Just making stuff up about Smith now, as usual. He's 29th in the league in rebounding in counting stats, which drops to 47th when you do rebound rating. Not only does he trail PF's like Santi Aldama and Alex Sarr and Tobias Harris, He trails James Harden, Josh Hart, Ben Simmons He's fine, but it's nothing elite. Smith has a 13% rebound rating, Eason is 11.4 - that's a negligible difference especially given all the other good things that Eason gives you.
The Rockets are trouncing opponents when Brooks is on the court and Jabari isn't. The Rockets are getting trounced when Jabari is in and Brooks is not. You can make all the fancy arguments on pieces of the games you want, but if you are going to act like 6 games is representative of current skill level, it is obvious that the Rockets play significantly better with Brooks when all things are considered holistically. It wasn't by as wide a margin, but Brooks was also better last season.
So, one game samples now. Really, one half games samples as everyone was bad in the first half. Well everyone in the rotation. I will say that Tari looked bad in that Charlotte game, but he's been looking better since then. Really interested to see if he can keep up his good play over the last 5 games. Also, I really hope Jabari shocks the world minus a couple people here and plays better than Brooks going forward. I expect Jabari will be better than Brooks at some point. Whether that is three years from now or three months, I don't know. I just don't expect it to be within the next month or so.
I know but it was also the elite competition apart from the Mavericks whose team was not in their best shape but the Worriers were. If the Rockets came back like that against Boston, they are not contenders but you could see that the role players are championship worthy at least. Just needed a trade for a superstar. The Rockets are an enigmatic team, they have the best offensive rebounders but the worst defensive rebounders.
Trade Brooks while he's been playing well, and try to bring in a backup defensive 4. There's literally nothing Dillon is better at than Eason, and doesn't try to play outside his capabilities.
Woof... calling DB a no-stats all-star is an absolutely devastating burn and I'm not sure that's the card you meant to play... Counting stats obviously heavily favor Jabari. I guess a "stronger" argument is needed... that would be advanced statistics? Per36, Per100, advanced... BPM probably the best one you get for free. You want to go pay for dunksandthrees.com or one of the other ultra-modern advanced stats sites be my guest. There's always some other piece of context missing from stats but hey, I'd love to see the numbers anyway. He's also taller, a more unique athlete. Higher draft although that matters not. Has NBA lineage? What's convincing enough? Some other advanced stat? And then you gotta dig that far to prove something and it becomes a debate about context, eye test and all that, right? Like how much of an explanation are we all willing to endure to understand how and why Jabari's better counting and advanced stats don't mean he's a better player? You a Charles or a Daryl? I brought the argument right to you. If you'd like to contest, do so. Just don't act like I didn't present a convincing case for Tari AND Jabari, since clutchfans is so insecure about loyalties. I don't expect it. I just think it's due. s'pose we'll have to defer to contract terms to dictate roles.
If Jabari Smith were like putting up big numbers or something maybe it would be close, but he's not and never has. He's a replacement level player - not an all star, and doesn't have a particular skill. Brooks is an elite all defensive caliber defender - can guard all 5 positions (unlike Smith who gets roasted by quicker guards) Like I said, Brooks & Eason have wreaked havoc on opposing teams this year. If anything is clear it's that that combo needs more time not less. Eason is better than Smith, should play more. Brooks plays a totally different role than Smith, that Smith can't replicate - and it shows
Dunksandthrees EPM is free for the table. It is better than BPM, IMO, and reporters (Vecenie definitely, but think Lowe may have said this as well) have said NBA teams view EPM as the best all-in one publicly available stat. As such, BPM is probably not the best one you get for free. You only have to pay for more than just the table (e.g., to do searches). Right now, they only have the forward viewing EPM. Stats miss context and aren't perfect. People aren't perfect. I trust EPM over any poster on this board. I'm guessing Tari's EPM rises by more than expected going forward. Jalen Green and Sengun as well. Amen...I think he's in a weird postion. I think his defensive EPM will rise, but I think he's kind of stuck offensively as he likely is better offensively without a center on the court. The Rockets small ball last season was much more suited for him to display his offensive skills. On Brooks versus Jabari, I don't think EPM is needed right now. It isn't close. Jabari has to make 3 pointers to add a significant amount of value or be able to hold up as a center (which he's only done in spurts). He's not doing it right now, and hasn't done it in long stretches yet (i.e., more than a month or 2).
oh man... I didn't even realize that table was free!! Of course in saying that I just meant the basketballreference pages. But thank you for pointing that out!!!! I have also heard EPM is one of the more widely accepted advanced stats. Let's run it: FVV: +3.6 Alpe: +1.7 Funaki: +0.5 Jock: +0.3 Amen: 0 Tari: 0 Jalen: -0.4 DB: -1.0 Cam: -1.0 Jabari: -1.7 Reed: -3.4 Ok, you can go ahead and throw that in the trash if it's saying Fred is our most impactful player by double lol.... I made a proprietary statistic as well, because I'm a big nerd who's also good at excel. It attempts to standardize the value of counting stats using the league's average points-per-possession. That's the quick explanation. Here's the breakdown of it, by minute: I can't filter it without doing a big copy/paste job to start a new year, sorry. Alpe: .94 Jock: .9 Tari: .86 Jalen: .77 Cam: .66 AH: .63 Jabari: .62 Amen: .55 Funaki: .43 Reed: .42 DB: .41 FVV: .39 From 22/23 Rockets: For reference, DB/FVV numbers are around the level of a Garrison Mathews. A 1.00 score would be Jokic. Giannis is at 1.2, the highest of the players I put through this table. I think the fact that Fred and Dillon play SO many minutes but aren't big on counting stats hurts them a lot.
Like I said before, Net Rating kind of tells you a lot about the impact of Brooks so far this year than counting stats. Code: +---------------------+-------+-----+-----+---+---+-------+--------+--------+--------+-----+--------+-----------+--------+--------+-------+----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------+ | PLAYER | TEAM | AGE | GP | W | L | MIN | OFFRTG | DEFRTG | NETRTG | AST% | AST/TO | AST RATIO | OREB% | DREB% | REB% | TO RATIO | EFG% | TS% | USG% | PACE | PIE | POSS | +---------------------+-------+-----+-----+---+---+-------+--------+--------+--------+-----+--------+-----------+--------+--------+-------+----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------+ | Tari Eason | HOU | 23 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 20.5 | 121.6 | 111.7 | 9.9 | 10.7 | 2.25 | 13.4 | 9.3 | 11.8 | 10.4 | 6.0 | 63.0 | 63.9 | 18.4 | 102.04| 14.2 | 259 | | Dillon Brooks | HOU | 28 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 33.8 | 112.7 | 102.9 | 9.8 | 3.7 | 1.67 | 6.5 | 3.6 | 7.4 | 5.3 | 3.9 | 44.4 | 49.1 | 14.5 | 96.93 | 4.8 | 408 | | Alperen Sengun | HOU | 22 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 28.2 | 112.6 | 107.1 | 5.5 | 21.2 | 1.83 | 16.8 | 11.7 | 26.3 | 18.1 | 9.2 | 41.0 | 46.6 | 25.2 | 96.47 | 15.1 | 342 | | Jalen Green | HOU | 22 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 34.6 | 114.6 | 111.2 | 3.4 | 14.6 | 1.29 | 10.8 | 1.1 | 11.4 | 5.8 | 8.4 | 49.6 | 53.8 | 28.1 | 98.51 | 11.7 | 425 | | Jabari Smith Jr. | HOU | 21 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 32.6 | 108.9 | 107.7 | 1.3 | 5.8 | 1.17 | 8.0 | 6.1 | 16.4 | 10.6 | 6.9 | 49.2 | 54.5 | 16.4 | 96.05 | 10.2 | 392 | | Fred VanVleet | HOU | 30 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 37.9 | 110.6 | 111.2 | -0.5 | 22.7 | 8.50 | 27.4 | 2.1 | 6.1 | 3.9 | 3.2 | 37.8 | 43.1 | 16.5 | 95.78 | 6.7 | 451 | | Amen Thompson | HOU | 21 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 22.7 | 107.3 | 108.6 | -1.3 | 11.2 | 0.77 | 13.5 | 6.5 | 15.3 | 10.5 | 17.6 | 51.2 | 56.5 | 18.4 | 101.83| 9.3 | 287 | | Cam Whitmore | HOU | 20 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 11.1 | 106.7 | 111.8 | -5.0 | 5.3 | 0.67 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 10.5 | 7.6 | 6.0 | 40.2 | 43.0 | 29.8 | 97.09 | 4.9 | 134 | +---------------------+-------+-----+-----+---+---+-------+--------+--------+--------+-----+--------+-----------+--------+--------+-------+----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------+ Not only is he the best defender by rep & by eye test, and not only does he draw the opposing team's toughest cover in general, be it Luka or Wemby and everything in between, but the Rockets defense is elite when he is on teh floor, not even close when he's off it this year. That discrepancy is probably not going to hold for all 82 games but it's pretty obvious to me where Dylan's value lies and it's not counting stats
Tari is better than Jabari, saying that doesn't mean I hate Jabari. Tari should start over Jabari saying that doesn't mean I hate Jabari. Seems like the Rockets are afraid to hurt everyone's feelings but Senguns lol
Even if he’s not the best in the category, a 6’11” floor spacer and switchable defender has value for every team in the nba. He might not have any elite skill right now but this combination makes him extremely valuable in the modern league. He makes a lot of our small ball lineups work with his length, rebounding, and shooting.
That's why the Rockets should trade him for actual shooting! Like I said the idea of Smith as a tall 3 & D player is great, in theory. In practice he doesn't get up/make enough 3s and he's not that great at switching onto smaller players (though he tries & gives good effort). Smith at C against small ball lineups is an OK idea but that basically means Sengun isn't on the floor
This season has really clarified that both Eason and Brooks should be starting. That’s a real problem for opposing teams. Smith backs up Eason and Thompson backs up Brooks. That’s a nice rotation that can do a lot of different things.
This raises a question for me... being what is Dillon's impact vs. those players typical output? I genuinely don't know! I'll get to it as I am able, I wasn't prepared for a deep dive like this I'm doing math homework with the boyo. Advanced stats are sort of by definition not obvious though, yes? They are the extra context to what are obvious: counting stats. Idk just a thought.
As he gets more minutes he still leads the team in impact stats, we got a great win and his game translates. His offensive bag is developing as well, creating his own shots and playmaking for others. He did this after feeling under the weather per our broadcast team. He needs to start imo
Why mess with whats working? CF creating problems where there are none. Dillon Brooks has been amazing and one of our best players this season. Eason has been great off the bench and both him and Amen should continue to do so.
Dillion has played very well, but he struggled vs GS. Tari stepped up enormously in that game. I'm glad Dillon had a good comeback game vs the Spurs. I think the best solution for now, is to bring Tari off the bench quickly, when Dillion or Jabari are struggling.
he struggled in 1 game where everybody except Tari struggled. I think the rotation is fine Tari and Amen just come off the bench and take out whoever is playing like a scrub. TBH the balance of the starting 5 is good already JG, Sengun and FVV take a lot of shots so DB not doing anything except defending and getting few touches is good. If Tari started then DB would come off the bench and then you'd have him trying to be a scoring option like Tari is right now.
