I’m more excited for this season than any season since 2018

Here is a ‘like’ for awesome ava pic!

 

Lol pass me some of whatever you got there, bro, I've had a rough day. Global warming and my own mortality are maybe the only two things I would rather be wrong about, but I still really hope I'm wrong when I tell you you're crazy, and the Rockets have astronomically poor odds of being a winning team next year.

Even if the Rockets do play that well, why would you want them to tank? Being that good on both ends doesn't make you a serious contender, but you're at least a worthy opponent for anyone. Why not just let the chips fall where they may at that point, especially with such a young team? NGL, the fact that I even have to ask is part of what gives me little confidence in your sanity (or maybe you're trolling?).

EDIT: To be fair, you might just be very young... I remember back when I was that optimistic every year <sigh>.

 

One last year before an actual shift to become a winning team. We need to bring all star talent with that 40 mil of cap space coming from Wall.

But I am excited for this year too as this is the year we will find out who are the talents worth to keep.

Ah, uhmm.. and an actual coach if we want to start winning.

 

Ben DuBose posted Silas exit interview stuff where he said he had the team running
Vanilla offense and defense. It is correct. Before the season Vegas had Houston
with 27 wins.....I'm guessing that's when John Wall was expected to play.
I said 25 wins without John Wall. They held back or they would have met that.

Here is the Silas run Mavericks in 19/20 (highlights): note their screen action.

Sorry, I don't have the editing magic that Nathan Fogg has.

Then watch the Rockets 5-men out,. Garuba setting some screens.
You don't have to like that it's against the Kings.....just look at the
set formations........and how it's going to look with Tari, Jabari, Tate,
Kenyon. ( I'll get to the stats in just a moment)



Now the stats: Must note frequency along with NBA percentile (demonstrates efficiency)
Mavericks (19/20): Roll Man ( in Pick-n-Roll )
Kleber: 25.7 frequency.........92.2 NBA percentile
Powell: 27.0 frequency.........86.6 NBA percentile
Willie Cauley-Stein: 45.3 freq....93.5 NBA percentile
Porzingis: 15.6 frequency.....65.4 NBA percentile
Boban: 19.0 frequency..........72.0 NBA percentile
Hardaway: 2.1 frequency......77.4 NBA percentile

All of them have a much higher frequency than the Rockets players and kicked
@$$ in NBA percentile.

Now the Rockets: 21/22 Roll-Man ( Pick-n-Roll )
Wood: 16.9 frequency (puny)........66.9 NBA percentile
Sengun: 15.8 frequency.................26.1 NBA percentile
Tate: 5.3 frequency (miniscule)....66.9 NBA percentile
Theis: 31.1 frequency ..................43.2 NBA percentile ( no spacing at the time)
Kenyon: 9.5 frequency...................80.5 NBA percentile

So many asked why did we sign Theis......because Silas wanted to get
some PnR action with Wall......yes John Wall and Theis. The same Wall
that clicked with Gortat in Pick-n-Roll. But then Wall sat out the season.

As you can see the vanilla offense meant hardly any rolling. Little to none.
But we did run Picks. Let me show you the Ball Handler stat from PnR.

Houston (21/22): Pick-n-Roll ( Ball Handler )
Kevin Porter jr: 39.0 frequency........43.2 NBA percentile
Green4: 29.8 frequency....................41.7 NBA percentile
E Gordon: 29.0 frequency................50.6 NBA percentile
J Christopher: 21.4 frequency.........58.9 NBA percentile
Tate: 5.1 frequency..........................49.6 NBA percentile
Schroder: 37.9 frequency ..............22.3 NBA percentile
Nix: 27.4 frequency.........................46.7 NBA percentile
Wood: 1.8 frequency.......................90.2 NBA percentile

Compared that to the Mavs frequency in 19/20: Ball Handler (PnR)
Doncic: 46.3 frequency....................89.4 NBA percentile
Delon Wright: 30.5 frequency..........59.5 NBA percentile
Hardaway: 19.0 frequency...............78.1 NBA percentile
Barea: 49.0 frequency......................65.9 NBA percentile


So yeah it's Doncic.....sooo, we will be saying, but its Jalen freakin Green. KPj, Sengun.


For every action there is a reaction.......one reaction to the Rockets scoring more
proficiently is that the other team is having to inbound more often. Allowing
the Rockets defense to set up more readily. Which means our offense
helps our defense as we set up more often and force the opposition
to work harder for their points. Jabari and Tari are going to be god sends
for their wingspans alone. Much of the rest will work it's way out.

We shall see. You don't have to worry about other people posting....just worry
about yourself and your postings. ignore the ones you don't care for. Life is
easier that way.

 

Apache Warrior is one of the most articulate posters on this board. He almost always uses stats to back his point of view. I’m 65 and am extremely optimistic about this team. Not all “old men” are bitter get of my lawn type guys. I feel sorry for those that go through life with such cynicism. If Apache Warrior is indeed very young, his commentary and approach to life is much more mature than 90% of the silly name calling adults on this site.

 

Sorry but there’s nothing exciting about being a bottom 5 team in the league. I only get excited for potential playoff/title runs. I’m intrigued by the progress and growth of our young core but on a scale of 1-10 my excitement is like a 3.

 

Thank you Hemingway, I respect your opinion.

Many see DRtg as vast desperation like miles between New York and Los Angeles.....but they are more like football field yards.

Rockets were 29th according to basketball-reference.com with 117.78 DRtg.

Timberwolves we're 14th at 112.60
A difference of less than 5.18

Rockets gave up 3's easily as they tried to help
Wood and Sengun and it looked like a layup drill
near the rim with Tate playing PF.

Just packing the paint and keying on opposing
teams top two 3-pt shooters can make a huge difference in our DRtg. That and not TANKING.

Enter Ryan Hollins

 

What is the definition of frequency here? What does Doncic 46.3 frequency exactly mean?

 

Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong.......I believe that means chunk of his
possessions with the ball were used running said action.

Mavs as cutters in 19/20 were at little frequency but scored high in NBA percentile
when they did cut.

All of these "Play Type" stats I'm getting from NBA.com

 

For 2022/23 for sure.

But if we are not making some noise by the 2024/25 season, I would say something has gone wrong.

 

Thank you. I am impressed by kmj as a roll man.

 

Yes
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/cut/
-------------------
I've posted Tate and Kenyon the previous year [ in the past ]
Tate (20/21) Houston: Roll-Man (PnR): 7.1% frequency......84.0 NBA percentile
Kenyon (20/21) You: Roll-Man (PnR): 11.3% frequency.......90.3 NBA percentile
honorable mention
Nwaba (20/21): 4.6 frequency........86.0 NBA percentile
Olynyk (20/21): 13.7 frequency.......67.6 NBA percentile

It's not like Silas didn't try that year, as he gave chances to:
DeMarcus Cousins (20/21): 23.3 frequency........37.8 NBA percentile
Justin Patton (20/21): 20.0 frequency..................93.2 NBA percentile

too bad their mobility hurt them, as Cousins was working on one leg
and Patton was a little slow from past injuries. But it's a glimpse
on how even players with limited mobility can excel in the Silas system.
Looking forward to seeing Tari, Jabari, Sengun, Garuba this year.

----------------
I expect Sengun to have a good season as well. Not so much in high
uptick in points, but the intangibles such as rebounds, assists, blocks
should go up nicely. Silas doesn't seem to be too much on Post Ups by
the numbers. But I can see Sengun running more of that top of the
key hub of the offense Olynyk role this season.

 

My apologies for being so flippant with your original post, and I appreciate the in-depth analysis. I still think much your your expectations have a key problem -- you're vastly overestimating the readiness of our young guns, even if not necessarily their talent. I also don't understand why you would want tanking to even be on the table if they were that good (unless that part was a joke). So I still think you're a lil cray cray, but the good kind of cray cray.

But again, I would truly love to be wrong. Few plates of crow would be tastier than this one.

 

Based on his reply to my flippancy, you're right about his maturity... To be clear, I'm not talking about "whippersnappers" from my porch or anything lol. I'm not that old (or young) myself, but I know I haven't been that optimistic about a young team coming off of a season like this since I was, like, 13? I'm very optimistic about the longer term future of the team, but I still think it's a bit foolish to have that high of expectations for this coming season.

 

I can understand your reservations.....why....how can the Rockets make such
a huge substantial increase when they have looked so bad?

To that I answer, we were tanking. Silas likes his offense to branch off
of Pick-n-Roll.....in essence the Rockets have been running Pick-n-Pop.
Rockets have been fighting with one hand tied behind their backs.

So we can admit the Rockets have been tanking.....as you ask, "why wouldn't
tanking be on the table for this season?"

1) Because Wembanyama doesn't impress me with his 9.4 points per game
vs lesser competition. I've noted how Patrick Baldwin had 4 guys
collapse on Baldwin as soon as he puts the ball on the ground.....I don't
see that same attention on Wembanyama. Wembanyama should
have greater stats than he has displayed.

Got something like 18.4 mins a game during his season, but it was even less during
their playoff run (13.0 mins) in 4 games. I'm more than content with Jabari/Tari.
I don't need to add elite potential....I just need to add more guys with potential.

I feel I have Scoot Henderson in Josh Christopher.

Nick Smith is like 6'0" tall.

Just don't want the Rockets to tank and waste another season for any
of these guys.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Silas doesn't want to get labeled as a pathetic coach like John Lucas
got labeled for the tanking seasons by Cavs for LeBron and 76ers
for Joe Smith. Lucas with Spurs won 55 games and David Robinson
said he loved Lucas and learned so much from him.

Silas will be scapegoated if the team keeps tanking.....he needs to
fight instead of being a doormat. Weaver wants to be a head coach
and that's why he left.....he doesn't want his name being associated
with losing too long. Even if it is tanking.

I expect a similar win turnaround to that of the Hawks where they went
from 20 wins to 42 wins the next season. Or the T-Wolves going from
23 wins to 46 last season. Unfortunately the Rockets don't have the
good vet presence as those two teams had.....but 30 to 35 wins
is feasible.

*Side Note: the Vipers have been running the full playbook and have
been successful the last two seasons.....the Mavs in 19/20 had the
best offense......the Rockets may end up surprising you once they
run the full scope of the entire playbook.

 

cont'd from post #57

Just a FYI (to whom it may concern)

Timberwolves:
20/21: 115.55 DRtg ( 26th)........21/22: 112.60 DRtg ( 11th)
20/21: 110.18 ORtg ( 25th)........21/22: 115.15 DRtg ( 8th)

I wouldn't put the T-Wolves players as much better than ours offensively
or defensively.

Roster in 21/22:
KAT (6 exp)
ANT (1)
Vanderbilt (3)
D'Angelo Russell (9)
Taurean Prince (5)
Jaden McDaniels (1)
Patrick Beverley (9)
Malik Beasley (5)

People really think their roster is much better than ours? KAT has his liabilities
on defense and Beverley has been on the decline for years.

 

NBA tv is now considered "national tv" for rockets purposes

Kelly Iko on Twitter: "The Houston Rockets will be on national television four times this season, sources tell @TheAthletic: — Nov. 12, at New Orleans (NBA TV) — Nov. 26, vs. Oklahoma City (NBA TV) — Jan. 11, at Sacramento (ESPN) — Jan. 16, at Los Angeles (NBA TV)" / Twitter

 

Shut up gramps !



DD