The 2024-2025 Rockets - The Most Pleasant Surprise

...but...but Ime doesn't hold FVV accountable which is why we should fire him! /s

 

This Terror twins reference got me —-

“pair of apparitions who don’t guard people so much as haunt their soul and infect their spirit”

 

It has to be the Defense because : Scorers values are not at an all time high.

 

Isnt this man a free agent after next season? Lets offer Green + picks for Fox before we try Booker

 

This is the craziest pair of stats I've heard of in ... forever.

Houston ranks first in offensive rebound rate and allows the fewest fastbreak points per 100 possessions​

Eason, whose relentlessness on the offensive glass almost single-handedly helps Houston’s transition defense, a misnomer when read aloud that makes sense when you watch the way his incessant threat to create second chances prevents opponents from leaking out into the open floor. “We felt you could crash at a high rate, and it’s almost the first layer of your transition defense,” Udoka says. So far they’re right.
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I say this because around 2005 (maybe earlier) a trend started sweeping through the NBA to deemphasize offensive rebounds, because it was better to get back to stop transition points. I believe it was JVG who spearheaded this trend. League-wide ORB% dropped from 33% to 22% -- representing, imo, a drastic change in how the game the played.

The trend took hold, because it was proven that higher ORB% meant worse transition defense.

Even now, while the Rockets are challenging this trend (and leading the league in ORB%), they are still well-below the league averages of yesteryear. Still, I would never have thought you could lead the league in both ORB% and fewest fastbreak points. Seems it takes tremendous skill and effort to do that.

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And two guys that should be first team defense coming off your bench.

 

This is the first team I've ever seen that just needs it's starters to keep it close so a pair (trio?) of bench players can put teams away.

Like having Altuve/Alvarez/Bregman batting 7-8-9.

 

Winning with depth and defense and without an alpha scorer. Different guys stepping up each game.

Replace Green with Booker and this team is the # 1 seed.

 

The Amen & Tari wrecking crew ....

 

The Team is The Dude

DD

 

Yeah, you definitely need at least two guys on the team at the level of Tari and Amen to put so much pressure on the opponent's defensive rebounding to inhibit the fast break leak out. And those guys also have the speed to recover from a failed offensive rebounding attempt and get back fast enough.

I also wonder how much energy has to be expended for this kind of commitment to defense and offensive rebounding. Those guys are still young and probably can sustain for a while. But you need a deep bench to do that which is our advantage.

 

Offense is still an issue. We are down to 15th after being in the top 10 for a while at the beginning. Our Assist% is dead last. TS% is 28th.

 

Pretty sure the Rockets will shoot better going forward. I think it dropped to 15th because of 3 reasons, Rockets just shooting poorly even for their personnel, FVV missed a game against the Wizards (i.e., a game that should have boosted their offense ended up hurting it by 3 spots), and the offense has been gone in the 2nd game of a back to back.

The Rockets seem to be maintaining the extra possessions pretty well such that they should stay in the Top 20 during cold spells. The Rockets just need a hot shooting for them for about 10 games.

 

Overall shooting will probably improve as we are shooting below our players' own averages (except for Brooks). We love to talk about Jalen's inconsistent shooting. Fred is pretty much the same. He just has more good games than Jalen and thereby has better overall percentage.

I was surprised to see Tari's percentage so low because the eye test told me he'd been very good at making the spot up 3s.

 

I'd love this so much. He is what we all hope Jalen can become.

 

Man, I'm watching Booker, DeAaron Fox and even Ant Edwards. The T-Wolves aren't winning like they were last season, and it takes a whole lot of winning to offset those cold winters there. I could see him demanding a trade in the coming years. But any of those guys would push us to the next level.