The short answer against a switch everything defense, is hunt for mismatches (usually switch to their weakest defender). Offense just has to pass a ball but defense has to switch, which exerts energy. If the ball moves enough it tires the defense out. Plus eventually some of that defensive communication can break down. No matter how fast someone moves laterally with their feet into the switch, a pass is always faster. If you pick and pop with Jabari and one of the Rockets guards (say kpj), the opposing guard (ex Reggie Jackson) who swiches from kpj to Jabari is likely a shorter person. Jabari can shoot over him. (the mismatch) If they somehow get one of their tall front court people (say Zubac) to switch over, then they left their original Rockets guy (Sengun) who Jabari might pass to as the next action. Paul George might be their best defender, but Lue might not always ask him to switch into the active Rocket ball handler, because that exerts energy and also risk PG13 in foul trouble. As lanky as some of Clipper wing defenders, even if 6'7" with long arms, a 7'0" Jabari might still hit his jumper. --- Subsequent counter moves. And do Silas and co know where Jabari's preferred spots are? If pick n pop run it at Jabari's hotspots. I wonder if Jabari's former Auburn coach is watching Rocket games and is shouting plays at the TV for things they could run for him.
They don't even have to run plays, just pass the ball and look for the open shot. Coaching from the Rockets reminds me of a little league parent coach having everything run thru his son eventhough he sucks and loses at everything. Nobody is going to get better but the ballhogger.
Sam Vecenie & Mark Schindler: SV: I’ve watched a good amount of Rockets games now because I’m curious on some level but I’ve enjoyed watching them the least because they don’t have a way to beat anybody right now. MS: What is so frustrating is I really am so intrigued and excited about the players on this roster. One thing I want to hit on first, there’s been a lot of frustration amongst fans and people in general about Jabari Smith Jr. I think it’s misplaced. SV: I’ve missed that. Can you explain it? MS: He’s shooting 30% from the field. A lot of “He was mocked as the number one prospect. How is he not this guy taking us to the next stage?” This was not a guy coming in to be ball dominant and the guy to take your franchise to “next step” in year one. You could see his plug and play like being a movement shooter, could get some reps as a pull-up shooter, being a good plug and play defender. The utilization has been a problem for me. Yes, he’s missing shots but the way he’s being used has been most problematic to me and that’s before we dive into the rest of the roster. He’s mostly being tasked with spotting up. SV: You mentioned him being a terrific movement shooter. MS: They just haven’t used it. SV: Do you know how many shots taken off screens? MS: Gotta be less than 10. SV: Taken two and turned it over once. 3 possessions off screens. MS: That has been really frustrating for me to watch. I don’t think he’s been put in position to succeed. Yes, you have to make your shots and shoot better than 30% but he’s not getting his shots in ways you were hoping to see and see him get coached too. That extends out past Jabari. I mean this seriously, this team misses Bruno Fernando. Having a center who is a lob threat, good screener, who can roll, you’ve seen a pretty drastic dip in Porter/Green’s decision making since losing him. That has woefully hurt the offense. Neither are true PGs, they can bring some skills as P&R guys. SV: That’s really all Kevin is good at, a P&R player as a passer at least. The thing he’s good at is a P&R passer hitting the roll man. With Sengun on the court, Sengun is trying to pop into the mid post area, short rolling, just not what Kevin does. He’s not a great cross-corner guy, he’s not a great kick out passer often. It’s been frustrating for sure. MS: Jalen needs to shoot better. Again, part of why guys are struggling is this offense a mess. It has no direction. SV: Let me talk about that. This is the part worth noting. I don’t think they have any way to beat P&R coverages right now. They don’t have any effective method to attack. That’s a problem. If you have a Porter/Sengun combo, both of those guys, teams want them to pull up or a Sengun pick & pop. Sengun is not a good enough roller to the rim to be impactful where you have to keep honest on him. That allows you to put more pressure on Porter and kinda close off passing lanes, frustrate him a little bit, make it harder for him to see things. If you put Jabari at the five, which would be a really interesting way to get him open shots potentially. The problem is they don’t have lineup constructions right now they can put out there that can effectively utilize that. Most of their lineup constructions with Jabari at the 5, if it’s not Tate or Martin but where you play Jabari as the big, one of Tate or Martin is out there. Both of those guys players you can hide the center on. You can let the center sag off and fall back into the paint and when you run Jabari/Jalen or Jabari/Kevin in ball screens, they can just switch that action. It’s too easy to switch that action. Jalen is great in terms of first step but he’s still developing his P&R craft. They don’t have a way to beat ball screen coverages right now. It’s way too easy to clog the paint every single time that Martin or Tate are out there. I know Rockets fans are excited about Sengun in terms of productivity but I haven’t seen a lot from Sengun that says to me like…I think he works hard and I also think gets frustrated he doesn’t get the ball a good amount of time. He calls for post touches which clog the driving lanes for Green/Porter more than what you’d like to see for those guys whose game is built off driving. It’s not a roster right now that makes sense. There are a lot of good players I really like. I really like Jabari Smith. I really like Jalen Green’s upside. I really like the idea of Sengun as a short-roll playmaking big that he utilizes sometimes. I like the theory of Tari Eason but another guy teams can put a center on and let him shoot from distance. I like Garuba to an extent. I like all of these guys on this roster but it’s too hard to make a scheme that works. I know Stephen Silas gets a lot of sh`t but he’s not helping. I wouldn’t have a problem with the Rockets moving on from Silas. I just don’t know that it’ll get better if you bring in a different coach either. If they want to move on from Silas, I’m with that. He’s not making things better. MS: That’s where I’m at too. … They are so listless and bad on defense right now. Communication is awful. It sounds rich to say the vibes are terrible. Watching games back, the amount of finger pointing, the frustration with guys not getting the ball because they’re open, the amount of “Oh, he missed a rotation.” There’s so much bickering back and forth. It seems like a small thing but at some point it comes back to coaching. A lot of it is the roster. It goes hand in hand. It’s not just one thing or the other. When your goal is let’s get a lot of talent, on one hand I get it. OK, so how does it fit? You can picture what it is eventually but this is a team that very much needs vets and complementary vets. I like Eric Gordon but he’s one of the worst complementary vets you could have on this team. Very much an outlet scorer, not a great P&R passer, not a great secondary playmaker. One thing I like the Spurs got was Doug McDermott. Someone who is a capable off movement shooter who can pass and won’t demand touches. When you have guys who need to grow on the ball, you need guys to help develop that. … The Rockets don’t have guys like that. SV: I’m trying to find the right team for Gordon. I don’t know who it is. He could help a lot of teams. New Orleans. Cavs. Phoenix. Lakers. XYZ. What can the Rockets get back that makes sense? Does Devonte Graham help them if you do a New Orleans deal? MS: They need more of a…they aren’t getting him but Darius Garland, that kind of guy. Someone who can get into the paint and be creative and get guys open with my ability to manipulate guys. Graham’s playmaking is pretty much out of pull-up shooting, very similar to KPJ. They need more of a changeup guard. … Can we get Delon Wright to the Rockets? SV: It’s hard to find the guy I guess. I don’t think Patrick Beverley would want to be there. I think he’d ask for his release. A lot of guys want to play for contenders and don’t want to go through rebuilding. If you’re Toronto, would you do something like a Thad Young? … It’s a hard situation in Houston. I don’t love the roster fit. I love most of the players. I don’t know what to do with them.
Excellent stuff. It explains somewhat why there's been such terrible spacing and movement. Sengun's been great too, but I can't believe how much I'm missing Bruno Fernando LOL.
should have never traded Capela, he gives you 26/13 every other night and thats Senguns career high.... @LeDakota
Watch the young kids on the spurs move with the and off the ball and play well above their experience to see what great coaching does. Then watch the Rockets and you will see what bad coaching does.
Look you can hire me for minimum wage and I guarantee you I can do better than Silas. 1-16 last year and 1-8 this year and 20 in a row the year before with crying episode. Seriously any one on this board could do no worse.
Appreciate you posting this stuff because I would never listen to them but it's a good read. I like hearing what other people have to say about the rockets, especially these guys who probably know the game better than me. Having said that, I think the excuses they make for Jabari are ridiculous. They're complaining about not putting him in a position to succeed because he's taking wide open 3s while standing still rather than being rushed taking moving shots off screens? What? The shots he's getting are much easier than movement shots. He's just not making them. Also they've got a major strawman for rockets fans, nobody thought Jabari was going to come in and carry the franchise or whatever, that's BS. Everyone knew he wasn't a ball handler. A very unflattering (but sorta accurate) description of what we expected was "Ryan Anderson with good defense." That's it. Make your shots on offense when you get the ball and you're open, and then be a difference maker on the defensive end. So far he's been neither of those things, so I think we're right to be disappointed with his start. It's only 9 games, I'm not shouting "bust" from the rooftops or anything, but if we're going to judge him on how he's looked in those 9 games we're right to be disappointed. I think the point about the Jalen/KPJ/Sengun fit is actually spot on from what I've seen. The way we're playing now they don't seem to fit too well. I think a smart coach should be able to figure that out, but that aint Silas.
God please let this happen. I think he's worse than Mchale. Atleast Mchale was smart enough to put the ball in Hardens hands, he tried to take it out of them and he is doing the same to Jalen on a team where theres no real point guard. He only palys Sengun when he has no choice. He insist on playing Nix and gives Eason low minutes. Puts the ball in Gordons hands at the end of the game when we are supposed to be developing players. Im sick of his ****.
If the chemistry does not improve soon, tank or no tank, Silas has to go. Can't risk permanently damaging or alienating any of these young men.
