If Coach Ryans had Davis Mills as QB, he would not have success. Patriots coach with Brady and Steelers coach with Roethlisberger, more times than not QB1 determines the franchise's direction.
Don’t forget that until this year the Texans and Rockets owners wanted to lose and did things to make sure that happened.
Last year's Astros were the poster children for overcoming a bad manager. Hopefully they can do it this year. Dusty finally got his ring last year and should have retired.
I went to the Texans game yesterday for the first time in years. You can just see the shift in the energy and culture on the field. I was also just happy to see Democo not calling conservating soft plays. I still have PTSD of BOB getting promoted to GM and coach during the offseason that he should have gotten fired.
I don't disagree. There's no doubt Mills < Stroud. But thankfully the Rockets are a team full of potential all-stars (and no Mills either Davis or Patty). Now we get to have all the fun finding out which ones reach that potential. Now that we have a legit coach.
Insert disparaging Morey remarks regarding coaching... (illuminating Moreys blind spot regarding intangibles and the human factor...) Creating a culture, holding guys accountable, pushing them rather than coddling them... yeh, does wonders... idk why we cant figure it out... wasted the last couple tears coddling kpj... (edit supposed to be 'years' - rather Freudian - lol!) i was hopeful after we straight up passed on Hard-ons cancerous butt... i think Ime will be the hard a**... but based on recent revelations I think Stone is going to continue to allow nonsense if he thinks it may hold a potential future benefit... so i dont see a unified direction...
I might push back on being better than Thunder, Pistons and Magic Detroit...(3P% 22/23).........................Orlando....(3P% 22/23) Bojan Bogdanovic 41.4%.............................Ingles 40.9% Joe Harris 42.6%........................................Gary Harris 43.1% Alec Burks 41.4%.......................................Franz Wagner 36.1% Monte Morris 38.2%...................................Cole Anthony 36.4% Livers 36.5%..................................Jett Howard & Caleb Houstan (rookies) Compare that to Rockets Rockets (22/23) 3P% Jabari 30.7% Tate 28.3% Jalen Green 33.8% VanVleet 34.2% Dillon 32.6% Eason 34.3% Sengun 33.3% Amen (probably not helping) Cade Cunningham, Ivey, Marcus Sasser, Anthony Black, Cole Anthony should have a field day each game with an inside-out game of Pitch-n-Catch compared to VanVleet, Jalen Green. Catch-n-Shoot 3's is a little better Rockets CnS 3's (22/23) Jabari 29.4% Tate 27.5% Jalen Green 35.1% VanVleet 35.0% Dillon 35.6% Eason 35.8% Sengun 37.0% (on 0.6 attempts) Nobody was within 10 feet of Sengun. In fact the Rockets were given the most open 3's in the league.....for a reason. Just FYI: VanVleet Left Corner 3: season 22/23 (48.5%).......16/33 Right Corner 3: season 22/23 (37.7%).....17/45 Above the Break: season 22/23 (33.1%)...173/522 (garbage) Rockets have to put VanVleet in the corners if we want spacing
I understand that last year’s full-season stats is all we have to predict this year’s outcomes, but I think those stats are less telling for a tanking team with a coach that obviously was not at all concerned about spacing or encouraging improvement. Jabari, in particular, made a tremendous jump in 3 point accuracy the last quarter of the season. As you do point out catch-n-shoot 3’s is better and with a new offensive system and a coach that wants to make people accountable, I think it is reasonable to expect those percentages to go up as well. The bench depth is also promising. Adding Bullock and Holiday, Cam and a decent backup Center should also improve our ability to hang in close games. We also should dramatically improve on defense. New comers FVV, Brooks, Bullock, Cam and a defensive coach is a tremendous predictor of said defensive improvement. I agree it is not a given that we will be better than those teams, but it certainly is within reason. It is also within reason that we will be better than Portland, Utah, and San Antonio. It may be one year too early to jump all those teams, but not wildly optimistic given the upside of our young players with a new coach (especially Jabari and Green).
I think the stats are misleading on a team that was trying to lose. No one was really put in a position to be successful so none of those numbers really matter. Jabari for example was rarely put into the low post/mid range where he would've thrived. Jalen was consistently taking low percentage shots at the rim because Silas had no idea or didn't want to design plays to free him up off of curls. KPj existed. I think you're going to be shocked at what a real PG, real defensive possessions, real transition and real movement are going to look like with these guys. I do prefer the way the Rockets are handling this part vs the Thunder/Magic who I think are going to just repeat what they did last year. Magic will probably be hovering a little under .500 and the Thunder will be right at it. Neither team got better (Chet is basically a rookie and will contribute to losing more than to winning) and both have players that aren't particularly physically gifted as their primary ball handlers/facilitators. The Rockets also have the luxury of being a destination city though which is largely why/how we got Ime/FVV/Brooks. FVV consistently noted the weather yesterday in his press conference.
Sorry Hem but I didn't read all you wrote. Forgive me. Rockets players were left wide open last season. Hard to blame players for not making those shots. And because they were wide open you would expect higher percentages. Now you and I have history on this matter. I said Sengun was dogging it from 3 to be forced into the hub of the offense just like Wood did the previous season. I claim KPj and Green tanked their 3 to counter Sengun tanking his 3. You said no. One can hope it was antic such as that. I've posted Sengun numbers with KPj...then time when KPj was hurt.....then when KPj came back. Unfortunately Sengun numbers from 3 we're bad in their Olympic Qualifiers this past summer. I get wishful thinking, hope springs eternal and all that stuff....but I need to see it. All the teams run the same formations. Just because Udoka runs some off ball screens doesn't mean I don't instruct my players to fight thru screens for Jabari....but everyone else it's retreat to the paint and clog the restricted area. Just like switching everything defense can disrupt that Warriors team that had to resort to just Durant isos in that playoff series vs us....packing the paint in a form of box-&-1 will hurt our team. Will you finally admit Sengun and others were dogging their 3's? How dare them....if you do
Sengun was asked not to shoot 3’s and I’m not sure he would’ve performed better in that regard if he was let loose. We have added 3 pt shooters and I do expect Jabari to continue his surge in that area. 3 pt shots are important in today’s NBA and we have added some that are really good coming off our bench. Sengun and Green were really good in pick and rolls and we should get better in the half-court with FVV, Sengun, and Green sharing the facilitator role over KPJ. The other part of the equation is defense. We were the worst defensive team in the league. Every single one of our vet signings and the coach we signed would signal that our defense will be a strength. If the defense can improve to between 10-15 in the league, a moderate improvement on offense will get us into contention for the play-in. I do think we may struggle early in the season, since the rotations will be totally different and the team will have to find out how to play together. The other teams I mentioned will have some of the same growing pains, especially San Antoinio and Portland.
Sure. And Garuba was asked to miss his shots as nobody guarded him. 44% Eason was asked to miss as nobody was guarding him. Tate was asked to miss every year he has been in the league. I wanted Udoka but he is not a god. He took over a team Brad Stevens took every year to the playoffs. I heard people saying he just runs iso from watching the finals vs the Warriors two years ago. Warriors switch everything defensively which disrupted his offense.....just like we (Rockets) interrupted the Warriors offense that particular season. They resorted to Durant ISO's predominantly. I would pack the paint vs this Rockets team and see if they can beat me predominantly as a jump shooting team. Dorothy isn't in oz anymore and Udoka ain't in Boston with all those good shooters either. I give you the last word. (I'm busy working) I'm sure team Turkey asked Sengun to shoot 28% in 5 games over the summer at about 1.8 shots. I can see we ( the collective whole) are going to be blaming Silas for the next 3 years. Wow
I won’t argue anymore on this. We can just agree to disagree. I think you are overly pessimistic and I’m probably over optimistic. It’ll probably end up somewhere in the middle. You haven’t spent much time commenting on defense. I appreciate your opinions so I would like to hear your opinions on the other side of the ball and the potential improvements in that area.
Likewise, I respect your opinion. I can say Rockets management shared my concern and somewhat addressed it today (or recently) by signing Reggie Bullock to fill in on that KPj role. Perhaps a better substitute. Bullock is around 39.3% on CnS 3's at around 4.8 attempts per game. So lower 3P% in CnS 3's vs KPj but greater quantity. Offers better defense than KPj. Nowhere near the facilitator.....but that's where Vv, Jalen Green, Jabari and Sengun have the stage. Rockets back up to 32 wins this season pending further trades (such as Tate) ***News Flash***stop the presses Defense will be top 10 as I'm a big fan of Jabari and Tari sharing the floor and being everywhere. Dillon Brooks can be a nuisance....I equate him to a bigger taller Patrick Beverly. Brooks puts so much focus into defending his man that the rest of his game can turn to pot. Much of the reason for him having a PER of 9 on a good team last year. Things like rebounding have taken a back seat to Dillon. Imo Dillon has become a poor rebounder in recent years. The presence of JJJ (DPOY) and Steven Adams allowed Brooks to be over aggressive knowing they had his back. Sengun, Jabari, Whitmore and Tari are not at that level yet. Brooks will be mad often that they didn't move over quick enough to seal off the basket. This is why I accept more losses this season with next year being better from learning. I just don't respect VanVleet and Dillon being the ones teaching our kids. Not my choice. Especially when it comes to shot selection. VanVleet has a reputation of being heavy handed. When switching and locked up with bigs near the rim the 5'11" VanVleet strips the ball if the big man lowers the ball. I believe the new No Flopping rule will hurt VanVleet here. The whipping the head back stuff won't be called so often. Plus VanVleet playing in Toronto gets you the call......playing in Houston and putting out the same action gets you called for the foul or a Play-In by the refs. CP3 found that out. Bigs should know to keep the ball up high so 5'11" VanVleet can't reach it without his high chair. Raptors offered a bunch of 6'9" guys to help out quickly. Not sure bigs will worry as much about Sengun, Jabari, Tari getting in position as fast. Bigs may not feel they have to rush while having VanVleet pinned under the rim. VanVleet other reputation is as a good Pick-n-Roll defender as he goes around the screen. I've mentioned how Silas could have had KPj and Green do that; but it also forces the ball handler to turn the corner and have a 10' runway towards Sengun and the rim because Sengun played so far back and felt he had to be 3 feet in front of the rim. Reason being was players would go through that scenario and still get layups with Sengun camped out near the rim. It's kinda like a ball handler on the fast break and you camp out in front of the rim. The player with that momentum can almost do anything they want. Faking a floater, euro-step or actually put up the floater in Sengun's face. This is why Silas had our guards come under the screen. Also avoided fouls on our only true center in Sengun. It was a take our chances on the ball handler taking a low percentage step back 3.......secure the rebound......or give up that easy runway, full momentum charge towards Sengun and risk the and-ones....possibly Sengun fouling out early. Our transition defense should be much better with Udoka chewing them out. ------------- In summary: our defense should be top 10 despite VanVleet chasing the ball handler towards our rim. Dillon, Jabari, Tari should make things better than last year's efforts. They will need to also help VanVleet from being abused near the rim on forced switches with bigs, often. Raptors fans say VanVleet was picked on constantly. I would target him often in the same manner and instruct my bigs to use their bodies to shield the ball until they get it shoulder level. __________________ With VanVleet and Dillon teaching our youngsters proper shot selection; that's like the blind leading the blind and a lot of poor shots......long rebounds where the opposition gets the rebound and are off to the races. Where we Win and Lose Category........Rockets....... Opponents Offense....................................✓ [ Bullock being added helps a lot....24th in Offense] O Rebounds.......✓.......................[ Better than last year and we were top notch last year ] 3-pt shooting...........................✓..[ probably end up 26th in 3P%..missed 3's hurt transition D] 2-pt shooting..........................✓...[ Dillon and VanVleet will hurt us in this stat] FT's..........................................✓..[ probably finish around 22nd in team FT%] Points......................................✓..[ our defense can't cash all the checks our offense keeps writing] Defense..............✓........................[ Top 10 in defense by seasons end ] Transition O.............................✓..[ VanVleet walks the ball up court. Starters get bulk of mins] D Rebounds.............................✓..[ Dillon is weak in rebounding ] Steals..................✓.......................[ steals should be there ] Deflections..........✓......................[ long, lanky, mobile players] Blocks.......................................✓.[VanVleet registers a lot of blocks, but elsewhere] Transition D.........✓..................✓..[ we have the stallions to run up and down the court w/exception to Sengun; Jock Landale can run some......Jabari at the 5 some; poor selection 3's become long rebounds, become opponent fast breaks.....too many bricks]
NFL coaches have the largest impact than any other coach in team sports IMO because the game is a bit like chess. The players being different pieces that can all be moved in different ways but of course some players present huge variables like say Tyreek Hill. So a great NFL coach can literally turn a team around in a year just because they know how to consistently outplay their opponent. Also, CJ Stroud right now is having a literal legendary rookie year, lets hope it keeps up. He's actually playing as if he's a 6 year vet with a few pro-bowls and playoff wins under his belt. It's pretty insane. Again, its been 4 weeks, let's hope he keeps it up. Orlovsky is right that if he keeps this up he's going to get a few MVP votes lol. If you have a great coach and QB combo you'll eventually run into a few superbowls and maybe get fortunate to win one. With that said I do think coaches in basketball get downplayed a lot. Coaches can definitely motivate players to play harder, develop good habit, and also put players in roles they shine in. My favorite example is Mark Jackson thought Draymond Green was a wing player while Kerr saw him as a stretch big. Or one we all know far too well, having KPJ try to play PG even though he obviously had a score first mentality. Thankfully that won't even be an option for Ime but it is an example that a basketball coach can put players in roles that they don't fit that further drag down the team.
