Microball at its essence is just 2 systems, 5 out offense and switch all defense. Its hard to find a center that can shoot 3s while still switch on defense so I guess thats why we have no center. But if we had a player like JJJ or Pascal Siakam then we wouldnt need to do microball at all he can do both while still being a legit center. So in short I think the Rox system is very replicable as you don't need HOF talent just the right skillset unlike GSW Hamptons 5 which needs 3 HOF shooters. This is esp the case if you just take half the system for example other teams can go 5 out without switching. Switching centers are kinda harder to find cuz you are probably looking at extreme athletes like Pascal Siakam or a young Draymond Green. But tbh I'm not that sold on switch everything defense it just seems to take too much energy compared to traditional defense. If we had a center who can shoot 3s like say Aaron Baynes I'd rather run a normal traditional defense where you zone and then funnel everything to Baynes. In 2017-2018 Rox didnt switch everything like they are doing now only Tucker, Ariza and Cp3 did the switching, Harden was kinda hidden on defense and Capela just switch between PF and C but still stayed in the paint to block shots. The defense rating then was better than it is now.
Curry would be their Clemons .... never getting off the bench in this system. He cant guard guards much less forwards and big men. He'd be unplayable.
The Rockets really aren't the first to try this .... just look at the Doug Moe Nuggets from the early 80s. They started 6'9" Dan Issel at center and two 6'7" - 6'8" forwards along with their guards .... They have 3 of the top 6 highest scoring averages seasons in the history of the league. https://www.landofbasketball.com/statistics/highest_scoring_teams_rs.htm Now the game was quite different back then but their philosophy was the very similar ....
your breakdown above reminds me the topic we once touched on i.e. more or less, nowadays most teams already play small day in day out in their own way. the only differences are: unique core players (backcourt / wings) n their unique skill sets that's why some critics lately label our system as 'super small ball' or 'micro ball' (other than 'small ball'), largely due to our uniquenesses on both ends of floor: 1) 2 iso (Offense) 2) 5 out (Offense) 3) more 3s (Offense) 3) uptempo (Offense) 4) switch everything (Defense) 5) fronted (Defense) 6) pressure on ball handler for TO and more transition opportunities (Offense/Defense) 7) Center-less (Offense/Defense) that's why as we said, we dun't need to adapt to others, we await others making adjustment (say expanding their minutes through center-less play). till now heats have not yet rostered much reliable 3s shooters, and butler not kinda drawing double-teamed. I would rule them out as real small ball candidate.
I do see it partially as a response to the players' current skills. Trying to make Westbrook into a shooter at the start of the season didn't work and Capela's inability to create his own shot limited the offense and clogged the paint for Westbrook to work to his advantage. If CP3 were here instead of Westbrook and the Capela-Covington trade still happened, the current offense would not have worked.
Liked for 1st paragraph. 2017-2018 Rockets were switch everything, even Clint and Harden switched. Switch everything defense was Bzdelik scheme. Go back and watch games from that season again, especially vs. GSW, Harden and Clint switched onto Curry and Klay often.
MDA would have devised a different system if he had Curry. Rockets were predominantly PnR when CP3 brought in. Heavy Iso the next season because CP3 was always injured and never 100%. This season is the first season that 5 Out is the base offense. People are acting like MDA is incapable of adapting to his players, this could not be further from the truth.
6'5 center and 6'9 center are not quite the same. 3" vs. 7" variance to 7'0 prototype of center position. And 6'5 Tucker is center on defense but 6'3 Westbrook is the center on offense. Doug Moe may have tried to play with 3 forwards but Rockets are essentially playing five 6'7 or much shorter players with guard skills. Hence SMALL ball. Plus Nuggets did not play 5 Out offense. Or Switch Everything defense. "Small Ball" is a misnomer and distracts from the truly revolutionary adjustments that MDA has effected IMO.
Capela has often been switched to the perimeter during games, from what I remember most notably earlier this season any good team would often utilize our switch defense philosophy to force Capela out of the paint, it’s true Capela was a good paint protector in that he was able to alter shots but he was quite often nullified by getting switched out onto the perimeter. His perimeter defense against good opponent guards was never that good, It exacerbated our defensive shortcomings. Earlier in the year the strategy was to switch everything and capela kept getting forced to switch out, than the rockets sort of changed the defensive scheme midway to keep him in the paint as much as possible but good offenses were still able to exploit this weakness. This and the fact that capela clogged the paint for Westbrook meant trading him solved both problems, whilst we don’t have a traditional big to alter shots in the paint we as a team are better defensively. Off topic anyone remember earlier in the season they also tried to do early double teams to trap the ball handler and got burned badly because the help and rotations were always too slow, no idea why they tried to do this, frustrated the hell out of me
Yeah they switched on occassion but it wasnt that often. I mean does that make sense to have Capela guard Curry at the perimeter when he could be bothering shots in the paint or Harden guarding KD when it should be Ariza or Tucker doing that? At the end of the day you still want the best perimeter threats guarded by your best perimeter defenders most of the time imo, even in a switch everything defense. The true ambivalent switch defense would only work at its best if the opponent has 5 equal offense players or your team's defensive prowess is exactly the same for each player.
Good offenses will force a switch even if you try to keep capela in the paint, just more ball movement and pick n rolls. Remember rockets in playoffs kept forcing curry to switch onto harden, it's inevitable. You can't just keep a center glued in the paint with a switch defense philosophy.
The Rockets will 0lay them in Milwaukee and I want to see how the Lopez brothers do against us. How much floor time Brook, Robin, Ilyasova, and DJ Wilson (shooting around 24% from 3) get.
With low post offense going extinct, I feel the biggest problem with small ball is not defense (with good wing defenders) but rebounding. You need plus rebounders across the lineup to compensate for the lack of a center. Now we have such a team, especially with someone like Westbrook capable of 10 boards a game. Actually we still get out-rebounded some in the last few winning games, but at a manageable level.
he got some ups n downs, but he might bring us some troubles if they play small lineup i.e length-wise, a great deal of mismatch problem for us same as his mates greek freak. he looks like a non-factor based on 2018-2019 postseason games. Lopez bros is important part of their game plan. though each of them avg. 12-18min a game, their impact are bigger than their minutes on court. can't wait to see in April how we deal with their Cs while they standing on 3pt line (a big threat)
Yes you summed it up well But don’t sell the Heat short. Pat Riley is old school and is trying to make Bam Adebayo into the next Byombo. Pat Riley is an innovator though and high on video footage. If he sees what the Rockets are doing and it works, look for Riley to have Spoelstrra copy what we are doing by mid March. Hear 3P shooting percentages (currently): Nunn:35% Dragic: 39% Duncan Robinson (6’7”): 44% Tyler Herro: 39% Crowder: 32% Solomon Hill: 38% Iggy: 43% Leonard Miles: 45% Olynyk: 41% If the Heat shelve Adebayo (shoots about 8% from 3) and even Olynyk/Leonard Miles (despite good percentages) and run, run run.....they could be dangerous. Jimmy Butler is taking it easy and sitting back because he is high risk for getting injured during the long season. He will turn it up a notch in the playoffs and look to facilitate (be a catalyst) in the playoffs. He is just not as good as Harden or WB at passing. Harden is at 34% (ast%) while Butler is at 24% (ast%).. Derrick Jones is also shooting mid 20’s from 3.....that’s why both Butler and Derrick Jones need to be driving and kicking out. Or just sit Derrick Jones. Just a matter of if Pat Riley will adapt or stay old school. Since he has accumulated most of the tools to play the small ball style, this tells me Pat may be ready to switch to full throttle small ball. Just a matter of when?
I do find it interesting that maurey always has had a boner for 6 foot 8 tweeners and then along came dantoni. Its like the meeting of two mindsets and philosophies and it took until now to line things up like this. The bigger tragedy would be to lose morey and dantoni. Dont think for a second now that all this isnt sending dantonys value thru the roof. Im hoping ferny t*** can come to his senses and overpay dantoni if he tries to bounce but clearly dantoni and ferntits have a mafia agreement and im hoping its a lifer italian style pact cosa nostra sh**it you and I wouldnt get
Matter of can the Lopez brother run the floor and keep up with the pace. Just like Gobert, can they defend a player out on the perimeter 26 feet away. The Rockets will try to find out. Both Harden and Westbrook will carve them up since the additional 3-point shooters are opening greater lanes. The Lopez brothers may find themselves on an island. Ilyasova is not as quick as he use to be. Also can be put on skates by WB/Harden. It goes back to our discussion about other teams having to adjust to us. Lopez brothers and Ilyasova are a big part of how they beat other teams,.....but we are not like other teams anymore.
I just thought in this league, at end of the day star players means everything, and obviously they are ONE piece away from that. But yes, we should give much more respect to Pat Riley, he knows how things run. Go Rox It!
