Karl seems to be feeling good about playing the 4 and launching tons of 3s. (Playing 4 at the WC) He is on a mission. Naz Reid, Luka Garza, Jaden McDaniels, Shake Milton, those guys are all balling.
I don't have Minny on my list of teams we could be better than. They're going to be better than they were last season. Ant is ready now to be The Guy, Jaden McDaniels is possibly the single most underrated roleplayer in the NBA, and yeah KAT and Gobert ain't it, but they're still good players. That core is good for 5th or 6th seed IMO.
For sure, just wanting to state surreptiously how good that bench actually is....or at least going against 2nd stringers. How much potential fire power. Of course do not play Daishen Nix.
When I said shooting was my biggest concern going into the season I was told ..... I still think shooting is going to be their biggest issue.
I see more the stamina issue, the way they play defense takes a lot of stamina, with extended minutes in the season, you put pressure on Fred and Dillon. If one of them misses extended time, everything will look different. Shooting and Defense are just means to keep them in the game and extend the leads/close out games.
Having a longer rotation will help with that. We seem to have the necessary depth in athletic bodies. Not sure if our #10 or #11 guys off the bench are ready for regular minutes though. One thing I dont think we know is what size rotation Ime will employ. 7 or 8 maybe too short in part for the reason your pointing out.
Was thinking more in the line of defensive strategy that the veterans are not replaceable once they go out.
I do as well. On offense there are: 1) scorers (facilitators) 2) shooters 3) screeners Scorers: MJ, Oladipo, Marbury, Iverson, Drexler, Kobe, LeBron, Melo, etc. Not good shooters; but can shoot once they feel good about themselves after making a few layups, dunks, free throws. I would classify Amen, Dillon Brooks, VanVleet, Sengun, Tate, [ KPj ], Jalen Green in this category. Shooters: Ray Allen, Korver, Ariza, Klay Thompson, Tyler Herro, Redick, Joe Harris, Chris Mullin, Drazen Petrovic etc. I would classify Jabari Smith and Bulock leaning in this category. There are shades of grey within the shooters category and within the scorers category. Not all scorers are MJ or Kobe, but they tend to need shooters around them to truly excel. MJ without Kukoc, Kerr, Armstrong, Paxson, Pippin, Ron Harper, Craig Hodges opening up things. Some shooters can add scorer to their resume when defenders play them too tight. Booker was a shooter to begin his career....then developed an ability to put the ball on the floor and score, Beal, Bernard King, Alex English, George Gervin, Hornacek. It's rare for scores to be that guy that comes off the bus shooting. Steph Curry, Nash, Stockton have been both since the first time I saw them. Few like them. Rockets never gave Jalen Green or Silas screeners or outside shooters. Wood/EG gave Silas/Green some outside shooting two years ago. Some would say that was a better season than last year, when EG dropped from 40%+ three point shooting to 35% last year (and no Wood). Jalen Green has never been provided a clean paint (not packed). This Green comes out looking like a chucker or in-efficient. Forcing this Rockets team to be shooters as they walk off the bus is a recipe for disaster for us Rockets fans. Popovich was not a fan of the 3; but you notice that Popovich always had 3-point shooters in Danny Green, Horry, Ginobli, Tony Parker, Kawhi, Bertans, Patty Mills. Good 3-point shooters allowed to shoot about 30 attempts per game while everyone else were shooting 55 attempts. Derrick Fisher made it clear as Lakers head coach that he was not a fan of the 3-point shot. I believe they were near the bottom of the Western Conference that year or two. Fisher didn't last long as head coach. Last year the Nuggets won it all with a 15th ranked defense. Not sure if 9th ranked defense with 29th ranked offense will get us to the play in? But I digress, Clutchfans has become a fan boys meeting place for homers. I'll keep quite this season. I've spoken my mind, my thoughts. Let's see how it plays out and hope for the best. Go Rockets!!!!
Byron Scott (not Derek Fisher) https://www.slamonline.com/archives/byron-scott-says-three-pointers-dont-win-championships/ Had a .227 winning percentage over two years 2014-16
While I havent lost one bit of my optimism, its really hard to gauge where this team is at, relative to other teams, given our opponents didnt really go all out to win in our first two games, and now SA holds out its best players for game three.
That is what Pre-season is for....I think some teams use it for shoring up defense, others do not care, others just let 2nd-3rd units play..... For different purposes and of course you rest starters for 1-2 games out of 5 when you can. Rockets value it like a truck load of gold, I mean I can understand it. Play your 16 minutes and do not injure yourself.
For me, this is the first pre-season in a very long time where trying to gauge the team is even something that I have tried to do. In the recent past, I knew this was a team going nowhere that season so I didnt try. Before that, we had a veteran team and so I already knew what we had. This year is different, maybe.
For me, I took the over at 30.5 today. I guess that makes me pretty optimistic for some serious improvement. I’m not expecting a lot, just some real coaching, an actual system, and maybe some defense for a change.
The poll has Spurs as the leading choice. So far the head to head match ups is not looking good for us. We may still eek out at the end but, nothing is looking as guaranteed.
It looks good so far.....sometimes ugly when Sengün is not working and 3 pointers are bricking. Defense is great, transition defense is the thing the Rockets have prepared themselves better than anyone in this league.
NBA Odds: 2023-24 Southwest Division Winner Odds Memphis Grizzlies: +145 Dallas Mavericks: +185 New Orleans Pelicans: +210 Houston Rockets: +4000 San Antonio Spurs: +8000 https://clutchpoints.com/nba-odds-2023-24-southwest-division-winner-prediction-and-pick
Maybe 30ish on the high end, but I think more like 28-29 wins. They are still very young, have gotten smarter, but it will take some time for the chemistry to gel, and some of their young guys need to make a major leap or the team will trade them before they offer an extension - you don't want to give MAX extensions to guys who don't deserve one. DD
