[Ringer/KOC] The Rockets Don’t Have a Switch to Flip. They’ll Have to Acquire One

is this a Melo thread? asking for a friend

 

Great write-up. Love how they are using facts, lol, and not just random qualitative crap.

Not that the facts are eye opening for any of us that have been watching. But good to see the #s backing it up.

The Capela guarding guards in isolation #s are a bit surprising. The main reason why it'd be so high this year is the rest of the league changing/adapting how to play and specifically how to attack the Rockets switching... and that would have happened whomever DM picked up.

But that aside... it is what it is.

Portis is an interesting name... not sure his current injury situation, or why the Bulls would move him for whatever crap the Rockets offered, though.

Given that, and given the also "obvious" comments about guys like Kevin Love or Otto Porter... It REALLY does start to make you think, pretty soon might be the time to think completely different, more drastic moves. Meaning, Tilman definitely has a P&L to consider here, and anyone who has looked at how punitive the repeater tax starts to get year after year will recognize you don't pay it without championships.

Granted, I've been more on this train for 18 months now, because of the Warriors dynasty, but if this is the direction the team is going, I'd at least be interested to see what DM might could do when your tradeable assets include Harden, CP3 and Capela, with an 3 year goal of being good again...

 

So, for me, the TLDR version of this is that the one size fits all mentality isn't working. That makes sense to me.

Again, for me, this all goes back to shooting and confidence. The very real issue here is the MDA philosophy that he preached in the Utah game of needing to ride Harden on the way to a win. That won't work. It needs to stop. You can't ride Harden on your way to a win and in the same breath criticize him for lazy passes on offense and lackluster perimeter defense. We are getting drilled on the fast break and can't shoot worth a damn. Defense confounds this for sure, but when teams are allowed to penetrate a Rockets team that is running back on a miss it's causing so many issues. The rockets make their shots and suddenly we have an avenue to get back and set up.

Maybe the rockets adopt a philosophy of no offensive rebounding, or decrease it. On shots maybe we run back? I'm not sure, but that would definitely give the defense more time to get it together.

 

I know what you're doing, and believe me I LOL'd, but you're playing a dangerous game friend.

 

did you read my post? I won't bother repeating myself, except to say my post agreed with this.

 

I don't want to talk out of both sides of my mouth... because ABSOLUTELY, the roster is way too thin on the whole.

That said... Harden is getting $30 million this year and it will rise to $47 MILLION by 2022-2023.

There are definitely other superstars that have flaws... perhaps masked by their squads as a whole. Curry isn't a great defender either. KD's passive-aggressive ISO attitude has proven to not work as the #1 guy in clutch situations when not surrounded by all time talent. Lebron can't hit FTs. Giannis can't shoot threes. AD seems incapable of "carrying" a team. Kobe shot too much. Shaq couldn't hit free throws and was a bad perimeter defender. MJ was an ******* teammate. Hakeem was too selfish early on.

Etc, etc, etc, etc,.

That said... is it really too much to want your MVP #1, $40 million+ a year guy to not be a sieve defensively, limit turnovers down the stretch and do something else on offense other than stand at the top of the key when they ball isn't in his hands?

This isn't Harden's "fault", but its not completely not his fault either.

 

A lot of it comes down to talent and depth.

If those areas improve, most of the other concerns will be addressed accordingly.

The good news is that there are players out there that address most of the Rockets needs and they are not star players. Accordingly they can be had on the trade market.

The bad news is that the Rockets have limited assets and have to decide if they are willing to take back longer contracts for better players and/or risk trading their draft picks.

 

Nearly every single team allows Harden/Paul to do this to them, too. Why is it just a Rockets problem, if every team switches like this against premier PnR offenses?

That's the question which I believe makes this a more interesting conversation, rather than devolving to a discussion of drastic change....based upon not having any stats to show what occurs when Rockets don't switch....or when teams don't switch against us.

 

James Harden isn't the Rockets biggest defensive issue, and he has played defense adequately in the past. If the team improves their talent level, and the communication on defense improves, it is very likely Harden will be fine defensively.

You are going to be very hard pressed to find many players that have to shoulder the offensive load Harden is carrying at 29 years. You are going to find even less players that carried that load and were solid defensively. Kobe Bryant and Russell Westbrook carried a similar load and were poor defensively when they did.

A lot of these problems would be less glaring or rectified if the Rockets had improved talent/depth.

 

Already replied to this.

Notwithstanding the fact that (i) the Rockets need a lot more good talent/depth, and (ii) it doesn't matter whether you get on Harden for lazy passes and/or lackluster perimeter defense or not, he is what he is at this point (turnovers could go down with someone else handling the ball more, but do you want that?)....

Why CAN'T you get on Harden for this?? I don't get this approach. I want my MVP superstar to not be a complete sieve defensively and not currently be leading the league in total turnovers for what would be the 5th season of the last 7.

 

Keep in mind, none of these articles have stats showing what happens when the Rockets *don't* switch ... so none of them can show the complete picture that Bzdelik does indeed have stats for....that is none of the articles can help us understand the disadvantages of other defenses.

There's an analogy/idiom in there somewhere about Kids questioning Parental rules, but the kids don't have the data the Parent does.

 

Everything you mentioned might be solved by lowering Harden's usage, which is up this year. However, when his teammates aren't hitting open shots like they were last year, it's hard to lower his usage when he's the only consistent offensive force on the team.

That goes back to talent. Surround Harden with guys that can fulfill their roles (mainly hitting the open shot, rebounding, and playing defense) and Harden won't be doing as many of the negatives that you're pointing out.

 

Good read. Makes sense. I don't see us getting anyone who can really help, so... that sucks.

 

if only Murray had discussed things with KOC when he decided to not re-sign Ariza and replace him with carnelo and james ennis.