http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6677690.html [rquoter] Shane Battier sprinted up the floor, beating the Toronto Raptors to his favorite spot in the corner, a step beyond the 3-point line. Aaron Brooks raced the ball up the center of the floor, veered to his left and delivered a sharp pass to Battier, who quickly swished his 3. Brooks knew just what to say: “Good job, Chuck.” Chuck Hayes never touched the ball. He didn't get the rebound or send an outlet pass to Brooks. He certainly did not lead the break or hit the 3. “Normally, when I pass the ball to Shane and he hits a 3, I'll say, ‘Good job, Chuck,' ” Brooks said. “It all starts with our big guys. “That's the most important thing, because when the bigs beat them down (the court), it draws the defense in, which gives our wings open 3s and open shots. We're not that tall; we're athletic. Chuck and Joey (Dorsey), Pops (Mensah-Bonsu) and Luis (Scola) do a great job of getting down there first to open our wings. That's how Shane gets all his shots, from being in the corner and the bigs running. They don't get rewarded, as far as a point, but they are the key to the break.” The Rockets went into the preseason determined to be more up-tempo. They have discovered that the break works best when their small but relatively swift big men lead the charge. In Toronto, the Rockets got 51 points in transition (in 10 or fewer seconds), scored 124 points with 30 assists. In Monday's 20-point victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Rockets had 53 transition points, scoring 105 points, with 29 assists. ... [/rquoter] I take a couple things from this: The Rockets value the transition corner 3 (which they should -- its a very efficient shot when open) Aaron Brooks looks to have matured into a leader for this team Carl Landry, David Andersen lags behind the rest of our bigs when it comes to running in transition.
While David is inept at running, Carl's mindset has been stuck at the old half court game. He'll adapt I am sure. Neither is he slow nor is he dim-witted.
"Chuck and Joey (Dorsey), Pops (Mensah-Bonsu) and Luis (Scola) do a great job of getting down there first to open our wings. " Also, Landry not consistently running hard is mentioned towards the end of the article. Conclusion on Andersen is a combination of what I see, and that he wasn't mentioned at all in an article focusing on our bigs running.
Chuck Hayes seems like such a smart basketball player. So why won't he develop a jumpshot? Is there some fundamental problem that prevent him from doing so? Because he'd certainly make a hell of a lot more money if he could nail a 15 footer.
The poor guy can't even shoot a FT the right way, then you want him to develop a jumpshot?! I like his D the most. He can shut down the likes of Garnett, Nowits, Gasol, Bosh, etc.
While Landry was specifically mentioned, Andersen was not. I wonder if Andersen's role in transition is a bit different than the other bigs due to his shooting ability-- i.e. perhaps they ask him to be more of a Battier-type spot-up shooter.
Seriously? You make it sound like it's easy to just develop a jumpshot. Some guys just aren't shooters, let alone good ones during a live game. I don't know for a fact but it's a good possibility he can nail 15 footers in an open gym. Shaq for example nails FTS during practice but we all know how awful he is come gametime. Chuck is what he is, which is good enough. He can't shoot but his offensive game looks to have opened up just a slight bit more and his passing has always been significantly underrated.
Cook, like Anderson, not specifically mentioned either. Big guys who are shooting specialists not expected to run?
Perhaps,but I feel you will see him around the low block from time to time as well. I don't think he can finish like Luis, but he does have some moves as well. Andersen is very new too.When Adelman knows him better,he will utilize him more. I think he will expect him to run on the break as well. The biggest limiting factor will be his poor defense,and foul problems.
Pretty much what I've been saying forever and its the main reason why the rockets don't generate easy baskets. U need 3 guys that will run and a 4th that will trail. brooks and scola used to be the only runners in the starting 5. Shane is a trl guy, tracy is a galloper and yao is yao. Now that ariza is in, now the rockets have 3 that will run and maybe even 4 with chuck and a trail guy in shane. Now u have to get the rebound first, but the trasition game should be better. That why I've always wanted the rockets to get guys who can transition vs guys who are slow footed and can't run. Cook, if he plays is a trail guy, chase,landry,and lowry are runners and anderson should be one also. Its not rocket science.
This is what I mostly took from the article. Aaron always seemed pretty confident but it's nice to see him take that one step further and start to lead. Seeing Aaron Brooks develop is on a short list of things I'm genuinely looking forward to this season.
You can't really make all those conclusions from one quote from one article, but it's interesting to know even if the big men don't touch the ball, they are involved in other ways.
Great post. These are the type of things that we will see if they translate into wins. My gut says we will surprise.
It's a no brainer strategy this season because with no Yao the team will be looking to get max effort from players to boost their value for any possible trades. Once they confirmed Yao will be out the entire season it was pretty much Morey's only strategy he could possibly use to improve the team at least statistically.
Chuck is our best power forward after Scola. If Adelman is doing his job right, Hayes will get 25-30 minutes a night - every night. He can D up players much bigger than him and irritate the heck out of them. He can guard most 3's in the league too. Dude has super strength too. With Hayes and Battier out there we have two very intelligent forwards playing hard, taking charges, passing to open scorers, and playing top level team ball all around (both are way above average defenders). Chuck can fill in spurts at center too against some of the softer 5's in the league. I have no doubt that if hayes logged 30 minutes a night, playing all frontcourt positions, he would grab 10-12 boards a game. I like when he gets the board because he can make good decisions with the ball going back the other way. He never stops running and hustling. He needs to play relevant minutes every night and good things will happen. my lineup choice with approximate minutes per player (just averages, certain games being much different due to matchups). PF- Scola 32 SF- Battier 32 c - Hayes 27 sg- Ariza 30 pg- Brooks 28 bench.. pg- Lowry- 20 sg/sf- buddinger- 20 c- Pops- 12 pf/f- Andersen- 15 pf/c- Landry- 24 when TMAC gets back take about 35 minutes away from Budd, Lowry, Ariza, Andersen and Battier collectively. About 7 minutes each or thereabouts.
This is another thing that doesn't show up in traditional stats and yet has a big impact in the game. That's why Hayes and Scola are so valuable. They are not athletic. They are not fast. But they run. They understand the importance of running even though they seldom even get to touch the ball for running. And I agree with durvasa's take on Brooks. Nice.
