Best defense at the PF position: Ryan Anderson, Omri Casspi, Chandler Parsons?

Ryan Anderson is at best similar defensively, if not worse than Casspi and no where close to Parsons. Trading Asik for anything less than LMA would be pants on head r****ded.

 

Parsons>>>Casspi>>>>>Anderson

 

Why are you only comparing Casspi to white players? The correct comparison is to fellow Euro, Ersan Ilyasova.

 

what if we try our play off line up last year okc series?..
BEVERLEY
HARDEN
CISCO/OC/PARSONS
PARSONS/OC/CISCO
HOWARD replace ASIK

 

The Rox have a lot of young talented options at the PF position, and also Asik. No trade until the smoke clears and we said what each guy is really capable of and how well he fits in whatever lineup McHale employs (it's not always about individual play but how well a player "fits"). Hate to trade away a future Landry or Scola.

 

I was gonna post, but then I saw this....

 

Casspi is 6-9 and 225. Against almost all starting PF in the league he will be pushed around like a little girl. He has always been viewed as a defensive minus.

 

Honestly, I don't think it's a bad point. But if this is your point, you should probably spell it out in the first post of the thread rather than just abruptly asking a question.

The reply to your point is this: We don't really know how good Houston's "spread 4," or frankly any kind of 4, options are. Casspi is unproven outside of 3 preseason games and Parsons didn't play PF (Delfino guarded them when the team went small). In any case, Morey didn't trade Asik all summer long so chance are he is giving status quo a chance and will make moves according to what he sees during the season.

 

Cass3 has been viewed as a defensive minus because he has gotten burned playing SF....not PF. He's too slow to be a SF and will always be too slow to be a SF. He's a PF. 225 lbs and has acquitted himself quite well so far playing the 4 spot. He's definitely not too slow to play PF. The only question is is he strong enough? You apparently think he's a panzy. I don't see that. I see a dude that's got some attitude and some nasty and he won't let himself be pushed around. And one more thing....Cass3 has bball intelligence in spades. He'll do just fine playing alongside Dwight and Asik. I'm not promoting him. But from what I am seeing he has as good a chance to start at the 4 for this team when we spread it out as anybody.

 

I wonder how much of Casspi people here have really seen before commenting on what he is or is not good at. Most of us do not spend the last 4 years breaking down videos of the crappy Kings and Cavs games.

What we do know is that the Rockets front office, who are diligent about scouting and have spend time breaking down videos of the Kings and Cavs, signed Casspi to a contract (minimum, but guaranteed) hoping he'll be a good fit for the "Delfino" role. We also know that Morey has said that he considers Casspi a plus defender right after Casspi signed.

They could be wrong, of courses, but right now I trust the Rockets front office's opinion on this matter, particularly since Casspi has done nothing to contradict what Morey said while in a Houston uniform.

 

Didn't watch him at CLE. But did study him at Sac. Knew back then he'd never be able to defend 3's. He's only going to get bigger and a little slower as he ages.

 

Exactly. He so far has been a non-entity after his rookie season. But Morey's team's little fingers have more comprehensive analysis available than the entire fan base.

 

We already have our best defense at the 4. T. Jones and D-Mo.

 

Pretty much CBL. They have looked much improved this season. What do you think?

 

Surprisingly, I like our options at the 4 right now. I think you've gotta get Casspi at least 15 min a night as a stretch 4. Jones and DMo have both improved. I'm not as worried as I was 3 months ago.

 

1) The 8! simplification is wrong on at least three levels.
a) A significant number of lineups are wildly improbably, and could be removed with simple tree pruning (reduces size)
b) It ignores simple variation in a lineup over time for things like player conditioning or injuries (e.g. shot distribution in lineup may have a significant variation from the first five minutes to the last five minutes, so total time on floor affects results) (increases size)
c) It ignores opposing lineups, which can also significantly affect shot distribution within a lineup

Most significantly, deciding whether to upgrade the PF position based on ~5 shots available to the PF ignores the impact of an upgraded PF, who would justifiably command more shots due to his higher efficiency than the current players taking those shots.

The overall idea that upgrading offense should not be our priority, as we already have high efficiency for the shots we are taking is entirely valid, but narrowing the focus to the PF position doesn't work.

 

Best would be a Ben Wallace type