Can a Rocket team thats high scoring with minimal defense eventually win championships ?

No, but there is no reason why we can't improve our defense and still play this style of ball like the Spurs do.

 

What lack of athletic talent ??

All of our starters are above average athletes for their position. They may not throw down highlight reel dunks but they're strong and can run and jump with the best of them.

 

"Pair up another star, any star," - agree with you for the most part, but should be a front court star, right?

 

On offense, the running style is not the problem. If you can run AND play half court, then you are pretty much unstoppable. The Rockets could not run any good half court offense and when the opponent took away the running game, they were exposed. They have been doing better lately. I think Harden's maturation and Lin's improved shooting have a lot to do with it.

On defense, you need a commitment. You may have to sacrifice your offense, like what JVG did, not have everybody crashing the offensive board, not cutting to the basket too much, etc. Or you try to play good half court defense with very focused rotating team defense.

To win it all, you either have a great offense and a good defense, or a great defense and a good offense. The cliche "defense wins championship" is misleading. Defense itself cannot win championship, just like offense itself cannot.

 

Morey does not believe it but you have too play too the strength of what you have personnel wise. And that is uptempo with a smaller lineup and bigs who can shoot 3's

I do see Robinson adding a lot of D off the bench. Asik is great as well. Need too add a perimeter defender like Iguodala in free agency. And maybe try and find another defensive first big in the draft.

 

i'm a believer but obviously there has to be a certain talent level.

i think in a couple years the Rockets will end up balancing this team out a bit as they keep adding talent. Like, just adding Millsap and getting some more seasoning should boost the Rockets to above average D, imo.

 

Right on.

 

Good point.

 

Agreed.

 

No Defense = No Championship. Its one thing if your not putting effort (ex. Suns) and just relying mainly on outscoring your opponent but if we could hold our own on defense, possibly. I dont get how other teams (mainly the commentators) think we are absolute trash on defense. 2 of our guys are in the Top 10 players in steals.

 

I think it is Les Alexander that wants small ball and Morey is just doing what he is told to do.

 

Defense is no doubt important, but how much defense you need to win a championship is mitigated by your offensive prowess.

If you have the #1 offense in the league (Rockets?), then an average defense may get you there. Obviously, if your offense is only average, you will need stellar defense (Pacers?) to win the day.

Its always about matchups as well. If your in the finals, having the right guy defensively that slows down your opponents main offensive weapon becomes key. If your team defensive philosophy throws a wrench in your opponents offensive one, then you are apt to do well.

Championship success, or getting there in the first place also has much to do with controlling the pace. In the Rockets case, getting defensive stops has a correlation to their offensive success. For example, in the latest OK game, our offensive pace was just fine for our opponent. So controlling the pace didnt give us an advantage. On this night, getting enough defensive stops was key. And we just barely accomplished it.

I dont think Houston has to be a defensive juggernaut to succeed at high levels. But they do need to be more cohesive and consistent especially against teams that like a fast pace. Against teams that play at a slower pace, controlling the tempo might be more important than defense. So it just depends on the matchup.

 

no the defense will have to improve and it will.

 

if we never miss shots yes. they need to undergo nash, nowitzki shot training. 1500 jumpshots a day.

 

I know it's a pipe dream, but Batum would be perfect for our team. Defensive minded wing who can defend many positions, very long and quick and can bomb threes. If we had him and Howard I think we'd be in the running for a championship.

 

You're trying to make a narrative out of the results of a random number generator. Net offense/defense wins championships. There's no destiny or determinism at work in Duncan making an improbably 3 to oust Phoenix from the playoffs. In many other universes Duncan misses an Phouenix goes on to win the title.

San Antonio has publicly said they've switched to being te Suns. Perhaps we should defer to the 4 time champs about what it takes to win a championship.

 

No matter how high scoring a team is, the best team defense in the playoffs takes home the Larry O'Brien trophy

 

Best teams through NBA history score a lot more points than they allow. Mixture of both offense and defense is needed.

 

The '00-01 Lakers team that absolutely crushed everyone in route to the title:

Offense - 2nd
Defense - 21st

 

Our starters are average athletes for NBA starters, except for Harden, and even he is not elite like Lebron, Kobe, Ibaka, or Josh Smith.