From Espn's real or not real article The Houston Rockets don't miss Fred VanVleet's offense Playing without a traditional point guard after starter Fred VanVleet suffered a season-ending ACL tear before training camp, the Rockets nonetheless boast the NBA's best offensive rating at 121.7 points per 100 possessions, nearly seven more than they averaged last season while finishing second in the West. Going back to weighted career 3-point percentage, Houston has outperformed this mark by more than any team in the league. The Rockets' shooters have a weighted career mark of 34%, third lowest in the NBA. Yet Houston's 43% 3-point shooting is easily tops. Verdict: Largely not real Encouragingly, the Rockets aren't beating their overall shot quality by nearly as much as Chicago. Inside the arc, Houston has probably been unlucky in the early going. Amen Thompson's 2-point percentage is down from 60% to 53%, while Kevin Durant is hitting just 52% of his 2s after hitting 57% a year ago. Beyond that, the Rockets don't need to shoot well to succeed on offense. They again lead the NBA by securing 37% of available offensive rebounds, with no other team north of 33%. Adding Durant has helped Houston secure the NBA's fourth-best free throw rate. So even without VanVleet, they look like an improved offense this season, albeit not to the degree we've seen thus far.
It is so obvious that we are a better offensive team without FVV, but don’t tell that to clutchfans. I’ve never seen such irrational debate about a single player on the Rockets. Close seconds were KPJ, Cam, and D-Mo
Your hatred of FVV is very clear. I am no FVV fan and have always believed his minutes should be reduced. But c'mon, the improved offense isn't just because of not having him. Replacing Green with Durant in itself would improve any offense. Shooting 50% from 3 by Okogie and Tari is also unsustainable with or without FVV. The change in the team is not just the subtraction of FVV. There are many more factors that contribute to the improvement that has nothing to do with the one guy. What one can argue is that we don't really need FVV to be a good offensive team.
It’s not all because of FVV, but I believe it all about our backcourt last year. FVV was a plus on defense and one of the worst perimeter players in the league last year on the offensive side of the ball. There is no doubt about that.
It's not just replacing Jalen with KD. We also gave some of Fred's shots to Reed. And Josh and Tari are off to likely unsustainable hot starts, but they're far better at picking their spots than Dillon was. I imagine DFS will be no different once he's in the lineup,
Dillon was actually our best shooter last season, as unbelievable as it is. It also shows you how bad our shooting was. We've been shooting very well so far. Some of it is unsustainable luck. But Durant's and Reed's shootings aren't fluke. They are expected to be good shooters. I do believe that when FVV comes back, probably next season, we really don't need him to be a starter. He can be a good off the bench guy. Durant and Fred are irrelevant long term. I look forward to a Reed-Amen backcourt with Sengun as the primary creator.
I have never been against FVV as a backup and was one of the few that thought his original contract was fine and he was necessary for vet leadership and changing the culture the first two years. I wanted him to play off ball last year and eventually go to the backup role, which would have given Amen more experience at orchestrating the offense and a chance to see if Jalen could play better with a faster pace. I wanted FVV to be either traded or sent to the bench this year. I don’t hate FVV, I just don’t think he is the right fit for this team as a starting PG and I was proved right from an offensive perspective.
At this point, it's up to Reed to take Fred's starting job. I thank he is better on offense. He will need to improve on defense to earn Udoka's trust. I have confidence that he will. The reason why Okogie is starting after two double bigs starts is because you can't play only one guard who is quick enough to guard the perimeter. Neither Durant nor Jabari can chase perimeter guys all game long. The zone can't hide this reality. Udoka knows this.
Dillon was around 39% last season, but he was way too trigger happy. Especially with that postup turnaround. Jabari should be the one taking those.
Correct. All we know is how this team is performing as is. Without seeing this team with and without FVV, we can't know for sure how the team would be with FVV. Granted, I tend to think that FVV would decrease the turnovers without negatively impacting how well others are performing as he's done throughout his career (i.e. across many different teams, the with FVV lineups almost always outperform the without FVV lineups of similar players). I don't know if that would be a significant addition or not offensively considering how well the team has performed. While I can't prove it, I think FVV would make a big difference on defense even if the offense regressed a little with him as the Rockets would likely play less zone with FVV, Amen, and Okogie. Despite all of Hemingway's theories last season that FVV was ruining the Rockets and the Rockets passed the Real test, the Real Real test, and then made the playoffs after he said the Rockets would miss the playoffs with FVV.
Almost everybody on the team was terrible on offense last year, and even if they were decent (like Alpi), it was still a down season by their career standards or trajectory. Point being, I don't think last year is a great gauge of FVV's offensive capabilities. Also, he was one of our best players offensively against GS in the playoffs. Was almost enough to make up for Green's futility. That said, I would love it if Reed could steal FVV's spot and make us better for it. I think it's too early to be confident of that, but it looks very possible.
That starts with Reed continuing to earn this rotation spot. A couple hot shooting games is nice but let's see what he sustains. They just exercised his club option for 26-27 so that's a sign. Maybe at least to say they aren't explicitly trying to trade him by the deadline this year. Most reasonable track imo...he continues being a 6th-ish man and hopefully by season end is pressing for starting minutes. Or like, has a big 1st round of the playoffs or something signaling he's ready. Then next offseason/camp it should be pretty clear if he's truly taken over Fred's minutes.
I think when you have Amen at the point you have more options. Amen moves without the ball and creates a lob threat. Fred's height doesn't allow that kind of play to be able to happen.
