Scheme or players?

"Scheme" or "players"?
In my opinion, both have to go together but Scheme is more important. It is also show how good the coaches are.

Great coaches would invent or use "Scheme" that uterlize the best out of his materials, i.e players. That team would win.

Good/OK coaches would set a scheme and try to find the player to fit the puzzle. If he can find the right players to fit his scheme (assuming it is a good scheme), that team will have more chance to win.

Bad coaches will rely solely on the players talent. The chance is that team will loose more than win.

 

I agree Riley, for the me the biggest problems are the screeners don get set before the guards starts to use the screen, they never get the centre of their chest in the line with the defenders year, not sure this is really their fault though as the guards, especially Steve never wait for the screen to be set, he is usually moving before the even get set at all. The thing about speed is it is easy to stop when a quick player goes fast all the time, using stopping, delaying and slowing down is what make speed so good.

 

Hey, hp

What I said is clear. If there is a system then the coaches are not getting the concept through to the players. Or the players are flat out low hoop IQ. Or the players can only play street.

The end result is that there are only a small handful of teams who look less like a 'T E A M' than our Rox.

 

There is a reason that Larry Smith played Cato more after Rudy left, he fit the current system better then Yao.

The Rockets were built for a guard oriented break em down off the dribble team...then we got Ming...now, clearly we have to change to a more big man oriented system.

This is why either Mobley or Francis needs to go as we need more spot up type shooters and less penetraters.

HP is right in that the Rockets system is very close to the Dallas Mavs system, it is high picks and rolls and penetration and dish.

What is missing from ours is the person that is initiating the offense...read Steve....being a quick thinker, like Nash.

Nash has a much better understanding of how to run an offense and he makes better quicker decisions with the ball than Steve.

The Rocks need to trade their redundant pieces and build around Steve and Yao.....the talent is there, but we need some smarter players to help implement it.

DD

 

It's not just Francis.

Van Exel, Nowitzki, and Finley can all knock down the open shot.

We have one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA.

So then the question becomes, if your team isn't loaded with shooters, then what do you do?

Trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

 

The biggest problem with the Rockets offense is that they do not push the ball up the floor. Francis, Mobley and Posey should be sprinting up the floor all game. But instead they walk it up. They have the talent to run a fast paced offense, but they just do not do it and I can't understand why.

 

The system worked well because the players moved the ball around. How many times did we see the ball go inside to Hakeem, he would throw it to the corner and the ball would go around the whole circle before the ultimate open shot was found? The players moved the basketball. These players ain't moving the basketball. It ain't the system. Any system will work if the players share the basketball and trust one another. And any system will break down, including Sacramento's when the players quit trusting one another and working for the best shot, not the best player with the basketball. There is no trust in these teammates. They are still young. If it doesn't happen soon with Steve and Cat though, then something has to give. Rudy's system is designed to give Stevie the most options, just like it was designed to give Hakeem the most options, just like Sacramento's offense is designed to give CWebb the most options. It's up to Stevie to be the leader and instill confidence in his team members, help them hit their shots. Yes, Stevie can help them hit their shots, by his attitude and willingness to distribute the basketball and quit making quick decisions that go away from players and cause him to take on the full load because he thinks they can't score or they are cold that night.

Rudy is a great offensive coach. The other coaches in the league say so, and who would know better than his peer group. Rudy is great at making adjustments, but just like when Pippen was here, the players have to execute. Was the system messed up when Pippen was here or was Pippen messed up? I say it was Pippen, great player or not. Pippen hasn't won anything since he left Houston. I guess the system is flawed in Portland..........and Sacramento...........and Dallas............and San Antonio.........and Philadelphia...........and everywhere but Los Angeles. After all, nobody has won anything but them the last 3 years. So fire every coach in the league, and bring in all Tex Winter's brothers and cousins to run the triangle in every NBA city, because after all...............it's the system.

It must be the shoes!

 

I agree too. THe pickers are already moving away from the pick before the dribbler and the defender even get to the pick. And Stevie is absolutely horrible at waiting for the screen to develop. These are the little things that cause us to suck. Stevie then takes the ball and goes into the lane 1 on 3. And then wonders why the ref didn't call a foul. I guarantee you if we played clean, team basketball with the screens, picks, rolls and stuff, that the refs would be much more accurate in their playcalling. If you play a junk game..........you gonna get a junk game called by the refs. But if the refs see that the players are concerned about the preciseness of their own game, then the refs will be more precise and accurate with their calls. I played basketball, it's just the way it works.

 

All true.

 

The consensus aound the league is that rudy isn't a good x and o's coach. I've never read where anyone called him an offensive genuis like they o Nelson or some of the other coaches. I think it has to be a happy medium just like anything else. Notice how Donyell Marshall was a career 40% shooter before he got to Utah, then once there he bacme a solid 15pt 10 rebs 50% shooter, this wasn't by accident. Notice how guys like Jim Jackson,Bobby Jackson, and Matt Harpring were almos known as journeymen, yet they get on a team and play with team concepts and those players are now very,very valuable. Harpring is the 2nd leading scorer on Utah, Bobby Jackson was mentioned as a all star player subbing for Bibby and all those thought about Jackson being a cancer has went away. Would those player be as effective without the Malones,Stockton or Webbers around them? Probably not, but next time the Kings and Jazz play, watch how many times Bibby looks to the sideline for a play. Watch how many times stockton does it. Then pull out the magic videotape of a Rockets game and see how many long rebounds Francis gets , hold the ball and looks over to the sideline for instructions. If you swapped Francis for Bibby on the Kings , he could do the same thing as Bibby if not better.Forsome strange and unorthodox reason though, the coach insist on Fancis dribbling and trying to create everything for himself and teammates despite not being able to balance the two.

Posters will always go to the argument that none of those teams won rings with their great schemes which is valid, but unless you have a top 5 player in the league on your team, its hard to just have a bs scheme to work. Looking at the Kings, the only player who is top 5 at their position is Webber, but when Webber,Peja,and Bibby was out for extensive time this season, the players who learned this system just plugged in and the team just kept plugging away winning. You get you scheme to match your personnel and philosophy, then you get the players who can execute that philosophy. The Jazz and T-wolves shot less than 10 3pts per game this season, yet both teams were focused because in between or mid ranged shots.Wally,Stocton,Harpring are better 3pt shooter than anything we have on our roster, yet the offense remains effecient because it played to the teams strengths and not their weaknesses.

 

I don't necessarily agree.

How do we know how good the shooters actually are when:

1) The majority of time, the half court offense starts with the shot clock under 12 seconds and quickly degenerates into a 1on1 which can be easily doubled and no one is moving w/o the ball.

and

2) The Rockets' players shooting %ages don't get padded with easy fastbreak baskets because they are last in the league in FB points. IOW, think Richard Jefferson w/o all of the finishing dunks.

 

The biggest difference between us and Dallas besides not having a point guard with a brain and a 7fter who plays like a SG, is THEY RUN THE FLOOR all the time.

RUN Rockets RUN

 

Gater - quick side note, i've watched a fair bit of the Nets all year and Jefferson is really improving his jump shot, he has a very nice one dribble pull-up jump shot and can nail the open J regulary from just inside 3 pt range.

 

Very true Mr Gabriel. Rudy's solution of fixing it by getting specific players was exposed by that - we solved Seattle but we ended becoming Utah's b****.

Rudy is a good man manager and a below average "coach". His biggest bane is that he is not dynamic "enough". He is a "stick with it" kind of a guy. He is a philosophy kind of a guy (which is good) but it is better if your philosophy is dynamic enough to meet shanging time - unfortunately this is not the case in Rudy's case.

Rudy and his hapless assitants are the bigger problem we have but due to sentimental reasons, I believe they will be back next season and I am afraid we are stuck with them for a while.

Also at the same time I want to be very careful for what I wish for - I don't want a acutely egotistic coach like George Karl who after dominating us as the Sonics coach has now been reduced to mediocre.

 

I think it's pretty clear when when they keep bricking jumpers when being left WIDE OPEN.

NBA PLAYERS ARE SUPPOSED TO AT LEAST BE ABLE TO MAKE WIDE OPEN JUMPERS.

Excluding their dunks/layups, our 2 starting forwards must have only shot 30% of their WIDE OPEN jumpers all season.

These are good shooters?

 

This is absurd and if you even watched the games I accuse you of selective perception. Tell me how many games you actually watched this season.

Your idea of how to determine if Mo Taylor is a good shooter is to ISO him in the low block with 10 seconds on the clock and his teammates planted at the arc? FYI, Taylor shot 43.2% of 535 attempts both of which were career lows. A career 47+% shooter doesn't sink to 43.2% without other reasons.

I don't know how to factor Griffins dunks out of his FGA's but I can tell you this. The offense employed by the Rockets is a factor in Griffin taking 40% of his total shots from behind the arc.

Of all WC PF's who took more than 4 shots per game (Joe Smith's average FGA), the All Star caliber player Griffin is closest to FG percentage wise is Chris Webber. In order to match Webber, Griffin needed to make a whopping 42 more FG's over 82 games. If you subtract out Griffins 3pt attempts, that number becomes a monsterous 17 made FG's to match Webber.

Again, if you watched the games, IMO you are guilty of selective perception.

 

This is what killed us. Yes we have a dumb and dumber backcourt, but the fact we had no consistent shooting from the outside hurt us. When our outside shooting was on, such as when Glen Rice was draining 3's, the offense was pretty damn impressive.

Change the pegs.

 

And change the ones forcing the square peg into too small (as it appears when our shooters shoot -- and drat, miss) a round hole.

 

I think we are one of the worst shooting teams...

Worst passing too.

Aren't we like 2nd to last in both categories?

Okay. Yao Ming can shoot..but sometimes occasionally is off. Mobley can shoot...but his thumb or finger or hand is sometimes hurt. Francis can shoot...but he has been forced to create for others...Mo Taylor can either make almost all shots or miss all shots. Griffin just can't shoot. Posey can shoot...but his stance and form always changes. It can be improved. Moochie cannot shoot. Terence Morris and Glen Rice and Bostjan Nachbar can shoot. Kelvin Cato........Jason Collier is OK. Tito Maddox is just horrible. Can't even make layups...Hawkins is decent...does what he asks.

We need more shooters.

Francis
Mobley
Posey
Griffin
Yao

Francis can shoot...but he is the point guard and is told to create for others.
Mobley forces too many shots but can make an open shot.
Posey....
Griffin.....
Yao Ming can shoot but they usually do not pass to him on the perimeter...and whenever Yao has the ball outside...he never looks to shoot...he just looks to pass.

Rice is our only true shooter.