Like that catch and shoot game. The offense last year just did not generate very many easy looks, I'm looking forward to seeing what Coach Udoka does to improve this. More looks like that will improve everyone's efficiency.
Isn't this just plain wrong? IIRC the Rockets took a huge number of unguarded C&S shots last year and were horrendous at converting them.
Not say Silas was anything but bad but he did coach what was in front of him. It’s not Green’s fault. When we drafted him his age and Covid = high school, limited time in G-league are his references points.
I would say if 19 year old Green was drafted this year with our current roster he'd probably be seeing around 15-20 minutes per game instead of being thrown into the fire as a starter from day one playing 30+ minutes per game. The roster was so gutted and devoid of talent that year that by the second half of Green's rookie year season he probably was still the best option as a starter on the team relative to what was behind him in the depth chart. But that wouldn't be the case today with FVV, a more polished KPJ, Amen etc. 19 year old Green would not see 30 minutes a night if those players were in the roster.
What games were you watching? Just from the eye test I don't recall seeing a large number of catch and shoot situations but wanted to check my vision so pulled up the per game catch and shoot stats from NBA.COM (Teams Catch & Shoot | Stats | NBA.com). Aaaaaannnd... wait for it... the Rockets were dead LAST in number of catch and shoot field goals attempted.
The same ones you did. I'm talking about guarded/closely guarded shots, which is why i wrote. unguarded C&S shots IIRC the Rockets took a huge # of open shots (whether catch/shoot, pull up, whatever) and were awful at converting them It's ob bbref/nba.com. also there's many posts about it here.
This is why im so optimistic about this upcoming season. Stephen Silas was soooo bad as a coach. The Rockets weren't concerned about winning and wanted to tank and the STILL thought about firing him before the season ended. THATS how bad he was. I think many of the returning players from last season will see a significant bump just from the coaching change alone.
https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/shots-closest-defender?CloseDefDistRange=4-6 Feet - Open&SeasonType=Regular Season&dir=D&sort=FGA Am I putting in the wrong criteria because this says the Rockets took the 4th fewest open shots. Even if you expand the criteria to wide open 6+ feet, they took the 6th fewest shots of that kind. I cant find anything anywhere that says this offense generated a bunch of open shot opportunities. Now on the open shots they did get, they shot bad... But based on what i see they didnt get a lot of them to begin with. Rockets took the third MOST tightly contested and very tightly contested shots. Unless I’m missing something seems like the Rockets last year had to put up a lot of shots with defenders all over them.
I was talking about catch-n-shoot situations (which is what you questioned). If you want to change that to "open" shots now I get it, but the Rockets obviously did NOT take huge number of catch and shoot shots ... guarded or unguarded.
The "eye test" has significant flaws and memory (at least mine) is even worse. That said, what I remember was a lot of catch and shoots that did not seem to be the result of a coherent plan. Therefore, they were not well anticipated or in rhythm and consequently, even when open, not particularly high quality shots. My initial reaction was to blame KPJ for this situation (and I still think he deserves some blame), but the more I think about it, the more I can accept that he was also the victim of really poor coaching and a bad system.
I mean for me it's mostly a product of having one of the youngest teams in NBA history when you actually adjust for minutes played(guys like Boban and Frank the tank inflate our average age last season but hardly played). Too many headless chickens on the court at the same time. Too many players finding their role in the NBA and figuring out NBA basketball at the same time on the court together. It's nearly impossible to run an organized offense in that situation.
Ok, I'm talking about "unguarded" shots which is why i initially wrote unguarded c&s shots (Emphasis added) The Rockets were very bad at converting open shots last year - or "easy looks" as you say. It wasn't lack of easy looks that was as problematic as the failure to convert them. Look at your chart to see why. Who is the worst converting C&S team?
