Same here. I really like JT. Improved jumper and defense, driving ability like nobody else we have on the team. I am hoping that he will get a "I got it" moment and get it all together this year.
Not quite as many words per player as in past forecasts, but still a great read. Thanks for the heads up.
[rquoter]He was an efficient scorer, too, ranking in the top third of point guards in TS% while averaging a sterling 22.4 points per 40 minutes.[/rquoter] Not sure most clutchfans posters know this.
The Rockets have 8 premier charge-takers on their roster. They're going to annoy the hell out of opponents this season.
Quick question: How were the Rockets in that category the past years? I found some old data which states that: In 05/06, the Rockets were dead last in charges taken: http://www.82games.com/charge.htm In 06/07, the Rocket were 24th out of 30th. http://www.82games.com/charges0607.htm I have a theory that Morey has something to do with obtaining more charge takers. We know they took a lot of charges last year partly due to a lack of size/shot blocking. I wonder if they were still pretty good at it in 2 prior years when they did have Yao.
Thats the first thing I noticed as well. Pretty dissapointing to me. He use to mix stats with visual observations, but it seems to be kinda lazy compared to the past.
Interesting. His TS% (.549) is about average if you look at the entire league, but it makes sense that this is in the upper 1/3 for PGs. PGs tend to be less efficient at scoring the ball (with some prominent exceptions like Nash and Billups) due to lack of size, and having to make more difficult shots (i.e. unassisted jumpers) than, say, a big guy who gets a good chunk of his shot attempt off of offensive boards or assited layups/dunks.
Rockets were first by a fairly wide margin last year: http://hoopdata.com/teamstats.aspx They were middle of the pack or worse in prior years.
I know this is stating the obvious, but that likely has most to do with Yao being out last year. Without any true shot blocker, we had more players, even post players try to take the charge instead of alter/block the shot. I would imagine that the Rockets Total Charges will fall some this year due to having a true shotblocker to protect the basket and alter shots rather than having to resort to the taking charges... at least for half the game.
Sounds about right. Disagree with some things here and there. But for the most part, he has it down. Unfortunately, for this team it doesn't tell the whole story since Yao is more or less unprojectable. Side note: I honestly don't know how people can read Hollinger and say he's just a stathead who doesn't watch games. I can understand disagreeing with him. But the guy obviously watches tons of games to make good opinions.
So you're tellin me we just have to wait out the next few years and we'll be ok right? I can't WAIT for Scola to turn 33! Smooth sailing from then on.
The Lakers, Celtics and Magic were in the bottom tier of charge-drawing teams. The Warriors, Suns and Knicks were in the top tier but so were the Bobcats. I guess that drawing charges, in itself, isn't clearly correlated to good defense. Maybe it's more related to being undersized on the interior.
While Yao does block shots at a decent clip per game, I wouldn't actually call him a true shot blocker. He does not have the timing or athleticism to be considered a true shot blocker, though his sheer size allows him to pick up one or two each game around the post area. The true value of Yao comes from the fact that he is so big that it dissuades guards and wings from penetrating at will. I don't think any player is actually concerned that Yao will block them, but rather that they will not be able to make the shot as they would have to shoot or lob it over him, something that is no easy task when the guy is 7'6. I know the charges will go down though for that reason.
