I will say it again. If you truly believe that you are going to sit down and watch a Rockets game and see mostly James Harden dribbling for 20 seconds while everyone else stands around then you are going to be in for a huge surprise. This is the most tired, inaccurate take of our offense. It’s just not remotely true. It’s not 75% of the offense. It’s not 50%. It’s not even 25% of what we do. That “take” is the epitome of straight up false “NBA Twitter” group think that has been parroted for the lulz so often that people just believe it to be true. Easiest way to identify someone who never watches Houston.
For those who haven’t unsubscribed the newest podcast with Zach Lowe is a good listen. Simmons ranked his top 25 players for now and through the playoffs. Zach Lowe was there to react and give his opinion on the list.
Bill has a ridiculous take about how Morey couldn't have known that Covington would be this good but overall they just admit they were wrong about the whole small ball thing.
Bill Simmons picked the Rockets to win the finals and Rocket fans are upset with him because he doesn't like watching them?? I mean, are Houston fans really so sensitive? It's pretty funny because they are generally pretty honest and fair.
Probably not Houston fans in general but the ones who post on fan message boards tend to be a little bit more fanatical I guess. Yes, a lot of posters in the GARM are dumbfounded on why they don't like watching Houston's style of offense. For most neutral observers, Westbrook is the the fun part of watching the Rockets. Some people are offended by that.
I can understand why the Rockets aren't fun to watch for a lot of people - especially Harden's game doesn't appeal to a lot of people. The Rockets look a lot more interesting since they got rid of Capela. Westbrook has been fun to watch. But Harden and his drawing fouls shtick is detested by anyone not in Houston. It's not pretty basketball. Isolation basketball is boring to watch for a lot of people. Now, ironically - the Rockets are actually moving the ball around a lot better the last month with the double teams on Harden. But I can understand why people hate the Rockets and by extension Houston fans - both for being overzealously defensive and because of the Astros. Houston has a complex about not getting enough respect. Other cities don't have that chip on their shoulder the way Houston does. Atlanta doesn't. Dallas doesn't. But something about Houston always feeling slighted because they are not New York or LA. Everyone knows that respect comes from winning, nothing else.
I'm a big Ringer fan and defended Simmons on this thread but I'm pretty sure him picking the Rockets was 100% sarcasm. Btw he really does admit he was wrong on that pod and they do this bit with Bernie Sanders as the Rockets coach that's pretty funny. Their style is very tongue in cheek and you have to go in with a sense of humor to appreciate it.
I think some fans get frustrated with these media types because they do exactly what you just did. You made a false assumption and have spoke it into existence. Over the last month compared to the rest of the season the Rockets in fact aren’t moving the ball more(To be fair we are averaging 7 more passes per game, 249 vs 242 and it’s still 2nd to last in the league). And aren’t isolating any less. And Harden has the ball in his hands the exact same amount of time. You can check the numbers. So it’s frustrating when others characterize how we play inaccurately. We isolate the most, but it’s not all we do, in fact it’s about 20% of our offense. We lead in free throws but not by much. We shoot the most 3s, but not by a lot. We don’t pass the ball much, but no one on the team is a true ball hog. Hearing the same thing over and over and over is annoying when it’s not exactly accurate. “All they do is watch one guy dribble and jack 3s”
This 100%. Like honestly I couldn't care less how media members feel about the Rockets as long as what they say is actually based in reality. What really pisses me off is when they come in with hot takes without even watching games (95% of ESPN). To be a professional NBA analyst you have to at least watch the freaking games. Do at least that and you're entitled to your personal opinions.
Maybe not from a pure numbers standpoint but the offense LOOKS a lot more fluid. So maybe the total number of passes hasn't increased but the crispness is better. The ball is more like a hot potato than spending time in one players hands and then moving. So maybe losing Capela didn't result in more passes, but it does result it more fluidity to the offense. You can't deny that. And an isolation from the perimeter for 18 seconds is a lot different than a quick isolation drive. But this is sort of my point. There's a refusal by fans to see what others are seeing. You come back to the data to defend that nothing has changed when to anyone who watches the games, the offense looks and feels a lot different. There's no denying the without Capela, the ball is moving (not just by passes) around the court more and with more tempo and flow. Yes that might be more of Westbrook driving into the paint with isolations - but it isn't as much Harden trying to carry the load isolations and I think that is reflected in his scoring dipping while Westbrooks has leaped.
Houston (the city in general) has a "safeness" about it, in terms of media scrutiny, that allows people to feel comfortable taking the most polarizing view... and not necessarily having it come back to bite them. But in the era of social media, and given that people often underestimate how vast the city of Houston's reach is.... there is no necessarily "safe space" to fall into especially when the team goes out and runs circle around the league. Will see a similar effect with the Astros when the season actually starts there. Still waiting for TNT's crew (which gets more "disconnected and old" every time they rant) to come full circle.
Don't get suckered in. They're just backtracking because they are jittery over the backlash. Ignore these two into oblivion. That's the best way to go. There are too many other entertainment/analysis options out there to waste time on two jokers like these guys.
I haven’t refused to see a change. There have been obvious changes in our play. The data just doesn’t back what you claimed has changed. The ball isn’t moving more the passing numbers don’t back it. Same guys are still holding on to the ball like they always have. Harden on the season has the ball for 8.7 minutes per game. Over the past 12 games he has the ball in his hands 8.7 minutes per game. His scoring is down like 2.5 points. Only taking a couple less shots. Not really a dip. Westbrook on the season has the ball 5.8 minutes per game. Over the last 12 it’s 5.9 per game. His scoring has gone up because his efficiency has soared. It hasn’t been because of less reliance on Harden. He’s still doing his usual thing. We are still playing “our game”, we are just using better pieces now. 3 point attempts are up and our percentage on our attempts is up. Turnover differential has swung much more in our favor. Pace is DOWN as much as people probably would guess otherwise. Not only is our pace down, but our teams average speed and distance traveled per game is down and still last in the league. The offense feels different because we’re using better pieces and that has made it more successful. But it isn’t because of more ball movement or even player movement.
I think the data can be deceptive. I am surprised Harden has the ball the same amount of time unless they made that change earlier to try to accomodate westbrook. 8.7 minutes sounds like a lot though. But with the middle open, you can have more passes in half court sets and less in other cases as Westbrook simply maybe driving more and requiring less passes on his shots as he now has a clearer path to the basket, while in other situations there are more passes due to the spacing which by the way requires less movement from other players. My point is that you can't just look at the stats to say something is untrue because the dynamics have changed enough that things can cancel itself out. Pace may be slower - but is that because we are playing better defense thus burning more time on that end and reducing the number of possessions on offense? A better offense doesn't necessarily mean that you get a shot off quicker in the shot clock either. If Westbrook is more efficient that may also reduce the pace because misses lead to faster pace (transition). I'm just saying you can see the offense is better. The data doesn't necessarily disagree with that as it doesn't measure how crisp or fluid and offense is.
Has the percentage of wide open 3’s gone up? Is the pace also down in portions of the game where the outcome is still in doubt? They’ve had some pretty easy games in this stretch... mainly because the team is wiping the other one off the floor.
Why do you have the authority to speak conclusively on this, have you conducted a poll? Can you post the results here?
