Hi everyone, I am also a new member only registered today. Now i have been reading this forum for quite some time. I agree with a lot of ppl who think that JVG's game is boring coz his only focus is defence. While I think the foundation to any team's success is defence (look at spur and detroit) without offence you certainly cannot win! Therefore I have been thinking of ways to improve our offence. Other than upgrade our players through trading and this year's draft, perhaps we need an assistant coach who is good with new and effective offencive plays? What does everyone think?
CHC, You're right about the offense thing. Defense winning games is b.s... balance wins games. This team is not balanced without some key people. A team cannot rely on Tracy and Yao to invent offense all the time. The real problem lies in the role players scoring. They score when there aren't any other options, but they need to be able to play the role of our superstars when our superstars are out too. That's the test of a good offense, can you run the same play with multiple players? We can't. JVG should take some responsibility for not developing that ability, but it's the teams fault, everyones.
I like this thought. Balance. Take the old champion Rockets. All 5 closing players could do a bit of everything. Hakeem-- good D and offense. Horry/ Thorpe-- decent defense and offense. Ellie- similar. Cassell--similar. Clyde--similar. Kenny only offense, which is why Sam often closed or helped us win. In addition with the exception of Thorpe they could all put the ball on the floor well for their position. Under JVG we have had many role players who don't play good D, Barry, Allston, Padgett, Howard etc.and just give us offense. We have had the defense only types, Bowen, Hayes, Motumbo, Boggins etc.
"Defense wins games" is true only if you can score in crunch time. Without Yao, T-mac or Wesley; we don't have anyone who can score in the last 6 minutes of the game. Head is the only one I think has a shot to be a crunch time scorer. He shoots well in the 1st quarter. However I think the NBA season has taken it's toll. Due to all the injuries this season, he's well into his 2nd college schedule without a break. Next year his legs will be stronger and his jump shot will still be there in the 4th quarter. As for this year, we probably have a better chance to score if we let Yao shoot 3's in 4th quarter. That way when when they triple team him, all the big men will be away from the basket and he can pass off for a layup(if we can ever hit 1).
I honestly only see one glaring weakness that the Rox need to address over the summer: a dead-eye shooter. I like Rafer at the PG spot because he does have the ability to penetrate and either shoot the teardrop that Tony Parker does so well or dish to an open teammate. TMac at the 3. Nuff said. I don't dislike the rotation at PF as much as many around here. Juwan is a very capable PF who is able to stick the 15-18 foot jumper most nights. If you rotate off of him, he makes you pay. Stro makes some boneheaded plays, but is good defensively and can also stick that open jumper. Yao at the 5. Nuff said. The glaring weakness is someone who can take advantage of the double teams on Yao and TMac from the three point line. If I were the coaching staff, I would have Luther shooting three point jumpers all summer long to get his shooting touch back. He was deadly in the beginning of the season until he hit the rookie wall. The draft and MLE may be able to help us address this need as well, but make no mistake about it, if we had one or two guys who could simply knock down that open jumper consistently, we would have a very difficult team to beat.
*&^$%&*^! How many open shots have out perimeter players bricked this season? Instead of having a Brake Check Block Party or whatever, we should have Acme Brick give $100 to charity for every brick one of our players throws up. But we can't, because it would put any company out there in bankruptcy. JVG may be partially responsible for bringing these guys here, but he can't go out on the court and shoot the freaking ball for them. I don't think the problem is the system. The problem is that our team has been plagued by injuries this season. Whose job is it to keep our players in peak condition so that the chance of injuries is minimized? Maybe that's the guy who should be worried about his job.
Yes, but that was a HORRIBLE offensive team. That first year was the year of Uglyball if you remember. Horry was a terrible shooter until the game was on the line. Elie was brought here as a defensive stopper. We were a BETTER offensive team with Clyde, but the hallmark of the team was defense, Hakeem in the middle and three point shooters on the perimeter. We weren't all that balanced at all, actually.
Having either of these players as your starting Power Forward will never bring Championships to Houston! Howard is a very poor defender, he lacks power and mobility, his spot up shooting can't be relied upon with any regularity.At the most if we are forced to keep him he should become our back up Power Forward. Swift - seems to have no feel for the game of Basketball . All his years of experience and he still plays like a beginner. If we are forced to keep him the only solution is that the Coach views the film of LSU and runs the same plays that Swith used when he played at college. Our team desperately needs a true POWER FORWARD to play along side of Yao Ming.
Sorry Jeff, but that's a myth. They averaged 101 points a game and were 10th in the league in scoring and possessed plenty of guys who could light it up in addition to Hakeem - Cassell, Smith, Maxwell. Elie could shoot and finish. Herrera and Thorpe could score inside, Horry could do both. Bullard was bench range shooting. The series agaisnt the knicks was an anomaly caused by the slowdown tactics and causes a distorted recollection. It's unfortunate that the 94 Rockets get tainted with that brush despite the fact that they were a good offensive team, and are portrayed as a bunch of laggards until Jordan came back and "saved" the league (by playing a bunch of brick-fest games with Utah in which both teams regularly scored in the 80's or below, for lower average scores than in 1994)
If you thought they were a HORRIBLE offensive team, what would you call JVG's Rockets? Those Rockets were one of the few teams that could play both styles of games. They ran with the Suns, outran the Jazz out of the gym, and then beat the Knicks at their own game. It wasnt the Rockets who slowed down the finals. It was the Knicks under Pat Riley (JVG was the assistant). I remember Horry saying something along the lines of...We can play this game too if we have to. The fact of the matter is that Hakeem was so good and unguardable one on one that, that offense was the most unstopable offense in the league at the time. Rudy's whole philosophy depended on Hakeem being able to beat his man and thus opening things for others. It would be appropriate to say they were not balanced. 90% offense depended on Hakeem creating for others. The rest ran off of pick and rolls with Smith or Cassell. But it would be inappropriate to say they were horrible offensive team. They scored a lot of points on 3 pointers, fast break, and of course Hakeem posting up. Someone has already posted the numbers. Call them unbalanced but dont call them horrible. They were very effective.
Yeah, because Chucky Brown was the very model of a stud power forward. He may not be more than an average defender, but his shooting is generally VERY reliable. How many 15+ point games has he had this year? Howard is a very serviceable power forward and, given our glaring weaknesses, will suffice quite nicely as the starting 4 if we use all our other options to upgrade our shooting. I agree with you about Swift, but if we are to trade him, it must be for a shooter. We have one. Howard doesn't need to be near the basket to score while Yao is in the game, and he is more than capable of operating on the block when Yao is resting.
I think the Rockets need upgrades in talent at 2-3 spots, 2 of which are starters (PF, SG). This will trickle through our bench, and improve team offense overall. Given the players we currently have, who are currently healthy, there may be a better offensive scheme out there...but it doesn't matter that much, because we'd still lose most, if not all, of these games. But when healthy, with a few upgrades in talent, JVG's offense is fine. It works for San Antonio, it works for Detroit...heck, it's not like Dallas is really running anything that much different either. If we are talking truly different offenses, clearly Phoenix and New Jersey are different (fast breaking, quick shots - with teams like Warriors and others trying to do the same), the Lakers (triangle) are different, but everyone else is mostly the same. Detroit probably runs a few more off-screens. Seattle has so many good shooters that they may fit somewhere between a Phoenix and San Antonio (and they are pretty good offensively). The difference between the good offensive teams and bad one, MOSTLY, is due to talent. When San Antonio's offense bogs down (which it does...they are always middle of the pack), they have Duncan, Parker or Ginobili to make or create shots. They have Bowen, Horry, Barry, etc. to make jumpers. Long post, but to summarize = TALENT.
Chucky player his role perfectly. Even then, though, he was only playing 20 mpg in the championship season. We can do it with Juwan, sure, but as you've mentioned, we need to improve elsewhere. Juwan is shooting 46%. As a PF, not that reliable. I guess he does take more jumpers than most, but that is part of the problem, too. He's had 22 games with 15 points or more, or 1/3 of his games. Not horrible. On the other hand, he's had 33 games with less than 10 points, 21 of which he scored 6 or fewer points. He basically scores 6 or less points as many times as 15 or more. That is NOT reliable, that's inconsistent. Howard is serviceable (not very serviceable, though). But just because he likes to take jumpers doesn't mean he shouldn't be scoring in the paint, too. His jump hook post-up, offensive rebounds, lay-ups off drives. It would be GREAT if he could do these things, and he does have to, for the team to improve. The fact of the matter, though, is that he just isn't athletic enough to give you that regularly anymore. If you can significantly upgrade your backcourt, then I think your idea of keeping Juwan at the 4 is okay...not ideal, but I agree we could be successful with it. But PF is something that should at least be thought about being addressed. Neither Juwan nor Stromile are starting 4's, imo. Juwan gets paid like he is, though.
Three new starters who can shoot and rebound? Alston is a "papertiger" starting PG, because, he is not a starter. We have no starting SG and we have no NBA starter-calibre PF. Check out the elite teams. They have five true NBA starters on the court and several on the bench. The Rockets have only two true starters on the court and none on the bench, a formula for going nowhere. The team must exchange "foolsgold" for "real gold" or they will never see "gold." I know many of you don't see it this way, but if the Rockets don't upgrade their talent next year, you will.
Part of what allowed the 90's Rockets offense to work is that Hakeem was so unstoppable that it left others wide open. Open threes and players cutting to the basket. The Rockets defense also produced a lot of fast breaks. One thing I loved about the Rockets of old, they weren't boring to watch. I can't watch an entire Rockets game on TV now with JVG running his boring offense. As entertainment, the JVG Rockets rate pretty low.
Talent is the key. We need some players who can knock down open jump shots and penetrate to the basket AND dish when the lane gets shut down. IMO JVG has done a great job of purging our roster of the dead weight (i.e. Francis, Cato, MoTa, etc.). Heck we were lucky to get what we got for those losers. Its not something that is going to happen overnight and they tried last offseason with the resources they had available. Who knew that DA would not contribute (and no he isn't playing defense in Miami either). Who knew that Stro would be so lazy on the court (which is the main reason he doesn't see more minutes). A good SG is of prime importance and a back up PG would be second. If we can find a PF that fits it would be an added bonus. OH and I almost forgot, a healthy T-Mac back in the line-up next year...
