A guy doesn't make it to the league if he can't put the ball in the hole. Heck, even Dennis Rodman was an offensive threat when he first started out. This fact is especially true for guards. Following Jeff's logic, the Rox have either: (1) forgotten how to shoot, or (2) are all in a <b>simultaneous, extended,</B> shooting slump. Neither of these options are reasonable or plausible. I agree w/others here: Our bad shooting is a symptom, not the cause, of much bigger problems.
I agree that the team just doesn't knock down their shots. But I completely disagree that there is "nothing more significant than their inability to shoot the ball." The most significant problem is the lack of team play, period. We can quibble about whether that’s due to selfishness, bad coaching, a lousy system, inexperience, lack of playing time together – it doesn’t matter. The bottom line is the Rockets have a stagnant offense with no motion and no easy baskets, leaving the players to manufacture points through brute force. Sure, Francis is a great player, but he’s not great enough – a la Hakeem, Jordan, Shaq – for the team to win consistently with this approach. This is the problem that needs to be addressed first and foremost. To dismiss (or at best, minimize) the importance of easy baskets by saying that they only constitute 30 percent of your offensive output is simple-minded. First, that’s still a lot of points – enough to be the margin of victory in most cases. Why do you think effort is spent tracking things like points in the paint? Second, easy baskets put players in the comfort zone. How many times have we heard that a cold-shooting player needs to get some easy baskets to get into the flow and heat up their outside shooting. Easy baskets take the pressure off shooters, and lessen the sense of urgency when they have to take the perimeter shots. Now, it does make more sense to say that our lack of jump shooters merely exposes our passing skill deficiencies and stagnant system, and that we could get away with the lack of team play if we had good shooters. But I have three things to say to that. First, the bottom line is we don’t have good shooters, and we’re not going to get them – at least not this season. So isn’t it the coaches job to implement a system that leverages our strengths, and minimizes our weaknesses? Implementing such a system is within their control, but good shooting isn’t. Second, even with good shooters, you can’t always depend on them for your offensive effectiveness. Even good shooters are streaky, so you need a sound team offense to keep you in the game on a consistent basis when the shooters fail you. And third, as I said in the first place, it’s a chicken/egg situation. What’s the cause and what’s a symptom isn’t totally clear, but at least some of our bad shooting is attributable to lack of motion, lack of team play, and guys never getting comfortable. To reduce our problems to bad shooting, and to dismiss the role of selfishness and bad coaching in our stagnant offense reeks of being – and I hate to continue using this word – an apologist.
That is what I always say. And the only real shooter that we have...Glen Rice...only takes 2 shots per game now! They never try to set him up for a shot that he can make.
Our poor shooting is a result of having too many players who are gifted penetrators. We don't have any pure shooters. Glen Rice is, but he's lost a step. I propose starting him, because at least teams RESPECT his range, and when we have that respect, then it opens up the floor (spacing), and when we have that spacing, the passing gets going, and when the passing gets going, we get easy shots, and when we get easy shots we score on a better FG%, and when we do that, we win.
the system matters less than how you execute said system. quick, crisp, passing creates open, makeable looks.
