As the Rockets gear up for the NBA’s late July restart at the Florida “bubble,” one of the key talking points for their first practices after the COVID-19 hiatus has been about defense and better communication.
It’s understandable as to why. For the 2019-20 regular season to date, the Rockets rank No. 2 in the NBA in offense but just No. 16 on defense, and it’s clear which side of the court has more room for improvement.
Even so, Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni is regarded as one of the league’s all-time great innovators on the offensive side of the ball. So in addition to expected progress on defense, the Rockets are hopeful that they might get even better on offense, as well.
“At the end of the day, it’s about getting to an efficient, great offense,” Houston GM Daryl Morey said prior to Friday’s team practice at the bubble. “We’re already the second-best offense, but we can make that better, I think. We can easily be first throughout the playoffs.”
To help reach that higher level, Morey said Friday that D’Antoni is implementing a “new offensive set” during these early practices at the team’s Florida training camp. Among his comments:
Coach has put in a new offensive set, which will be interesting. … I think Coach will still go into the main skillsets of our players. It’s more just a wrinkle. As usual with Mike [D’Antoni], it’s simple stuff that’s very hard to stop.
For those curious, Coach D'Antoni's offense has basic principles. #Rockets run a handful of sets, but each set (or series) has an offensive structure that can spawn a variety of plays with options.
Morey: "As usual with [D'Antoni], it's simple stuff that's very hard to stop." https://t.co/De16PNCbXD
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) July 17, 2020
When asked what the change would be, Morey didn’t go into specifics, for obvious competitive reasons. He did say that it played to the skillsets of the smaller Rockets, who have elite playmaking guards like James Harden and Russell Westbrook and are devoid of traditional post scorers.
“Probably no Dreamshakes,” Morey said with a laugh, referring to the famous low-post move of legendary Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon. “If Dream was available, we’d give him lots of those.”
Both D’Antoni and several Houston players have spoken recently about the team’s need to run its offense at a faster pace. Despite going smaller, their pace slipped slightly after the February trade of traditional center Clint Capela for versatile forward Robert Covington.
[lawrence-related id=33277,32581]
The first chance fans will have to try and decipher any changes will be next Friday, July 24, which is when Houston is scheduled for its first of three scrimmages against other NBA teams in Florida. The Rockets (40-24) will then resume their 2019-20 regular season a week later.
[vertical-gallery id=34181]