Came across this stat on the ESPN page. Our squad is averaging only 91.9 ppg, which qualifies us for #23 out of 29 teams. Absolutely pathetic. This team, despite having some of the best offensive talent in the NBA, just can't score. The Rockets have frequently shown their inability to run the fast break, which means no quick and easy baskets. I'm not even going to discuss the half court game, which went to sh*t after Hakeem's demise. Rudy has done a terrible job adjusting to the rule changes. We haven't been able to run plays through our all-world center consistenly. Our 20 yr. old "stud" power forward usually looks like he can't throw the ball into the ocean. Not to mention Cuttino Mobley putting on his best Vernon Maxwell imitation when the ball is in his hands. Only problem is that Mobley's defense is nowhere near what Maxwell's used to be. Which brings me to the James Posey question: Did we bring this guy in so he could just toil around the perimeter and wait for a 3-point opportunity. This looks strikingly similar to the Scottie Quitten situation. Bostjan Nachbar was drafted because he was supposed to be "NBA ready" after several seasons of pro ball in Europe. Yet this sharpshooter continues to ride the pine, while Fat Rice chases guys around the court like a fool. Even more stunning is that Rice is shooting at a 41% clip on the year. A career 40% 3-pt shooter, he's down to 36% this year. Plain and simple, Houston is where small forwards go to die. Finally, while Rudy T can't shoot for these guys, it would be nice if he could run some plays to utilize his strengths once in awhile, instead of letting big guys run around shooting jumpers, and our guards dribbling the shot clock down to 5 seconds before passing the ball. Maybe it's time to bring some fresh blood into this organization. Someone in the Donnie Nelson or Maurice Cheeks mold. Anything to rid this team of the monotonous, predictable Rudy Tomjanovich offensive scheme.
I blame the rotation for most of the crappy offense. Rudy plays people till the players are dead tired. I wouldn't letting anyone play longer than 9 min at a time. Rudy T plays everyone about 12 min at a time. Have you ever noticed how bad everyone plays at the end of each qurter. Rudy T doesn't know the first thing about rotating big men and how many min Francis and Mobley must play. We will probably get crushed tomorrow since we have played all our starters about 42min each game.
IMO, the best and most easily correctable point made in this thread is that of the guards dribbling out the clock before any play is even initiated. If Rudy would just force SF/Cat/Mooch to give up the ball as soon as they pass half court then the defense would have to react. The defense will always follow the ball. Unfortunately with the current situation, our guards just get crowded at the arc and end up juking and crossing over for about 15sec before they can even create enough space in front of them to see that Ming or Griff have point blank post up position. Of course there's also the matter of this BS high pick 'n roll they run every time down court to attempt to free up the guards. The 'roll' component of this play is never recognized by the guards, but that's a whole nuther problem we'll just try to work on next season maybe
We may not score a lot, but we do have on of the higher points per shot, which seems to be more important then how many points you score.
I think Rudy deserves the rest of this year, but if the Rockets fail to make the playoffs and we go searching for a new coach, Donnie Nelson would be an excellent choice. He has coached the Mavericks well when given the opportunity, was a good assistant coach in Phoenix, and is credited with being the driving force for bringing more International players into the NBA.
Points per game is not a good indicator of how good an offense is. It just indicates the speed the game is played at. FG% is a better indicater of offensive effectiveness.
You bring up a very good point here. I think Rudy has a knack for finding talent. But I'm not sure Rudy utilizes the talent he has as well as some other coaches do, especially these past few seasons.
Come on. Like Cohen said, our defense ranks very high. The Rockets are tied for 3rd with Miami at 88.6ppg allowed. This is no excuse for the lack of execution of Rudy's gameplan. I don't want the Rockets to be the Tampa Bay Bucs of the NBA. Although our first championship was built on defense. First the spacing is horrible. The defense collapses so easily that we are forced to take outside shots as the shotclock ticks down. The post player can't get any room to shoot and it makes it too easy for the defense when everyone is cramped together. Second, this is the first season that the offense has played together with a big man. They are still learning how to execute. Steve and Cat are inclined to fall back into their old ways when the offense starts to sputter. Youth is still a factor whether or not everyone believes it. Experience leads to consistency. Third, another piece of the offense (KT) was removed and replaced with Posey. Thus adding more for the offense to adjust to. Clearly they don't know how to use Posey yet. He has been getting his points from steals and rebounds, basically junk points. Which is great that he hustles, but they should look for him more on cuts to the basket for easy layups/dunks. We are left with one forward with a lot of promise in his second season and another forward with some experience but hasn't played in over a year. I would prefer that the offense move away from Glen Rice at the post. He is too old for that. I would like to see Yao touch the ball on every play, this will allow for easy shots as the defense tries to double team Yao. When Yao is on the bench, I would like to see Eddie and MoT getting some post plays. When the post is used Cat/Steve will get much easier shots. Everyone will be happy and the Rockets will be very tough. Enough excuses though, just go out and earn your paychecks. Win.
The reason our points are so low yet our defense ranks so high is because how slow we play. Our guards dribble for 20 seconds every posession. This is why we don't allow many points. How can Rudy not realize we are a much better team when Francis and Mobley PASS the ball? Plus, with 2 great guards and a young team, shouldn't we try to run more fast breaks? We have Yao and Eddie to rebound now, the guards need to push it up the court quicker and try to get some easy baskets.
Orlando, Atlanta and Denver... All commentators said pretty much the same thing. "The Rockets offense stagnates into a gridlock when the guards start looking for their own shots." "One pass, and shoot." "The one knock on the Rockets is that the depend on isolations too much." Also, have you ever noticed this? If the ball ever goes into the post (other than Yao), it's always shot. There's no passing option from MoT, or Griff. Predictable and weak.
