Pacers and OKC are using 10-11 man rotation in playoffs

OKC has more talent and more depth than Houston.

Even with all their depth - OKC is basically running an 8-man rotation. In blow outs they have expanded their rotation but it has been 8 guys in tight games.

Really - every team and series has a different situation and I don't think that there is an easy or simple right way to do it.


I will say thought that both OKC and Indy have/had a clear blueprint for the type of players that they wanted to draft, trade for and sign, a blueprint for how they want to play and made sure the pieces fit well together. I don't see that level of forethought with the Rockets under Stone in the draft. Even the Rockets under MDA had a clear criteria.

 

OKC clearly has a type, the ones that panned out, the ones that didn’t, mostly fall into the same mold. You can argue that their draft track record in recent years has not been stellar (lots of busts), but hey, it only takes one or two massive hits to erase all the bad reps, if any. I’d rather take that route than have a generally low miss rate, but no big hits, aka your own Houston Rockets.

 

Team situations are different I can agree with. OKC and the Pacers do have more depth of a bit older players with playoff experience, so the 11 deep comparison may be off this year.

But OKC was missing the playoffs with 22-50, 24-48 and 40-42 records for three straight years before this recent success.

They also picked up players like Aleksej Pokusevski who didn't pan out and have had misses.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/pokusal01.html

Presti has been brilliant, deserves the praise and likely will get his first title his season barring an upset, but has had a few all time blunders like Harden and losing that young KD core, and has been a GM 18 years before potentially winning his first championship to be fair.

The Rockets have rebuilt just as fast but we don't have a Shai type star yet, which remains to be seen. Our picks have created arguably the fastest improving team in the NBA the past few years record wise. So both can be quality rebuilds, we'll see how things go over seasons.

 

Pacers playing a solid 9 man rotation with space for more. Knicks play 7 basically.

 

I am sort of confused as to what you are saying. You are correct, that isn't what we did which is a problem.

 

The better version of Poku is Chet. Giddey (in his role) at OKC for a championship wasn't good enough, Presti converted him into Caruso, and the money not used to extend Giddey paid iHart to give them front court depth. Actual usefulness vs the uspide that was dimming.

That team is also iterative.

 

Long run vs short run. This was literally our first competitive season with real playoffs aspirations….

We just don’t have the talent to be as deep as OKC and Indiana nor do we have that singular offensive engine like they do. Why would anyone expect we resemble them?

 

And you truly believe we would have become champions? We actually do have the talent to go deeper, it was talent not developed because Ime was in win now mode instead of development mode. So what you are saying is you truly believe that was our year to win it all? Because if not then you agree we should have let Reed and Cam have more run to get them more prepared or are you saying we should give up on them completely? It's either give up on them or have them 3/4th's of a year experience behind.

 

Your absolutes make no sense and clearly you are going for a “gotcha”.

Why is our first playoff season such a make it or break it with you?

How do you even know Reed and Cam will be on the team next season? Why didn’t you mention Holiday? He outplayed Reed most of the season.

 

I am assuming you didn't fully read what I put because I don't want to be so rude as to assume your reading

I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't fully read what I put because it would be rude to assume your reading comprehension is that low. I will restate what I already stated. I literally said we shouldn't have assumed we would win a championship this year and do things to prepare us for next year so your comment on why is our first playoff make or break for me is the exact opposite of what I said. Why I didn't mention holiday is he is for sure not apart of our long term goals much less than Cam or Reed would be. Yes they could be traded away but wouldn't you think it would be better if they had a bit more opportunity to showcase and learn before we got rid of them?

 

Im confused… I have been talking about managing expectations. I didnt see our roster being good enough this season or in that stage to where we can operate our roster like the Pacers or OKC.

 

The Rockets don't have a player that is good enough yet to build around. The Rockets forethought has been not to limit themselves to a particular type of player until they have their star set.

 

To me it's obvious what Stone has tried to build, which is a defensive minded unit. He took Green because he felt Green was the best player after Cunningham. But since then he drafted long guys that can defend and get out and play uptempo. Sure he took a gamble on couple players like josh christopher and Cam but it has been clear the last 2 years what Stone and Udoka want to accomplish here in Houston. The OKC project has been going on for a while now probably 5-6 years now with Daigenault and SGA so they are ahead of Houston who will be in their 3rd year with Udoka next year. I would imagine year 4 (2026-2027) is when the Rockets will be legitimate contenders.

 

While I agree that OKC and Indiana have talented and deep teams I think you're overrating Indiana a bit and undervaluing us a bit. We have talent and players and coaches in the NBA have publicly taken notice. Indiana has had a good run in the playoffs and I contend they are better suited for the playoffs the style and personnel they have. But Haliburton isn't some dominant scoring or offensive engine. He is no SGA. Neither is Siakim. Two very good players but I can't say these guys are great or dominant. Indiana just has a lot of guys that can score and they play similar to the warriors in terms of screens and split actions etc. that make it hard for teams to defend them and play them in a 7 game series. Personally I think we can beat Indiana in 7. OKC maybe not.

 

Great video on Pacers offense, which is based on a lot of offball screens, movement, and quick passes. Notice the lanes they get from these screens or fake screens etc. and there’s no big in the middle clogging the lane. Rockets can’t play this way with our personnel

 

We don't have anything close to a Haliburton, despite what you think of him. Much easier to have depth when you have a real primary playmaker

 

So you are saying with the current coaching staff and the current core we will contend in 2026-27 simply from organic growth of the players and coach? At least, that’s what I think you are implying. I’m not being snarky, just want your opinion. My opinion is that we need to continue to grow our true core players and replace our vets with more effective vets that compliment our core. Amen, Sengun, and Jabari is my definition of the core, but of course, the core definition varies from person to person. Ime for instance, thinks Jalen is part of the core, maybe even FVV.

 

I never did a comparison of rosters. I simply disagreed with your statement “we…don’t have the talent to be as deep as OKC.” We have several talented bench players that many teams would love to have (Bari, Tari, Tate).

You called Haliburton an “offensive engine” which I disagree. I suppose our definitions of offensive engines are different. Haliburton isn’t a great scorer and has been stopped in the past. I don’t consider that an “offensive engine”

Why they win isn’t due to some singular player. Their system is difficult to guard and features constant attacking, audibles, movement, and screens.

 

No. I expect this team to make some major changes via free agency and trades and this team likely will look different next year. I also expect the players to grow. So many people on here love to compare us to other teams but forget that it took years and many iterations of these teams to become contenders. Both OKC and Indiana are stacked with vets and experienced players. I don’t think we can win playing this Sengun centric offense. I don’t think we can win if Jalen keeps playing like this in the playoffs. I expect one or both of these guys to go. My projection is 26-27 with our guys having 3-5 years under their belt along with acquisitions they made. Even if they keep Sengun or Green they will still be up there as serious contenders despite my pessimism that they won’t win it all.

 

thanks.