[I'm ignorant] Educate me on Silas' offensive system

Someone on the coaching staff needs to sit down with the GM and tell him the Porter experiment isn't working.

They need to get him out of there and focus on working with and developing the younger players that actually are professional.

The Rockets aren't winning anything, but they could do what the Nuggets did and develop a culture and use resources on young player development.

Green, Tate, Sengun, Martin, Christopher, Garuba and Nix should be their focus.

If those guys show up with solid attitudes, work hard, go to morning practice and play/practice hard, they should be the focus. Anyone that doesn't do that, then they can go.

Run the offense for now through Wood and Gordon until you can move them for solid returns.

Anyone that is problem should be moved.

Focus externally on the draft (which they are doing based on their hires) and look quietly at coaches they can bring in this summer to replace Silas, because EMO Silas isn't the answer.

 

Giving up on Porter is going to be ugly. I want to give him this full season to figure it out at pg until I wish the Rockets go the route you suggest.

He's still 21 and shows many glimpses per game of his high level talent.

 

Lol, there's the small matter of who the ball handler was back then and him being a slightly better option than..DJ Augustin and Eric Gordon... that may prove challenging to this hypothetical

 

Not only is Harden on an absolutely different plane of reality than ...Eric Gordon and DJ Augustin...as a primary ball handler, scorer, distributor- i think it's safe to say those 2 are bad at it by any standard.

DJ Augustin isn't exactly a paint scoring threat, and Eric Gordon is an awful passer - he just puts his head down and bulls to the basket. Why are there no videos of him passing?

Wall is probably the only capable guy like you said, though Green is improving

 

Porter has a lot of talent, his aptitude for the game is higher than Green's (the Rockets best prospect) and in some ways Porter has a better feel for the game than anyone on the court. However, he doesn't play hard on the floor often, he isn't attending morning practices and he has personality issues. I understand the thinking behind keeping Porter, but at some point I think they need to accept that it isn't going to work out like they want. In fairness to them, they speak with him each day - I do not, but from what I have observed I am concerned about it when the team is so young.

This organization lacks a clear culture that everyone buys into and permeates the organization. That usually comes from the coach (sometimes the GM).

While I don't think Silas is the answer long term, I think people also needs to realize that what Silas is being asked to do is very hard. Silas is essentially a rookie head coach with a rookie front office and is being asked to coach a bunch of kids and misfits. There is a reason that Silas wanted his backcourt to be Wall and Oladipo, because it is almost impossible to win with a young back court like Green and Porter. The issue for me is that I just don't see ANY real progress in things that are usually related to coaching.

The Rockets are 7-55 in their last 62 games, I haven't looked it up but that has to be one of the 3-4 worse stretches in NBA history and there ARE players on the roster that could play well, but they aren't.

My guess is Silas is gone after this season and perhaps they move on from Porter after the next draft, assuming they get a top 7 pick. There are about 5 guys in this draft that have the upside of possibly being multiple time all stars. Now, not all of them will pan out, but the ability is there.

 

Him and Greene need an offseason of bulking up. Jon does all the hard work to get to the run but rarely conveys the layups. His shot% at the rim has to be below 50

 

Sengun is on the team.....

Best prospect, best feel for the game on the team, youngest player on the roster.

 

Actually Gordon is the best p&r handler on the team according to NBA com - but I'm willing to bet it's almost always because he bulls into the lane himself and tries to finish.

Fwiw - best roll men are Theis, Sengun, Wood in that order

 

Wood should be the best roll man due to his length, finishing ability and shooting touch but he sets poor screens.

 

Of course. Even John Wall in his prime is no James Harden. Eric Gordon, and Augustine cannot make those homerun passes that Harden could or a Steve Nash could with Amare or Stockton could with Malone etc. That's just it.... I don't think making homerun passes in the P&R is the answer. The answer (to at least be more competitive) is to at least get some sort of offense that can get ball movement by setting a screen, having a competent roller/finisher, and having someone that can attack the basket like EG is capable of.

Even though every team in the league does not have a prime Steve Nash or James Harden, basically every team runs the P&R, and most teams can win 20 to 40 games a season running a P&R centric offense regardless of superstars like Harden being on their team.

I'm never going to take a stance that there is "AN ANSWER" for this team to be relevant (they are going to be the worst team in the league regardless), but to me as an ignorant non NBA coach, my arm chair quarterbacking is to say at least run the same offense that 95% of the NBA runs when all else fails. Put your best big man (Wood or Sengun) in constant pick and rolls with your best attacking guard (EG when healthy).

 

Gordon can't or doesn't even make simple passes, let alone home run passes. I mean, when was the last time you saw ERic Gordon throw up a lob to somebody?

Augustin is fine as a passer but, he can't finish even in is prime, and is now a 34 year old journeyman point guard.

Contrast this with Harden who led the league in points or assists for half a decade.

Anyway, look at the stats @steddinotayto posted.

Seems like it's the opposite of what you say, Wood has been terrible as a roll man this year whereas Theis has been decent. Augustin horrible as a ball handler, on the level with Porter and Green; Gordon grades good as a ball handler but mostly becuase he doesn't pass and shoots most of the time by bulling to the rim. (I don't have the exact number, but it appears that he shoots on at least 3/4 p&r attempts.)

Finally like somebody posted - the Rocket are middle of the pack in PIck & rol frequency (18%) but horrible at P&R effiiency, one of the worst in the league. (.65)

If their objective is to win games they should run it less. Pretty much every other thing they do (isos, postups, transition) works out better. But they're trying to teach KPJ and Green how to do it, so they run it more.

 

So what is the most competitive offense that teams run when they are a bad team, but want to be fun on a nightly basis, and they also want their young players to grow?? I think it's just much more simple to debate over than some are making it out to be.

The concern that I think everyone here has is that the Rockets are going to embrace an offense that is ISO centric, makes young players think they are the next Kobe, drives down their efficiency, and makes them burn out of the league instead of being the best version of themselves that they can be... which maximizes their value for the team, and the rebuild can be more efficient (IE maybe Wood isn't Amare, but he is Montrezl Harrell and the Rockets can get a first round pick for him if they need to, etc.).

You're right that this team does not have the play maker and passer it needs to be an efficient P&R centric offense, but my point is it still might be the best choice if you stop letting the turnover king KPJ be the guy who is trying to be James Harden instead of being a version of a P&R point guard who makes the simple plays that don't win a team 60 games, but helps give some structure that helps those bad teams at least compete without turning the ball over on every damn play.