I think drop coverage is consistently being exposed each year as more and more players are spending more time on taking advantage of it. It makes me think of how the last 3-4 years how "switch everything" really became so meta after the warriors dynasty flexed it and the 17-18 Rockets moved to it and almost beat them for it. I think that year and 18-19 is when teams started taking notice as with each following year, you just see a lot more switches happening across the NBA and besides denver and maybe philly and LA with elite big men who can actually take advantage in the post (or even catch a post-entry pass for that matter), most nba teams spend 4-8 seconds trying to throw the entry pass to a mediocre post player only to get a turnover most of the time. Even if the average NBA team doesn't have versatile elite one-on-one defenders, I think most of them are seeing the "switch everything" as the better option than drop just with where the league is at with bigs. It's why I think teams giving max contracts to stiffs like Gobert are limiting their ceiling. As many defensive player of the year nods he gets for his elite rim protection, he gets routinely exposed everywhere else by the allstar and superstar guards and fwds in this league because he can only play drop coverage. That jazz series in 17-18 was a prime example. Cp3 cooked him ALL SERIES because he never changed it up or their coaching staff thought "hey we can live with the open midrange shot," while I think forcing cp to drive and finish at the rim would have been a preferable option at that point in his career. You could make the case that having the bigs close that gap, attempt to play up and getting help so that it's a role player taking the shot instead of ball handler is almost always the best option against the star guards in this league (i.e. dame last game).
Harden was an unthinkable disaster on defense terrible in every regard I never would’ve assumed he’d do that considering how good he is and the pride and ego I thought he had I was obviously wrong though He went to BKN and they became trash as well. He isn’t doing **** on defense this year but I’m sure he’s trying harder in BKN
I fear our post-trade defense could be significantly overrated due to the weak/decimated teams we've faced. We obviously have some people with the ability to be good one on one defenders, but I've seen a lot of blown assignments. The verdict is still out imo. Hopefully we live up to the hype.
Just checking to see how is our defensive rating now after the pelicans game? Our off rating should have went up.
This team has some legitimately good defenders who take pride on that end. And for those who want to argue otherwise, trading Harden helps — not just because of his defensive limitations but also because having him on the team is bad for chemistry which matters most on defense. I agree that these numbers may not truly reflect how good we’ve been on that end. Stats in general are not all that reliable early in the season, and this year especially.
What about watching these guys play D makes you think they may be “overrated” in that department? Obviously they won’t stay #1, but they are a very, very good defensive squad.
I still see too many blown assignments and letting guys walk to the basket, even against mediocre/decimated teams. I’m not sure we disagree though, I do believe we’ll have a pretty good defensive squad. I just think some people need to tap the brakes a little on how good they think we are. Obviously a little win streak with good defense even against bad competition is nothing to sneeze at.
I'm not gonna miss the million possessions where Harden took a dumb shot and then sulked his way back to half court while the team played 4v5 defense. That alone is a +10 defensive rating.
OP should also interview other Rockets players asking about the feelings of won’t be yelled at anymore as when Harden missed a back door completely but wanted to blame it on his teammates.
Rockets now have #4 Def Rating. 9th best in points given up. 1st in denying assists. 12th in steals. 23rd in def rebounds given up. 6th in 3P shoots allowed. 2nd in blocks. 7th in forcing turnovers. "NBA Defense Team Rankings - 2021 Defensive Rankings" https://www.lineups.com/nba/team-rankings/defense
Rockets offensive rating is #22. Nets offensive rating moved up to #2. "NBA Team Rankings - 2021 Offensive Rankings" https://www.lineups.com/nba/team-rankings But Rockets are now 4th in pace. 9th in points scored. 9th in TS%. 3rd in 3PA. These all great indicators of improvement.
Well, if they were rated #1 but "obviously they won't stay there" isn't that the definition of overrated?
The person I was responding to wasn’t referring to the stat. He said this team’s D is “significantly overrated” in general. It’s not.
