I think the Rockets have one of the best offensive systems in the NBA

You're confusing ORTG and PPG.

ORTG should probably be adjusted for strength of opponent's defense. Though basketball-reference.com does that and they still have us ranked 4th.

 

Maybe I am mistaken then. I read an article I believe by jason that said our offense when adjusted for pace is only like 10th best in the NBA or something like that.

I will see if I can find it.

 

We had slipped down to 10th at the end of our 7 game losing streak IIRC.

But we have been around 4th-5th in the league generally.

 

Hmm yeah this maybe where I was confused from.

Anyway, The Rockets are definitely a high scoring offense but I still disagree that our offense is one of the best in the NBA. Our lack of half court game is a big issue offensively. And if you compare our offense to the offense the Spurs run (which I think is one of the best offenses I have seen in a while) ours really isn't one of the best

 

I agree that the Spurs have a better half-court offense. And their offense is better suited for the playoffs.

But, at the end of the day, the objective on offense is to maximize the points you score per possession. By that measure, the Rockets are currently 4th best in the regular season. It will be a challenge for that success to translate over into the playoffs, where team tendencies are better scouted and half-court execution becomes more important.

 

We are definitely not a jump shooting team.

 

Sure if the definition of one of the best is ppp then yes the Rockets are one of the best. But like you said this is the regular season.

The playoffs is also where everything matters & reputations are made & it is way to early to say our offense is one of the best when there are doubts as to whether it will have success in the post season.

Schematically wise I don't think our offense is one of the best but in terms of ppp then yes it definitely is one of the best.

 

yep, our driving gives us easy looks from the outside, so we aren't a traditional jump shooting team in that sense, it's all initiated by drives

A team like Miami with an incredible ability to recover on shooters is difficult for our style of play.

 

perhaps lin has shot the most considering the many non threes he's shot.

 

In terms of play-calling and execution, a good way to evaluate it would be PPP out of timeouts or on the first possession of quarters. It would of course be a small sample size, but still that's really the best time to gauge how good a team is at offensive execution.

We have a fairly non-complicated offensive system that works for our personnel. Get the ball up quickly (doesn't really matter who brings it up) and then flow into a drive and kick game. It may not look overly impressive schematically, but its getting the job done for us.

 

Agreed on the bold.

Another good example would be how we execute down the stretch. Now that I think about it McHale is pretty good at drawing up plays to get wide open shots down the stretch.

Like I am not trying to take away from the team at all. Considering that the Rockets have designed an offense that is perfect for the players & some organizations can't even accomplish that. And they have shown a willingness to adjust, permitting more mid range shots.

So maybe we are better than I give us credit for. Will have to think on it some more & see how we hold up in the post season when teams have an opportunity to thoroughly scout & game plan against us.

 

our guards are the post up game.
Survey the situation, open lane to the basket..score, mismatch..score, big man crowd the lanes..dish for the open three.

are "power" forwards being serviceable and active helps tremendously.
(insert tom brady "No s***" gif)

 

I think we have a good system, very suited to this young team, very pleasing to the eye, and probably one that will have us either in the playoffs or just out of it.

But most importantly, our system is still evolving.

For example, we're utilizing the strengths of our backcourt much better than earlier in the season. And we're utilizing 2Pat's mid-range game much more than earlier in the season where he was mostly a stretch 4. I think we're also getting the ball to Asik better, and we've taken out the let Delfino create/facilitate/run-a-fast-break plays that is just too inconsistent.

In a nutshell, I think we had an offensive philosophy (Morey or Morey+McHale) that was focused on 3pt shots, shots at the rim, pace and some calculated gambling on the defensive end. We're slowly evolving into a system that still focuses on that offensive philosophy, but now better tailored to the strengths of our players.

If we make a real playoff push in the second half, it'll probably be because we're making better use of our players' strengths.

 

Saying we "live by the 3 and die by the 3" is a complete misnomer. Yeah, we shoot alot of 3s, but we don't shoot alot of jumpers. Only one team in the NBA attempts more shots at the rim per game than the Rockets, according to hoopdata. We shoot fewer jump shots from 10-23 feet than anyone in the NBA. Our philosophy is simple, the slight increase in FG% from stepping in a couple feet generally does not do enough to offset the point differential you get from shooting a 3 instead. We shoot jump shots at about the same rate, probably actually lower, as the rest of the NBA. But if you're going to shoot a jump shot, it's statistically smarter to shoot a 3.

Hoopdata.com charts expected effective field goal percentage, which is essentially ranking shot selection. It measures what a teams eFG% would be if they shot the league average percentage from each spot. The Rockets rank #1 in the NBA. That means, if we make each shot at the same rate that the average NBA team shoots, then we should score more points per shot than anybody else in the league. One can conclude from this, that the Rockets offensive system produces the smartest shots in the NBA and thus, could be considered the best offensive system in the league. It should also be noted that we actually make at just about the same rate that we're expected to make, so we're not forcing up a ton of shots that we're not capable of making but an average player should make.

http://hoopdata.com/teamxefg.aspx

 

This I agree w/

The live by the three die by the three talk is nonsense. Three's are good shots to take everybody takes them.

 

In terms of expected points per possession which only looks at where the shot was take and uses the average made from that location, the Rockets are the best team in the NBA.


XPPS is expected points per shot.

 

The concern I have is not about the system we are currently running, but the ones we aren't. When Harden and Lin are out, there's basically no creativity to think of and the offense is dead. I hope we have some other plans for that. IMO it would be worth it to experiment bringing in DMO during those start of 2Q dry spells.

 

So does this mean the Rockets have the best shot selection in the NBA?

 

The Rockets are efficient b/c they have guards that attack the rim relentlessly...and right now their shooters are on target...

 

Basically, yes. The Rockets take the most efficient shots in the NBA, but this doesn't account for the ability of the player taking the shot. For instance, if Asik was taking all of these shots, it would still appear as efficient shots, but it wouldn't really be smart shot selection. So in a vacuum, this stat can't exactly say that the Rockets have the best shot selection, but when combined with the fact that our actual PPS is very similar, it's pretty safe to say the Rockets are near the top of the NBA in shot selection.