One reason I push Nerlens Noel is because he may be ok with approx half a game. He played 29 mins/gm last season. Caps & Noel approx 24 mins each. They mirror each other as far as things they would do in D'Antoni's system. There really is no room for Nerlens in Philly with Embiid/Okafor/Saric/Ilyasova. Noel had a block % of 5% in 14/15 and 3.9% in 15/16. The defense "can" improve with good interior defense for the entire 48 min + any overtime. The perimeter defenders can stay at home or help....Bzdelik can give an indicator as far as when to mix it up and keep the defense off balance. Side note: Capela is currently 5.7% block %. Looking at him on YouTube...would fit well. I don't know the price; but he is my trade target.
Oh, also it helps that Beverley is back and that we play more home games. Team defense worsens as Brewer plays. Brewer has always been decent to good in transition Off/Def....except last yr. I don't have the stats in front of me; but it seems like the pace is better with Harrell over Nene. I love me some Nene.....but the Rockets may need an upgrade for serious contention.
I don't know the situation with D-mo but to be honest if his on the team I'm happy with our big rotation. Very versatile to any kind of play. Wouldn't give too much for Noel. I know it's a blasphemy with being Rockets and all but I wouldn't push for any trade. Just try and run this core to do better and better. Especially in the defensive end we can see how good we are when playing strong defense. We have the tools to play even better.
I know what you mean. After last year and the disaster that was 15/16 the Rockets this year are a rebuild without a total tear down to the ground rebuild. It's excellent of them to be so good so fast. I see weaknesses in the team that won't haunt the Rockets in the regular season; but willl in a 7 game series after the 1st rd. Before the season I predicted the Rockets at 58 wins (+/-2 games) barring major injuries. The Rockets hit that win clip/pace with last nights win. I saw all the indicators of the Rockets winning this year in the regular season. The trades I propose are of guys (Rox) out of the rotation for players that can shore up depth or areas of weakness. Looking at the schedule I'm hoping the Rockets will be 21-7 by the time they face the Spurs if I saw the schedule correctly. Beggars can't be choosers....I'm fine with the Rockets beating the first rd team and then getting bounced. As we all know the playoffs are a different beast from the regular season. It's just this team is so close now. It puts the Rockets in good shape leading into this summer to figure out which FA's or draft picks to pursue. Tyler Ennis and Nene are FA's this summer and may leave. Payton II can step up to the roster now. The Rockets may never get this close again. A Rudy Gay/Willie Caulie Stein or Noel puts us over the top in my opinion this year. Teams can't trade 1st rd picks in consecutive yrs (Lawson trade) so Houston can't trade this yrs first rd pick. Second rd picks may be irrelevant the next few yrs. So I might see Rox first 17/18 as available. Looking at the 76ers comments online....their fans are hoping to get anything for Noel. That his offense is limited (perfect for Houston), that they have no room for him with Okafor/Embiid/Saric/Ilyasova/& Simmons back next yr or later this yr (teams know they need to deal him...no leverage), injury history, that they may be lucky to get a second rd. I would inquire to see what the team wants. Of course I wouldn't trade any rotation guys like Ariza.
I feel like we have a very solid defense. We have shown an ability to be able to stop teams when the game is on the line.
We're better the last few games, but Harden is still being picked on a bit and so is Capela. Kanter ate us alive inside. We could use an intimidating post defender. Trade Brewer and KJ for Bogut?
What's our 4th quarter defense look like since the return of The Wolverine? Seems like we have really been able to clamp down a lot more in the 4th over that span, but that's just the eye test talking.
That will be a great idea. He's the kind of player we need the most. He and Capela can share minutes. Tyson Chandler would work too.
Actually it's pretty much the same in defensive ratings numbers. #10 in the league in 4th quarter defensive ratings before and after Beverly came back. What changed is Net ratings which is #5 in 4th quarters since Beverly returned, and #27 before. That's a huge change.
Nice defensive possession, but the air ball unfortunately allowed Adams to get the "rebound" and a foul. JVG talks about Bev's defense on that play Brewer with the perfect Team Defense. Allows Capela to let defender thru, and stops the cutting Big, then still recovers to block the corner three
Thanks, I love the clips you post. I've been meaning to ask you to put some nice defensive plays here. There were a few good ones, were getting better of being aggressive after switches, I think that was the biggest difference from the start where the switches were very passive and soft. It'll be great to see some of Harden's good defensive playes, he had quite a few recently
Harden has upped his defensive intensity quite noticeably this season which isn't talked about a lot but has been a good addition. He still does sometimes give up on defense, especially during fastbreak, and he wasn't doing the best job against Westbrook. Bev has been the biggest plus so far on defense. He has made things so much more difficult for opposing PGs and basically just anyone in general.
The Rockets have proven they can play good defense, at least for stretches of the game. They beat Boston with their defense, Golden State and OKC are other examples where our defense won the game for the Rockets. Will we be ranked as a top 15 defense this year? Probably not. But, as long as we play it at the right segments of the game we won't need to be since our offense can usually carry us. It will be interesting to see how well they're playing defense when the playoffs start. If we move into the top 15 or the top 10 then I think we're looking at a team that has a legit chance to win a championship.
