We have morphed into a team that must score in order to win. We use to win some ugly games with our defense. That's just not the case anymore. Yao - B, definitely learning to rotate to pentration causing them to rethink. His pick and roll D is still to shaky. Tmac - C-, doesn't rotate to open shooters and is constantly outrebound by his man hustling. Tmac has become a weak link on D because he's saving his energy for the offensive end Battier - A, why because he holds the best player night in/out and hustles every second on the floor. Rookies, please learn from him Rafer - B-, still runs into too many pick rolls, dude don't you see this coming, and drops 10 feet under screens leaving guys wide open. I love his help defense and getting in the passing lane to get steal Scola - B-, love his hustle and willingness to mix up. Still learning the NBA ref'ing. Switches to take charges. Chuck A+, defensive demon who is only second to Battier because he is outmaned everynight but holds the Tim Duncan's of the world. I don't know who job is tougher, his or Shane's. Luther D-, dude is a post up waiting to happen and guards are driving around him with ease. I'm surprised they didn't try to post up Monta AB C, still learning the NBA game is racking up too many fouls, AB it's okay if your man hits a shot now and again. It happens in the NBA. Just stay in front of your man Landry C, same as AB Bonzi D+, looks as if he's playing in quicksand and is very slow to rotate, looks like an older version of Tmac
Yao should be A despite his inability to grab rebound as a big guy. The impact of him on the court is not something stats could show. How do you feel if you are opponent who wants to lay up and see a wall in front of you. Battier should be A+, adjust for Hayes A in my opinion
Yao is rated correctly. He anchors our interior defense, but when a team which runs pick and rolls to a T comes along, he's definitely a liability. And how does Chuck receive an A+ when he is second to Shane, who got an A?
yao could be a B+ *(maybe A-). WHen he is allowed to stick around the paint he controls it well and alters a lot of shots. His P&R and lack of ability to rotate quickly keep him from being an A. i think rafer get a solid B.
I think most of our players rate as B-C defenders individually. As a team, we are much more of a A-B team. That's where real defense is at. Team defense.
Yao should get a A. He's very good at CENTER's categories this year, including rebound and block. Yes, he's too slow to defend pick and roll. But battier is slow too, hayes is undersized, when they were beat by a quicker or bigger player, ppl seems think it's just the way it suppose to be, but not for Yao.
Agree with other posters in saying Yao should get an A. Also, I'd give Rafer an A-. I think he is perpetually under-appreciated for what he brings to the table defensively, and the focus is often more on him because the PG position has the highest usage rate, and he often goes up against superior players. But the results are undeniable: the Rockets are a much, much better defensive team when Rafer is on the floor than when he is not. If I were to rank this team's defenders, I'd go Hayes, Battier, Yao, Alston and Scola, in that order. At the least, one can appreciate him for the job he did on Baron Davis last night.
I think Yao does a great job at clogging the lane in the half court. He does not get back on defense very quickly, so sometimes is out of position. Yao's ability as a clogger only works when the rest of the team is playing good team defense. If not a quick guard can get to the rim around Yao easily. (see: Chris Paul.) Don't agree with your take on T-mac at all. Tracy has always been a good defender. He's very good at poking at the ball and disrupting the ballhandlers rhythm. His length bothers people. He doesn't really play with intensity in anything he does though, so people think he's being lazy. A lazy Tracy is still one of the better defenders on our team.
Hayes gets destroyed by Duncan, Yao is the only person on our team that can stop him. When Yao comes out vs the Spurs Duncan goes on a tear, I think that says a lot about Yao's D.
I agree with most of your comments. I think the Rockets coaches appreciate Luther's defense more than us, for some reason.
Most of the players are nearer C than B. Overall team defense is B- at best on rare occasions.Hayes is our best defender IMO but he gets overwhelmed because of his physical limitations. Battier gets a B- despite his hustle and hard work. Yao can alter shots in the paint and has improved since last year but we still need a Rasheed Wallace like defender to cover for his lack of lateral quickness and inability to play defense against the likes of Boozer,Okur, KG which are bad matchups for him. Lack of size, lateral quickness and athletic ability at the 1 and 2 are major problems. Rafer works hard but he has his limitations. Tracy needs to do a much better job on D.Snyder never developed on his defensive potential which has caused us a lot of problems too. Defense has to be the identity of the team.JVG lacked depth last year but he didn't have any motion on offense which lead to his downfall. We were a better defensive ball club under him despite our defensive limitations then as well. Adelman is a better coach on offense but he isn't a good defensive coach which is part of the problem too. Ultimately it comes down to the players to do a better job every night,otherwise we will lose.
This post is chock full of epic fail. "Overall team defense is B- at best on rare occasions...Adelman isn't a good defensive coach." The Rockets currently rank #3 in the league in defensive efficiency, a mere 0.2 points behind the #2 New Orleans Hornets. Adelman's teams have always ranked in the top 10 defensively practically every year he has coached, and this might be his best defensive team ever. "Hayes ... gets overwhelmed because of his physical limitations." When was the last time you saw Hayes overwhelmed on defense? He has held his own against every forward/center in the league not named Kevin Garnett so far. "Battier gets a B- despite his hustle and hard work." Because? "Snyder never developed on his defensive potential which has caused us a lot of problems too." Kirk Snyder has played in a total of 9 games this year, averaging 9 minutes per game. How the hell has he caused us "a lot of problems" with such meager playing time?
I disagree i distinctly remember the Toronto game where Chuck absolutly destroyed Chris Bosh probably the best shooting centre out there
Chuck has his moments and consistently stays in front his man. However, his fouls come at a quick rate.
Wrong. Chuck commits just 2.5 fouls per game in 22 mpg, which is actually rather stellar for a player whose #1 job is post defense.
I think Carl Laundry could turn into a great defender. Don't mind all the fouls he is just a rookie. Think about how good Hayes would be at D if he was like 6-9 or 6-10. Hopefully that could be Laundry. Only time will tell.
