Rockets small ball isn’t just random NBA players under 6’8” thrown out there as a fun experiment. Even as more and more teams trend towards going small, especially in crunch time, they don't have the combination of skills/physicality that our unique team possesses in spades. It would be like trying to replicate the Warriors dynasty by saying “just pass a lot and shoot a lot of threes”...without mentioning “by the way you need two of the greatest shooters ever, and a playmaking big that happens to be a DPOY (oh and KD just for fun)”. James Harden: Not just one of the best scorers/offensive players ever...but also one of the best post defenders in the league which allows us to comfortably switch almost everything. Physically one of the strongest SGs in the league. Russell Westbrook: Not just a triple double machine that has led the league in both scoring and assists...but also one of the best rebounding guards ever. One of the strongest and explosive point guards in the league that’s still in his athletic prime dominating in the paint. PJ Tucker: Not just a 3-D forward...but one of the thicccest in the league that can comfortably bang with the centers in the paint and keep up with wings on the perimeter. Has shot over 37% from three in all three seasons with the Rockets and is the corner 3 king. RoCo: Not just a 3-D forward...but one of the longest in the league with a 7’2” wingspan and is one of the best help defenders in the league. Eric Gordon: Not just a 6th man scorer...but one of the strongest guards in the league that can play lockdown defense and comfortably spots up 3 feet behind the three point line to give even more spacing. Stars that you can’t build a small ball/switch everything lineup around: Too small to switch everything/doesn’t add enough rebounding Dame Lillard, Kemba Walker, Kyrie Irving, Trae Young, Steph Curry Too slow to switch everything on the perimeter Joel Embiid, Drummond, Kevin Love, Jokic, Gobert, KAT Hope we can finally break through and win the chip this year so people can start saying “just play small ball and shoot a lot of threes”...without mentioning “by the way, you need two former MVPs in their prime, one that is the best rebounding guard ever, the other being a great post defender. Don’t forget the thiccest 3+D forward, the longest 3+D forward and a 6th man scorer that isn’t a liability on defense”
He mentioned Curry, and he was successfully built around, just needed the right splashing building blocks. I mean there are other systems. The Bucks have an immensely deep, shooting squad plus a bully big as forward, a borderline great coach. You do not have to replicate if you have your own identity.
Young teams with best chance to try and replicate our system: Mavs - Luka, Unicorn, MKG Grizz - Jah, Jaren, Clarke, Brooks Hawks - Trae, Collins, Hunter, Reddish
He implied others wanted to replicate this team. I think you need to find out who is your cornerstone player from the lottery, what position(s) does he play.....and go from there. You will need someone versatile, favorably 2 big, beefy, thicc dudes like Draymond or PJ are needed no matter what. Then skills and efficiency, length, athleticism, explosion...... Not 1 exact blue print, but there are couple of ways. Or you could just go the traditional route and start with 2 superstars/stars and go for the 3rd........ Most of GMs would still want to add that shooting Center just as a safety net and for the culture.
Sure they could do that, then Morey and MDA will figure out a counter or even better way to play 5 out more efficiently. MDA and Morey are visionaries, always innovating while everyone else copying yesterday's trend.
The Warriors were the standard.. At worst everybody in their death squad line up was a good ball handler and not just above average..
Curry was targeted out on defense a lot more than any of our guys would be -- our entire offense the last few years vs. them was setting picks until we had Curry switched onto Harden. Yes, he survived but it took Steph playing with Klay, Dray, Iggy, KD for him to survive defensively in a small ball lineup. Totally agree that not everyone has to replicate our small ball system. There are certainly other ways to win, especially since full-time small ball hasn't won the championship (yet ). My point is that other teams can't just choose a random combination of 6'7" wings and have the same success we're having with small ball. There are a lot of factors outside of height that makes this team explosively dangerous.
I think its replicable. It might not / won't be the exact same. If you think about it, the Bucks run the same style... it's just not "small ball" because their floor spacers are tall. Giannis = Russ. The GSW played a similar style. Steve Kerr said the other day that they really didn't do it that much, but in the playoffs especially they did it A LOT. But their PJ Tucker was taller. The Celtics top 5 guys in MPG are Tatum, Brown, Hayward, Kemba and Smart. Theis is next at 23 mpg... and he's shot 31%+ on threes every year of his career so at least a threat. I think the future is more and more bigs that play more and more like wings.
That means only 3-4 teams might barely matchup n play some ' switch everything n 5 out' small ball…？ LAL LBJ AD Danny M morris Kuzma LAC PG The Claw Markieff morris Harrell Pat/lou Bucks Greek freak Marvin Middleton Bledsoe (too short) X (Pat Connaughton/ kover?) Celtics Thies Tatum J brown Heyward Smart
Excellent OP, OP. ;-) Not only a really nice take, but definitely provided food for thought. Parts of your OP, @kevcai, have certainly been tossed around, but I like how you put it all together. Like you imply, I don't think it's going to be easy to replicate what we're doing. At least this season. "My point is that other teams can't just choose a random combination of 6'7" wings and have the same success we're having with small ball. There are a lot of factors outside of height that makes this team explosively dangerous." Your point is well taken!
I would say most teams can play some form of it -- maybe even close games out with it. I mean the Warriors did it with their Death Lineup the past few years and have a few titles to show for it. The main difference with us is we're doing it full-time, all game, every single game. And our small ball lineup is made up of our five best players whereas other teams can technically play small ball to match us but they'll be leaving one of their key pieces on the bench. For example, Utah can go small ball with: Conley, Mitchell, O'neale, Ingles, Bojan -- but that means they are playing to our style and Gobert goes from their most impactful player to a bench cheerleader.
Small ball is feast or famine. Next, players and coaches will blame free throw disparity. Westbrook has not gotta many free throw calls so the wear and tear for Westbrook might force him into jumpers in a series.
you are asking the wrong question i feel. the questikn is if you a middle or bad team should u go small to just maximize your chance of winning.(yes you should)..same thing i thought with bad teams shooting 3s...thata the point. if ima bad team i would just chuck 3s all game long. its better then what u doing. ive always lean heavy in numbers. so far so i predict with our success n teams following us again just like they did with the increase in 3s....that the nba will move back the e point line. i believe if them are as smart as i think it will just be all threes...not literally...but all game long. n i believe moving the 3 back would give bigs back a place in the game since es would be harder n would force more 2s, which in turn would prioritize high percentage 2s. it would help the post n mid game. im usually ahead on these things. i thibk we might be at a tipping point where the nba will do this....in like 5 years i think
