our offense is exactly the same if not worse then last year. jvg isn't an offensive genius but it comes down to personnel not the coach. our offense looked fantastic under van gundy when sura, wesley, barry, and a good james were running it. i miss the preparation, the shut down defense and the hours of dedication written all over van gundy's mug. i'd say we should have been warned when jon barry, an offensive player who played for an offensive coach in adelman, still called jvg the best coach he's ever had. it's way way too early to determine how much of adelman's offense they can adjust to and how well they'll be but as of right now i do miss the little guy.
I don’t miss good D because it’s still here. We have the same starters. I believe they can keep playing good D like last season. I don’t think RA would say something like “forget the D” or “we don’t need D”. The concept of keeping Chuck and Shane as starters is very clear. RA doesn’t want to hurt the other end while installing a new offense system. The core players would not forget how they play D just several months ago. Scola is obviously a better player than Chuck. No one doubts, I suppose… However, RA insisted to play Chuck instead of Scola. The only reason he did not give Scola more PT is that Chuck knows the D system better. Not a better partner of Yao, not a better rebounder, but knows better D. I agree the defense performance is under-par in the previous games. But it’s a matter of intensity. Those were ugly games. Their defense ability’s still here, but lazy.
The effort and intensity is probably 80% of the effectiveness of defense. That is what Van Gundy drilled into the players every game. It wasn't that he had magic defensive plays that other coaches have never seen before, and that now that the players know the system you can bring in someone else to teach them a new offense and just say, "keep doing what you did last year on defense everybody." You need a coach that has a commitment to defense and demands the intensity and effort from the players. The numbers don't lie, there is a reason that Van Gundy's teams are always among the best defensively, and that they don't maintain that after he leaves.
Yup, the players definitely are not playing with the same passion as last year. You can just see in their faces, especially Yao's face. If you watched tonight's commentary by Hubie Brown, he basically said there was no reason for Yao to be in the high post. Last season, JVG knew exactly how to get Yao the ball in good position, but that isnt the case this year. It is pretty sad as RA's system was supposedly going to make life easier on Yao and Tmac. I can honestly say I have not enjoyed watching one game this season, even when we winning early in the year. The passion just isnt there.
I wouldn't miss it nearly so much if our offense looked like the old Sacramento Kings. But considering our offense is looking so terrible - yes, I desperately miss good defense.
No, dont miss it at all. Love watching teams play us like we were the matador and them the bull. I'm fine with it.
Observations from the closest I've watched this year: The starting 5's defense was great, especially Battier's. Watching the Pistons run Battier through 3 screens and Battier still have a hand in his face as soon as Rip gets the ball is a thing of beauty. If your love for Battier has faded, get some seats close to the floor behind a basket. Your crush will be renewed. From up-close and in-person, Battier looks like he's a much, much better defender than Tayshaun Prince. Chuck is a lot better defender than Scola, and it has nothing to do with heart or hustle. It has everything to do with strength and quickness. Rasheed couldn't post Chuck at all and could post Scola with very little effort. Chuck can switch off on Billups and do a pretty good job. Scola switches to Tayshaun Prince and Prince's eyes light up. Rafer's defense is better described as crafty and pesky than good. Billups tried to post him, but Rafer kept poking the ball away and making it hard. Billups has a lot of strength on Rafer, but Rafer did a yeoman's job. Yao is still a force down low. Any talk of him being soft is ridiculous when you watch the other end of the court. McGrady takes plays off on defense. He's the best defender on the team when he tries to be, but he gave up a couple of easy shots to Prince that he shouldn't have. Bonzi's defensive philosophy is to hope his guy misses and go get the rebound. He does have a good nose for finding passes to pick off, but he couldn't shut down anyone. Luther Head just isn't very good defensively. He tries. He works hard, and as long as the opponent doesn't try to post him, his effort makes him decent. Of course, everyone posts him. Well, it's nice to know that Good Defense is still around. Maybe she saw the Championship Jerseys, they reminded her of Hakeem and Mad Max and turned her on. Hopefully she'll keep putting out.
There was a couple of times in last night's game against the Pistons where Detroit had a fast break or one of their players took it right to the rim., and I could help thinking - this is where JVG would call a time out and scream at the team for letting it happen. Defense was all JVG was concerned about. I think in the NBA for the most part coaching is over rated. It's a players league. The rockets are still a pick and roll with McGrady and yao most of the time on offense. But JVG had more impact than most coaches because he coached defense! We should have never fired him!!
\ yes, the rockets played better defense last night, they played harder last night and consequently got a win...but you've gotta admit detroit looked like a tired team and didn't shoot particularly well when they had open shots.
Update: At this point last season, the Rockets had 7 games by December 15 where they allowed at least 100 points. As of right now, the Rockets have allowed at least 100 points in the 7 games. The Rockets record, this year when they allow 100 ppg is 0-7 Last year up until December 15, their record was 2-5, both wins come against the Wizards and Golden State, one was blow out and the other was won at the end of the game. Last year, the Rockets were 98.6 ppg - 90.2 ppa (43% - 3rd in NBA) - held 2 opponents in the 80s, 4 in 70s, 2 in 60s. When they held opposing teams under 90, they were 8-0 This year, the Rockets have 94.3 ppg - 93.2 ppa (44.2% - 4th in NBA) - held 6 opponents in the 80s, 2 in the 70s. The Rockets are undefeated this year when they hold opponents under 90, currently they are 8-0. In 2006, we were 7-7 at this point last year against teams over .500 or who made the playoffs. 2-6 against Western Conference teams who made the playoffs. In 2007, we are 8-8 against teams who were over .500 last year or made the playoffs. 6-6 against Western Conference teams who made the playoffs, last year. At this point last season, we were actually better on offense and slightly better (little more suffocating) on defense. But, it's not a total wash. Improvements from last year: ---------------------------------------------------- Scoring is more spreaded around this year with Scola and Wells who have had few 20 points games this year. And Francis and Snyder could break out at some point. Last year, it was pretty much Yao and T-Mac, with Alston being a top scorer in some games. Even though, we are worst offensively, the team is in new system with a lot of new players. We are doing better against the best teams in the league, a record of .500 against the west and .500 against playoff teams. Last year, we were .350 against the west at this point and .500 against playoff teams. Setbacks from last year: -------------------------------------------------------- Defense is still pretty good, probably about the best behind San Antonio and Detroit (I'm not including Boston, because they have played any offensive juggernauts, yet, except the Lakers and Magic). .... but it's safe to say last year's was more stifling. Offense is actually poorer, this year...but for some reason the team doesn't struggle scoring against the Western powers, as much as last year. The offense primarily ran through Yao and T-Mac. It still does this year, but they has been more emphasis on the motion offense, which tries utilize all 5 players....instead of the old inside/outside game (where the shooters have been wildly inconsistent).
