The Rockets Daily – August 26, 2013

By John Eby | August 26, 2013 at 7:00 am

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not – The pick-and-roll has been getting real mixed signals about Dwight Howard lately. First, he doesn’t want to do a pick and roll offense, according to Steve Nash, then he loves doing pick-and-rolls, according to Jeremy Lin. It’s such a perplexing issue that ESPN’s Brian Windhorst had to weigh in:

I want to offer a third explanation for the Howard-PnR controversy that is admittedly rose-tinted and full of Rockets’ homer bias: maybe the pick-and-roll is the scapegoat. It’s easier for Howard to say he didn’t like the offense they were running in L.A. than for him to say he hated playing with Kobe Bryant. It’s easier for him (and for Steve Nash) to say he didn’t like running pick-and-rolls than to say that Nash is washed up and that it’s a pain to cover for his matador defense. It’s easier for him to say he would prefer to work on his post game than to say he doesn’t want to deal with a fan base that will hate him if he can’t drag Robert Sacre and the artists formerly known as Gasol, Bryant and Nash to a championship. Everyone gets to save face except for Mike D’Antoni (but coaches always take the fall for stuff, so who cares?). I only consider this a possibility because one of the first things Howard talked about when he arrived in Houston was how much he looked forward to running the PnR with Harden. So is it possible that Howard’s pick-and-roll hate is just a smokescreen for all of the real and uglier reasons he left L.A.?

What Ugly Reasons? – These ugly reasons. Take it away, Ric Bucher of CSNBayArea:

Talks with various people close to the situation make it clear there were two prerequisites for Dwight Howard to remain a Laker: fire Mike D’Antoni and amnesty, or at the very least muzzle, Kobe Bryant.

The Lakers apparently asked Dwight to be patient on both fronts for at least another season, telling him “hey, you’re going to have to gut this out another year,” a source said, although it sounds as if VP of basketball ops Jim Buss isn’t ready to abandon Kobe anytime soon. “Dwight didn’t want to play with Kobe for 2-3 more years,” Buss said. “I’m going to stand behind Kobe because of his history with the franchise.”

Is it possible that Howard’s grudge against D’Antoni was for his insistence on running the pick-and-roll? Very. However, you also have to consider that the Mustache was trying to run PnR’s with three very effective iso/post players in Bryant, Gasol, and Howard, and you have to factor in D’Antoni’s reputation for giving short shrift to defense. It feels like the idea that Howard doesn’t like PnR’s is an oversimplification of all the things he didn’t like about L.A.

We Are Not The Champions, My Friends – The championship predictions from ESPN’s Summer Forecast are in, and Houston is not in the top 5. They came in a distant 8th with just 2 votes in a poll that was surprisingly bullish on the Thunder (no. 2 after losing Kevin Martin for nothing) and the Pacers (no. 3, although I’m not sure they are as good as their size mismatch against the Heat in the playoffs made them look). Also surprising was that Golden State didn’t get a single vote.

Who He Play For? - Royal Ivey will reportedly be working out for the Rockets and the Spurs. My first thought when I saw that Ivey has inexplicably played in the NBA for nine seasons was, “I bet he’s been a contestant on ‘Who He Play For?’” I love when I’m right.

Happy Birthdays! – Today is James Harden’s birthday, and Jeremy Lin turned 25 on Friday. He celebrated with glowing green teeth:


 

Also, kudos to Daryl Morey for knowing exactly what to give a multimillionaire athlete for his birthday:

Love that guy.

Got any sweet links or suggestions? Email them to [email protected] or message @EbyNews on Twitter.

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Total comments: 6
  • BrentYen says 1 day ago

    Not all pick-n-rolls are the same.
    The pick-n-rolls the Lakers were running was quite different from the Rockets............................

    ...................

    Great points all around.
    I just wanted to point out that, Rox set the screen closer to the rim and sometimes this hurts them.

    The spacing was poorer and the options were taken away when the defenders rotated properly,

    while the high pick and roll gives ball handlers more space to accelerate/operate and more speed to destroy the paint.

    Laker's PnR is more like a high Pinch post without the ball hand-off :p....

  • Sir Thursday says 1 day ago

    Not all pick-n-rolls are the same.
    The pick-n-rolls the Lakers were running was quite different from the Rockets.
    W/the Lakers,Nash's inability to beat his man off the dribble required a quite high pick. Since Dwight has no outside shot he's comfortable with,the defence had time to clog the lane for his roll. he'd end up a few feet in the lane surrounded by defenders.
    Telling was how few lobs Dwight got off the pick-n-roll. It's a staple for the Clips among others,just as it was for the Knicks during Linsanity w/Chandler.
    Nash was used to running pick-n-rolls w/first Dirk then Amare,both of whom could fade and shoot mid-range Js. Amare in particular could be deadly either fading or rolling to basket and Ds never knew which he'd do. Plus Amare when fading,if he didn't get ball would go to the hoop for offensive rebounds.
    Not to pick on Nash,but when Phoenix got Shaq and Shaq wanted the ball inside and the coach tried to accommodate him,Nash and Hill went to management and got Gentry fired.
    A last note on the Laker pick-n-roll,it wasn't esp effective when it was with Gasol or Hill either. Exception to ineffectiveness was when Kobe went into playmaker mode,as he was able to get a step on his man and the picks were set closer to basket.
    The Laker offense really picked up when Gasol came back in March and they started running a lot of hi-lo sets w/Gasol getting ball in hi-post and feeding Howard who was ducking in,something the other Lakers couldn't do.

    W/the Rockets the pick was set much closer to FT line as Lin and Harden could get a step on their man. Because the pick was set much closer in,help defenders had less time to get in lane to draw charges,and passes to corner 3pt shooters are shorter-hence quicker-putting those defenders in a quandry,stay on the 3pt shooter or rush to cover lane.
    I expect to see a ton of a nice option off pick-n-roll the Rockets started doing late in season and esp in OKC Series. Guard comes off left hi-post pick and Asik rolls to basket. If guard looks to have no angle he makes quick pass to Chandler who's drifted up from rt corner.Chandler has an angle on his defender who's backed off to help stop the penetration and Chandler makes quick drive to lane where he finds Asik at the rim.

    Quite simply,the Laker pick-n-rolls were ineffective because they were set too high on the court,while the Rocket pick-n-rolls were set so that the big had a quick path to basket.

    This is a really good point! It is tempting to treat the Pick & Roll as a monolithic entity, but there are plenty of subtleties to it that create differences in look/feel. I'd love to look up some stats to back this up - will see if there's anything obvious in Synergy when I get the chance.

    ST

  • rockets best fan says 2 days ago

    @Stephen

    interesting point you raised. food for thought B)

  • Stephen says 2 days ago

    Not all pick-n-rolls are the same.
    The pick-n-rolls the Lakers were running was quite different from the Rockets.
    W/the Lakers,Nash's inability to beat his man off the dribble required a quite high pick. Since Dwight has no outside shot he's comfortable with,the defence had time to clog the lane for his roll. he'd end up a few feet in the lane surrounded by defenders.
    Telling was how few lobs Dwight got off the pick-n-roll. It's a staple for the Clips among others,just as it was for the Knicks during Linsanity w/Chandler.
    Nash was used to running pick-n-rolls w/first Dirk then Amare,both of whom could fade and shoot mid-range Js. Amare in particular could be deadly either fading or rolling to basket and Ds never knew which he'd do. Plus Amare when fading,if he didn't get ball would go to the hoop for offensive rebounds.
    Not to pick on Nash,but when Phoenix got Shaq and Shaq wanted the ball inside and the coach tried to accommodate him,Nash and Hill went to management and got Gentry fired.
    A last note on the Laker pick-n-roll,it wasn't esp effective when it was with Gasol or Hill either. Exception to ineffectiveness was when Kobe went into playmaker mode,as he was able to get a step on his man and the picks were set closer to basket.
    The Laker offense really picked up when Gasol came back in March and they started running a lot of hi-lo sets w/Gasol getting ball in hi-post and feeding Howard who was ducking in,something the other Lakers couldn't do.

    W/the Rockets the pick was set much closer to FT line as Lin and Harden could get a step on their man. Because the pick was set much closer in,help defenders had less time to get in lane to draw charges,and passes to corner 3pt shooters are shorter-hence quicker-putting those defenders in a quandry,stay on the 3pt shooter or rush to cover lane.
    I expect to see a ton of a nice option off pick-n-roll the Rockets started doing late in season and esp in OKC Series. Guard comes off left hi-post pick and Asik rolls to basket. If guard looks to have no angle he makes quick pass to Chandler who's drifted up from rt corner.Chandler has an angle on his defender who's backed off to help stop the penetration and Chandler makes quick drive to lane where he finds Asik at the rim.

    Quite simply,the Laker pick-n-rolls were ineffective because they were set too high on the court,while the Rocket pick-n-rolls were set so that the big had a quick path to basket.

  • rockets best fan says 2 days ago

    @Jeby

    I agree with your assessment on Howard and theadvertised distaste for playing the pick and roll. I think that was a smoke screen to hide the real feelings. loving your daily's. keep up the good work

  • feelingsupersonic says 2 days ago Good one Jeby, thanks.