I'm really worry about rockets's rebound. I'm sorry i cant find the statistic of rockets's rebound and opponents,but i remember rockets's rebounds is little than most of opponents last season. though we will get swift ,we still is a awful rebound team. look at the statistic of swift and howard last season : MPG OFF DEF RPG swift 21.3 1.50 3.00 4.60 howard 26.6 2.1 3.6 5.7 their rebound is not different. if next season damon subtitude our rebound hero sura,i really ought to expect the chemistry or the potential? i am pessimistic that rockets can go farther with the rebound ablility next season.
Want to improve rebounding? Have Yao spend more time in the paint and less time chasing little guys on pick and rolls. Have him drop back to rebound ala the way the Lakers and Heat use Shaq. Does anyone think Yao has the lateral quickness that Shaq has? He doesn't chase little guards leaving the switching guard to go box the other teams center for rebounds. Any Rocket fan can tell you who wins that battle every time. The Eric Dampiers of the world grab that garbage and dunk it over Sura every time. The other Van Gundy and Captian Triangle have Shaq drop in the paint to block shots and rebound. A coaching philosophy change would cure 80% of our problem.
Swift averaged all of erm....5 rebounds last year. Not saying he won't improve, but I don't think that's al overwhelming basis for optimism.
100% disagree. The problem has nothing to do with coaching philosophy. Over the last two seasons, Shaq has averaged a whopping 0.5 DRebs/36min more than Yao. And his teams (LA / MIA) have been exposed by the Pistons who have players with excellent mid-range games. That is exactly what happens when you sag back on the PnR. You give up a mid-range shot or worse...players gain dribble momentum as they are essentially unimpeded going into the paint. Since you brought up the DAL series, ask yourself how many cheap fouls Yao picked up when Terry, Howard and even Stackhouse beat their man off the dribble and wound up in the paint. This is exactly what would happen if Yao sagged back. (BTW, Sura was on Dampier at the rim because of poor defensive rotations which were caused by having to play McGrady at PF..it had nothing to do with coaching philosophy on PnR's). The soft-trap on dribble penetration is a staple of VG's defensive principles. I wouldn't trade it for 1/2 a defensive rebound every 36 minutes.
We can't rely on Yao to get us rebounds. WE really need a true PF in terms of size and height, somebody who can't be pushed around the paint. 1. Swift - not too strong, height is below the avg heights of PFs. Leaping ability and hustle, excellent. 2. Howard - better size than Swift. Good hustle and energy but can't jump. 3. Spoon - all body. height is too bad. 4. Scotty - good height but not too strong to wrestle with players like Duncan. Can't get a offensize rebounds coz he's always behind the arc offensively. 5. Baker - Baked. that's my ranking for the best PF.
Houston was 8th in the league in rebounding differrential. Third in the league in defensive rebounds (really 2nd because phx's number of possesions skew the stats) Houston does a good job of rebounding, great in some instances. The problem the rockets had were gettting long rebounds with our slower players. Swift is long and quick to the ball. Even if he doesn't average 8 rpg, the rebounds that hes bound to get are the ones that others cant get to. Especially on the offensive end where he roams around the paint and can get some putbacks.........that is something JHow could not do for us.
Speaking of long rebounds,this is exactly why I do not want to trade Sura. Bobby would just chew up the long rebounds against teams like the Sonics and Suns. Pound for pound he is the rockets best rebounder.
If I remember correctly the Rockets were towards the bottom in team rebounds per game in 94 and 95. They also produced 2 championships. In 97 Kevin Willis and Charles Barkley were signed to fix the problem and well... beat the Sonics. That endevour produced 0 championships. Seriously though, nothings more frustrating (other than watching Francis play) than watching Yao miss those long rebounds. But Swift will help with those. You have to face it, other than signing Mutombo the Rockets arent going to make any moves to improve rebounding. At least not in the offseason.
if a guy averages 1 rebound every 4 minutes that's a sign that he's a very good rebounder. swift is just a little below that at about 1 reb. every 4.5 minutes. i think he can get to that level playing his natural position of PF and not C and getting more playing time i would expect him to get about 30 min a game next year, so look to about 7.5 rpg for him. that will be the sign of him being a very good rebounder or not. i think he can do it and should do it.
