How to Fix Houston Rockets’ Defensive Struggles Next Season
The Houston Rockets don’t have many needs to address this offseason, but shoring up the defense should be its top priority. The team finished the regular season 28th in points allowed, giving up an average of 102.5 points per game.
In the playoffs, the Rockets’ defensive struggles continued. They gave up 105.8 points a night to the Oklahoma City Thunder during their six-game series. That placed them 14th out of the 16 playoff teams in opposing points allowed.
The hope this offseason is that the team can make the same huge strides in development that they made last summer. With a couple of big moves, GM Daryl Morey transformed this Rockets team from a lottery franchise filled with prospects to a playoff contender.
The risky signings of center Omer Asik and point guard Jeremy Lin worked out well. Asik averaged a double-double in his first season as starter, contributing 10.1 points and 11.7 rebounds a night.
As for Lin, he added 13.1 points and 6.1 assists a contest in his debut season in Houston while also averaging more than a steal per night.
The biggest move made by Morey in the past year was the deal that sent guard James Harden from Oklahoma City’s bench to Houston’s starting lineup. The acquisition of “The Beard” gave the Rockets its first true superstar since the days of Tracy McGrady.
Alas, there is more work to do.
The team has a logjam of promising yet unproven prospects at power forward. Rookie Terrence Jones flashed some potential late in the season, but didn’t play in the final three games of the Thunder series.
His averages of 5.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game during the regular season leave a lot to be desired.
Fellow rookie Thomas Robinson, acquired in a midseason trade with the Sacramento Kings, didn’t fare much better in the regular season (4.8 points and 4.5 rebounds a game). The No. 5 overall pick didn’t even play a second against Oklahoma City in the first round.
Donatas Motiejunas and Greg Smith round out the foursome at power forward, but neither did much to establish themselves as the long-term answer.
The Rockets proved that they can hang with the elite and showed some heart by stretching their opening-round series with the top-seeded Thunder to six games. However, the team can’t continue to wait on prospects to emerge in order to stay competitive in the West.
They need to use the considerable amount of cap space they’ll have this summer (they have only $38 million committed for next season) to lock down a proven veteran in the frontcourt that can help them on the defensive end.
There is an understandable clamoring for Los Angeles Lakers center and pending free-agent Dwight Howard to come to Houston. Signing Howard and moving Asik to the bench would give Houston a formidable defensive presence inside.
While not impossible, a potential acquisition of Howard seems more like a pipe dream. The Lakers can offer more money and it is hard for a young guy like Dwight to turn down the bright lights of Hollywood.
It’s also not the right move for the Rockets. Asik may not be the all-around star that Howard is, but he brings some nice elements to the table. He’s a capable shot-blocker and he can get after it on the glass.
He also made a big leap this season, from an afterthought on the Bulls‘ bench last year to a solid starter with the Rockets.
The guy Houston should target this summer is Atlanta Hawks power forward Josh Smith.
Like Howard, Smith is an excellent defender. For his nine-year career, he averages 2.1 blocks and 1.3 steals per game, and according to Synergy Sports, Smith held opponents to just under 38 percent from the field this season.
He also can help the Rockets on the boards, as he’s averaged at least eight rebounds per game in all but one of the last seven seasons. With Asik and Smith playing together, the Rockets can own the glass and give their dynamic offense plenty of second-chance opportunities.
Smith would provide stability at the power forward spot and would take some of the scoring pressure off of James Harden. He is an incredible athlete and doesn’t come with Howard’s litany of injuries.
With Smith in place, the team would be less reliant on Jones and he can be afforded more time to develop. The team could then use D-Mo and/or Robinson as trade chips to upgrade other areas such as a backup shooting guard behind Harden.
The quest to improve Houston’s defense doesn’t end at Smith though. The team could use another center behind Asik.
A nice under-the-radar move would be bringing back shot-blocker Samuel Dalembert to be Asik‘s caddy. Dalembert didn’t see a ton of playing time this past season in Milwaukee, playing behind guys like Larry Sanders and John Henson.
Still, he would be a relatively cheap addition who can come in, contest shots and grab a few rebounds. For his career, the Seton Hall product has averaged eight rebounds per game over the last 11 seasons.
He doesn’t offer much on the offensive end, but the team has enough scorers to compensate for Dalembert’s inability to put the ball in the basket.
The team could finish off its defensive re-tooling by adding a perimeter defender in the Tony Allen mold to backup James Harden. Lin and Harden are decent defenders and reserve Patrick Beverley is coming into his own.
Still, the team needs a Thabo Sefolosha-type stopper that can come off the bench and clamp down on opponents. Denver‘s Corey Brewer is a free agent this summer and he was among the top 10 in the league in steal percentage.
The Rockets have the kind of high-octane offense that can keep up with anybody. To go far in the playoffs, however, they will need to generate some stops.
This offseason doesn’t need to be filled with big names, but it would benefit the team to add a few guys with a well-known defensive reputation.
Josh Smith would shore up the team’s weak spot at power forward while also providing quality defense. Samuel Dalembert would give the second unit another big man that can protect the rim. A perimeter defender like Corey Brewer could bolster the defense off the bench.
Morey proved this season that rebuilding a team is as much about hitting a few doubles (Asik and Lin) as it is about knocking one out of the park (Harden). The team should follow that strategy once again this offseason to fix its leaky defense.
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Barkley struggles to pronounce ‘Luol Deng’
Monday night is the start of the Eastern Conference semifinals matchup of the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat and before the game even commenced, there was some fun to be had on the NBA on TNT broadcast thanks to Charles Barkley. It’s no secret Barkley has problems with the English language, but in this clip [...]The post Charles Barkley Tries To Pronounce “Luol Deng” And Fails (Video) appeared first on The NBA Mistress.
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Carmelo Anthony’s struggles hurt Knicks in Game 1 loss
While Anthony got an MVP vote, he didn’t play like one against the Pacers
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Spurs to exploit Howard’s free throw struggles
If there’s one thing we know about San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, it’s that all he cares about is winning, no matter how pretty or ugly he has to do it.
And that includes implementing “Hack-a-Howard.”
Popovich will find himself in several spots to utilize this tactic when the Spurs open their first round playoff match-up Sunday against Dwight Howard and the Los Angeles Lakers.
And if the Spurs do start to hack, Howard says he will be ready.
“If they’re going to do that the whole series, God bless them, Howard said, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. There’s nothing I can do about it but go up there and shoot the free throws. Even if I make them, they’re still going to do it. So, that’s not my concern”
When the Spurs played the Lakers last week at the Staples Center, Popovich went to the “Hack-a-Howard” early, intentionally fouling the center for the first time with 2:25 left in the 3rd quarter. The Spurs went on to f
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Big East Tournament 2013: Can Syracuse Overcome Conference Struggles?
The Big East is a competitive conference this season, and No. 17 Syracuse (22-7, 10-6 Big East) has felt the brunt of it. Dropping its last three conference games, Syracuse will face stiff competition in the Big East Tournament.
After a much-needed win against No. 24 Notre Dame (22-7, 10-6 Big East), Syracuse is tied for the fifth seed in the Big East. Syracuse has struggled against conference opponents; Whether they were ranked or not, the Orange have found it hard to finish games.
Syracuse has a big one at No. 5 Georgetown (23-4, 13-3 Big East) to finish the regular season. A win would be huge for the Orange. The last time they met at Syracuse, they couldn’t best Georgetown. The final game will be in Georgetown and is sure to challenge the Orange.
Syracuse has shown inconsistencies this season inside and outside the conference. The Big East Tournament is a week away, and the Orange aren’t looking too secure. Previous conference struggles will come back to haunt them.
The biggest concern is that Syracuse has dropped games against weaker conference opponents. Connecticut, Villanova and Pittsburgh have given the Orange a tough time. Now, Pittsburgh (23-7, 11-6 Big East) is a higher seed (four) in the Big East while Syracuse struggles to secure a fifth seed.
Not to mention, the top dogs of the Big East handed Syracuse its last three losses. Going into the Tournament with that kind of record doesn’t help the Orange. If they thought this season was difficult, the tournament will be a rude awakening for Syracuse.
There will be no room for a bad game. No matter the ranking, a team can easily throw Syracuse off. The regular season has been evidence of that. The stakes are high for every team, and Syracuse can’t make any mistakes here.
The second round for Syracuse shouldn’t pose a problem. The third round will. As of now, Syracuse would face Pittsburgh, and the Panthers have improved. Beyond the third round, Syracuse’s success doesn’t look promising.
The Big East Tournament will be no easy feat. Syracuse’s previous struggles will either fuel its fire or be its downfall. Judging from the last few games and conference play overall, Syracuse will struggle in the Big East Tournament. The competition is too heavy, and there’s no sure victory for the Orange.
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Cuban: Mavs’ struggles are “like a company going out of business”
It’s no secret the Dallas Mavericks’ struggles this season have been tough on Mark Cuban.
His Mavericks sit at 26-32, outside of the Western Conference playoff race.
It’s insult to the injury that was this past offseason, where his hopes of landing a big-time free agent like Deron Williams never came to fruition.
And, of course, this comes after blowing up the 2011 NBA Champions in order to get Dallas in a salary cap position where the team can move forward after team icon Dirk Nowitzki steps away from the hardwood.
“It’s the most painful thing that I’ve been through,” Cuban said at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston this weekend, reports the New York Times. “It’s like having a company that’s going out of business.”
Not exactly a glowing endorsement for the rest of the season, but the Mavericks are still fighting.
The players have banned together. In a sign of unity, the players are growing beards until they reach .500, a task that is literall
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Kobe Bryant On His Shooting Struggles: I Can’t Be In A Slump
Lakers guard Kobe Bryant does his thing anytime he chooses to. At the drop of a dime, if Kobe wants to prove something to naysayers, he will.
If Kobe hears that he’s shooting too much, he will go out, pass the ball, rebound the ball, and pass up shots just to prove a point.
Bryant started the season scorching from the field, shooting 46.3% from the field. He’s come back to earth a bit and punctuated that with a 1-8 performance in a win a few days ago.
Some might suggest Kobe is cold or in a slump, but according to ESPN L.A. and the Black Mamba himself, “he can never be in a slump.”
“I’m not in a slump,” Bryant said after practice Wednesday. “I just haven’t shot it (much). I can’t be in a slump. The game before against a good team in Miami, I shot the s— out of the ball. So I’m not worried about it.”
“I really haven’t been focusing on 3-pointers the last three or four games,” said Bryant, who had attempted just three 3s in his previous three games before taking four against
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How to Fix O.J. Mayo’s Recent Struggles with the Dallas Mavericks
Early on in the season, it appeared as though O.J. Mayo of the Dallas Mavericks was going to be in for an All-Star season.
Coming over from Memphis, Mayo was finally given the opportunity to show just how good of a scorer he could be at the NBA level. Early in the season when the Mavs were forced to try to tread water without Dirk Nowitzki, it was Mayo who took control and kept the team relevant.
In fact, for the first month or so of the season, Mayo was in the top 10 in scoring in the NBA, averaging over 20 points a game.
Here is a video of ESPN’s Tim Legler talking about the impact that Mayo had on the Mavericks earlier in the season.
While Mayo hasn’t fallen off the map completely since, he hasn’t exactly been as consistently dominant as he was early in the year.
For whatever reason, Mayo hasn’t really been able to be as effective in the last four to six weeks as he was in the season’s first 25 games.
Currently Mayo is averaging 18.0 PPG, still amongst the league leaders in the NBA, but down from his early numbers.
Partially as a result of his falling off, the Mavs as a team have tumbled. Dallas has been unable to climb back into the thick of things in the race for a playoff spot after having a miserable month of December in which it went only 5-10.
The biggest problem with Mayo’s performance has been his consistency. In February alone, Mayo bookended his stellar 19-, 19-, and 28-point performances with 10- and eight-point duds.
Mayo also takes sporadic amounts of shots from the field. On some nights he will jack it up close to 20 times, while other times he disappears on the offensive end, not even registering 10 shots while playing second or even third fiddle.
There is no doubt that Mayo has the scoring ability to be a consistent night-in,night-out 20-point scorer, but he just hasn’t been able to find that continuity the last month and a half.
Part of the problem is that Mayo is still getting used to playing alongside Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk missed the first two months of the season with a knee injury, and after returning in late December, Mayo has had to make the change from being the team’s No. 1 option to its No. 2 man.
Despite the team’s struggles, it is hard to argue that the team isn’t better off with both Mayo and Nowitzki in the lineup. Still, although Nowitzki is the more decorated scorer, this year’s team seems to do better at least for the time being when Mayo plays well.
Interestingly, in games in which Nowitzki scores 20 or more points and Mayo doesn’t, the Mavericks are 0-3. However, when Mayo scores over 20 and Nowitzki doesn’t in games they have played together, the Mavericks are 3-1.
Although the sample set may not be big enough to claim that Mayo should be the top option on offense, at the very least it indicates that Mayo scoring usually means good things for this Mavericks team.
Mayo also has had to deal with the attention he is being paid by other teams on the defensive side of the ball. Now that Mayo is no longer the bench player he was in Memphis, teams are beginning to realize his scoring prowess; therefore they are adjusting their game plans defensively to try to take away his game, especially his three-point shot.
Here is a graph of Mayo’s three-point shooting percentages in each month of the season this year (not counting October, which only had two games played).
As you can see, Mayo’s numbers dropped off significantly from beyond the arc after November, before getting his shot back so far this month. Although some of the dropoff had to do with Mayo just cooling off, it also had to do with other teams making the adjustment on defense and Mayo not being able to change his game to keep getting as many quality looks.
So how do O.J. Mayo and the Mavericks go about fixing their problems for the remainder of this season?
The best way for Mayo to try to get his game back on track is to try to be more consistent on the offensive end. It partially needs to come from the coaching staff and his teammates as well, but Mayo should be getting between 15-20 shots every night.
Mayo is clearly the best perimeter scorer on the Mavericks. Without a ton of big scoring options, Mayo should be more involved in the offense early in games, so he can establish himself. Mayo can then settle in as the game goes on, when Dirk Nowitzki begins to take over in the second half.
Mayo is also an above-average passer for his position, so if he begins to get doubled, he can find the open men and allow guys like Darren Collison and Shawn Marion to get more involved.
Dallas also needs to start running more set plays to get Mayo coming off screens to get jumpers. While Mayo is a guy who does his best work with the ball in one-on-one scenarios, the best way to get his shooting percentage up is to get him quality looks—and the best way to do that is to run sets and set screens that put him in position to take open jump shots.
Here is an example of the Mavs running a great out-of-bounds play that allowed Nowitzki to screen for Mayo to get an open catch-and-shoot three against Oklahoma City.
Finally, Mayo and Nowitzki need to get on the same page once and for all.
If Mayo re-signs with the Mavs after this season, a Mayo-Dirk combo could be something that the two players will need to get used to for the next several years. Part of the reason why the Mavericks were so good offensively in the Nowitzki-Jason Terry era is that the two of them trusted one another 100 percent on the court.
Mayo and Nowitzki are both dynamic offensive players, but if they fail to get on the same page it will only cause turmoil and more losses for the Mavericks in the future.
Dallas still has time to turn its season around this year, but if the Mavs are going to do it, it will largely be up to O.J. Mayo to be consistently effective for the final 30 games.
Mayo will have the All-Star break this weekend to clear his head, but when he comes back he’ll need to shoulder a bigger load for the Mavs to will them back into the West’s top eight.
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UK Basketball: 4 Lessons John Calipari Must Learn from Struggles This Season
Fresh off of their impressive (and season-saving) win over Ole Miss, the Kentucky Wildcats gave the Big Blue Nation hope that they could return to their usual dominant form by March.
But this team is still young and has a lot of growing up left to do. For the Wildcats to continue to win consistently and beat tougher teams down the road, John Calipari must make sure that his squad continues to move past the road blocks they’ve encountered so far this season…and some of the ones that are still ahead of them.
The following are four lessons that Coach Cal must learn from the struggles that his team has faced this season.
All stats via ESPN.com
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Indiana Hoosiers Basketball: Different Team in Both Halves Reason for Struggles
Rarely is a 17-2 team dissected this bad, but the Indiana Hoosiers have some huge problems they need addressed going forward if they want to win the national title. The biggest one is coach Tom Crean.
First off, I love the guy. He’s a great Christian family man with phenomenal morals. He’s a tremendous recruiter and truly loves Indiana University and basketball. His weaknesses are glaring this year though, and it could cost him his job down the road.
The problem lies in that IU looks like two completely different teams in a tale of two halves.
In the first half, Indiana looks like the 1976 undefeated team. In the second, they look like the 2009 team with walk-ons. That falls on Crean.
Coach Crean doesn’t make any adjustments at halftime. I gave him a break in the first few games, but now it’s glaring. I don’t think he knows how to.
In the first half of their six Big Ten games, Indiana is outscoring their opponents 225-148. That’s a plus-77 point differential. That’s remarkable. In the second half, they’re getting outscored 221-204 which is a minus-17 differential.
In fact, in the six conference games thus far, they’ve been outscored in four of the six of their second halves. The only two games they won the second half was both contests against Penn State. The Nittany Lions are winless in conference play so that doesn’t say much there. Still, Indiana only beat them by six in the first matchup on the road and by only nine at home.
This is a huge issue and those stats don’t lie.
How can four of the six games you get outscored by your opponent? I can understand a couple of games, but nearly all of them against every team but the winless one is inexcusable.
IU was outscored by Northwestern by seven, Wisconsin by six, Minnesota by 16 and Iowa by four. If it wasn’t for such strong first halves, Indiana would be 2-4 in conference play right now. The only reason they’re winning is due to the talent coach Crean has on his team.
This has to stop. They need to win both halves. You can’t look like two different teams in the course of one game. It’s just a 15-minute break between halves. What could possibly go wrong in that short amount of time? The only explanation is no adjustments are being made and that will cost Crean his job.
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