Off Season Assignments: Improving Their Shots and Getting Stronger

Train with those blocking pad sticks. but I need the coaches to swing them full force like baseball bats at our players. The other assistant grabs the waist.
This drill is not only to simulate Draymond but to find clever ways to strike the body of the 'defender' while not getting caught.

 

They need to focus on the RIGHT things.....Alpi has heard for 3 years he needs a 3pt shot, and still he hasn't committed.....

Jalen knows he has to improve his dribbling, and have a midrange game and floater, but still nothing.

DD

 

The only one that matters is Alpi. Him and his defender have to be brought out of the paint so that the wings can get enough drives, kick ours, FTA.

Amen spent all season passing off because the paint was crowded and his man sags off him. Jalen spent all season jacking up an insane amount of 3's because the paint was crowded. Drives are the most important shot for a wing, it's what stabilizes your production and makes the opponent defense collapse.

Alpi made 37.5% of his 3's in the playoffs. He's close to ready. Once he's playmaking from the 3PT line (like Draymond) and a threat to score from there, then Amen and Jalen can beat their own defender and not worry about 3-4 people clogging the paint. Then the corner defenders will have to leave the corners and we'll get corner 3's too.

That doesn't mean Sengun will only do that one thing but it does mean that if the other team is holding him to bad efficiency in the post/interior, we have a better option than midrange jumpers. Amen and Green will eat people alive if the paint is open for them as it is for Harden, SGA, Morant, Giannis, etc.

 

The two anchors:

Alpi: Needs a deadly mid-range jumper and has to regain his touch from 5-feet in. Master those two things and he'll score 25+ ppg, shoot ~55% and also open up the lane for other players. It would transform the offense. The 3-point shot isn't that important but wouldn't hurt.
He's also gotta be quicker to attack the mouse. There has been zero improvement on this.

Amen: Needs a mid-range jumper to pull his defender out and open up easier rim attacks. His set-shot 3-ball must continue improving into the mid-30s (14%-28%-35%?). His handles improved big time during the season but there is another level for him to reach.

Everyone else:

Tari: More consistency, better decision-making, and (of course) better jump shooting. There were periods when he was locked into the 3-ball and other games when you could tell the shot was off before the ball left his hand.
As Tari said in his postgame 7 interview, it was an extremely tough year for him, not being able to play every game, then missing about a month during the season and especially losing his father last month.
My 2 cents: I expect Tari to explode next season. There was so much going against him the entire 82 this time. IMO, he's going to level up over the summer and either force his way into the starting lineup or become a 30 mins/game 6th man who will close games regularly. I think he's the most overlooked player on the team by people on this forum.
Rockets better extend him over the summer or the price will be a whole lot higher in 2026.

Jabari: Sigh! There is a lot of glowing praise for him after the playoff series but my thoughts are slightly in the other direction.
His efficiency and rebounding both went down, which is disappointing. I also question his intensity and activity level. Sometimes he rebounds like a demon and other times he doesn't. The ability to average 10+ rebs in his 30 mins/game is clearly there, but he doesn't lock in often enough.
Just think if Jabari didn't get down on himself and played like a house of fire similar to Tari and Amen!
On defense, I've overestimated Jabari's athleticism to contest quick, perimeter NBA players. He's a good defender but he won't be elite like I thought he would.
Bottom line: More energy, more intensity (more grievance, more anger, more whatever-it-takes to bring out the best in him). I still think Jabari can both rebound well and shoot 40% from 3 and I hope it's with the Rockets.

Reed: He's had a full season to learn, observe and get a taste of NBA action. I expect a completely different player next season who will play with confidence and become an off-the-ball long range weapon. His comfort shooting either direction coming off picks is huge. I'm not sure if he'll ever be a starting PG in the NBA but that isn't important. I just want his play on the court to force a min 20+ mins of game time.

Hopefully improved play by the youngsters will force Fred's min/game to well under 30.

 

I think one of the main things for Alpi is to improve conditioning as well as he can. My take on the offensive regression and some loss of touch is from the massive leap he made defensively and the effort he had to put in on that end of the court. If he can still do that but keep his heart rate a little lower my guess is some of the offensive efficiency from two years ago will come back.

 

Shooting:

1). We’ve got to find out what we have in Reed and Cam. Both project to be good shooters and they’re just 20 yrs old. We may be able to get a significant shooting boost from within the roster.

2). We’ve got to figure out how to scheme up Bari for easy shots. Yes Bari can’t put the ball on the floor, but we can make things a lot easier for him. If we are sticking with Bari we need to find a way to maximize what he does best…or trade him. If you wipe away the slow start you’ll see that Bari was on his way to having an efficient rest of the season until he broke his arm. If we can’t get more out of Bari’s shooting we should move on. We drafted him to be a shooter.

3). Many of us have been saying that if we don’t upgrade the shooting at the shooting guard position, our scoring is going to be handicapped. We have to find a guard that can shoot this summer. It’s non-negotiable.

So if we can get some shooting out of Reed and Cam, get more shooting out of Bari, and acquire a great shooting/combo guard, we have a chance to be much better next yr. Of course guys like Sengun and Tari have to improve their shooting, and if Fred’s back he can’t have another year like this past one or resigning him is a big mistake.

 

End whatever individual routine with 100 made free throws every day. That free throws shooting we witnessed was atrocious and can no longer be tolerated.