounds, shoots, passes, and understands spacing.
This happens quite often when you play a good team, especially in the 4th quarter...which is why being able to create your own shot is completely necessary. I don't see how. I think you're mixing up scorer and offensive player. Wafer gets 10 points a night on 44% shooting, Ron gets 17 on 40% shooting. I think Wafer could make up those 7 points while still shooting over 40% (i'm pretty sure he did so in January when he was getting all those minutes), which would make him the better scorer imo. Ron is the better offensive player or better player overall because he can post up and create for teammates, he can rebound, and he can defend. He does more things but I would consider Wafer the better scorer.
This is basically our core issue. I remember Morey saying that it would be interesting to see how we will create shots in 4th quarter with these group of guys right after it was announced that TMac is done for the season. We still basically do not have a good solution for this. As someone else mentioned, it seems like only Battier is able to make proper pass to Yao Ming on the post. The problem we have with this is that when Yao is fronted or denied the entry pass there is not much Battier can do except either pass the ball to someone else or launch a 3 pointer and this creates a problem for us when clock is winding down because the other team usually plays passing lane on the our other guard players and as a result Shane would get in trouble in even passing it to the other players.
Penetration is necessary. Creating your own shot is overrated and its a phrase that is overused. A shot can not be created if there is poor spacing, no threat of outside shooting, or no threat of ball movement. The good teams in the league right now are good because they put players on the floor who have well defined roles and understand spacing and decision making. Chris Paul is probably the best creator in the league and he literally makes 70-80 percent of the decisions for his team, but his team's offensive efficiency is amongst the bottom 10 in the league. Its mainly because they don't space the floor well and they dont crash the offensive glass. Wade is another superior creator who plays 40 mins a night for his team, but again, theyre not a great offensive team because their spacing/decision making is bad and they dont rebound well either.
I feel that Rick is struggling at the moment because of that whole Tracy thing. Once Tracy went down, I bet that half of the playbook was destroyed... and while other teams (like the Lakers) are pretty much ready for the playoffs at this point, the Rockets are still trying to get their feet under them. In my opinion, Rockets need to stop trying to find different things to do and just work on what they've got. They need to improve their execution of the plays they have as much as possible before the playoffs, and you're certainly not going to do that by throwing new stuff on top of it.
How is good spacing achieved? I think you're selling the Heat and Hornets' offense short a little, they play very slow, they are 17th and 11th in scoring per 100 possessions...so around the middle of the pack seems more accurate. I think in both cases the spacing is poor because the players are only capable of scoring in a few situations. They just have bad players around them and they may appear to make more bad decisions if they don't have much of a decisions to make (because of lack of talent and skill). Much of offense is about breaking down the defense and that can't be done if only one person can score multiple ways. No matter where some players (Tyson Chandler, Sean Marks, Julian Wright, Hilton Armstrong,etc.) stand there will be poor spacing because the defense doesn't have to account for them. It seems people would like to think that winning is all about playing smart (obviously a big part) but i don't see how that's the case when the smartest players seem to be role players. Talent, skill, and athleticism are very important. I completely agree with this.
