Here's another something I found. Pretty good read to me. Houston Rockets entered the season with high expectations after trading for former Defensive Player of the Year Ron Artest. But injuries to Shane Battier and Brent Barry, and “discomfort” in Tracy McGrady’s surgically repaired knee have prevented Houston from taking the court at full-strength. Houston’s defense has been solid. Weakside rotations have been a step slow at times, and they continue to give up too many layups, but led by Artest, the Rockets are fourth in points allowed per 100 possessions. Houston’s offense has been a different story altogether. The Rockets are twentieth in points scored per 100 possessions. Houston is not executing anything remotely similar to the “motion offense” Rick Adelman ran in Sacramento. Adelman’s offense in Sactown was predicated upon high-post passing, backcuts, and ball handoffs. This year’s Rockets squad relies on the one-on-one play of Yao Ming, McGrady, and Ron Artest. Ming, McGrady, and Artest are proven scorers, but their teammates have become bystanders. There is little movement away from the ball. Artest has been a black hole thus far -- averaging a team-high 14.6 shot attempts per game -- while shooting a meager 34% from the field. Artest shot 5-of-18 from the field Sunday night against the Denver Nuggets. After the game, Adelman noted that Artest “needed to look to kick the ball out better when he put it on the floor.” Artest played for Adelman in Sacramento, but you’d never guess it by the looks of him this year. Artest hasn’t looked comfortable all season. When he isn’t forcing shots down low, he’s settling for jumpshots on the perimeter. Yao is also struggling. Yao is averaging a team-leading 17.8 ppg, but is taking three fewer shot attempts per game than last season. Some of that should be attributed to Artest’s ball-domination. The Rockets are at their best when they get the ball to Yao on the block and play off him on the perimeter. That can’t occur however unless Yao establishes position close to the basket. Nene and Kenyon Martin routinely out-muscled Yao on the block, forcing him to receive the ball outside of the paint where he has a tough time passing out of or stepping through double-teams. Yao has been passive on the boards too, averaging only 9.2 rebounds per game. As important as the Artest acquisition has been, Houston’s season may hinge on the return of Battier and Barry. With so many one-on-one scorers, the Rockets are in desperate need of outside shooters to space the floor. Point guard Rafer Alston is shooting just 36% from the field, including 31% from beyond the arc. Battier and Barry have struggled from long-distance in limited action this season, however both players possess 39% or better career three-point shooting percentages. Battier and Barry will also make the extra pass and move the ball when the offense becomes stagnant. In order for the Rockets to play together as a cohesive unit, Adelman may have to implement more of what worked for him in Sacramento. There’s plenty of basketball to be played, but Houston’s offensive woes are nothing new -- Artest has only compounded matters. Enjoy. http://rockets.realgm.com/articles/93/20081201/beyond_the_injuries/
Pretty nice read, but. Our shooters are starting to find their range. Tracy has been phenomenal from deep (but I don't think he will be able to shoot 40% from the 3pt line the entire year) and Rafer is starting to knock them down. I belive we are starting to click. We still need a healthly T-Mac but maybe we first need to click without him as we did last year.
The articles right we have too many one on one players that just don't play to Adelmans motion offence hopefully the players will realise this or we're in for a long season
Sounds close to being right but there is one glaring error. Can't say that everyone outside of the big 3 is a bystander. 4 other players (Scola, Brooks, Alston, Battier) are averaging double figures and a 5th is close (Landry at 9.2ppg). That's pretty balanced scoring especially compared to past teams. That tells me we are doing a decent job sharing the ball.
One positive thing that is coming from Tracy sitting out is our younger players are getting more playing time. Hopefully this will pay off for us during the playoffs when we can rely on our rookies and young players to not make rookie mistakes. Just a thought.
I don't think so... All we can hope for is that this team will get healthy soon, b/c if they do, no one will be able to hang with us, except the most elite teams (LAL, BOS). If they don't, well... bye bye Yao and Tracy dynasty we all hoped for.
This "article" is bogus. Adelman has been forcing the sacramento offense all season. The reason the Houston Rocket's offense STINKS is because this team ie Yao Ming, T-Mac, Artest is not SUITED for that princeton offense. What Adelman needs to do is BE FLEXIBLE. When Yao is in the game, make sure the team plays Half court offense, inside out. When Yao is not in the game, use the second team to play the Sacramento offense. Guys like Luther Head, Brooks, Landry move much more quickly, and are much more suited to playing Adelman's motion offense. Adelman needs to be FLEXIBLE. The problem is, all season long, he's been forcing an unsuitable offense for his starting five. And it isn't working.
Please explain. If we give our younger players more playing time, they will be less likely to make mistakes in the playoffs. That is the whole concept of practicing. Increased practice = better performance. Everyone still makes mistakes, but the more they play, the less they will seem like rookies.
