Why do you say House? There's been no indications MDA wouldn't play house-a guy who can defend, drive the lane and shoot 3's at a high percentage. I hate Shumpert but MDA seems to favor him and I expect to see him in the rotation. Just based on minutes Nene would be the odd one out and I agree he will be deployed situationally. So I'd say he goes with the 9 man rotation.
Rockets do not want to be in same bracket with OKC, Denver, or Golden state. Far"weed" gonna be riding bench in that bracket.
Denver = LOL OKC = Not mentally there to beat Rockets 4 times out of 7 Warriors = Get your popcorn ready
Both Shumpert and Green need to play as few minutes as possible that we can get away with. Maybe use them in spot minutes.
Ariza is in. Rockets would be nothing without him, if not for him this year. We would not be get at least home-court advantage.
Gerald Green is almost underrated here, he's been in the rotation all year and will likely continue to be. IMO we'll see more Rivers than Shump versus a PG threat and the reverse if up against like San Antonio or Utah. House should be in, and the only one n the bench capable of breaking into a closing lineup. Not expecting to see alot of Faried at the 4 but certain matchups may work. Nene will play when in danger of getting bullied otherwise Faried will back up 5
It seems like the coaching staff is getting Nene ready for playoff minutes. The lineup with Nene and Faried together vs the Clips nullified Trez and J Green which I was concerned about. We obliterated there bench. Austin's on ball defense may be the best on the team. I don't see him sitting. My eye test tells me that our playoff bench is going to be House, Rivers and a combo of Faried/Nene. That's a 8/9 man rotation. I just don't see where Shump or Green get consistent minutes in the playoffs. Spot minutes are fine.
our rotation last year was Nene, Gerald Green, a very bad luc (averaging 2.8 ppg) in nine games he played, and Eric Gordon. Also a 39 year old Joe Johnson replaced Luc. Yeah I am much more hyped about House, Faried, Austin Rivers, Shump/Green and Nene rotation
House, Rivers and unfortunately Shumpert seem to be locks. Faried and Nene depending on matchups. Green I think is out. To me it’s a big mistake to leave Green out and not give him that confidence. That’s when he thrives! Also Faried or Nene should always play, 9 guys at least.
Nene may be needed to matchup with Cousins for short stints. He played Cousins well the last time they matched up.
MDA's pattern is clear. 8.5 players in the first round, and that will reduce down to 7.5 players by the time the Finals roll around. Stupid and always ends in fatigue that affects shooting, but we're not going to change him now. I think MDA will go with Capela Tucker Harden Gordon Paul House Nene Rivers Faried in case of emergency Personally I would move Faried up and Rivers down, but MDA always leans towards going smaller. Both these guys are heavily limited on one side of the ball (i.e. their net contribution is similar) so I would rather get the size, energy and rebounding Faried brings. It's only for 15-20 minutes anyway. Between Paul, Gordon, Harden and House I don't understand what Rivers' primary skill - perimeter defense - is doing for us in the backcourt where there are only 96 minutes of which 70 will without a doubt go to just Paul and Gordon. Are Harden and/or House not going to spend 26 minutes in the backcourt? If they only spend 15 minutes there, is it worth playing Rivers cold off the bench for 11 minutes or give those minutes to House? I really hope Shumpert is nowhere close to the rotation.
There is no question playoff depth this year is much better. I am pretty certain that having one of Harden and CP3 on the floor at all times could make this extended bench produce solid results for us. Better still, having the team fine tune themselves in the last 3 games is exactly the thing anyone would want before the playoffs. Everybody is healthy with an extra step because they have been able to get proper rest. Unlike last year, the Rockets are going to start the playoffs hitting on all cylinders. The hope here is that they can get even better the deeper they go.
I look at the most Clippers game as the best indicator. Shump didn’t play and GG came in during garbage time. If we consider Harden to be the starting 3 then a large portion of EG’s minutes will be as the backup 3 with the second unit. Not as the 2. Our second unit vs the Clippers featured Paul and Rivers as the 1 and 2. EG played the 3 with a combo of Faried, House and Nene backing up the 4 and 5. Rivers locked down Lou Williams as he seems to vs a lot of elite scoring guards. His perimeter defense is key to our second unit. Basically if we shorten our bench, then Rivers is the guard, House is the forward, and Faried/Nene will be primarily back up the 5. Faried could get minutes as a backup 4 under certain circumstances. I don’t know the advanced stats, but that CP, Rivers, EG, House, Faried second unit has looked deadly as of late. Rivers has to play more than 11 minutes. I’m thinking closer to 16-18 minutes. His defense is that stout, and he takes care of the ball.
The problem with Rivers is the same problem as with Faried and Green: they are atrocious on one side of the ball. I don't see the value of Rivers taking care of the ball with Paul and Gordon leading the attack. Yes his defense has been excellent. There is no reason to focus on defense or offense. The only formula that matters if offense minus defense and Rivers is no Draymond Green impact wise for us to ignore his offense. The only reason I see Rivers getting more minutes is statistics based more than anything: Faried and Green will almost never play good defense, whereas if Rivers sticks to our game plan he will have a good shooting night 1 out of 10 games. Can't ask for more from minimum signings I guess, but it's not so much a "we need something like this" as much as it is "if I have to choose one". I side with Faried for a different reason. I predict Tucker will be ice cold from 3 in the playoffs, much like Ariza last season. MDA seems to be oblivious to the impact of fatigue on shooting, even though these guys' splits SCREAM that their shooting benefits tremendously from shooting. So if we can get Faried in at backup 4, I can live with his lack of defense if it at least means we get a better version of Tucker.
I dont know why you predict Tucker will go ice cold.. Ariza was one of the highest volume three point shooters last year, PJ is much less then him. Also PJ is not known for being streaky and practically hitting the same percentage all months.. plus any player can go gold.. Eric Gordon went cold for two months.. Rox went ice cold as a team for the second half of game 7.. you have to except these out comes and hope they don't come at the worst time.
