Good thread. This is not entirely unique to the Rockets as the rule changes have made versatility a must. There are very few set positions. GS had similar versatility. What I find impressive is that Morey knew we needed another player other than Harden that could create. He couldn't get one during the season, so he alleviated the scoring issue by maximizing easy baskets, primarily in transition by bringing in players like Brewer, Smith, Ariza and KJ. This added another dynamic to the Rockets.
"Give McHale and his staff credit"? How about giving Morey the credit as he was the one who put the team together, and one of the reasons he signed these guys was due to their versatility.
^ why in the world is it always a battle? Everyone deserves credit down to the poor soul that has to chauffeur Clint Capela around Houston
Defensively Howard is fast enough to match up with almost any player in the NBA. I think he struggles with a Lillard type, but that's about it. That's why our switching defense works so fluidly. Few weaknesses.
Remember the CLE game where James kicked Lebron? That's when we began to see James buy in to our offensive scheme when opponents defend him. Before, he would hold on to the ball while trying to figure out the defense. In that CLE game, he began to pass out early to Josh and TJ (although they missed quite a few). Now we're seeing the fruits of that. Our greatest problem was our offense against defenses taking away Harden's drives. Now we really can read and react to what defenses are showing us. It's not so much that they're versatile as in they understand how to attack various defenses.
i probably should have emphasized that i was talking about versatility on both ends of the court, and the fact our defense has gotten good enough that we can weather periods of stagnation on the offensive end.
