Great writeup @finsraider! Really enjoyed reading that! Thing is, talking about solutions with Beverley and DMO...is that who knows when they return. Bev says 3 weeks and MDA says 20 games. By 20 games time this team could be in trouble to make up ground. And who knows if DMO will resign. The team "as it stands now" needs to make some adjustments. I was pretty impressed with how Harden handled his scoring/assists last night. Very fluid and natural. Looked well in control. The only time things were off were in the 2nd half when they started going cold and "reverted back to last year ISO ball." Have to break that habit.
I actually like and agree with this post but the one substitute I might would like to see , and it might very well happen. I want to see Harrell maybe pick up more mins in lieu of Dekker. For whatever reason I think the mindset was that Sam would be our Parson's replacement. Not by you but by a lot on this board ... he's nowhere close to Parsons. His shot isn't very good, his defense isn't either. Harrell (on the defensive end) is a beast!!! His Defense & Hustle is more affective then Sam's "potential" potential IMO
Good write up. It's a new system and they're learning. My concern: I just don't get how Brewer is getting minutes. D'Antoni and JB/McHale must be seeing something noone else does..
My hope is as the season wears on and KJ keeps improving he will take Brewer's minutes. We didn't see KJ much the 2nd half and we could have used his defense on those guards.
Harrell is a matchup player. I wouldn't throw him out there against the Spurs, for example. They would eat him alive in the post and on the boards. He would have been ideal against the Lakers to counter their athleticism, but I buy The Cat's explanation that he's been away from the team all week and the staff didn't want to just throw him in there.
Thanks. And yes I agree the depth issues are a concern. I think the best option is to play McDaniels in Pat's role (but from the bench) until Pat gets back. This would also accomplish reducing Brewer and Ennis' minutes.
I didn't make that assessment after one game.....It really goes back to the end of last season. With KJ it's all about role. In summer league and the D League, we asked him to be a creator. He is not a creator. He's best suited playing with distributors and shooters that create the space for him to slash to the bucket and spot up from 3. Slash, clean up the trash, run the fastbreak, shoot the open 3....that is KJ's game. Don't ask him to take someone off the dribble or setup a teammate....that's not who he is, and it seems he's learned that (which is probably just as important as his improved jumper).
DMo is our most skilled post defender by a healthy margin. Randle pounded both Anderson and Nene in the post....I think he even got Capela one time. Randle wouldn't have been 9-11 from the field if DMo was out there. He may not have stopped him, but the Lakers would've stopped targeting that weakness.
I really enjoyed watching the offense last night. The player movement and shooting (at least in the 1st half). That was nice to see. And it was a positive. I also couldn't help be think about how this team would be with Llull as the backup PG instead of Ennis. How that would help the bench unit immensely. Having another PNR/passer/shot creator while Harden is resting. Rockets can win with this MDA system, but they are going to need to boost their bench a bit and find more "2 way" players. A Ryan Anderson for Paul Millsap swap would be nice.
DMos post defense is superior to Whatever that was that Nene was throwing out last night. Plus, DMo is just better offensively.
Randle didn't kill Hou last night in the post. He scored off of one traditional post play in the 2nd quarter. That's it. All of his damage came of the bounce with his ability to put the ball on the floor putting hou bigs in the position of backpedaling. Which is turn got him to the rim and he was finishing all night. Had Dmo been out there they most definitely would have got at that matchup just as much. Randle isn't a good matchup for immobile bigs
It's definitely a concern, but I hope an easily fixable one. McDaniels clearly deserves more minutes. My best guess is that the team is trying to decide whether to pick up Ennis' 4th year option and they are hoping Brewer can salvage some of his value, so McDaniels is getting the short end of the stick. We will probably know Ennis one way or another after Sunday's game against the Mavericks. I believe we have to decide by Monday the 31st. Brewer - your guess is as good as mine. I still think he has a shot to turn things around so long as we run him out there with shooters. Playing McDaniels-Brewer-Dekker together is a mistake IMO, but we've done it multiple times. Not enough shooting among that group to keep defenders honest.
He killed us both in the post and bulldozing to the basket....DMo is actually fairly good at defending both of those. Your application of mobility isn't correct here. DMo is not someone you want hanging around the perimeter, but he's absolutely a good paint defender. He moves his feet well, whether on the block or in closing driving lanes (taking the charge). He's a good defender in much the same way Marc Gasol is a good defender (although obviously not at his level)...groundbound, but knows where to be and can move his feet to get there.
Also enjoyed the first half. It's very obvious what happened in the second half......we got tired, so we got lazy, ie reverting back to old habits. I don't think that will be a problem for the long term. You can already see the improvement in motion after just preseason. Llull is perfect for this team. Hopefully with the MLE bumping up to $8 million we can persuade him the make the jump.
he didn't kill hou in the post. and no I wouldn't say Dmo is a good defender with pf's like Randle who are versatile bigs that can put the ball on the floor. In fact those are absolutely the worst matchups for him
Ok. Disagree I guess. Randle isn't really a dribble penetrator. He may take one or two, but mostly he's just looking to drive or pound you inside. DMo had success against ZBo, who is probably one of the better comparisons right now.
Randle has the ability of being a point forward and LA has let him be that when it's open. He does have a good dribble for a big and is very capable as evident last night. Zbo is incredibly slow and not athletic and plays at a much different pace compared to Randle.
Not sure about point forward......haven't seen that from him yet. I'm not doubting that he's athletic...just don't think he's the type that has incredible east-west movement. As I recall, ZBo is who most people compared him to when he was drafted.
