Houston Rockets

Sign Howard, Iggy and best cheap defensive PF in FA. Cut all we can for the cap space. Team: G: Harden G: Iggy C: Howard F: Parsons F: Cheap, defensive PF 6th: Lin 7th: Beverly 8th: Smith/Jones/Dalembert/(insert cheap spot minutes defensive big man) -big downside is losing Asik, who I love and really is much more likeable than Howard but you probably can't play both...both would clog the lane for pick and rolls/drives for Harden, Lin and Parsons Altarnatively: G: Harden G: Iggy C: Asik F: Parsons F: Millsap 6th: Lin 7th: Beverly 8th: Smith/Jones/Dalembert/ (insert cheap spot minutes defensive big man) I think both teams would be a huge step up in D for an already great offensive force. Getting and affording both Iggy and Howard could be fantasy land but that give us two great defenders to lock down the biggest threats other teams have. I do think Lin is a good player, potentially even a great player but he and harden both need the ball to be effective so use them alternatively...and Harden is better so he starts. Sign Howard, Iggy and best cheap defensive PF in FA. Cut all we can for the cap space. Team: G: Harden G: Iggy C: Howard F: Parsons F: Cheap, defensive PF 6th: Lin 7th: Beverly 8th: Smith/Jones/Dalembert/(insert cheap spot minutes defensive big man) -big downside is losing Asik, who I love and really is much more likeable than Howard but you probably can't play both...both would clog the lane for pick and rolls/drives for Harden, Lin and Parsons Altarnatively: G: Harden G: Iggy C: Asik F: Parsons F: Millsap 6th: Lin 7th: Beverly 8th: Smith/Jones/Dalembert/ (insert cheap spot minutes defensive big man) I think both teams would be a huge step up in D for an already great offensive force. Getting and affording both Iggy and Howard could be fantasy land but that give us two great defenders to lock down the biggest threats other teams have. I do think Lin is a good player, potentially even a great player but he and harden both need the ball to be effective so use them alternatively...and Harden is better so he starts. Poll Is getting Iggy plus Howard a complete and total fantasy? Yes, impossible to make the salaries worked. Harden, Howard and Iggy would have to take salary cuts to make it work. Yes, there are much better combinations out there to make this work before we choose to include Iggy. (like getting Howard and Smith, Howard and Millsap, etc...) You may be on to something...it could work, but we would have to trade away Asik for sure and maybe Lin to get it done. Thats Crazy Talk! You're not as dumb as you look. 9 votes | Results

1. There's No State Income Tax: 2. In the playoffs we didn't start Earl Clark, Steve Blake, Andrew Goudelock or Darius Morris: 3. Dwight couldn't look down on his new coach: 4. We've both fired a Van Gundy: 5. We have the perfect wingman for you on-the-court: 6. We have the perfect wingman for you off-the-court: 7. We've got a guy to help you take it to the next level:

Where will Dwight Go? Will he stay a Laker? Will he go somewhere else? First, the givens. Priority One: He goes to a major city Priority Two: He gets a big paycheck. Priority Three: He doesn't look like a douche for wasting the Lakers trade assets. Priority Four: Winning. -We can cross out Mavericks as it really isn't a big market team and it couldn't make playoffs because of AGE/rebuilding. What's left is New York, Miami, Clippers, Warriors, LA, Nets. Dwight's best situation would be if the Lakers did a sign and trade. That way, it's the LAKERS that don't want him and not the other way around. He'd also recieve his max money that way as well. New York, Miami, Warriors, and the nets don't really have the assets to pull that off. Lakers are going to want a good big man back. That really just leaves the Clippers as Dwight's favorite option. That's not the Lakers favorite option. Giving your star player to a crosstown competitor is utterly bad business 101 but faced with the prospect of losing Dwight for nothing...you may take your chances. The second option is if Lakers fully commit to Dwight Howard. That means firing D'antoni. This might not even certify Howard's staying as a lot of players have leaked to ESPN about coaching clashes in order to justify their exit to another NBA team only to leave regardless of coaching changes. So the ball is on the Laker's court. If they bet on howard, they'd need a show of faith by firing d'antoni. Which still DOES NOT guarantee them Howard. Howard can use the D'antoni excuse as a last resort to leave. That's why his agents leaked those rumors in the first place. Unlike the Magic, the Lakers can't threaten Howard with wasting one more year of Howard's life because Howard is fully UFA and Lakers don't rebuild nor can they really have a non playoff year. The dangers of success mean you can't fail ever. So the Lakers are left with very few options. Dwight is in the driver seat about where to go and his first idea has to be the Clippers. This explains all those Clippers rumors about wanting David West. Any deal involving Howard is going to involve Griffin. But that's the last thing the Lakers want. There's a third option. And that's to convince Dwight Howard that the Rockets or some other team is really good and have him shipped out to a non LA team. This last option is the Rockets. There's some stiff competition in this category and the Rockets have no assets to give to the Lakers. And even if the Rox did, it wouldn't add up capwise. -------------------------------------- There are still too many factors up in the air to make a credible prediction. What is Buss' personality? As an owner is he a hot head? Does he take risks? The decisions are very obvious but at the end of the day, it's up to Mr. Buss. The more weeks pass without a decision from Buss is worrisome about the Laker's future. You either bet on Dwight (with no guarantee of him staying) or you trade him to the Clippers. The third option is never going to yield you as many assets as the previous options as even the dumbest General Managers know not to give you the farm on this Howard deal. Not to mention the fact that you require Howard to OKAY the deal in the first place and hop off to a small-market team. But again, I need to know how rational Buss is. Where will Dwight Go? Will he stay a Laker? Will he go somewhere else? First, the givens. Priority One: He goes to a major city Priority Two: He gets a big paycheck. Priority Three: He doesn't look like a douche for wasting the Lakers trade assets. Priority Four: Winning. -We can cross out Mavericks as it really isn't a big market team and it couldn't make playoffs because of AGE/rebuilding. What's left is New York, Miami, Clippers, Warriors, LA, Nets. Dwight's best situation would be if the Lakers did a sign and trade. That way, it's the LAKERS that don't want him and not the other way around. He'd also recieve his max money that way as well. New

This report card was probably the most difficult to figure out. The power forward rotation in Houston was shipped out at the trade deadline for Thomas Robinson. Donatas Motiejunas started more games out of the remaining crop of power forwards but Greg Smith played more games and minutes per game than any other power forward. The rampant instability of the power forward spot forced me to designate a starter. Since Greg Smith had the most minutes and games played, he gets the nod. Greg is in his second year in the NBA and was a undrafted free agent of the Houston Rockets when he was acquired. He played his early days for Rio Grande Valley. Greg was intermittently the starter and is widely deemed the back up center for the Rockets, however, due to a lack of stability at the four he was called on to start games and log about 15 minutes a game for the Rockets between the four and the five. Let's take a peek at what Greg Smith brought to the Rockets under the lens of a power forward. The Numbers 6 points/5 rebounds/.6 blocks per game. True to form the numbers reflect that Smith wasn't a focal point of the offense nor was he a defensive stopper. His rebounding total represents one board for every three minutes he's on the floor. Clearly he's most useful as a back up. On an advanced level Greg Smith is actually pretty good. He posted a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 16.17, which is above the league average. Admittedly this PER is mostly reflecting limited use (14.7% usage) but more importantly it's indicative of the fact that he didn't tend to make mistakes on the court in his limited minutes. For a team that didn't have a solution at the four Greg steadied the process. Greg's true shooting percentage (63.6%) was built predominantly on the fact that he's a decent finisher around the rim. The most interesting aspect of his game was that he showed basic elements of a post game that he capitalized on in-close. Ultimately Greg Smith reminds me of a Ryan Fitzpatrick. He's good enough to steady the position and won't tend to cost you an abundance of games but he's not a solution. In expanded minutes Greg managed to see a rise in his offensive rebound percentage, his assist percentage, and his win shares but he saw a dip in his defensive rebound rate, effective field goal percentage, and his offensive/defensive ratings. The Good Finishing around the rim. Greg brought back the art of the gorilla dunk and showed a great deal of athleticism in the pick and roll. It was nice to have a power forward with no problem taking the ball to the rim. He was a breath of fresh air from Patrick Patterson's love affair with the three point shot and the deep two (Despite the fact that he could make the shot, it didn't help the Rockets style of play with an abundance of shooters already on the floor). Greg had a surprisingly polished post game he would flash signs of throughout the season with a hook shot and post shimmy that threw off defenders. Grade: B The Bad Rebounding. Greg Smith has never been a prolific rebounder. The power forward position in Houston really required a player who could pull down the offensive boards and in fifteen minutes a game Smith failed to amass more than five boards a game. Worse yet Greg only improved in his offensive rebounding rate, which was completely abysmal anyhow. All of his other rebounding stats decreased with increased minutes. Outside of Omer Asik the Rockets were really hurting for a rebounder and rather than solve that problem Greg merely added a rim finisher. He lands his grade not merely for failing to provide what the Rockets needed but for regressing in a critical area of the game that landed Marcus Morris more time. Grade: D The Ugly Fouls. If you ever need a clinic on how to harm another player and get yourself off the floor then Greg Smith is the man for you. Greg failed to stay on the court for significant periods of time and when he was a backup this problem only magnified. On the season Gre

James Harden becomes first Rockets player since Yao Ming in 2009 to be named to an All-NBA team

There seems to be quite a bit happening in the Rockets organization over the last few days so I figured we should at least do a quick link burst and summary. This will allow a place for you to post any news coming up and give you a quick cursory glance at this writer's take on what's going on. Someone's got to pick up the slack, right? Chandler Parsons invited to Team USA training camp Parsons gets a chance to try to play his way onto the Team USA Roster with this invite and it's the first formal notice of his skills and contributions. Team USA is the most highly touted team in international competition and it's a major honor. It's worth noting that the day I post Chandler's report card is the same day he gets this honor. I am a kingmaker. Chris Finch and Kelvin Sampson are potential candidates for the Philadelphia 76ers vacancy Finch was the heir apparent to Kevin McHale, coaches team United Kingdom in international competition, and was at the helm of the successful D-League Affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers. The league, much like Team USA, is taking notice of the Houston Rockets organization and their cutting edge preparation and execution. Finch would be a great hire in Philadelphia if they can focus a build around young talent but it would definitely put a dent in the Rockets plans. Suns to interview JB Bickerstaff The Phoenix Suns will meet with coach JB Bickerstaff on Friday about the head coaching job. Bickerstaff is part of the team of assistants on the Rockets bench with head coaching potential. Between Philadelphia and Phoenix all of the Houston Rockets assistants are potential candidates for head coaching jobs elsewhere. James Harden Makes All-NBA 3rd Team James received 253 points in voting for the off-season honor of "some of the best in the NBA". If there was any doubt that Harden is a top 5 SG in the league he now gets to join the elite conversation as top 15 in the NBA. This continues a general theme on the day that notice is being given to what's going on in Houston. Harden's 253 points, mind you, places him firmly at the top of the vote getters for the 3rd team.

Not many people knew who Patrick Beverley was before he collided with Russell Westbrook’s knee while attempting to steal the ball during Game 2 of the first round. It made him the center of attention and forced him beneath the brightest spotlight of his life. He was a role player who took out a star.But, of course, Beverley is much more than that moment. His story began long before and will carry on long after. Here’s a quick recap of how his relationship with the Houston Rockets began, and where it currently stands.After spending a few years playing professional basketball in Ukraine, Greece, and Russia, Beverley signed with the Rockets one week into 2013. His role was third-string point guard, an insurance policy for Jeremy Lin and Toney Douglas.Eventually Beverley took Douglas’ minutes (allowing the team to include him in a deadline deal for Thomas Robinson), and soon after he found himself closing games on the court, with Lin on the bench. A combination of Beverley’s ability to space the floor on offense and stay in front of quick ball-handlers on defense afforded him the time.Beverley went from being a forgettable mid-season signing from Russia to starting five games in the playoffs (33.3 minutes, 11.8 points, and 5.5 rebounds per game) while standing as a key figure in the team’s small ball strategy.That’s where we are. Here’s who he is: Pesky, frisky, a mosquito who does way more than put an itchy bump on your skin. Beverley plays with the same intensity regardless of where he/the ball is on the court. On his Twitter profile, he aptly refers to himself as “Mr. 94 Feet,” for obvious reasons.He’s also an unknown commodity, as has previously been mentioned. Beverley’s last name is misspelled over several websites that aren’t in the business of misspelling the names of NBA players, including NBA.com’s new statistical database and Synergy Sports. (There’s no “e” between the “l” and “y” at the end of his last name.)Beyond his name, what else is unknown is his immediate future with the Rockets. Not much useful lineup data can be gathered from his play with the team’s other fixtures (James Harden, Omer Asik, and Chandler Parsons) due to the small sample sizes, but I’ll be giving them to you anyway.In just 156 regular season minutes beside Asik and Harden (the team’s two most important players), the Rockets scored 109.6 points per 100 possessions while allowing only 96.8. They outscored opponents by 1.28 points per possession and grabbed 36.4% of their own missed shots.(When you throw Chandler Parsons into the mix, those four man units outscored opponents by 12 points per 100 possessions in only 70 total minutes played.)That offensive rebounding rate is phenomenal, about a dozen percentage points higher than Houston’s season average. For reference, the Denver Nuggets led the league with an offensive rebounding rate of 31.4%, according to NBA.com/Stats.Let’s talk some more about offensive rebounding because Beverley is really good at it. The average offensive rebounding rate among all point guards in the NBA last season was 2.1%. It’s so low for two reasons: 1) point guards are small, and 2) when a teammate shoots the ball, it’s the guard’s responsibility to retreat as a safety net and prevent any easy transition opportunities.According to Hoopdata.com, Beverley’s offensive rebounding rate was 7.1%. It sounds high because it is, and Beverley was first among all point guards. Generally speaking it’s both good and bad to have your point guard bum rush the rim whenever a shot soars towards his own basket. Good because the potential for second chance points is theoretically increased now that the ball is in the hands of a player possessing high IQ player and an ability to pass—wide open three-pointers galore over here.But should he or his team fail to corral the ball, they’re susceptible to an easy basket the other way. With Beverley on the floor this season the Rockets actually allowed fewer fast break points than their average, whi

A statistical and subjective look at the top free agent shooting guards available this summer

So if I received any criticism about Jeremy it was that I was too soft on him. I'm ok with that because we're about to pick up the one player all Rockets fans have deference to; the man, the myth, the ridiculously valuable legend, Mr. Chandler Parsons. Chandler holds down the small forward position for the Rockets, often pulls the offense's best player as his assignment, and saw further improvement from his rookie season. Chandler was a second round pick of the Houston Rockets in 2011 draft. Since arriving on the scene in Houston Chandler stepped in to the starting small forward position after the Shane Battier trade. This writer has to eat some crow at this point. I projected Chandler would max out as an athletic Shane Battier but we've seen so much more from him in a year when scouting tape was fully available. Generally fourth year college players don't have a huge ceiling but Chandler has defied all of these conventions and I, for on, am ecstatic to admit that I was wrong. If you can't see how all of this praise is going to lead to his grading then I'm afraid I can't show my cards any harder... The Numbers Chandler averaged 16 points/5 rebounds/4 assists per game. In his second year Chandler's usage barely changed (Up 2% to 18.3) but his efficiency and contribution spiked in a major way. Chandler's true shooting percentage jumped to 58% up from 51 and his win shares on the season more than doubled from 3.4 to 7 on the season. Yet another shock in the defensive rating category similar to Jeremy's stood out to me, however. Chandler allows 108 points per 100 possessions however much of that can be attributed to guarding the Lebron James of the league where no matter how good a defender you are you are giving up 30 points. Chandler saw his rebound rate decrease from his rookie season (down 1% of available rebounds to 8.3) to his sophomore year but he did punch his assist percentage up 4% giving him some trade off. Chandler posts a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 15.33 This isn't really stat related but let's appreciate the most important number for Chandler. Parsons earns $888,250.00 per season. Chandler's impact on the Rockets is comparable to most other small forwards in the NBA but it gets even more interesting when you consider PER in relation to the rest of the league. Chandler edges out Luol Deng and Andre Iguodala in this department at a fraction of a fraction of the price. Hold on to that. The Good The sophomore slump does not apply to Chandler. I fully expected Chandler to experience a downturn in his productivity this season. Generally a breakout rookie season is followed by some struggles in the sophomore season since scouting tape is available and there are no real quirks to hide your game behind anymore. Chandler stormed out of the gate his rookie season and then increased his totals by 6 points, .5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. He flourished next to James Harden and helped spark the new look Houston Rockets to their first playoff win in three years. Chandler was at the center of all the new chemistry with Jeremy Lin and James Harden and did all this while missing time for a triple double of corn dogs, beer, and tater tots. Grade: A+ The Bad Was there any? My initial inclination was to look at his shooting percentages but nearly 50% from the field, 40% from the three-point line, and 73% from the line is nothing to scoff at. He's no Lebron James but I don't see much of a weakness in his game at all. Grade: N/A The Ugly Nothing about Chandler Parsons is ugly. Grade: Pretty Overall Chandler has quickly become the heart of the Rockets. He's the most tenured member of the good guys and the only fully relevant player that Daryl Morey saw fit to keep around once the roster underwent a severe makeover. Morey is a firm believer in moving players at their peak value, which may not bode well for Parsons (Although he has stated that his daughter would never forgive him for moving him). Chandler will be

Q: When can we expect Moneyball 2: Moreyball? A: this would be a terrible movie. that said, we did have a 22 game winning streak and apparently a long winning streak is all you need for a movie. - Daryl Morey, during a Reddit AMA chat.Coverage of the NBA in the modern age is dominated by statistics. Where the dominating monolith of the box score once stood, now there are a myriad of useful and interesting methods for analyzing basketball, in scopes from the play of an individual player in a specific play type to the historical strategic choices of the league as a whole across time. This is a tremendous boon to anyone who wants to talk about the game: come up with an argument, and you can go away and find the numbers that prove or disprove it. But it’s not all good news. 47% of statistics are made up. Lies, damn lies and statistics! You know the clichés. The more information there is, the more it can be twisted to greater accentuate your argument or to be downright misleading.  There is an excellent example doing the rounds at the moment, and it has been driving me nuts to the extent that I felt like writing a blog post about it: The Heat are 45-3 in their last 48. How can we expect them to lose four in a row to anybody? There are some classes of statistics that create brilliant, fragile curios – great for soundbites, but not particularly useful for providing an accurate picture of what’s actually going on on the court. One factor that’s particularly relevant in such cases: when the sample from which the numbers are taken in such a way that it twists the result. What we have here is a textbook example. On what basis have we chosen 48 games as the period of time over which the past form is to be considered? Pretty sure the answer is “Because that’s when the Heat started winning“. But this is cherrypicking of the worst sort. A win streak is emphatic, but by its very nature it implies that the areas at either end of the streak are dotted with losses. Ironically, the last game before this selection begins was a loss against the team the Heat happen to be taking the court against tonight – the Indiana Pacers. In using this stat as a tool to prop up an argument about how the Heat are going to win, the implication is that the game on Friday 1st February that the Pacers won 102-89 is somehow much less important than the games that followed it. Otherwise why wouldn’t it be in the sample?Of course, there is a very easy to spot counter-argument for why this sort of factoid isn’t all that useful – last year’s playoffs! Conveniently, 2012 featured the exact same storyline, as the Spurs had amassed a 20 game win-streak two games into their Western Conference Finals match-up with Oklahoma City. As we saw then, the past record of the Spurs did not matter in the slightest at the Thunder proceeded to reel off four straight games and progress to the NBA Finals proper. The only things the Heat’s current achievement has over last years’ Spurs are that it’s a bigger sample size and that it doesn’t have an event to terminate it with yet. But when the samples have been selected to accentuate statistics, I’m not sure they can be treated with the same respect they normally would be.There’s one other thing worth bearing in mind when talking about numbers like these, and that’s strength of opponent. If I’ve done my maths right, the Heat’s last 48 games have featured opponents with a combined winning percentage of 42.7%. To put that in perspective, the closest comparison to that record this season would be the Philadelphia 76ers or Toronto Raptors, neither of whom were particularly strong. There were certainly some quality wins for LeBron and co. in the section of the schedule in question, but there was also a large number of games against the lottery-bound who were unlikely to put up much resistance. The remaining playoff teams exc