I'm not reading too much into this only 4 games into the season, our offensive/defensive ratings will fluctuate a lot until the sample size is larger. That said, it shouldn't be surprising if our offense improves by adding a guy who is (still) one of the game's best scorers to Amen & Sengun as they begin to open door into what should be their prime years. Despite the loss of FVV, our offensive firepower should increase. Eliminating Jalen's inefficient ~18 shots per game helps too.
I think its about the zone defense... teams are much more adept at dropping open 3s these days - so u cant leave guys open on the perimeter... We gotta stay on guys, which means our bigs need to be willing to get out on the perimeter as needed... Adams blocked a 3 last night - thats what we need! Give me Adams or Sengun or Capela standing in front of a 3 point shooter with their arms up... The fear is always that the shooter is going to put the ball on the floor and go around the big for a free run to the basket... so we need to train our bigs to sag off until the shooter picks up his dribble - and then step into him...
Wow…sure didn’t feel that way in the Pistons game that’s for sure. Still a small sample size so far, I hope the Rockets can keep this up
JG/FVV weren't even the most inefficient backcourts last season, must less historically. Care to back-up that claim? Regardless, it's a useless exercise to put FVV and JG into the same bucket. How those two operated last year together says nothing about how the backcourt will operate this year (or would have operated). But if FVV were playing, I think the Rockets probably win those OKC and DET games. The offense was clunky. Amen, KD, and Alp had key turnovers during crunch time. Why is KD or Alp regularly bringing the ball up the court? That said, it's still early days: Alp is still learning his role as "ShenHub", esp w/ KD on the roster. Amen is still learning how to deploy his video game reflexes. Reed is still gaining confidence and learning NBA timing. All of which would be stunted if FVV were starting. In one universe, this team will be better off without FVV, if they can learn and grow into their potential. In another universe, this team never clicks until they get a proper table setter. And there are 100 more universes. Blaming FVV is simple, especially given the team finished 2nd.
I don’t know why so many look at the who is bringing the ball up crap. I don’t think we’ve had but one turnover in that area of the floor all year. It looks clunky just like the rest of our offense, but it is not a problem. Guys need to chill out and give it 20 games or so before losing their sh*t about everything.
Look at the strength of schedule so far. I would not react to this in the same way that I did not think the season was over after the first two games. Stay calm. If it continues then fantastic.
You are correct in the last part. Ultimately what annoys me to no end about current Rockets fandom is that they don't see the forest through the trees. FVV is irrelevant in the long run and eventually we were going to have to move on from him. Luckily it happened now and not when Reed and Amen were 1st and 2nd year players. I don't think FVV makes any difference when it comes to where this team wants to go. It's simple and Fred's existence is irrelevant as it pertains to the simple notion that: either Amen, Sengun, Jabari or Reed become a Top 10 player in the league. Or they dont. And if they dont, the rebuild was a failure. I throw the rest of the guys in there but it really is Amen....followed by Sengun. Sengun is further along but utlimately a much more limited player. Amen needs to become what this team needs him to become and FVV was always going to be standing in the way of that. On your first part....JG was 42% from the field and 35% from 3 last year. FVV was 38% from the field (!!!!!) and 34% from 3. Combined for 30 FGA per game. Can you find me a backcourt that started last year that is worse than that?
Really? I assure you, the guy bringing the ball up the court has had several turnovers this season before getting another Rocket the ball. Mostly on the pass after they brought up the ball. Reed brought ball up in a tie game, 1 minute left (think doublt OT) or so versus OKC, and turned it over trying to get ball to Durant. Reed's had at least 2 or 3 others in which he's turned the ball over on that 1st pass after bringing it up. I remember one in semi-transition in which a trailing defender took it from Reed. I'd guess about a good third to a half of Amen's turnovers are trying to get the ball to someone else in the initial action after he brought the ball up the court. One was missing a pass to a guy in the corner. Another was trying to thread the needle to someone under the basket. Caruso took a lazy pass for a pick 6 from Amen intended for Sengun after Amen brought it up. Maybe my memory is faulty and some of those were resets, but that's 5 distinct events from my memory. My memory says Reed's first pass has likely been intercepted 2-3 more times....not distinct as it happens so often they blend together.
Umm, the Rockets are stacked now. Over the long run, winning a Championship is not irrelevant. Right now, Reed looks like the only weak link in the rotation. Not sure if FVV would be the difference, but the Rockets would easily be the one of the Top 2 seeds if they were reasonably healthy with FVV.
4 games in i wouldn't trust stats just yet, too many variables and random nights. We played Toronto and Brooklyn, two tanking teams.
Agreed, but I think the Rockets have played 3 very good games out of 4. They should be 3-1 instead of 2-2. Because it came after losing a heartbreaker to OKC and dropped the Rockets to 0-2, the Pistons loss had an outsized negative impact on how people felt about the team.
