The 2008-2009 Rockets team was most deficient in which of these offensive skills:

Interesting question.

The things which leap to mind automatically would be the fast breaks and drawing fouls, especially in light of how much Yao touches the ball and DOESN'T get the calls he should get.

However, I think it would be just as interesting to see a chart of these stats month-by-month over the course of the season, and especially as a before-and-after for when we swapped Rafer for Lowry.

My guess is both of those categories improved by quite a bit after that swap.

 

yeah ,in adelman's offense system ,it needs more moving without ball,more players like shane,brent,carl landry...now in this ROX,a lot of players like to handle the ball in their hands for about 10 seconds...

 

No, actually, kind of the opposite. Remember, Artest was not himself the first half of the season, and we didn't have Lowry yet either, and everyone knows Yao only gets maybe half the calls he should get.

Maybe 'deficient' is not exactly the best word for it, but instead, the 'drawing fouls' part is simply an area in which this team *should* have been much better, and as I said, I suspect that it got appreciably better after the Rafer/Lowry swap, which coincided with Artest taking on a much bigger role too, as along that same time was when TMac officially took himself out of the season.

Lowry is a monster at driving right into the trees and drawing fouls, and Artest is strong in there as well, when he is healthy enough to do it (which I really wonder about his health all through the playoffs - he rarely seemed like he had his true legs and strength). And of course Scola seems to really love throwing himself in harm's way, and on the defensive end Hayes and Battier are charge-drawing machines. Mainly I am referring to the offensive end though.

That's why I would love to see those stats on a month-by-month chart over the course of the whole season. And then being able to project the season actually starting at some of the peaking levels we left off with, instead of having to play another half-season without the real team. And of course, this is ll just guessing, based on my perceptions over the course of the season - could be totally wrong.

 

IMHO, the Rockets biggest hole this season was generating offense when Yao was fronted and the weakside defender had good hands and good athleticism...which happened more often than not because that was the opposing PG, SG, or SF based on who was trying the entry pass.

I was torn between picking Ball Movement and Moving without the ball because they both go hand in hand almost...and that's exactly what we need more of when Yao faces defenses like that. Getting the ball quickly to the man whose defender is out of position taking advantage of the attention that Yao gets was something we sorely lacked, and resulted in ridiculous shots jacked up by RonRon or (to some extent) AB.

 

I can't count how many games we lost due to missed layups. Those are always the worst, IMO, because they're free points lost.

 

I agree, and also i would to see more cutter slashing to the hoop when yao get double, yao is a good passer, and he can get make those assist play like the time with luther,

 

NUMBER ONE: PLAYMAKING
NUMBER 2 : Double teaming and getting back to second defensive position.
NUMBER 3 : Passing to Yao Ming when he is set up and calling for the ball.

 

Ball movement was VERY VERY suspect throughout the entirety of the season (pre-, regular, and post-).

When TMac was still playing, the ball stopped with him.

After Artest became the second option after Tracy went down with an injury, the ball often stopped with him.

I dunno why, but they both seem to want to shoot first, and pass to the BIGGEST guy on the floor second.

 

Well, we arnt really a fast break team, that's just how we play. But still, we lacked moving without the ball, but that has to do alot with not passing the ball as well. Why waste the energy moving and cutting when you have Ron and Alston pounding away at the ball for 15 seconds, or Wafer midset of 'once I get the ball, I'm not going to pass.'

All in all, the offence was pretty decent this year, we just have to work on ball movement and cutting.

 

Shot selection.

Yes Yao dominated the paint but everybody else settled for too many outside shots. Near the end of the season and in the playoffs Vafer and Brooks did a little bit more driving to the basket but Artest and Battier are just horrible at picking their spots. Ron should post up little shooting guards more often and dominate them. I wouldn't mind him taking more shots if they were all 15 feet or less away from the basket but jacking up 3 pointers and bailing out the defense is inexcusable.

Overall my message to the team for next year is to play closer to the basket. Those are higher percentage shots and lead to more offensive rebounds and 2nd chance points than bricking 3 pointers all night long. Spacing is important but just hovering around the 3 point line and waiting for a shot is not helping us.

Recommendations for each player.

Brooks - Develop a floater, runner or teardrop like Tony Parker. This will make you almost unguardable because of your speed and quickness. Also a stop and pop pullup shot would be deadly in your arsenal, right around the free throw line if the defender sags off too much from you.

Battier - You are the man every team believes is not worth defending, Kobe did and you called him out but now you have to make them pay. Instead of waiting for a wide open 3, make this your new motto "I will cut to the basket 20 times a game". Yao is always hacked and striped by small defenders when you don't move around in the offense. So the next time Kobe decides to take a nap on defense or tries to bring some help on Yao. Just walk-crawl your way to the bucket, trust me the big man will feed you if he sees that you put some effort.

Ron - Man what's wrong with you man playing like Ray Allen and jacking up all those shots? You are the Tru Warier remember that. Post up these little tiny players they put on you and take them to the rack. Nobody can guard you when you are pounding your sweaty, stinky back in their face. Make them feel some pain, put an elbow in Kobe's mouth (but make sure you do it subtly so the refs don't charge you for murder.

Go Rockets!!!

 

I didn't know Rockets could run a fastbreak without Wafer in the game.

 

This.

We didn't have much of a problem with ball movement per se. Most of the time the ball was quickly moved from side to side until Yao gained decent position or there was an opening. What we really lacked was a player (or players) who could break down the defense and was actually a threat to finish at the rim. Brooks was the closest thing but you don't need to double him in the paint due to his size. Obviously this wasn't the plan. I'm sure the rockets predicted Mcgrady to be effective at some point in the season. I fully expect this be a non-issue by the beginning of the season.

 

I just cant understand why the rox cant get fastbreak points/easy basket.

The defense is good, its not like JVG era where 4-5 players goes for the defensive rebound, rox have runners or at least willing runners and we get huge amount of steals, ball deflection from Yao, scola, battier and artest.

The PF tandem in Scola and landry is able to finish the fast break. Heck Scola even have good enough ball handling to lead the break.

I just cant understand it.

 

Closing the game!! Offensive struggles...a go to guy....

 

Low post offense once Yao got hurt has been the reason we lost in the playoffs the past two years. How that has only 4 votes is beyond me.

1) Low post offense



2) Fast break efficiency (never a strong point on a Rockets team)
3) Ball movement when T-Mac was still playing. I'm of the opinion that we improved drastically in this regard once he hung it up for the season.