KeepJuaquin - No. You are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. While you are correct about the assists - the Rockets only lead Miami in the fewest number of assists for 2002-03, what you fail to realize is this... The Rockets are 19th of 29 teams in overall FG%. Now follow this...PLUS...If I subtract out 3 pt attempts and makes...the Rockets are the 13 best NBA team in 2 PT FG%. Now here's the tricky part. If we only consider 2pt FG's, while the Rockets are 13th in %age, they are 23th in the number of 2pt attempts. My conclusion again is not that the Rockets can not shoot the ball, but that (in addition to not getting FG%ages padded with FB points) they yo-yo the ball until the shot clock is below 12 seconds and go into an ISO mode where few players touch the ball. These lack of touches contribute more to the "lack of shooters" than the Rockets' personnel.
Rockets will never win another championship 'til they figure out basketball is a team game. I think, at this point, it is urgent for em' to work on team plays and develop the chemistry, along with appropriate roster moves (not meaning a total makeover or anything like that). There're times they seemed like they had no play or game plan to follow and then turned the ball over or ended up forcing bad shots. They seemed lost or sth!!! See...it is not just for the sake of winning but also for entertaining the fans. It has just been so freakin' boring watching em' sometimes (esp. w/ the uniform they wore ). Man, I hope they at least start working on it ASAP since the west is just gettin' tougher and tougher and tougher...
The article reminds of something Don Nelson said when asked how the Mavs' talent level compared to that of the Kings. He said the Mavs started guys (Bradley 39 GS, Raja Bell 32 GS) who wouldn't make the Kings' roster. Well, I think Najera (12 GS) is better than both of those guys and I figure on the Kings, Najera would be the 11th or 12th best guy on the roster depending upon how you feel about Jim Jackson. Sure the Rocket's "scheme" needs work (tremendous, tremendous work), sure the Kings have a great style of play, but it's ridiculous to suggest that any team in the league, other than maybe a more mature version of the Pacers, have the depth of talent to do what Sacramento does. Hmm, another thing comes to mind, about their unselfish play - SI's preseason scouting report mentioned about the Kings that Bibby, a good passer, was the worst passer in the starting five. So great playbooks are great (see Minn); big time talent is pretty nice too.
My last opinion on this thread. The Rockets will be fine as long as Yao Ming turns out be a superstar. Steve Francis will look better then. The role players will look better then. Rudy will look better then. The "scheme" will look better then. If he doesn't? Well you know the answer...
I like the stat Gater used about 2pt fg% and attempts vs 3pt fg attm and %. Watching everything in unison, i think they should shoot more 2pt attempts than anything. This team is not as bad as it sems at shooting, its the point of which how what kind of shots they take. Agreeing with the stat Gater pulled down which i've looked at before, as a coach of the Rockets, what does this mean? This means i need to get more 2 pt shots for my team. Everyone want to use the conversion fact that if a player shoots 35% from 3pt range, its the same as another player shooting 50% from 2. That factor can be beat into the ground, but if i have a guy shooting from 14ft and another guy shooting from 24 ft, I like my chances with the 2pt guy. Look at 2 teams like Utah and Minny and look at their 3pt fg attp vs their 2pt fg attp. The truth is, the rockets other than the old gln rice is accurate from 3pt land. Check out this comparison:The top is the Rockets and the bottom is the T-Wolves. Notice how they outscored us by almost 5ppg. Notice how the took less than 10 3pt attps per game, yet had more fg atts and almost 7 more asst per game. They make 4 more fg's per game because they take 5 more shots per game. The T-Wolves take almost 6 less 3pt atts yet only make 2 less than the rockets. The number in parentheses indicates the team's NBA rank. Key: Rockets Timberwolves Points Per Game 93.8 (21) 98.1 (7) Offensive RPG 12.5 (8) 11.7 (17) Defensive RPG 31.3 (4) 31.9 (3) Total RPG 43.8 (6) 43.6 (7) Assists Per Game 18.4 (28) 25.2 (2) Turnovers 1198 (20) 1091 (6) Steals Per Game 7.24 (23) 6.74 (29) Blocks Per Game 6.01 (5) 5.28 (15) Pts. Allowed Per Game 92.3 (8) 96.0 (18) Opp. Offensive RPG 11.9 (17) 11.9 (15) Opp. Defensive RPG 28.7 (4) 29.8 (10) Opp. Total RPG 40.6 (6) 41.7 (12) Opp. Assists Per Game 20.5 (7) 22.8 (24) Opp. Turnovers 1041 (28) 1064 (27) Opp. Steals Per Game 8.09 (18) 6.96 (5) Opp. Blocks Per Game 4.65 (9) 4.94 (11) FGM Per Game 34.6 (23) 38.7 (2) FGA Per Game 78.8 (24) 83.0 (5) Field Goal Pct. .440 (19) .466 (2) 3-pt. FGM Per Game 5.4 (12) 3.6 (24) 3-pt. FGA Per Game 15.5 (12) 9.8 (27) 3-pt. Field Goal Pct. .346 (16) .368 (6) FT Made Per Game 19.1 (11) 17.1 (23) FT Att. Per Game 24.9 (11) 22.3 (25) Free Throw Pct. .768 (12) .770 (10) Opp. FGM Per Game 35.3 (13) 36.6 (21) Opp. FGA Per Game 81.5 (17) 83.8 (25) Opp. Field Goal Pct. .433 (5) .437 (10) Opp. 3-pt. FGM Per Game 4.7 (7) 5.8 (26) Opp. 3-pt. FGA Per Game 13.6 (6) 16.6 (26) Opp. 3-pt. Field Goal Pct. .347 (15) .347 (14) Opp. FT Made Per Game 17.1 (7) 17.0 (6) Opp. FT Att. Per Game 22.0 (4) 22.6 (7) Opp. Free Throw Pct. .775 (29) .752 (10) If this team had the right scheme to match the personnel, its no way the Rockets houldn't score close to 100pts per game. It goes back to all the excess dribbling the Rocket do during the shots clock. All that extra between the legs type of stuff kills us in fg att. While Francis,Mobley and Norris are trying out for the AND1 mix tape, other teams are getting into the offense and getting a quality shot. When teams get 6 more attp on the basket than you, they have better chances to score. I'd rather have a shot or a bad one than none at all. I wonder if they get a stat for shot clock violations.
leebigez - Allow me to put the cherry on top of this sundae... The Rox were 3-10 in games decided by 3 points or less. One more FB FG, or one more FG after an opponent TO, or one more 2 pointer...imagine the possibilities!
Or 1 more asst by Francis which would give him 7 and you know the rockets record when he had at least 7 asst. More fg chances=more chances to score. Bottom Line. Thanks Gater
lol.....well we must lead the league in most 24 second shot clock violations and 8 second backcourt violations.... They should initiate the offense earlier! Be confident! But I really think they need to practice still...their free throw shooting is pretty good....but can be better. And some of the players need to work on layups and dribbling...
No offense, KeepJuaquin, but sometimes I wonder why your posts seem like they are written in haiku form.
I would like to revise my answer, and the answer is: Players! SamFisher 2007> SamFisher 2003 A DD moment for me... Sorry Clutch/mods, you guys can lock this thread if you want, I just thought it was funny to read these days, and the initial article is a good read - probably after the Adelman era is over I will be agitating for a new scheme again. Anyway, it's due for some reevaluation I think. Look at the last line of the article Most scheme based teams since then have not won titles, but mostly "star system" teams have (though Det 2004 is arguable). PS KeepJuaquin? Glad I didn't choose a player based user ID.
