Playoff ball - What else do we need and how does our current game translate?

You may have misspelled Dillon.

 

Ahhhh I see you’re pointing towards world champion FVV being that guy.

 

Need #s 1, 2, 3: no more 4Q meltdowns. Mine heart is, am I, old. Brittle. I. Just. Can’t. Take. Any. More❗️

 

Looking at how the bottom of the bracket could possibly shake out I would not want to see Dallas with a healthy Luka in the first round. Though I still think we would have a very good shot to get by them.

 

My opinion, let us wait for them to be in the playoffs first before we proclaim cures to any Rox disease.

What are we, minority report? If we know how things will turn out we can crown the NBA champion tom no need to wait.

There is still half a season to go and this Rox team looks much better than season start. We dont know how much more this team will improve this year and how they will look at season end.

 

Rox have a shot to get by anyone; the Rox could get shot by any team.

This fun squad is intense. Usually moreso than their opponent. The playoffs? Intensity rises and diminishes a true advantage. See: Brooks, Hubie.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think we will not have a Numero Uno. The historical comparison end up with is the Detroit Pistons championship team. I think they had rip Hamilton, Chauncey billups, Tayshawn Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace. I can’t remember their bench besides Mehmet Okur, but I think there was no microwave 6th man scorer. Just more tough dudes who played as a team. Rasheed was their lunatic. We have Dillon brooks, who is very sane compared to Rasheed. But similar when placed in the context of their eras. Their team identity was sharing the ball, multiple threats. If they had a go to guy, it was rip Hamilton coming off picks and curls to shoot his jumper, but that wasn’t the superstar get you a bucket or a whistle guy.

The rockets have what those Pistons have …. Elite toughness and togetherness. Looking at Amen, Tari, Dillon, Fred, even Jalen, Jabari, Tate and cam whitmore - they are basically cut from the same cloth as those Detroit players. Both teams had just enough offense to win.

 

nice way to dish Sengun

The run and gun sun was another example (of no uno and a more balanced team)- that team should have won a championship

 

These are all good points and tbh I'm surprised you're just learning about them recently because this stuff is really well known aside from the "Dillon Brooks sucks" point. I do want to add on to your first point, though, which is building your team around a concept that doesn't exist/work in the playoffs. This is by far my biggest worry with the team right now, I think we thrive mostly on things that don't work in the playoffs. The examples you gave are good but I think there are a lot more. I'm curious to see how Ime handles it though I'm not sure there are many adjustments you can make to overcome the roster deficiencies we have. I'm mostly just enjoying the ride, I'm loving watching this team in the regular season. But I am not looking forward to the playoffs.

 

Need a shooter and need a way for the defense not to fall apart with the starters.

 

The worst thing we could do is rush into a trade without really knowing what we need - because then we would potentially spend assets addressing the wrong need and that gives us less assets to spend to fix the real problems we will see in the playoffs.

Here is what we NEED:
- We need to be tested in a playoffs setting to figure out what weaknesses teams are going to try to exploit from us or what counters we don't have roster to support(like a rim running PnR guy)
- We also need to see how Amen continues to progres this year. We saw a few games ago that Amen became our primary scorer while Alpi and Jalen were mostly bottled up against a good defense. Does Amen continue to take steps offensively that make us less concerned about the up and down performances between Jalen and to a lesser extent Alpi? Did Amen do that because the Celtics defense was more focused on Jalen and Alpi? Amen followed it up with a decidedly more passive effort against Atlanta but having a better idea of Amen's ceiling has impact to how much we care about getting offense from other players.
- Does Jalen continue to be more consistent so that we maybe aren't as worried about Amen's offensive upside?
- Alpi started the year really taking a big step up(the early season rebounding for one) but has regressed to just being really solid as the year has progressed. Teams increasingly try to isolate him defensively in high leverage moments - I anticipate that will be a theme in the playoffs too. Is that a big enough concern for his long term place on the team? Does it matter if you have the right bench pieces to sub in as needed?

The growth of all these young guys as a collective has direct impacts on how much we care about their individual growth. For example: Amen is a high level connector and his emergence as a swiss army knife this year has really balanced out the lack of synergy between Jalen and Alpi's playing styles in the past. Amen generates TOs that turn into Jalen rhythm buckets but he also puts pressure on defenses trying to collapse on Alpi because he is so good in the dunker's spot or on the offensive glass. He also reads defenses well off ball that creates better passing windows for his teammates - he sinks to the hoop when a backside help defender is trying to cover two guys and this forces the defender to choose between a quick lob to Amen(game over) or a wide open 3(would be game over if were a better shooting team).

It's a good problem to have, but we need more data here because our assets are precious so making the wrong move could hurt us more than not making a move.

 

There are some things the Rockets do well that might not work in the playoffs.
On rebounding, I think there might be a little regression in the playoffs, but good rebounding teams usually rebound well in the playoffs.
I worry about keeping Sengun near the basket on defense.
I worry about shooting.
I worry about not having the guy that at some point in the game puts the offense on his shoulder for 3-4 minutes to keep the chains moving.

On things the Rockets do that works in the playoffs...
Being able to throw a defender on a star.
Being able to rotate (other than the current issue with starting lineup).
Being physical.
Being able to switch 4 positions.
Being able to work without space on offense.
Being able to play slow.

Experience is usually a reason given for why the Rockets won't do well in the postseason. The biggest thing with experience is that it takes time to learn rotations on defense such that it is harder to exploit vets. Amen already rotates great. JSJ rotates great. Cam has looked great for 16-17 games.

 

I agree with you for the most part, but Billups is the clear Numero Uno on the balanced squad.

To be honest, we are not the Pistons. The Pistons were not a great rebounding team. We are not the best defensive team in the NBA. We definitely need to score more than the Pistons (proportionate to era as well). We do share a lot of qualities with them.

I think at least 1 person will emerge tbh.

 

All we need in the playoffs is to not see John Goble, Marc Davis, Scott Foster, and Josh Tiven. Cuz if we are allowed to play tough physical defense we can beat anyone,

 

Rest assured no one was nearly as naturally gifted as Amen and Jalen on those Pistons teams. Both have higher ceilings than anyone on that Pistons roster.


This logic I don't get. The Rockets are trying to find who is "the go to guy" out of a group of 20-23 year olds lol. That Pistons team was good when all those guys you mentioned were in their mid to late 20s fully developed except Prince.

This team is led by dudes still developing. We are ranked near the top of the league in youngest age adjusted for usage rate. A team that is this heavily dependent on players in their development stage are supposed be at the Blazers, Wizards level.

 

When OKC made their first playoff run in 2010, they lost to the Lakers in the first round with a Godly Durant.
FVV, Brooks and Aquaman will be huge with calming down the atmosphere. Those guys didn't have that.
Western Conference Finals if we avoid the Warriors

 

This team is going to be in for a rude awakening come the playoffs if they keep things as they are.

I'm fine if they do. But those collapses late in games are going to be magnified immensely in the playoffs. As will horrible outings against tough defenses by certain players.

Playoff intensity is throughout an entire game, not just in the final minutes. Coincidentally when all the collapses happen.

 

Classic Ashleyem room temperature IQ post

 

Irrelevant right now.. We just need to be healthy and clicking on all cylinders by the last 10 games of the season.. I'd bet on us against anybody except Okc with Chet if this version of Amen and Green maintains cause Alpy , Brooks, and FVV gonna do they do .. not worried about them

 

Pretty much the exact same scenario tonight against the Grizzlies. Obviously Sengun was out but the point remains the same.

Who is our closer? Jalen looks like he can’t handle it or doesn’t want it. If FVV is gonna be that guy then we will be bounced out in the first round.