Feels like we need a thread to talk about what we've seen from the preseason games so far, so here goes!
I'm generally feeling optimistic about the team this season from the first two games. There are so many little things that I've seen that just weren't there last year, and a couple of things I wasn't expecting to go so well that left me thinking we might be in for a great year.
Transition: Can you remember the last time you saw the Rockets make a long forward pass to kick off a transition opportunity? It feels like they didn't try it at all last year, but in these two games we've seen multiple instances of Harden trying to get the ball up the court in a hurry with a pass and it has nearly always paid dividends. Now, part of that is that in preseason the opposition might not be as willing (or able, in the case of the Sharks) to get back on defence quickly and in a well coordinated fashion. But you can still force this sort of opportunity in the regular season - it's one of the things the Warriors do very well. I'm glad to see us trying to get out and run a bit more, especially with someone like Corey Brewer on the roster.
Defensive Rebounding: This was the area I was most concerned about coming into this year. We were bottom of the league in DRB% last year, and if Dwight hadn't been there it would have been even worse. If there was one thing I was afraid could be our Achilles heel, it was going to be this. But actually, we seem to be doing pretty well on the boards - over 80% of defensive rebounds in both games! (For reference, the Rockets were at 72.8% DRB% last year - best in the league was Charlotte with 79.8% and league average was about 76%). Worth keeping an eye out as the season goes on. If we can even get to league average here it should go some way to bolstering the possible drop in defensive efficiency without Howard in the middle.
Running more Pick and Rolls: It's nice to see Harden getting back to playing pick-and-roll basketball. I remember when he was with the Thunder we played them one year and were up by 5-10 going down the stretch. They closed out the game with Harden playing point and just running pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll - he cut us to pieces and they won. I'm hoping we can see more of that this year! At times Harden seems a bit predictable (if he's running it with Nene you can bet he'll throw a bounce-pass), but I'd imagine he'll figure out the right levels of usage for each option as time goes on.
Spot up Stretch 4s rule!: The 3 point shooting battle Anderson and Porzingis had in the third quarter of the Knicks game was very entertaining! But it's not the only example of this - it's how Madrid managed to get back into the game on their way to beating the Thunder earlier in the week. I'd imagine someone will come up with a defensive innovation that will make this slightly less of a threat eventually, but for the time being the fashion for icing the pick-and-roll is making this a pretty deadly weapon. Hopefully Anderson will be doing plenty more of this when the regular season starts.
A few other things I noticed:
- Capela got spooked by Porzingis' length against the Knicks. After getting stuffed right at the beginning of the game, you could see him trying to change his footwork and release to avoid being blocked and it did not lead to good results. Most teams aren't going to have a 7'3" shotblocker with long arms to give him so much trouble, but he does seem to play better when he's not over-thinking it. Hopefully he'll manage to get into the zone more often as the season progresses.
- I was not all that impressed by KJ McDaniels' defence against the Sharks. He was on Fredette a lot of the time and Jimmer seemed to be able to get by him pretty often. If he wants to be a 3-and-D wing, he needs to be able to hold his own against this calibre of opposition, because he's going to see much better over the coming months.
- At one point against the Knicks, the Rockets had a lineup of Harden/Gordon/Brewer/Ariza/Nene on the court. It feels like there's potential there to do a bunch of switching, since 1-4 are all about the same size. I don't think they were doing it in this game, but maybe they'll have a look at doing it later in the year?
- GPII and Wiltjer seem to be the standouts of the players on the fringe competing for a roster spot. I'd like to get a look at them outside of garbage time to see how they would fare against real NBA competition - Wiltjer in particular, because with him if he is capable of playing defence at a passable level, his shooting is quite a big difference maker. Hopefully D'Antoni will give them some burn out in China.
- Why is Bobby Brown on the team? It's not that he's bad or anything, it just seems to me that they would be better served getting a few more minutes to look at Ennis/GPII running the point.
ST
