Houston Rockets — Sm0ll Stars

2/18/20

This years All-Star game was remarkable for many reasons — Jenifer Hudson set the tone on Sunday night with a stirring and magnificent vocal performance. It was impossible not to be emotive all night. Chance the Rapper had a stellar performance at halftime, doing many of his hits and even covering “Ultra Light Beam” by Kanye West. The the NBA debuted the new All Star Game rules including the popular “Elam Ending” where, instead of a winding clock, the two teams race to a target score to end the game.

Here are a few photos I took, I figured this is a natural place for them:

THE NBA’S ALL-STAR WEEKEND 2020

Pre All-Star, Post Trade Deadline Check-in

The All-Star break saw two Rockets in the spotlight for the first time since Dwight Howard 5 years ago. Westbrook has found his form and the Rockets have adapted to his play style in a big way…

The Big Short

Well the Rockets have pushed all their chips on the table with this one.  With rumors swirling about Daryl Morey, Coach D’antoni in his final year of his contract, and a season on the brink, the Houston Rockets traded away their 25 year old starting center Clint Capela - the leagues 2nd leading rebounder,

There’s a lot to be said about this.  First Clint was the last truly homegrown player the Rockets had on their Roster.  They drafted him 25th overall in the 2014 draft in what turned out be one the shrewdest and most prolific moves of Darly Morey’s tenure.  They targeted the skinny, somewhat short center from Switzerland and with him made a model for player development.  They started him in the G league with Houston’s affiliate the Rio Grande Vipers.  What the Rockets were doing with the vipers in 2014 is exactly what we see the rest of the league doing in the NBA right now - pace, space, and shoot a whole lotta threes.  One thing that happens when you shoot a lot of long balls is that you get an increase of long, live rebounds.  Why is this important?  This is important because long rebounds give the offensive team a better chance to recover missed shots. Long rebounds go over the heads of the defensive players who are engaged in a leverage battle known as boxing out. The ball tends to float a little farther, fall a little deeper back into the court giving the offense a chance to recover what essentially becomes 50/50 balls.  Its no longer a battle of height - this game is all about quickness and timing, which means a shorter, quicker center would thrive.  And thrive he did.  He played well in Rio Grande and the Rockets began giving him some small chances in live NBA games.  This became a model for Rockets draft development, to gradually work players into the Rockets from the farm team, the Vipers in little spurts.  They didn’t rush, they let player get their feet wet and called on them when it was their time. Then, they would return to dominate the G League for a time period before their next text in the big league.

Capela quickly earned a strong chemistry with Harden specifically.  This is what I will miss the most about this trade, the natural chemistry between a big man from Switzerland and blossoming superstar from Compton.   Almost right away you could tell that Clint's fleet footwork made him a better P&R partner than Dwight Howard. James is said to have told Morey early on that he thought Capela should be playing over Howard.  When Howard left the Rockets, Clint became one of the most important players on the Rockets during their ascension to Title Contender.  He was Harden’s dance partner night after night.  He was the vertical threat at the rim that makes a player like Harden so damn effective.  His defense improved and he became a defensive leader on the Rockets, proving he could switch out onto perimeter players to challenge them.  He’s the Rockets leader in rebounds for five straight seasons.

But.. once Russ came, he became obsolete.  Even at just 25 years old.  Bottom line — both Clint and Russ are not 3pt shooting threats. This means playing both of them together makes a clog for Harden from the get-go.  And the thing is, Westbrook is proving to be amazing playing 5-out alongside Harden.  As I wrote more in-depth about in my last post, Westbrook and Harden are playing like Dantoni version of Lebron and DWade in Miami.  Westbrook is the counter attacker like Wade was.  As Westbrook continues to come into form, I believe this element of the Rockets offense will certainly be bolstered by this trade.  Morey and Dantoni are acting very confident about the move.  WHAT DO YOU KNOW, DARYL!!  Ahh, I hope he writes a book one day.  (Side-note: maybe I can bring Smallball, Morey’s musical, to Chicago).

Since Clint joined the Rockets, we’ve seen other players like Danuel House, Isiah Hartenstein, Robert Covington. and currently Chris Clemons come through the same player development model.

The player we get back in the trade is actually a former Rocket, Robert Covington.  Covington played with Capela on the Vipers in the then unconventional pace and space offense the Rockets were workshopping.   But the Rockets cut Covington, proving to be one of Daryl Morey’s least prolific moves as GM.  Covington at 6’7” is the tallest person in the new starting lineup and is headlined to be their best perimeter defender, someone who can slow down Kawhi, LeBron and PG.  But in truth, the Rockets defensive scheme is all about switching.  Covington is a tough matchup for any opposing player. And his catch-and-shoot training makes him an ideal candidate to play with James and Russ.

The rockets are all in - Morey, Dantoni are putting their jobs on the line with this unprecedented gamble.  As a fan its nothing short of fascinating with a tinge of frustrating.   We’re going to get annihilated on the boards, we’re going to get dunked on, but we’re going to be playing faster than any other team out there with TWO MVP’s coming full stream.  We’ll see who can keep up!

Odds And Ends

The other player we received is Bruno Caboclo, yet another former Rocket.  He’s played his whole career at Forward but looks to certainly be a backup Center for the Rocket’s new system.  His wingspan is 7’7 and, like all Rocket’s players, he comes with a suitable jumpshot.  Incase you’re not up on the Caboclo hype, he was once touted as the “Brazilian Kevin Durant” and on draft day was famously raw, being called “Two years away from being two years away.”  Well the Rockets think his time is now.  Still only 25 - can he find consistency off the bench in Houston? 

Nene is gone and I really think it’s worth noting what a mistake that contract was.  Maybe Morey was doing a solid for the old man since he took the minmun salary for us for a couple years.  Or, maybe we just had a half-baked idea to incentive-bomb his contract directly in front of the Commissioner’s face.  Not one of morey’s best GM moves.  

Also gone is H-town legend Gerald Green.  Green broke his foot in the preseason was wasn’t going to play this year.  A player who was likely going to be in the 8-man rotation, Green was leading the league in 3pt shots made off the bench over the last three seasons.  Green was born in Houston, came to the NBA out of Gulf Shores Academy HS, and has a number of Houston-specific tattoos.  It sucks that it has to be this way, but the team owner Tillman Fertitia didn’t want to pay the Luxury Tax - Green and Nene, two non-contributors this year, had to go.  The trade placed the Rockets safely under the Luxury Tax line and left the Rockets with two open roster spots.  

The Buyout Market

Marvin Williams was the guy I thought for sure would fit the best, but he bolted directly for Milwaukee to chase a title. But, late in the game, the Rockets and Daryl Morey come out one of the winners of the buyout market again. With needs for depth on the wings, two players shook loose and appear to be signing with the Rockets this week:

One player is Jeff Green who actually shook loose about a month ago; I was surprised to see him get cut in favor of a Utah G-leaguer. Jeff Green is a 33 year old 6’8” forward who has had some some large fluctuations as a NBA player including heart surgery, a stint with LeBron’s Cavs, and getting cut by the aforementioned Jazz midway through this season. However, Daryl Morey likes his style of play for the new-look Rockets, announcing the 10-day contract today by saying, “Jeff is a very versatile player. Can play big, can guard on the perimeter, athletic, somebody that can hit 3’s. We love his versatility and feel he can fit right in w/ what we’re trying to do.” Jeff Green is notably also a former teammate of Harden and Westbrook from Oklahoma City - once drafted 5th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft he played four seasons with the two Rockets All-stars made 1st team All-Rookie. Aside from all that, there have been rumblings that he’s been a locker-room divider - both in Cleveland and in Washington - and its hard not to notice that the Jazz went on a huge win-streak as soon as they let him go. This, amongst other reasons, is why he lasted a month on top of the NBA scrap heap.

The other buyout prize comes from our cross-state rivals, the Spurs. DeMarre Carroll is a 33 year old 6’6” forward who was signed in a confusing exchange this summer when the Spurs thought they were signing Marcus Morris in order to gear up for a deep run in the playoffs. It’s unclear what exactly went down, but Morris reneged on his verbal agreement with the Spurs and signed with the Knicks, and Carroll was the Spurs stop-gap in the absence of Davis Bertans who was traded away in confidence to make room for Morris. Carroll never found any footing with the Spurs, barely saw the court, and his release says as much about the Rockets as it does about the Spurs - two teams headed in opposite directions. The Spurs are drifting from the playoffs for the first time in over two decades and the Rockets are looking to solidify playoff rotation. Adding Carroll, who fits as a 3 and D player on the wing, means the Rockets have multiple forwards now to throw at LeBron, Kawhi, and Paul George in the Playoffs.

Outlook 

Houston was struggling in January, specifically Harden.  They went on a couple losing streaks and drifted as far down as 6th in the Western Conference playoff standings.  The swap boils down to: Clint Capela, Nene, Gerald Green —> Robert Covington, Jeff Green, DeMarre Carroll, Bruno Caboclo. These moves will either destabilize or cauterize this 2020 Rockets season.  Only a few things are clear - Morey and Dantoni believe in this move, and If this doesn’t go well lots of familiar faces will be absent next season.  

Houston Rockets — Holiday Editi0n

12/19/19

Right before Christmas week, lets do a check-in shall we?!

Harden and Westrook // LeBron and Wade 

There has been a lot of chatter about Westbrook’s shooting and whether or not he is a fit with Harden inside of D’antoni's Pace & Space offense.  

Russ’s shooting has been abysmal, lets acknowledge that and own it, but I think people on the outside are inflating its meaning to the Rocket’s system.  What we’re seeing is teams are sending double teams to Harden sometimes as soon as he crosses half court - this defensive scheme didn’t happen very often last year.  Why?  Because in basketball when you double team that far from the basket you essentially are creating a 4-on-3 opportunity behind you!  With Chris Paul on the wings, you’re leaving a dangerous shooter and playmaker with options and space to work.  With Westbrook, teams aren’t afraid to leave him open behind the arc, practically daring him to chuck it from deep.  While all this is true, Westbrook has actually been doing pretty well as a counter-attacker, but we have to think about it from a different perspective.. 

Consider LeBron and D-Wade, who went to three straight finals only 10 years ago.  Wade was a terrible shooter too, but when the opposing team’s defense geared up on LeBron it created a counter-attack opportunity for the slashing, flashing All-NBA player.  This is what really destroyed opponents.  Westbrook is playing exactly the same way - a secondary playmaker.  His extreme quickness puts a ton of pressure on the rim.  As defenses are sliding and reacting to his counter-dives he creates easy buckets and even more open looks for his teammates on the wings.  This action is also very similar to the way that Draymond Green plays off of Steph Curry in Golden State.  When Steph draws the defense they dump to Draymond who works as a secondary playmaker - only instead of Draymond Green, we have one of the best passers and finishers of All-Time.  Westbrook and his teammates are only getting more comfortable, lets give it more time to coalesce.

Double Double Teams Teams

There’s been a ton of breakdowns about the litany of double teams Harden has been seeing this year, so I won’t pretend to wow you with original ideas here.  But I will say that Harden is figuring it out, and that teams will continue to try different schemes and gimmicks to throw him off his game. 

One stye of double team that Harden keeps getting is the box-and-one double team.  This is sort of a throwback defense where one player player picks him up at half court and the rest of the team essentially plays a zone defense: two players on the elbows, two players down on the blocks.  Another double team we keep seeing is the 2-1-2 style.  This is where two players will trap Harden as he crosses half-court and the "1" player acts as sort of a free safety, tracking the first pass out of the double team while the last "2" play a strong side/ weak side zone.  Teams are mixing it up, and it’s been tough for Harden to navigate.  Ultimately, this means two things - Russ will have lots of opportunities to attack, and, the role players will need to step up, make shots, and play-make on their own from time to time.  This has been extra tough since..

Gordon is OUT

Right as he had his best game, too, OUT with knee surgery.  Apparently he was having some issues in the offseason that he didn’t take seriously enough.  He’s working his way back, but will surely need time to get back to up speed.  This means someone has to step up and that person is…

B3n McL3more

Dude had five 20+ point games in a two week stretch which included 8 starts.  You can criticize his decision making, or team defense, but if the only decision he has to make is whether or not to pull the trigger - he’s been really strong in recent weeks. He is essentially a Gerald Green replacement (I know, you can’t truly replace H-town’s own Gerald Green, who actually led the league in made 3pts off of the bench over the last thee years).  Ben is a good athlete with a appetite for the catch-and-shoot.

Capela 

Sorry to stick him down the list here but he’s been stellar on the boards.  His timing and effort have been incredible.  Earlier this month he achieved 19+ rebounds in 7 straight games, first time thats been done since 1976.  His chemistry with Westbrook is getting there.  

Youth

We have three young players getting minutes due to all the injuries: rookie Chris Clemons, Gary Clark, and work-in-progress center Isiah Hartenstein.  Clemons has be super steady as a speedy scorer off the bench and he looks like a steal considering he went undrafted.  He’s got a pro's stroke, supreme athleticism and a nose for the ball on defense - note: he’s only 5’9.  Gary Clark is a holdover from last year’s draft and hasn’t seen much playing time this year.  I have the sense that Morey and the Front Office think he’s not going to get much better.  Don’t be surprised if he’s lumped into a trade in the next few weeks or released before his contract guarantee kicks in on Jan. 10th.  Hartenstein has shown that he’s got at least someof what it takes to make it into our rotation.  He fouls and his hands are clumsy sometimes, but he knows that Capela got his big contract for rebounding and he’s trying his best to do the same. 

Biggest positive

At this stage, the best thing I can say is that we’re about a game or two away from the #2 seed in the West after a full helping-and-a-half of injuries.  Gordon, Rivers, House, Westbrook, Capela have all missed chunks of games and we’re still right in the thick of it.  This is fantastic.  You know what else if fantastic - the new NASA inspired jerseys we wear on Saturday home games. 

Biggest Negative

I hate to say it but its been the consistency of effort.  I get whipblash watching these Rockets play - one half is full-throttle exuberance, the next half is sleepy and sloppy.  The Rockets would easily be the #2 seed right now if it wasn’t for about four bad, late losses in which they held a significant lead.  This has been the calling card for D’antoni’s Rockets, in my opinion.  Bi-polarism.  A “too cool for school” attitude that lets opponets work they’re way back into the game, seemingly like every 3rd quarter..

Final Thoughts

December 15th has passed and the trade season is heating up.  Whats going to happen to Nene, who hasn’t suited up for the team?  What’s going to happen to the roster spot left by releasing Ryan Anderson?  There’s been some outside speculation about offering Anthony Bennet a 2-way deal when he recovers from knee surgery (arthroscopic surgery similar to Gordon’s), which I’m openly interested about.  The obvious move is keeping a spot open for the buyout market.  There has also been some rumors about Minnesota’s Robert Covington, a former Rio Grande Vipers product that the Rockets know very well.  I personally would love to find a way to get Davis Bertans from the Wizards who at 6’10” has been leading the league at 3pt fg’s, shooting 11 3pts per game at 45%.

One thing is for sure - Rocket’s fans should have a Merry Christmas.  On Christmas Day we play the limping Warriors who are on track to maybe have the worst record in the league this season.  Joy to the World!

HOUSTON ROCKETS — the first 10

11/11/2019

The Houston Rockets are ten games into the 2019-20 regular season and at 7-3 sit one game out of first place in the Western Conference. But lets look a little deeper at the first stretch of games to open this season.

First, its important to consider who the Rockets were playing -

Of the 7 wins this season none have been against a playoff a team. The rockets have lost to the Bucks, Nets, and Heat who all made the playoffs last year. When you consider the players that have missed games against the Rockets, they’ve played maybe the easiest schedule in the NBA so far and have had to still squeeze out some of these wins.

The Rockets gave up 158 points to THE WIZARDS.

The defense has been extremely bad at times this year, and even though they won this game (in regular time), they were downright god awful in at least 3 of the 10 games played so far. This game was memorable for all the wrong reasons, and became the 7th highest scoring game in NBA history. Yikes.

Daniel House has looked good.

He’s been a constant glue to both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. He’s shooting nearly 44% from 3 through 10 games and had a game with 6 steals! He looks like he’s settled into the starting wing position, and he along with Ben Mclemore have softened the blow of losing Gerald Green for the regular season.

The more I learn about him the more I love him. For example, “House was ranked 15th in the 2012 class by ESPNU 100 and 26th overall by Scout.com. House committed to Houston over Ohio State, Baylor, Texas, Georgetown, and Kansas.[1]”. Then there’s the fact that he’s cousin’s with former NBA player and sharp-shooter Eddie House. And just in general his story of making onto an NBA roster is rich with positivity. Here’s a great interview with him by HoopsHabit in which he discusses his philosophy on life and basketball - its really great.

Eric Gordon.. Jesus..

He had a great game against the Pelicans last night (without 3 of their starters), but dude has looked like one of the Monstars stole his powers. The most concerning thing is that he did this last year, too. And, he sorta did it the year before also! We just gave this dude a 5 year $90 million extension, why? I try to keep reminding myself that he averaged 20 ppg against the Warriors in the playoffs last year, but — Morey’s butthole is sure to be a bit tight about this one.

Beard & Brodie

They look like they fit great together. Very different styles of play (VERY), but they have sort of complimented each other really nicely at this point. Russ pushes the ball in Mike D’antoni’s new “six seconds or less” offense whenever he gets a rebound which has created a massive uptick in fast break points and easy buckets. Harden still does his MVP-iso-stepback thing in the half court, but Russ has owned the transition game. They know who they are and how to be effective.

Biggest Positive

Westbrook has integrated pretty smoothly. He’s still got some fine-tuning to do, notably with Clint Capela, but he has fit right in. The team is still catching up to his ultra-fast play style, and I like where it’s headed.

Biggest Negative

Turnovers and Defense. While we observed the patchiness of the defense and strength of schedule already, the turnovers have even very discouraging. Both Westbrook has has multiple games of having a negative assist/ turnover ratio, while Eric Gordon assist/ turnover ratio is so negative I can’t post it because it makes me vomit.

Final Thoughts

I think we have shown lots of high-achieving capability, but we have some clear flaws. Our rebounding has been better, but we’re still weak in that department. Our shooters need to be confident and consistent. We need to beat a playoff team before any of us get too excited. And wtf are we going to do with that Nene contact??

Get well soon G. Green, sweet prince!