I agree with your point about jumping and fouling, happens most often with BMac sometimes House. But PJ and Harden rarely let bigs get into the paint, less so allowing them deep into the paint.
I would say the forwards (centers?) especially Covington and PJ stay locked in. Harden is kinda the opposite of the other guards; great on the ball defense in the post, and usually stays attached to his man when they are in the post. He usually just cheats too far off his man when they are on the 3pt line giving up some open 3's. But he does gets caught flat footed watching the ball from time to time and his man is able to cut to the rim for an easy bucket. The guys I'm talking about are Rivers, House, Westbrook, and especially Mclemore. The defense against Anthony Davis was great, (also against Brook Lopez) but partly because he didn't get great position and tried to create for himself or post up. Most of the guys fare much better when they are actually posted up. Also, they do pay a little better attention to the star players. It might have been different if Lebron or someone else was the ball handler to give him entry passes, but maybe not. I'd say we give at least 8-10 easy uncontested buckets to big men at the rim a game. It's understandable to get overpowered but I'm talking about no resistance, no dribbles or post up necessary. Either fronting a guy bigger with no help behind and no defense on the entry passer or just letting them walk under the basket then call for the ball. Against the Lakers, Kyle Kuzma was usually the one who was able to get low position for easy scores. Against Blazers it was Nurkic and Whiteside.
The post players are going to score their points albeit inefficiently. The Rockets system actually baits opposing team to shoot the most inefficient 2's which are post ups. Even 50% from low post will not win if Rockets are shooting 33.5% from 3. And Rockets not be elite 3 point shooters but they are above league average of 35%. Our system is designed to win via the 3 and at FT line, that is why Rockets are never out of the game even while losing rebound battle and points inside the paint. Defensive emphasis is on creating turnovers (steals, deflections, blocks) which provide Rockets more opportunities to score. I agree that the guards struggle the most especially when switched on bigs but Harden, House, Russ, Rivers and even BMac have all improved in this area since the bubble. And EGo is one of our best perimeter and very good post defender.
Remember how much we hated the Sonics and their defense? https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/2...k-nurse-zone-box-and-one-trap-switch-analysis
How do you like now????? Rockets Defense is better than Rockets offense. Top 10 baybeeeeee! With possibility of being top 5.
I was never worried about the defense. I was more worried about defensive rebounds. If we can keep the rebounding margin below 10, I think we are in good shape since we normally win the offensive efficiency and turnover battle. The reason Portland beat us is because they didn't turn the ball over since they play a lot of ISO and have really good ball handlers.
Moreso than defensive rebounding, Rockets need to keep improving their transition defense. Transition defense requires the team to race down the court on misses/turnovers as well as put pressure on the ball handler. This is the facet that determines how much better the Rockets total defense can be. The Rockets switch everything is already super effective in the half court but the defense can become truly elite if it can also place as much emphasis on transition defense.
Covington is at his best playing zone but his man defense is maybe not as lacking as you think. I have posted some really good articles in this thread with great stats regarding the contributions provided by RoCo, PJ, Harden and Green.
I've been very impressed with the Rockets transition D and playing a small lineup you really need to get back to your spots. Like I said at the beginning still think this is risky but if the Rockets can keep it going I'm happy and at this point we really don't have the personnel to play differently.