The Rockets are ranked 28th in the league in assists according to Fred Carter. Something around 18.3 a game. With Steve Francis, Cuttino and Yao shouldn't we be a better passing team than that? Those three alone are above average passers and are the ones that dominant the ball, then why are the Rox so close to the bottom in this category? Add that we average 14.5 turnovers a game and that makes the assist stat look even worse. I believe that its a very telling stat about where the priorities lie in regards to what is important to the team. Isn't it? Stuart
There are two teams in the NBA that don't have two players averaging at least three assists/game. One is New Jersey, the other is Houston. Cuttino never saw a fadeaway jumper from 18 feet he didn't like, Rice's only job is to shoot threes, so he obviously won't get many assists, Griffin's only job is to get a free plug for Brake Check when he gets a block, and I don't think I've EVER seen Taylor pass the ball out of the post. Yao is a good passer when he's not pump faking and getting his shots blocked. Steve's assist/TO ratio is terrible for a point guard. He's had some costly turnovers this year. Ironically, though, we lost both games in which he had no turnovers....oh, and the player with the best assist/TO ratio on the team? You guess it, Moochie! The key is Steve. The coaching staff needs to meet with him and tell him what his role will be. Will he be a scorer or a distributor? The Rockets are 5-2 in games where he has double digit assists. Games in which he scores more than 30 points? 4-5.
The way our current offensive system executes, there simply aren't many assists to dole out. Example. Guard makes an entry pass to the post player, then clears out. Post player puts the ball on the floor, makes a move, shoots. If it goes in, 2 points, 0 assists. Example 2. Guard dribbles the ball for 20 seconds, makes a move, shakes his defender, scores 2 points, 0 assists. Our assists come from open court plays, and the occasional alley oop. Yeah, I know it's more complex than that, but you get the idea.
Precisely! How can Mo pass out of the post when the other 4 players are standing on the other side of the court almost out of bounds watching him? When Yao gets the ball in the post, he always looks for a cutter....that aint going to happen in OUR offense. Cat, Steve and Mooch prefer to DRIBBLE THROUGH double teams. Eddie and Rice just jack up 3's. We have no fastbreak period. There just aren't many assist opportunities in our offensive "offense". BTW, don't you have to make a shot for the other guy to get an assist. That would be another problem...
Toast pretty much nailed it! Where are our: 1) cutters flashing to the basket? 2) Backdoor cutters? 3) Passes to players coming off of screens for jumpshots? 4) Extensive use of the pick n roll where the guard PASSES to the cutting player? All of those plays would result in assists. All of those plays have players in MOTION where a number of teammates act as a TEAM to score on offense. A MOTION offense. Wow, what a concept!?
It is difficult to make an assist while dribbling, while making a stupid turnover, while making a soft, telegraphed, silly-a** pass which results in a turnover, while going one on four, while jumping in the air with no place to go, while.........
