Long time Rockets fan since age 10, followed basketball and the Houston Rockets for going on 17 years. I consider myself to have an above average basketball IQ. Personally watching the Rockets this year (Missing Adelman) I have noticed defensively that the Rockets Pick and Roll defense is in my opinion the worst in the league. Defending the Pick and Roll the Rockets always Trap. Trapping is when you "trap" the ballhandler far away from the action to be able to complete the play effectively. As the screener gets into position, their defender must go to the top of the pick and close off the alley that the ballhandler intended to go through. Trapping is a very solid defensive strategy if done correctly. Why do the Rockets struggle with the Pick and Roll defense? Well the reason is four things. 1. Luis Scola and Sam D. When they defend the ballhandler they over extended WAY to much. Leaving Scola's and Sam D's man open somewhere in the key. With one good swing pass, the Rockets defense cant correct it fast enough and lead to very easy scores. 2. Help Defense. When the Rockets trap the help defense needs to collapse just a bit and protect more the weakside. Most of the time the ballhandler will swing the ball to the weak side and the Rockets need see it and know that its coming and move, fast. 3. Rockets guards unable to decide correctly when to belly up the pick and roll or to go under. I love Kyle's game but im going to target him for just a bit. I love his intensity defensively but he needs to know how to use it. He tends to belly up faster guards, and go under the pick and roll on 3 point shooters. Though not always but even a couple of times that can lead very costly scoring runs that we have seen the Rockets deal with lately. 4. Because Scola and Sam D are slow when they trap so far away that leads more offensive rebounds, second chance points, and points in the paint for the other team. So what adjustments do the Rockets need to make to help defend the Pick and Roll and other defensive strategies? Though this will sound logical but im not seeing the Houston Rockets coaching staff make the changes. Fast players like Tony Parker lets say who cant shoot very well from the outside, roll under the screen and help defense DONT TRAP or move away from your man. If you do Tony will find the roller and give them very, very easy shots down low. Dont play tight on faster guards. Force them to shoot outside shots. Help defense and 1 on 1 defense must get 10 times better. Ive seen so many games where the defender will let the ballhandler go by him thinking the help defense will take care of it. I really see it that way, looks very lazy. Thank you for reading. Please Comment or leave me your suggestions. Thanks Go Rockets!
Scola always over extend... K-Mart is 1 dimensional on defense, he either just watches his man and don't see what is going on during the play, or he just watches the play and loses his man. When defensive rebounding, the team (except for Lowry and Parsons) just watch the ball as it is being shot and don't box out. Number 1 priority I learned when getting rebound, always box out. You can box out and let your teammates like Lowry get the rebound. When Scola gets posted up, he never raises his hands to disrupt the play. But he goes for pump fake shots...... yeah ok Too much flopping inside from Scola giving them easy baskets. Should let Greg Smith in with Patterson and see what that duo can do together. Lee should start and KMart can be a scoring machine (6th man) like Jamal Crawford so he doesn't have to worry about defense. We are near the bottom in defense for a reason.
Nice post. From the table below, I see the Rockets do a poor job defending off screens and also defending in the paint (the roll man on pick and rolls, or scores off offensive rebounds). I think the biggest thing is that Dalembert needs to play more consistently. When he shows up, that makes the biggest difference. Lowry also has inconsistent effort. He's the leader of the team, so the defensive intensity needs to start from him. And, as a whole, I think the team defends better when they are communicating and actively trying to help each other. In their worst moments, it seems like there's just a lack of awareness on where the rest of guys are. You have to defend as a team.
and, most of the times KMart when running out to a player, he doesnt put his hand up, he just puts his hand on their chest.... what is up with that, where does he learn that? holy crap
Its clear that our biggest problem is defending the paint when the guards attacks us. Rebounds are ok for me. Lowry has problem with speedy guards like Lawson, Parker or Harris(!) When the guards pass Lowry line, rockets are dead. Scola has slow mobility and no blocking abilitys and when Sam is in a bad night, he is lost. With Patterson things are not diferent. Against Utah and Denver the problem was the same. The best for us is playing against teams with a slow ofense.
Rather simple... put a body on somebody! Man up! Box out! Give a HARD foul or two rather than give up an easy dunks or layups! Jus smh - the stuff that made McHale great as a player is not tranferring to this team....
Rockets need a 7 footer like kaman or hibbert and then treade scola and allow patterson/hill to come to their reg positon. Also could use the 09ers and trade scola/martin for someone like Andre Iguodala.
HAHA thanks but seriously this sleep defense lack of effort that can get us fastbreak pts and change the tempo for us on both sides is killing us. Honestly nothing much to watch no high flying plays or anything to get the crowd going..very simple game..if we get lucky we WIN...
It goes to show the effect on the team that cerebral defenders Battier and Chuck Hayes had. No they're not that physically talented, and it WAS time to move on. But they had just enough enough blend of SMARTS, tenacity and FOOTWORK to stay in FRONT of people. Yes the defense was getting worse WITH them on the team as they got more offensive minded with Adelman. Its just very apparent that we're seeing less of that now. Parsons is active and smart beyond his rookie status, but he is STILL just a rookie. Whats it say about Scola and Martin that Parsons can step in and guard BOTH OF THEIR positions BETTER than they can? Dalembert is a good rebounder (1 great game followed by 4 mediocre ones which evens out to "good") And good shotblocker as an individual talent. But he doesnt do it in a COHESIVE still to a unit the way Battier and Hayes and Mutombo handled defense.
