This Rockets Defense are better than last year team

Obligatory: PLE-SEESON!

 

It is almost 100% because of Asik. He will play at least 30 minutes per game of elite rim-protecting defense if he can keep himself from fouling out.

We did have Dalembert last year, but he coasted with little effort given in most games. Camby got here late and could not play more than 20 minutes a game. He was also about 38 years old and hurt.

As for the other positions PPatt is a better defender than Scola, and our wing defense should be improved as well.

 

Def because of Asik. Also, Parsons is a really good defender.

Lin is playing sorta like a Rubio-lite on defense; unfortunately, with it comes the offensive woes.

 

In all seriousness, Asik is far better that Camby and Dalembert on their last legs. And getting rid of Scola is addition by subtraction on defense. K-Mart is also more committed on the defensive side as well.

 

asik = 75%
no scola = 15%
more effort by the rest of cast e.g. martin, lin 10%

 

Asik. All Asik. It starts at the bottom in terms of defense. Lin, Parsons, Martin all play more confidently on the defensive end because they know Asik is there down low. Asik gets all the credit (100%) for the teams defense. When Asik is on the floor it is hard for the opposing player to get into the paint. When Asik is resting the team gives points in the paint in bunches. Asik is everything I expected an more (as seen from his great passing).

 

/thread

 

It's like.. with out any paint presence like Asik, our back court has to figuratively have 4 arms and 2 heads. There's more on their plate so to speak as far as reading and reacting to the opposing offense. You insert Asik to clog the middle, you immediately alleviate much of the defensive weight. Our back court can amp up their focus on the man their assigned to now that penetration is no longer much of a factor.

 

Wow, our Calembert combo is being extremely underrated on this board. The drop of from Asik to that is not near as drastic as people are making it seem. The reason our defense is better is because we go from a big with no post defense or weak side shot blocking to 2 big with shot blocking and solid post D in Patterson and Jones.

 

Omer is a major reason for the defensive improvement, but definitely not 100%. This team as a whole is above average defensively. Besides Martin, who is surprisingly average so far this season (woo hoo!), every position is above average defensively. This is why I believe the Rockets will make the playoffs.

Lin's shot will start falling eventually. I've been following him for a while, and this isn't the norm.

There is virtually no drop-off at the PF position from Pat to Jones. Smith might make a decent backup to Omer. I think we have a pretty good team. It should be exciting.

 

because of T Jones too

 

NO LUIFA!

 

Rockets should be very good against the pick and roll this year. Asik will help out in paint. Patterson needs to work on post defense, but he should be okay. Parsons is plus. Martin, Lin, meh. Douglas adds defense from bench. Jones has promise. Morris, Delfino, and other rookies worry me.

 

Asik and not having scola will do wonders for our defense. Camby and Dalembert blocked shots but they are not good defenders.

Asik is elite in his help defense and ability to show and recover on the pick and roll.

The best description I've read is a 7'2" Chuck Hayes.

 

I actually think Lin and Martin have both been active on defense during preseason. I can't comment on how effective they are, but definitely active. I've been pleasantly surprised.

The people whose D does not score well in the eyeball test is Delfino and Lamb. Motiejunas is up and down, but I haven't seen enough of him to decide.

 

I am with Napalm on this one. Lin & Martin have been really good on defense. Morey was on the radio & he described him as disruptive on the defensive end which is accurate. i think he does need to stick with his man a lot more that is where he is weak on. But in terms of defending the pnr & recovering when getting beat off the drible he is good. Sometimes he over helps to much & you don't see him getting stuck on screens like he was last year. Plus he grabs boards & gets blocks & forces turnovers. I still remember the play where he boxed out brook lopez & was able to get a wide open Martin for a 3. Martin has been executing really well on defense as well. Everybody was saying that the Rockets would have terrible perimeter defense but there wrong, our perimeter D has been good. All the credit though goes to Asik. He is the man in the middle after all.

 

Anyways just byu looing at basic stats. This year teasm are shooting .451 and scoring 101.8 against us, where as last year teams were shooting and scoring 97.9.

Awfully small sample + preseason to compare against last year.