SB Nation User Blog: Only_A_Lad

McGrady: "It's a target date"

Only_A_Lad — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:55:01 -0000

McGrady: "It's a target date"

I'd rather not devote more space and energy to this, but McGrady has clarified his earlier statement about his return.

Tuesday Afternoon Rockets/NBA Links

Only_A_Lad — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:12:15 -0000

As I mentioned yesterday, with the victory against OKC Rick Adelman tied Jack Ramsay's total for wins. Jonathon Feigen talked to Adelman about tying his mentor.

"When you hit milestones like 500, 600 or 700 wins, that’s something that indicates you’ve had good teams," Adelman said. "But if I’ve matched him, to me that’s a personal milestone that means something, because he’s one of the best coaches ever in this league.

"So when you attain that status equal to him as far as wins — not as a coach but as wins — it just makes you feel pretty good. Because I know what kind of coach he was, and I was around him a lot, and that means a lot to me."

Adelman is one of the NBA's greatest coaches, and (as much as he gets criticized around here) it's important to remember that. He has had some good teams (something he's quick to mention), but he doesn't screw up those teams, either. Yes, those Kings and Blazers teams were pretty good, but he did a lot more with them than many coaches do with more talented teams.

Thoughts on McGrady's Possible Return

Only_A_Lad — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:22:39 -0000

More photos » by Andrew D. Bernstein - NBAE/Getty Images

Holy crap a lot has happened since McGrady had surgery.

Browse more photos »

You know, it's amazing to me that some people can take a good thing and make it seem... dirty. In case you weren't paying attention: Tracy McGrady sent an e-mail to Yahoo! Sports claiming that he will be ready to return to the Rockets' starting lineup on the 18th (the game against Minnesota); Morey has stated that the Rockets won't let him play until after the next full practice on the 23rd (the next game after that is against Dallas on the 25th). There, you're all caught up.

Now, some people have made the case that this is demonstrative of a key disconnect between McGrady and the Rockets. That's certainly a possibility, and after the series of miscommunications surrounding T-Mac's knee surgery in February it has a lot of credibility. Other seem to think that this is evidence of McGrady's continued attempts to sabotage the Houston Rockets, because, as we all know, he is some sort of Victorian melodramatic villain hell-bent on tying Rick Adelman to the railroad tracks, luring Daryl Morey to the scene, and destroying them both through some crazy scheme.

By far, the thing that has most annoyed me over the past nine months of Tracy McGrady talk has been the half-assed textual analysis going on. Those trying to find evidence of McGrady's malevolence parse sentences from any available interview, desperately twisting vague comments into support for whatever they want.

It has been almost a year. Let's stop doing this. McGrady will be making his return to the court at some point in the next month or so, and that's really all there is to it. Any attempt to divine McGrady or the Rockets' intentions from partial quotes is largely moot at this point.

With that in mind, let's tackle some of the major issues surrounding Mr. McGrady's impending return.

First, the most pressing question revolves around T-Mac's actual ability. What can we expect from post-microfracture? If he is healthy "again," what does that mean? The answers to those questions are basically unknowable until McGrady gets on the court again. Reports look good, but that doesn't really mean much. And if we're honest with ourselves, we know that unless McGrady can return to pre-'07-'08 form, he is not much of an upgrade over what we have now.

Second, what does Adelman actually do with Tracy? McGrady's e-mail (or at least how it was reported) suggests he expects to be a part of the starting lineup upon return, but we all know that seems either unlikely or undesirable. It has been almost a year since McGrady last played competitive basketball, and well over a year since he last played quality basketball.

When McGrady is healthy (and it has been years since he was last healthy for any meaningful length of time), his skillset is unique and invaluable. He's a premier scorer, has excellent court vision and ball control, and he rebounds effectively. And if he feels like it he can defend at an elite level, too.

But we have no idea of what we're going to get when McGrady returns. So perhaps the expectation (on the part of both McGrady and the fans) should be that Tracy starts off on the bench, switching out with Ariza while he gets back on his feet. After that...

Well, that's a larger question, isn't it? If he's an elite player again (unlikely, but possible), then he's an obvious starter. The issue will probably be a lot dicier than that, however. More than likely, McGrady returns to a level roughly equal to his '08 season: good, but not great, and not any better than a lot of other wings in the league. Then the Rockets are left with a starting-caliber swingman with a massive contract and a large (deservedly so, I think) ego. How do you handle that?

I'm sure this is a frustrating post to read. It's a frustrating post to write. Simply put, there are no answers here, and there won't be any for a few more weeks. It's all questions, and damn few of them are new ones. It's the same crap we've been dealing with for the last nine months. But there's a sense of immediacy here - the conclusion is imminent. "Stay tuned" is all I can tell you.

Monday Afternoon Rockets/NBA Links

Only_A_Lad — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:25:59 -0000

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

Rick Adelman tied Jack Ramsey in wins on Friday, continuing his bid to become the NBA's most under-appreciated coach. I also like his expression when he questions calls.

Browse more photos »

The Cavaliers make only one trip to New York City this year, and so the media has to get all of its "zOMG LEBRON2KNICKS2010" talk in one weekend. And, to his credit, Lebron James has done a good job of dismissing premature talk of free agency. Oh, wait, no he didn't - he plays with the "rumors" as always. But he did throw a wrench in the national media's (and Donnie Walsh's) plans for the Knicks in 2010.

"Right now, I visualize playing with a lot of guys in the NBA. There are a lot of great individual basketball players that I would love to be alongside of and try to contend for an NBA championship.

"I think at the end of the day, a max deal or anything like that doesn't really matter to me at the end of the day. It's all about winning for me. So I've put myself in a position that when that day comes next summer, I want to win, and if I feel like the team is capable of winning, I'll make my decision like that."

So maybe he won't sign a deal with New York? Blasphemy! How could anyone - James included - suggest that the greatest player in the NBA maybe sorta wouldn't want to play for the Knicks?!

Really, this is something that has befuddled me for a few years now: Why would James go to the Knicks? Yeah, there are a few good players (Lee's great, Robinson's a quality player, Gallinari looks good), but after those three or four players, it's all crap. And this idea of endorsements attracting James to New York seems to me to be total fantasy.

Admittedly, Cleveland probably isn't the best place for James to play out his career, but it's better than the Knicks right now. And this revelation - even if it isn't totally serious (and I doubt it is) - that perhaps a max contract isn't the most important thing to Lebron James makes things much more interesting in this coming summer.

Six games into the 2010 season, who is the Rockets' MVP?

Friday Afternoon Rockets/NBA Links

Only_A_Lad — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:36:47 -0000

An intriguing game is scheduled for tonight, featuring your Houston Rockets and the NBA's finest rising star: Kevin Durant. The Oklahoman looks into Durant's growth as a player, as well as his contributions on the court.

More after the jump.

B-Reference Blog, inspired by Tom Brady's Patriots and the Houston Rockets, takes a look at the NBA's best at "spreading it around."

Just as Brady had to cobble together a passing attack while throwing to Reche Caldwell, Doug Gabriel, Jabar Gaffney, and the aging remains of Troy Brown, the Rockets are facing the Yao-less, McGrady-less reality of forging an offense from a lineup without stars. The early returns have Trevor Ariza, Aaron Brooks, and Luis Scola shouldering the brunt of the workload, combining to take on 245 of Houston's 473 possessions so far this season, but you have to think that the offense will start to be spread out more as the season goes on, since all of Houston's players -- those three included -- are charting new territory in terms of usage.

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Hasheem Thabeet hasn't looked too good on the court in his first few games, but he could have been much, much worse.

"He was really bad,'' Hollins said. "Even though he's a shot blocker, he only had to stand in the paint in college. Now you've got guys attacking you and how you have to go meet them, he knew none of that. He had no footwork. He had no jump hook. He had nothing. And I can say that out of all the rookies in this draft, he probably has come the farthest. He has the farthest to go, and he still has a long ways to go.''

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Last year, I liked Solomon because he seemed to provide some much-needed perspective on McGrady. Everyone else on the Chronicle staff was bugging the fuck out, but Solomon emphasized the need for patience. He's seriously pissing me off this season, however.

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Just in case you missed it, the Rockets will be debuting their new alternates this evening. This will be a first for them: they've (rightly) shied away from the alternate-uniform trend in pro sports. Still, they look pretty cool.

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Jason Friedman goes into Chuck Hayes' burgeoning campaign for a spot on the NBA All-Defense squad. And he understands that the only guys who get on the team can play offense, too:

The transformation is rather incredible, especially given the fact that, for the better part of the past two seasons, Hayes displayed a propensity to turn even the most wide-open of layups into an edge of your seat, "how’s it going to end?" thrill ride. Now he’s backing down Mehmet Okur in the post and casually flipping in left-handed jump hooks. What changed?

"One, his fitness is great," explains Rockets’ Assistant Coach and big man guru Jack Sikma. "Fatigue, especially when it comes to finishing around the rim, is a real difference maker. And he put in work this summer on spinning the ball and having it come off his fingertips and not being in a hurry, whereas last year his shot was kind of just a quick push. With that, his confidence has grown and the guys have confidence in him.

"He has to finish. If opponents are lying off of him, he has to find his spots around the rim where he’s open. And if we’re good enough to find him and he gets the ball, it’s got to be two points, which is what’s happening; his conversion rate has been very high."

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Lastly, hoopnumbers.com has calculated the most exact Adjusted Plus-Minus numbers publicly available. Which Rockets have been in the top 50 across the last three years? Yao, Battier, and Chuck.

Poll

Chuck is unquestionably one of the league's best post defenders. But do you think the NBA will finally recognize his greatness and reward him with a spot on the All-Defense Team?

Thusday Afternoon Rockets/NBA Links

Only_A_Lad — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:16:38 -0000

Jerome Solomon has a column posted on the Chronicle's website, accusing Ariza of seeming "out of place" as a leader.

OK, maybe not the face-making, but Adelman wanted some attitude.

Ariza kind of brought it, but kind of didn't. He is just not that guy. Never will be.

Ariza just doesn't have the assassin's mentality that makes stars super. Prior to this season, he had never taken 21 shots in a game as he did Wednesday, and it seemed he didn't want to take some of those.

Kobe Bryant was the only other player on the court firing up shots at that rate. Bryant got off 30 attempts and scored a game-high 41 points. Unlike Ariza, Bryant is quite comfortable firing away.

If Ariza had more Aaron Brooks or Kyle Lowry in him, he might be a perennial All-Star. But he is what he is, and that's OK.

The Rockets knew what they were getting when they signed him with their mid-level exception.

There's good analysis, there's bad analysis, and then there's no analysis. And I'm having a tough time deciding if this is just bad analysis or a failure to even deal with what's happening on the court.

Look, it's fine to discuss "mentality" when we talk about players. Basketball, unlike baseball, allows players to take over the game, and so a player's thought process, emotions, etc. really do matter. But at the same time, we (as fans and as writers) need to be able to distinguish between "stuff happening in a player's head" and "stuff happening in reality."

Ariza's problem is not that he lacks some mystical "killer instinct," nor is it that he doesn't have "ice water in his veins" or whatever other cliche you want to use. Ariza's problem is that he can't create off the dribble. His ballhandling isn't pretty, and the result is turnovers and forced shots. A "mentality" is not what makes a star a star: it's pure ability, and Ariza isn't there yet.

Did his emotional desire to play well against his old team lead him to take bad shots? Maybe, but that has nothing to do with an "assassin's mentality" (whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean). Indeed, it seems to contradict that: he wanted to take those shots, and so he took them and failed. The point, however, is that the difference between the Kobe/Lebron/Wade wings of the world and the Arizas of the world is one of skill, not mentality.

The lesson to take from this game is not that Ariza has to "step up and be a leader." That's ridiculous. He, like everyone else, needs to play to his strengths and the system. And if the coaches, front office, and Ariza want him to become something more, then he needs to work on that in practice and in games against the Kings/Thunder/Nets of the league, not against the reigning champions.

As for being a "leader," I think it became fairly clear around March of 2008 who the Rockets' on-court leader is, and it isn't Brooks, Ariza, Yao, or McGrady. He's the guy running the defense and being the real "floor general." But I wouldn't want Battier to try to "take over" the game with his "assassin's mentality," either.

With that particular pile of crap dissected, let's get to some news:

Rockets.com's Jason Friedman has a much better analysis of what happened last night, including quotes from Adelman and players.

“We were talking amongst the guys: we stopped attacking,” said Shane Battier. “We have to be an attacking team and we tried to just go in isolation mode and run the pick-and-roll. We’re at our best when we’re attacking the basket, taking threes and we got away from that. We have to do that every night, no matter who we’re playing.”

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Delonte West, if you didn't know, has some mental problems. Cleveland Scene looks at the difficulties writers face when covering a player with significant emotional issues.

Details like West “staring into space” present problems. Not every episode of silence — or joviality — is evidence of a disorder, but can start to look that way when West’s emotional state is the subject, especially when taking a retrospective look at a series of incidents. Otherwise, Windhorst’s piece put Delonte’s struggles throughout the year into perspective and illustrates the difficulties writers face when dealing with West’s actions. That struggle will undoubtedly continue through what could be the most important year in the Cavs’ history. There is no rule book for such situations, so the Cavs and the reporters who cover them better start writing one.

Shoals at Free Darko also comments on this issue.

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If you're looking for some reactions to last night's game, Hardwood Paroxysm, Dwyer, and the Basketball Jones all have good perspectives on the night. It might be tough to see through the cloud of post-loss rage and disappointment, but we witnessed a pretty great game, after all.

TBJ also briefly discusses the subject of Ariza as a #1 option, while Dwyer offers his opinion on our man Chuck's evolution as a player:

Chuck Hayes is a 6-6 Kevin Garnett. His footwork belongs on Mt. Rushmore. His hands belong in the Smithsonian. He had two steals tonight, and caused as many jump balls. He's a center that's in the top five in steals, per game, in barely half a game. His defense is unbelievable. And now (7-9 shooting, no hesitation around the hoop) you have to pay attention to him when someone drives and dishes.

Hyperbole? Maybe, but that was probably the best game of the Chuckwagon's career. It's a shame we see it when Yao is out.

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Basketball Prospectus looks into the improving Cavs offense. It's an in-depth, technical look at a team, and I hope they cover Houston in similar detail at some point.

In Cleveland’s case, their overreliance on James (granted, he’s an easy guy to rely upon) is inhibiting the team's ability to become interdependent. Instead, when they need a result, they give it to one of the best players in the world and let him figure it out. This stunts their growth and fails to maximize how good the Cavaliers can be. It took Bryant and the Lakers a few years to learn this lesson—how long will it be before James and the Cavaliers take the next step?

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Lastly, here's a link to an interesting discussion of three-point shooting at APBRmetrics. The Rockets struggled to make their threes last night, but they're one of the leaders in attempts. Most basketball statistical analysts will tell you that the three point attempt is one of the game's best shots, and yet we see stats-oriented teams like the Thunder seemingly focus on players like Russell Westbrook. Weird, huh?

Game 5 Recap: Lakers Win, Rockets Lose, We All Learn A Little Something

Only_A_Lad — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:48:14 -0000

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

Browse more photos »

Here we have a game where Kobe was allowed to get to the line freely. A game where the slightest contact by a Rocket in the 4th was cause for a foul. A game that was nevertheless a field goal away from a win.

Now, it should be noted that, unlike a lot of fans, I will freely admit that I blame games on the officials. And I'm pretty much going to do that here. You can use all the excuses you like ("That's the way stars are reffed" or "Kobe just takes over"), but that doesn't change the fact that Kobe was given a three point play after no Rocket came close to touching him. That doesn't change the fact that he was bailed out by the officials in the fourth, and it doesn't change the fact that this is not the way a professional basketball game is supposed to be officiated.

With that being said, the Rockets had plenty of opportunities to win this one, but they ultimately failed to do so, regardless of officiating blunders. Trevor Ariza was absolutely atrocious on the offensive end of the court: 15 points on 21 shots. Aaron Brooks had more turnovers than assists. Simply put, the two rising stars of the Rockets lineup failed to play efficiently or intelligently. Brooks was unable to beat the Lakers' guards, and he utterly failed to handle their trap defense properly. Ariza's attempts to create off the dribble were largely unnecessary and usually ended poorly. Not a good game for either of them.

The Rockets' frontcourt, however, was great. Luis Scola has seen better nights, but Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes were spectacular, combining for 34 points and 32 rebounds on 16-21 shooting. The Rockets outrebounded the Lakers, forced Kobe Bryant to take over the game (which is, despite what so many will tell you, not a winning plan most of the time), and kept everyone else but Andrew Bynum from being much of a factor. So what killed the Rockets?

Free throws could have been made (though the Lakers were converting about the same percentage). The overall defense could have been improved (about .03 pts/poss. worse than in the rest of the season). But what really killed the Rockets were turnovers. 19 of them will do that for you.

Ariza and Brooks combined for over half of that total. Not cool. AB has got to handle double teams and traps better. Ariza has to... well, I'm not sure how he can improve on that. He's not a great ball handler, and he should probably stop trying to take it inside. Make more cuts to the basket off the ball. Plenty of times tonight, the offense seemed to become stagnant, with Lowry or AB dribbling around the arc and everyone else standing still. Chuck made cuts, and so did Landry, and both of them finished at the rim. The same cannot be said of Ariza.

There is an incentive here to settle. "Well, the Rockets finished only a point behind the World Champs, right? Good show!" The Rockets fought hard, but they screwed up. I believe wholeheartedly that this team is *a lot* better than virtually everyone has said, and I as a fan am not going to settle for a game that could have been won if not for stupid errors. The Rockets are going to surprise a lot of people by just staying in these kinds of games, but I'm here to tell you that they're going to surprise a lot more by winning. Adelman, Morey, and the Rockets sure as hell aren't settling for this result tonight - you could see it on Chuck's face at the end of the game (okay, maybe that's just projection) - and neither should the fans. The Rox are better than this.

So, uh, I guess this is tradition here:

Three Up:
Chuck Hayes: MVP for the game. He cleaned up messes around the rim, fought for rebounds, and even created a play or two.

Carl Landry: Stud off the bench. Why wasn't he getting more PT? The fact that he had to replace either Chuck or Luis has everything to do with that. Given the way the Rockets played defense without Hayes on the court, I'd be hesitant to put both Landry and Scola together, too. Still, Luis Landry lives, and the Rockets aren't going to win against great opponents if they can't go to their two best post players at once. Particularly in OT, maybe Adelman should have been more willing to play all three. Maybe. I'm no expert.

Hakeem Olajuwon: Nice to see the greatest center of all time hanging around the Toyota Center. That should happen more often. (No, I wasn't really impressed with anyone else's performance)

Three Down:

Aaron Brooks: Couldn't get his shot to go for most of the night, though he eventually came back for a 3-7 performance from behind the arc. The 7 turnovers, however, killed the tean, and he needs to do a better job of running the motion offense.

Trevor Ariza: Do what comes naturally, not what you need to force. Stop trying to create off the dribble.

Three point shooting: You know what? Let's just chalk that up to bad luck, though the Rockets certainly weren't going to be shooting 50% forever.

Wednesday Rockets/NBA Links

Only_A_Lad — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:47:24 -0000

Sorry about the lack of links yesterday. I'm sure all of you were staring blankly at your computer screens, confused and scared at the absence of what has become the most important part of your daily routine. And for that, I apologize. Let's take a look at all the crazy shit happening around the league.

The Knicks edged out the Hornets on Monday night. In other words, Chris Paul and his merry men lost to a team that is basically phoning it in until this summer. Now, if the Pacers or the Thunder or the Suns lose to the Knicks, no big deal. But if a team that is headed up by the best PG in the land and is ostensibly in the running for a deep playoff spot loses to the Knicks... something has gone horribly wrong.

Well, that's exaggeration. But it's basically the line we're getting from sportswriters out there, even if a 1-3 start isn't any sort of death sentence. At the same time, Chris Paul's "frustration" (it's the word everyone's using, though I prefer Basketbawful's description: "the little guy is starting to lose his shit a little") with his team is pretty clear at this point. I compared it to Garnett with Minnesota earlier, but it's also reminiscent of Hakeem from about 1986 until 1992. Here we have one of the best players in the game - certainly the best at his position - surrounded by utter crap (Emeka and West are nice players, but a championship core they do not make), while his less-deserving peers experience a great deal of success. That's not cool, and his career is crying out for liberation from the hellhole that is a George Shin team.

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After their loss to the Good Guys on Monday, the Jazz followed it up by losing to the Mavs in Dallas. And I gotta tell ya, it feels pretty great. For me, anyways. Not so much for Jazz fans, who have already decided to renew their hapless bleatings from last season.

If you want my honest opinion (and I know you do), it's that Jerry Sloan doesn't know how to coach defense in this league anymore. He's stuck in 1996, when "no layups" still made sense. It has been five years since the league revised hand-checking and contact rules (since they made basketball fun again), and Sloan still hasn't revised his thinking on proper defense. So if Jazz fans are wondering what the hell is wrong with the defense, they need look no further than the scowling apparition pacing in front of the bench and shouting at refs.

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Pau Gasol is definitely out for tonight's game, but it could be a lot more serious than that. And yet the Lakers sustained a much more critical injury (not really) when Phil Jackson cut part of his finger off. And he lost the little nub, too. Ewww.

Oh, yeah, and the Lakers continue to struggle, almost losing to the Fightin' Durants last night. Whoops.

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In even weirder news, the Raptors have offered to include Vince Carter in their 15th anniversary celebration this year.

To me, this is like offering to include Carlos Beltran in the Astros' upcoming 50th Anniversary (just a few years away!). Yeah, Carter was incredible, and I love watching him, but I doubt Toronto fans want to be reminded of his departure.

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Lastly (and this is like a week old, but it's interesting), economics blog Marginal Revolution entertains a "way to improve basketball" (as if that's even possible).

Here is my simple thought: games should be played as best 4 out of 7 periods -- perhaps 7 minutes each or perhaps slightly varied period lengths, 6 - 8 minutes long. Maybe the number or usage of timeouts or foul-outs would need to be fiddled with. Maybe playoffs would be slightly different. But that's pretty much it. The best part of a basketball game is almost always the last few minutes, and it seems like the incentives for exciting play would persist more throughly under this design.

... but I like garbage time. It's what makes human victory cigars like Brian Cook possible.

Poll

It's the Rockets' 40th anniversary in Houston, and they're bringing out all the greats to celebrate. And for some reason Les Alexander invites Scottie Pippen to the ceremony. Your immediate reaction is to:

Monday Morning Rockets/NBA Links

Only_A_Lad — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:28:19 -0000

More photos » by Bob Levey - AP

Did anyone else notice that Dorsey and T-Mac were wearing the same outfit on the bench? Awkward...

Browse more photos »

There's really only one team in pro sports that I hate more than the Jazz: the POS Tennessee Titans (and the fact that they're 1-6 to start the season dulls that resentment somewhat). The Jazz are the Dracula to the Rockets' Van Helsing; the Moriarty to our Holmes; the Borg to our Federation. They're pure evil, and it's really that simple. But let's ignore all that for a minute and get to some news.

Allen Iverson is expected to make his season debut in Sacramento tonight. The Grizzlies have been playing surprisingly well to start the season, and I'd worry about the introduction of yet another high-usage, low-efficiency scorer into the lineup.

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Rajon Rondo and the Celtics benefited from the extended extension deadline yesterday, agreeing on a 5 year, $55 million deal. Given Rondo's production over the last two seasons, he's worth it.

Speaking of Rondo, he and Chris Paul apparently hate one another. That really shouldn't be surprising: Rondo's a malcontent on his own team, and CP3 routinely leads the NBA in technicals.

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The city of Las Vegas is about to sign a deal to study the feasibility of building a 20,000 seat, $145 million stadium. The mayor of the city is courting both the NBA and NHL for a team. I doubt either league is likely to expand, and there are plenty of teams looking for a new home

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Our friend Ron Ron is not doing well to start the season in LA. Of course, Artest feels that shooting 25% from the field is "playing great." I suppose there's very little else to say about that, but I feel like gloating.

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JJ Redick is going to release a rap album. Watch out for Shane's impending country album, as well as Deke's spoken-word musings.

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Lastly, something actually about the Rockets. Les Alexander gives a few thoughts on the season, but more interesting are Adelman's comments on the defense:

The Rockets have customarily taken the unusual step of not using their best perimeter defender, Shane Battier, on the Blazers' best perimeter scorer, Brandon Roy.

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Coach Rick Adelman said the idea was to free Battier to help defensively, particularly with the Blazers running Roy through so many screens. He also wanted to gauge how Ariza did in the matchup.

Roy scored 42 points that night. Whoops. Still, defensive evaluations are more complex than that, and the fact that nobody but Aldridge and Roy were able to get going for the Blazers might be a good indicator.

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Okay, one last thing: Just as a reminder, please remember that we can't let you post links to illegal streams around here. Sorry, that's not the Dream Shake's rules, they're SBN's. I know it's tough to watch Rockets games outside of the Houston area (particularly if you live outside of the USA and not in China). Perhaps ClutchFans is a better place to find/provide such info. And remember also that, until tomorrow, nba.com is giving out NBA League Pass Broadband for free, so you should be able to see the Utah game.

Saturday Morning Rockets and NBA Links

Only_A_Lad — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:25:52 -0000

The biggest news, of course, is that the Rockets' home opener is tonight. Our conquering heroes (well, they conquered Oracle Arena, anyways) return to the Toyota Center for the first time since May. I envy all of you who will be there.

On that note: obviously the Rockets didn't play last night, so there's very little in the way of real Rockets news. However, the NBA rolls on.

For the first time in a while, your Rockets are tied for first place in the SW Division. That's thanks to the Bulls' 13-point upset over the Spurs on Thursday, and Basketball Prospectus gives us the breakdown on what happened. Amazingly, the Bulls dominated the offensive glass, something aided by Pops' refusal to put Blair in the game. Fred Silva at PTR gives us a Spurs fan's reaction to the game, including five reasons on why San Antonio lost. The best part?

1.) 15
This is another rough estimate, but 15 as in the 15 awful lineups that Pop threw onto the court. I mean, awful like Noahs' disgusting face awful, (see above.) This is my personal opinion, but was it just me or did everyone else notice that Pop's lineups were staggeringly awful. I mean, if we are up by 20 against the Hornets at home, then feel free to throw in your ridiculous lineups, Pop. But if we are down 15 with 8 to go in the fourth, how about you play our best 5 players and quit messing around? All I wanted to see in the fourth was Parker, Ginobili, RJ, McDyess, and Duncan. I realize it's the second game of a back to back, but no one played extended minutes against the Hornets because they sucked. So why not try to win the game? Why not? Throw our best guys out there and if they do not make a push, then throw in the towel. But at least give us a chance. Pop's job is to put the team in the best position to win. I feel he failed in that regard last night. I realize he does not care about the regular season, but come on, man. Alright, I am done ranting, for now.

I love it when Pops screws up.

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Ariza has an interesting take on his changing role in the NBA:

“It’s an adjustment,” Ariza said. “It’s a different style of basketball that I’m playing now. I’m going from being the fifth option to one of the main guys on the team. It’s taken a little while to adjust to it, but I’m happy to be in this situation.

“The best part about it is I can take shots, and if I take a bad shot, I’m not going to be yelled at. But the toughest part is probably having to take it all on my shoulders. It’s what people say pressure is.”

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Dave Berri noticed that Ty Lawson has been kicking ass in his first two games, asking if all the teams that passed on Lawson are feeling regrets yet. Lawson, along with Blair, was one of the statistical community's darlings going into the draft, and it doesn't surprise me that he has done well so far. Nevertheless, maybe we should back off on the prognostications.

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TrueHoop gives us an alternative to the current setup of the NBA Playoffs: a play-in, single elimination tournament in the style of March Madness. Basically, teams 8 - 15 would play for the final seed in the playoffs, hopefully eliminating some of the incentive to tank as the season moves on.

I like the idea, though I think nobody really cares about the play-in game in the NCAA tournament, knowing that the 64th seed is a guaranteed loss. That's not always the case in the NBA, though it's damn close. Moreover, the claim that it would eliminate the incentive to tank is bogus. The only way to do that is to stop rewarding bad teams with good draft picks.

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A lot of talk has gone into the Rockets being more of an "up-tempo" team this season, and so far that's borne out. They've gone from being the 19th-ranked team in pace last season to the eighth. Of course, that's only over the course of two games, but it's consistent with what Adelman, Morey, and others have been saying about this team.

Theoretically, faster-paced teams are better teams, right? More transition baskets means higher offensive efficiency, after all.

Carlos Chaloub at RaptorBlog.com has studied the relationship between pace and winning in this post. More specifically, he looked at the correlation between pace and defensive efficiency. What were his findings?

Except for 2005-2006, where the Phoenix Suns were the only fast-paced team, the fast-paced teams failed to beat the league average DRtg every single year. Of the 41 teams covered, only 19 (or 46%) played better defence than the league average.

So, what do we take away from this? It seems to me that playing conservative and slow allows your team to set itself in the half-court and defend 5-against-5. Running teams are prone to fast-breaks where points are accumulated easily by the opponent, and the hybrid (medium-paced) teams are not much better. In fact, of the 111 teams that played at a slow pace, 79 made the playoffs (71%), a very good percentage. In other words, only 81 teams out of 179 medium- and fast-paced teams made the playoffs (45%).

Good point. But do bad defensive teams gravitate towards fast-paced offensive systems because they need to maximize their offensive ability to compensate for that poor defense, or is it, as Chaloub suggests, purely a product of the system?

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Happy Halloween, everybody.