League Pass didn't show the Rockets at Memphis and so I admit to not watching the game. I brought this up in another thread and was informed that "the Rockets started their offense inside the 3 point line" (well, OK but how good is the Memphis D and was it mostly zone?) and also that "how many steps does a player take before it's not considered an assist?". If you go back and look at last years NBA team stats, a ratio of .5 is abysmal - worse than last years Rockets. This is not an indication of movement and that low number would rank the Rox at the bottom of the league this coming season. I know RT says it not motion, but the Kings and Nets had a ratio of about .75 or .8 last year (sorry could't find it quickly - will update later). IMHO, 42 made shots ought to have somewhere between 29 and 33 assists. Those who watched the game, help me out here. It seems like nothing has changed.
.75? .8? Not even close... Nets: 1990 asists, 3042 field goals : .59 Sacramento: 1958 assists, 3267 field goals: .65 Lakers: 1882 assists, 3190 field goals: .59 Dallas: 1811 assist, 3200 field goals: .56 Houston: 1482 assists, 2837 field goals: .52 Now, realize that our point guard (read: assist leader) missed over 20 games last season and we NEVER had a consistent starting lineup Dude, you're really reaching...It's only one preaseason game, chill...Add to the fact that you didn't even WATCH the game, so you don't have much room to gripe since you didn't see it.... Damn, some people are never happy...
I didn't watch the game but I do know how to look at a calculator, dude - 1990 / 3042 = .654 TOP 10 Utah >>> 0.697 --- no comment New Jersey >>> 0.654 --- NBA Finals Chicago >>> 0.6646 Indiana >>> 0.642 - NBA Finals a season ago Cleveland >>> 0.641 --- benefit of Miller Portland >>> 0.641 --- playoff team Minnesota >>> 0.628 --- playoff team Memphis >>> 0.626 --- JWill? Denver >>> 0.623 Detroit >>> 0.620 ---- playoff team Seattle >>> 0.615 --- Payton New York >>> 0.611 Toronto >>> 0.609 Charlotte >>> 0.608 Milwaukee >>> 0.607 Boston >>> 0.604 Sacramento >>> 0.599 --- a surprise LAL >>> 0.597 --- Dump it in to Shaq Miami >>> 0.594 --- They had injuries, too! Phoenix >>> 0.593 --- Orlando >>> 0.584 --- TMac & who else? Philadelphia >>> 0.584 --- Iverson shoot-a-thon Washington >>> 0.584 --- Who else but MJ LAC >>> 0.577 --- Can they even spell "team"? Atlanta >>> 0.571 --- SAR dominates Golden State >>> 0.569 --- never mind Dallas >>> 0.566 --- San Antonio >>> 0.564 --- Dump it in to Duncan Houston >>> 0.522 The league average was .601. The Rockets are .500 against Memphis with all but Rice & Taylor and A-Train tells me I'm over reacting!? OK, I'll fade into the background for now, but something at my intuitive level says that this will be revisited.
with most of our scoring done by steve, we shouldnt be shocked at that stat. who should get steve the assist when he wants to score? he is the PG. he brings up the ball. i sat we rejoyce since most of our players played very well and we won.
I saw minimal motion last night and the chronicle post game breakdown backs this obervation. RT commented that they did run it a little, but plan to run it more next game. he said they ran lots of old stuff because that is what Vancouver gave them and it was working. So, I am not to certain that the stat is relevant to this game because we won using 80% old offense. Now, IMHO should we have run the motion offense the entire game to get the kinks worked out.....certainly....but then I would have played Boki and Rice more than 6 minutes and 0 minutes respectively. I also would have told Kenny Thomas to pass the ball occassionally and made Griffin play the block more in the 4th quarter! That is me though, just a 10 year season ticket holder! I thought preseason was to not only work the kinks out and get the rust off, but also try new things!
I personally didn't see much of a difference between last year's Rockets and last night's except that Stevie was back. Well, T. Morris seemed to have a much better rotation on his shot and Eddie showed a few lost post moves as well as looking a bit more comfortable with the "one dribble then shoot" from 15. There were also a couple of plays in which Mobley would come up to the freethrow line or further from the baseline to receive the ball and either penetrate or shoot the jumper. Nice play, especially if you have someone as quick as Mobley. I know Stevie had a good game, but he was a bit selfish in the 2nd half, Kenny still is the Black-Hole, not enough low post action. ahhh.......I just want to see what's possible with this team if we do establish a low post presence. I know Ming will be coming, but I don't really expect him to be too effective this year mainly because of him missing a lot of training camp and preseason, and fatigue. He's been playing like crazy the last couple of years and he's got an 82 game season in the NBA coming up..........
Good observation. Looks like the same Rockets with a little more movement. Like I said, the Francis/Mobley show which will never work.
I disagree - In the first half of the game I saw significantly more motion than last year, and, even when the motion was less obvious, they were still actually running plays! I know this shouldn't get anyone excited, but given the stagnancy of last years offense, this is amazing to me. Hopefully, they can keep that up and certainly improve on it further.
I missed the first half, but luckily Ch. 51 showed a replay around midnight. So of course, I was a little disappointed at the lack of movement in the 2nd half, until I saw the replay of the 1st half. Remember, the Rocks aren't running a pure motion offense, but there was definitely a significant amount of movement in their sets this year vs. past seasons, especially on the weakside! (Thank God!) In fact, a couple of times they ran the play that I've been waiting 2 seasons to see: Cuttino curling to the middle off a weakside screen. And, of course, the play fit him like a glove, leading to one particularly beautiful little running hook\finger roll in the 2nd half. With his speed, slashing ability, and ability to pull up off the dribble, the Rocks will kill teams all year long with that play.
montgo, if you are going to quote Rudy, then please don't call it "motion offense" anymore. He said specifically that it is not motion. He said it doesn't have nearly as much passing as motion. Steve Goodrich said it is not motion, that it runs set options. It is more of an attacking offense like the Triangle, not to compare, but just to state that motion was never seen last night...by design. The offense is supposed to force the defense to give us something, and then you take it. As Live and JayZ said, the players are moving and they are picking. But the offense looks like it will milk Francis if he is being given looks, specifically the High PicknRoll. And I agree that it should. btw: I saw Mobley catch Francis coming around downpicks at least twice in the 1st Q. And this was after Mobley set some picks and come back through them to get the ball. One thing is for sure, there were no 2-shakes wing ISOs, and the 3pt shooting attempts was waaaaay down.
Since I was unable to view the game myself, this is what I was looking for when I started the thread. If the Rox are setting picks and moving w/o the ball and not getting 24 second violations, then I can live with it. That said, IMHO I still don't see the Rockets making the playoffs or getting out of the first round until the A/FGM %age starts to approach that of the Kings and Lakers - about 59%. I think the lack of response to this issue is hidden by the fact the Rockets won the game and the CC fans are satiated - for now. But bear this in mind - it was the Grizz sans Gasol and they played Francis 37 minutes, Mobely 35 and EG & KT 33 and 32 respectively. http://www.nba.com/games/20021008/HOUMEM/boxscore.html If the Rox lose the next game and have this kind of A/FGM% then IMO there are going to be alot of threads similiar to this one. I truly hope I'm wrong, but at this point I am a skeptic (which vastly differs from a pessimist).
The Grizzlies had an assist/fg ratio of 60% last night...lot of good it did them. Chicago, Cleveland, Memphis, and Denver were all in the top then in this all important statistical category last season. Gater, I hear what you're saying...The Rockets need to pass the ball more. (Other than Steve, the highest assist total was 3). Of course, I'd be willing to bet that most of those non assisted field goals were made BY Steve, who is our team's best playermaker, so he doesn't need anybody to set him up for an assist. You don't need to make up some imaginary statistic to get this point across. Heck, the fact that we GOT 21 assists is good for me...
It's definitely an interesting number analysis Gater, though I'm not sure how meaningful it really is, esp in the first pre-season game. One question: if Ming comes in and averages 25-30 mpg do you think that'll increase the assists? After watching him in action I certainly believe it. Teams will have to double him and he's always looking for the pass. Plus he has that killer faceup J that will lead to easy assists for whoever feeds him. It's kind of hard to rack up assists w/o a post game, fastbreaks, or truly great 3 point shooters.
It was obvious that they were attempting a new system last night but it looked like Cat and KT were not very interesting in running it. This is understandable since the old system was so good to them...giving them the ball and letting them create one on one (something ballhogs like KT and Cat love). Another reason I think the assists numbers were down (besides the selfish offensive shots) is the number of put backs the rockets had last night. It looked like the rockets hit the offensive boards hard getting lots of put backs w/o assists. I agree with Gator...the rockets need to get a higher assist percentage with the guards getting dishing for easy shots for oher players to win more games. I have to admit the fast break looked better than last year...but then again it would be hard not to.
Absolutely and without reservation - yes. For reasons obvious to me, I just didn't want to go there...yet. It was never my intention that this one statistic was a "be all and end all" indicator. In this category, there are Top 10 teams in the playoffs and Top 10s in the Lottery. But in the vast majority of cases, the stat has an explanation (ie, Iversons shoot-a-thon or the Spurs dump it in to Duncan). To restate my position, the Rockets can not be at the bottom of the league this season in this stat and be successful. Will this figure increase with Yao, fewer injuries than last season, the team becoming more familiar with each other, etc.? Yes...but At some point, this number will get to "equilibrium" - a number that we expect to see most often during the season. If this number does not approach the league average of .601, then I don't see more than a .500 team. And a .500 team is not a WC playoff team. Observe that GS, Atlanta, Dallas, and SA all hover around 55%. SA could get away with this because they have Duncan. Dallas could get away with it because they uptempo (10th in FGA's). On the other hand, Atlanta could not because they were basically a one man team. GS (like the Rox) had injuries and no real inside post up game. IMHO, the personnel on the Rockets can not be successful at 55%.
The nail has been hit on the head. I saw about 3 minutes of a "5 man" aka "Motion Offense" (Rudy's way of acting like its his invetion) last night. There was not the slaching constant movement we all heard about. Until Steve decides to play the 2 that offense WILL NOT WORK! He handles the ball too much and is called on to be a scorer thus preventing the movement needed
