This team has too many players without clear roles

Eh I see it differently. This team has very mundane and generic pnr heavy offensive sets. Ironically it's a "AAU" type offense.

That means players who have naturally the best on ball creation will be the only ones who consistently get shot attempts. So that means Jalen, FVV and Sengun are the only ones who will consistently "eat"

 

Give Sengun a more faciliatory-type role and the offense will start booming.

 

But every time I close my eyes I see that behind the back turnover. I see Grant Williams pointing and laughing.

 

This, we stand still way too much

 

yeah I wouldn't trust someone who is 33% behind the 3 point line whose best move 2/3rds of the time is heave 15 3's a game

 

Are you here for a serious discussion or gaslighting?

 

There's something wrong with our starting 5. It's been wrong throughout the preseason and it floundered again for the 2nd half last night.

I don't know what the problem is. Force feeding Brooks never worked last night. Jabari disappeared for 90% of the game, as he often does. Sengun had some questionable plays on offense. The defense begged Jalen to keep shooting outside jumpers because he's bad at them, and Jalen happily obliged. FVV was a huge negative.

So individually they all had issues. But even moreso, as a unit, it just doesn't look like it's clicking. There's the FVV-Sengun offense, then there's the Jalen offense, then there's the "oh yeah I forgot about Jabari, let's run a set for him to get a jumper" offense, and then there's the "Brooks hasn't attempted a shitty post-up in a while so I guess we have to give it to him now" offense. For whatever reason, they don't play well together as a 5-man unit. None of the 5 are connective players. Instead we just have multiple silos.

If I were to consider a change, it would be to put Amen in there somewhere, either replacing Jabari or Brooks. Amen is a connective player and passer. He can possibly link the different silos into one unit.

 

Jalen green has been notorious for being worse at spot ups vs off the dribble shots.

Literally look at his scoring efficiency in terms of points per possession in regards to play type. He's well below league average in percentile when it comes to spot ups and above average when it comes to one and dribble hand offs.

 

And there was nothing about Green's shot attempts that were "and one mix tape".

His threes were all taken either because the defender went under a screen, defense played drop coverage or Green did some dribble move that created separation. I can't recall a single three he took that was not on balance and heavily contested.

Please understand the sport before ranting.

This is a coaching issue. The coaches are telling him to take the three the moment the defense takes a step back and gives you space to attempt the three with balance.

 

The starting lineup is broken and a change will now probably happen sooner than later.

Besides that, every youngster wants to eat more than last year, that isn't possible and the identity and chemistry from last season has been disrupted. Some tough decisions will be made and things will settle down soon. However, a couple of players won't like the tough decisions. This will be interesting to watch.

One thing is certain: Alpi and Jalen will continue to be featured as high volume shooters.

 

I think the problem is that the starting lineup isn't the best 5 players on the team and they stick with the starters too much.

I don't think there's anything that would get Udoka to move away from Dillon Brooks constantly being a waste of space on the court because they are friends

 

It's Ime's fault.

 

The roles seem clear to me.

Fred - green light, can do whatever. hopefully he runs the offense, but sometimes he'll just shoot if they go under a screen.
Jalen - green light, same as Fred with less control over the offense
Alpi- green light in the post, but no one is cutting off him so he's screwed if he gets doubled
Brooks - green light to take any 3 he wants regardless of how poorly he's shooting
Jabari - stand in the corner
Cam - make something happen for himself
Reed - Run high PNR and don't use his catch and shoot for some reason
Tari - stand in the corner
Amen - dunker's spot, hopefully Fred is not on the court so he can get some looks

That's pretty much it. Basic high PnR, otherwise stagnant offense that looks like summer league. Maybe it will evolve over time when we've got more rhythm, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Cleverly disguised Jater post

 

THe worst part is seeing how these pieces don't fit and have overlapping weaknesses and knowing the Rockets - unlike 2 days ago - are locked in to 3 years of trying to make it work with Sengun and Green.

 

Dillon, Jalen, and FVV go into these hero ball out of sync team moments. That sucks the rhythm of the offense.