Rockets are 19-4 when we out-rebound the opponent. That is an 83% winning clip. I was so pissed after last night Lakers game, that I had to find this stat. It is sad that thru 58 games this season, the Rockets have only beat an opponent in rebounding 23 times. On the flip side, when Rockets are out-rebounded, their record is 14-21 (39% winning). It's really that simple. The sample size is too large to ignore. Not changing something immediately with the lineups would be stupid. There is no other way to put it.
♂️ If you switch your line up to focus on rebounding, you get worse in other areas, and that 83% win clip when out rebounding your opponent drops significantly. If PJ Tucker was 6’10 we’d probably win more games. If we gave his minutes to Faried in order to rebound more, we’d definitely lose more often. I wish the problem and the solution was this simple. Unfortunately, it’s not.
Reasons not to do it: The defense will get worse. We are currently ranked 25th in defensive efficiency. We suck at defense anyway. The main reason we suck at defense is because even when we get stops, we can't get the rebound to end the opponent's possession. Putting Faried in the starting lineup will hurt offensive spacing. Over the last 16 games, Tucker is shooting 25% from three. I would imagine Faried (or Clark for that matter) can't be any worse. Remember when we swapped out Tucker for Anderson last season near the all star break to better the team. Try it again.
Giving up 12 offensive rebounds last night may have been worst than PJ and Greens shooting last night. I didn’t check the second chance points stat yet, but yes this has become a disturbing trend. JVG used to always stress that a defensive possession was not over until we secured the rebound. I don’t think it’s a lack effort. It looks like they try, but we are just too short. I kind of liked seeing Faried out there with Clint last night. I don’t know if his rebounding would negate his individual defense, but if he can make a few 3’s here and there I would give him a few more minutes at the 4. Due to our current personnel and lack of front court depth we have many options.
PJ Tucker is the same height as Eric Gordon making him the second shortest guy in the lineup besides CP. I know officially EG is an inch shorter, but they're the same height.
1. poor defence 2. We do not have strong stars to backup 3. small forward sucks 4. once we get big lead, we can get 2 points instead of 3. 3 points only use when we are losing more than 6 points
