Stats from last year among Western Conference teams (14 total): <HR WIDTH=75%> AREA: Turnovers [*]14th in Turnovers committed. [*]14th in Turnovers forced. [*]14th in Turnover margin (forced-committed). [*]13th in Steals made by opponent. Comments: The Rockets had many new players not used to each other and a rookie point guard that caused many of the turnovers. This year, the Rockets are returning most players and our sophomore point should be improved. Question: How much will the Rockets improve in this area? <HR WIDTH=75%> AREA: Defense [*]10th in Opponent FG% [*]10th in Steals [*]1st in Personal Fouls Committed Comments: Although it looks like we did a good job in not committing a lot of personal fouls, all indications are that we were soft - choosing not to foul instead of contesting layups and dunks. Questions: What have we done this offseason to improve our lottery-quality defense? <HR WIDTH=75%> AREA: Offense [*]10th in FG% [*]10th in FT% [*]12th in Assists [*]10th in Opponent Personal Fouls [*]9th in Offensive Rebounding [*]11th in Blocks by Opponent Comments: Taylor is an improvement on offense over Thomas. 10th in Opponenet PFs indicate a lack of respect by officials or a lack of aggressiveness. 11th in Opponent Blocks indicate our penetrators are forcing shots instead of finding the open man (12th in assists would support this as well). <HR WIDTH=75%> These are just raw stats and the reality of adding a player like Taylor, the maturation of our young guys, and less roster turnover can't be measured linearly. And the opening day roster is far from being set in stone. However, so far, it doesn't look like the Rockets have done much to address their major weaknesses other than to get a better scorer in the post. Personally, I think the Rockets record last year was a result of these other areas moreso than their PF's FG%. ------------------ "There's 1,000 different things we're looking at, but there's not a lot of things there." -- Rudy T., apparently after taking a hit of acid. [This message has been edited by Tb-Cain (edited September 06, 2000).]
Damn, Tb. I was hopeful before your post. Does anyone have a database w/ all games played last year (not just by the Rockets)? I'd like to, or would like someone else to , determine how the Rockets performance improved in each of these categories after the old men got out of the way. ------------------
tb-cain excellent post.. alotta good information in that. =) hmm. i'd say if they could get into around 8 or 9th, they'd be set for the playoffs, just with their ability to outplay the stats. ------------------ Oh.. so this is how you add a signature huh? coo coo.
