Are the Rockets the place where shooters come to die? They used to be able to shoot, but, they put on a Rocket's uni and they can't hit the side of a red barn with a brickbat. There has to be a reason. Even Ming was a better shooter before JVG, so was Alston, Anderson, Wesley, even TMac! Remember last year, early, when TMac had the "talk" with JVG and convinced him to let him go, let him create, let him play his game. Afterwards, his shooting seemed to improve and the team did better. Maybe it is time for more talks, too many players look stiff, almost robotic (another poster recently mentioned this). For one, Alston is simply not playing his game. Even Ming's jumper from over ten feet out looks mechanical whereas it used to be a sweet certainty. Anderson may not be Kobe, but he is certainly not the bricklayer he is becoming, neither is Alston, as bad as he has looked. When Swift starts air-balling dunks, whoa. There has got to be a reason. When TMac returns, he has to take over AND take people back to their games.
Seriously though, maybe they're missing shots they normally make and playing a little less tentative than normal, but in the LONG RUN this will help them become better players and the Rockets will be better for that.
I really like Alston's crisp accurate passes. His ball handling is just what we need. I am very pleased with Derek Anderson's passing and ball handling. Luther H. of Illinois is a bright spot. Our back court needs a little time.
This board is as brutal as the Rockets road trip; you make a little error (corrected) and they all become comedians. O.K. JokeBoys, check this out: the career shooting averages of ALSTON, Anderson, and Wesley are all around 40% THE SAME AS CHAUNCEY BILLUPS! Wesley's is actually 42%, surprised? But with the Rockets, they are shooting in the low 30's or less. The elite "modern" benchmark is probably Kobe at 45.2%. TMac's career shooting percentage is 44.4%. Our guards were not bad shooters until they came here.
It's still early in the season, so percentages are a bit skewed. There've only been 4 games so far. One bad game and your shooting percentage drops like crazy. Similarly, if you have an awesome shooting night, it'll skew your percentage upwards. In Wesley's defense, he DID just have knee surgery. It's reasonable that he can't hit a shot yet. His mechanics are all off. Tiger Woods had a subpar year two years ago because he had to reconstruct his swing after his old one started giving him lower back pain. Yao actually had his career best FG% last year under Van Gundy, so I doubt he's the reason why everyone is shooting so crappily
I think it has a lot to do with their age. Other than Alston, all of them are past their primes. They just can't get good shots off the way they use to. But I think you said it, when T-Mac comes back, they will relax and loosen up. He'll give them leads to play with, which will ease their minds, and their shots will come back.
No doubt that Wesley's shooting decline is injury related; I question whether he will ever get his shot back. But when players first come here they can't seen to hit anything. There must be reason. Positioning, rotation, plays, something. JVG may not be totally to blame, but something he is doing is related to the decline in accuracy.
One reasen is those shooters are not used to play hard D, Defense cost a lot energy and it affects their shooting touch.
You need to back that up with stats, my friend. Wesley's shooting percentage INCREASED from New Orleans to Houston last year - 39 to 40 percent from the field and 35 to 38 percent from the three-point line. That 38 percent from the three-point line is actually HIGHER than his career average of 37 percent. John Barry's averages last year were SIGNIFICANTLY higher than his career averages - 45% overall (44% career), 45% 3-pointers (40% career). Scott Padgett also increased his numbers beyond his career averages his two seasons as a Rocket shooting 43% overall (42% career) and 42% 3-pointers (38% career). Stats don't lie and they clearly show that these guys IMPROVED with the Rockets and under JVG. The start to this season has to be an abberation.
I was going to say this myself. I believe EVERY new player in the past 2 seasons have enjoyed an increase in FG%, except Juwan Howard, but his was only something like two hundreths of a point lower anyway.
JVG's offense needs some time to get used to. He's a detail oriented coach and the players take time to get into his system. To compound the problem, his offense has disregarded some conventional wisdom and consequently neglected basic, simple and efficient basketball. Such as the high post offense, the T-Mac and Yao pick-n-rolls(we only discovered it when we're forced to, in the latter part of last years playoffs), simple lobs to beat fronting(instead he comes up with picks and swinging the ball around the perimeter), and the negligence when guards run fake pick-n-rolls with Yao.The players now are clueless. So they just stand there or forcing up shots, or going one on one(like Stro and Deke did). JVG needs to get the basics down first before he goes on to his complexed offensive sets. In short, JVG likes to make things complicated while ignoring the obvious. T-Mac and time will make up for his lack of offensive common sense, but I guess things won't get much better before those factors take place.
