I'm pretty sure the Holiday and Smith minutes are pumped up by the time Adams was on the court. As much as people downplay the importance of offensive rebounds, the Rockets just slapped other teams around with Adams. A lot of it was Adams grabbing boards. A lot of it was while he's not a good defender, he was so much better than Sengun this year. A lot of it was also setting hard screens and grabbing Reed's defender to get Reed better looks. Not sure what is wrong with Sengun this year, but he's been bad defensively for a good chunk of the season. I expected some regression, as I expected Brooks had to cover for him a lot last season. Granted, Sengun has been awesome again lately.
Adams is important for the offense, mostly because of his rebounding and screen setting. His passing is underrated. I wish our players knows how to move without the ball. When Adams has the ball at the top of the key, he's looking for people to cut. A lot of times it results in turnover because the player movement is so awkward. Adams' defense doesn't look very good by my eye test. He is too slow to be a consistent rim protector. The good thing is that he is seldom out of position.
The crutch was Udoka wanting to run that twin tower line up which was also not necessary but I guess he wanted Steven to have more time on the court.
The problem with off ball movement (with this team) is it becomes pointless with so many non shooters or inconsistent shooters. The defense just switches and packs the paint as necessary. This is going to look even worse in the playoffs when teams sag off of pretty much everyone but KD and Reed.
And, thus, the conundrum. Will Sengun become a rim protector? Will Reed become a decent perimeter defender? Will KD last another year and will he try on defense? Will FVV solve the problem, and what does that do to Reed’s future. I’m pretty sure Stone/Ime are going to kick this stone down the road another year, which is going to really hurt Reed’s development unless FVV gets hurt early.
My eye test says Adams just hangs out in the middle of the floor, which just clogs up a lot of things. I would not consider this to be a good defensive center as he doesn't contest shots on the perimeter and isn't a shot blocker. I will say that he uses his position to deny a lot of straight-line penetration, helping the perimeter defenders recover. Adams was much better than Sengun defensively for most of the season, even if one's eyeball test says he's not a good defender in a vacuum.
JD Davison has used all of his NBA eligibility while on his two-way contract. In addition, the Houston Rockets have used all of their under-15 games for their two-way players. Davison can't be active for any further NBA games while on a two-way contract. Houston can't use any two-way players, unless they sign a 15th player to a standard contract.
Congrats to Dickerson. Always an interesting listen, on and off the court. “NBA All-Interview team, which honors the players who are consistently thoughtful, insightful and engaging with the media.”
