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Player Report Cards: Greg Smith

2013-05-24T14:42:21Z

This report card was probably the most difficult to figure out. The power forward rotation in Houston was shipped out at the trade deadline for Thomas Robinson. Donatas Motiejunas started more games out of the remaining crop of power forwards but Greg Smith played more games and minutes per game than any other power forward. The rampant instability of the power forward spot forced me to designate a starter. Since Greg Smith had the most minutes and games played, he gets the nod.

Greg is in his second year in the NBA and was a undrafted free agent of the Houston Rockets when he was acquired. He played his early days for Rio Grande Valley. Greg was intermittently the starter and is widely deemed the back up center for the Rockets, however, due to a lack of stability at the four he was called on to start games and log about 15 minutes a game for the Rockets between the four and the five. Let's take a peek at what Greg Smith brought to the Rockets under the lens of a power forward.

The Numbers

6 points/5 rebounds/.6 blocks per game. True to form the numbers reflect that Smith wasn't a focal point of the offense nor was he a defensive stopper. His rebounding total represents one board for every three minutes he's on the floor. Clearly he's most useful as a back up.

On an advanced level Greg Smith is actually pretty good. He posted a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 16.17, which is above the league average. Admittedly this PER is mostly reflecting limited use (14.7% usage) but more importantly it's indicative of the fact that he didn't tend to make mistakes on the court in his limited minutes. For a team that didn't have a solution at the four Greg steadied the process. Greg's true shooting percentage (63.6%) was built predominantly on the fact that he's a decent finisher around the rim. The most interesting aspect of his game was that he showed basic elements of a post game that he capitalized on in-close. Ultimately Greg Smith reminds me of a Ryan Fitzpatrick. He's good enough to steady the position and won't tend to cost you an abundance of games but he's not a solution. In expanded minutes Greg managed to see a rise in his offensive rebound percentage, his assist percentage, and his win shares but he saw a dip in his defensive rebound rate, effective field goal percentage, and his offensive/defensive ratings.

The Good

Finishing around the rim. Greg brought back the art of the gorilla dunk and showed a great deal of athleticism in the pick and roll. It was nice to have a power forward with no problem taking the ball to the rim. He was a breath of fresh air from Patrick Patterson's love affair with the three point shot and the deep two (Despite the fact that he could make the shot, it didn't help the Rockets style of play with an abundance of shooters already on the floor). Greg had a surprisingly polished post game he would flash signs of throughout the season with a hook shot and post shimmy that threw off defenders.

Grade: B

The Bad

Rebounding. Greg Smith has never been a prolific rebounder. The power forward position in Houston really required a player who could pull down the offensive boards and in fifteen minutes a game Smith failed to amass more than five boards a game. Worse yet Greg only improved in his offensive rebounding rate, which was completely abysmal anyhow. All of his other rebounding stats decreased with increased minutes. Outside of Omer Asik the Rockets were really hurting for a rebounder and rather than solve that problem Greg merely added a rim finisher. He lands his grade not merely for failing to provide what the Rockets needed but for regressing in a critical area of the game that landed Marcus Morris more time.

Grade: D

The Ugly

Fouls. If you ever need a clinic on how to harm another player and get yourself off the floor then Greg Smith is the man for you. Greg failed to stay on the court for significant periods of time and when he was a backup this problem only magnified. On the season Greg averaged 2.5 fouls per game but the tale of the tape shows something far more painful. His fouls showed up quickly and early knocking him out for significant portions of games. You'd think over the course of the season there would be improvements in this area but they only worsened.

Grade: F

Overall

Greg was a good back up at the center position but the power forward starting spot merely exposed his weaknesses. He was pulled from the starting lineup from the Thunder series to go small and it paid off in a big way. Ibaka and Perkins out-classed Smith and they do that to most other players. Smith failed to leverage his bulk against these players and when he saw the floor for most of the year he saw problems. For a player who was plucked up off the D-League he wasn't bad but he was placed in a position where he wouldn't succeed.

Grade: D

Rockets News: Quick Links

2013-05-23T18:52:39Z

There seems to be quite a bit happening in the Rockets organization over the last few days so I figured we should at least do a quick link burst and summary. This will allow a place for you to post any news coming up and give you a quick cursory glance at this writer's take on what's going on. Someone's got to pick up the slack, right?

Chandler Parsons invited to Team USA training camp

Parsons gets a chance to try to play his way onto the Team USA Roster with this invite and it's the first formal notice of his skills and contributions. Team USA is the most highly touted team in international competition and it's a major honor. It's worth noting that the day I post Chandler's report card is the same day he gets this honor. I am a kingmaker.

Chris Finch and Kelvin Sampson are potential candidates for the Philadelphia 76ers vacancy

Finch was the heir apparent to Kevin McHale, coaches team United Kingdom in international competition, and was at the helm of the successful D-League Affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers. The league, much like Team USA, is taking notice of the Houston Rockets organization and their cutting edge preparation and execution. Finch would be a great hire in Philadelphia if they can focus a build around young talent but it would definitely put a dent in the Rockets plans.

Suns to interview JB Bickerstaff

The Phoenix Suns will meet with coach JB Bickerstaff on Friday about the head coaching job. Bickerstaff is part of the team of assistants on the Rockets bench with head coaching potential. Between Philadelphia and Phoenix all of the Houston Rockets assistants are potential candidates for head coaching jobs elsewhere.

James Harden Makes All-NBA 3^rd Team

James received 253 points in voting for the off-season honor of "some of the best in the NBA". If there was any doubt that Harden is a top 5 SG in the league he now gets to join the elite conversation as top 15 in the NBA. This continues a general theme on the day that notice is being given to what's going on in Houston. Harden's 253 points, mind you, places him firmly at the top of the vote getters for the 3^rd team.

Player Report Cards: Chandler Parsons

2013-05-23T13:50:01Z

So if I received any criticism about Jeremy it was that I was too soft on him. I'm ok with that because we're about to pick up the one player all Rockets fans have deference to; the man, the myth, the ridiculously valuable legend, Mr. Chandler Parsons. Chandler holds down the small forward position for the Rockets, often pulls the offense's best player as his assignment, and saw further improvement from his rookie season.

Chandler was a second round pick of the Houston Rockets in 2011 draft. Since arriving on the scene in Houston Chandler stepped in to the starting small forward position after the Shane Battier trade. This writer has to eat some crow at this point. I projected Chandler would max out as an athletic Shane Battier but we've seen so much more from him in a year when scouting tape was fully available. Generally fourth year college players don't have a huge ceiling but Chandler has defied all of these conventions and I, for on, am ecstatic to admit that I was wrong. If you can't see how all of this praise is going to lead to his grading then I'm afraid I can't show my cards any harder...

The Numbers

Chandler averaged 16 points/5 rebounds/4 assists per game. In his second year Chandler's usage barely changed (Up 2% to 18.3) but his efficiency and contribution spiked in a major way. Chandler's true shooting percentage jumped to 58% up from 51 and his win shares on the season more than doubled from 3.4 to 7 on the season. Yet another shock in the defensive rating category similar to Jeremy's stood out to me, however. Chandler allows 108 points per 100 possessions however much of that can be attributed to guarding the Lebron James of the league where no matter how good a defender you are you are giving up 30 points. Chandler saw his rebound rate decrease from his rookie season (down 1% of available rebounds to 8.3) to his sophomore year but he did punch his assist percentage up 4% giving him some trade off. Chandler posts a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 15.33

This isn't really stat related but let's appreciate the most important number for Chandler. Parsons earns $888,250.00 per season. Chandler's impact on the Rockets is comparable to most other small forwards in the NBA but it gets even more interesting when you consider PER in relation to the rest of the league. Chandler edges out Luol Deng and Andre Iguodala in this department at a fraction of a fraction of the price. Hold on to that.

The Good

The sophomore slump does not apply to Chandler. I fully expected Chandler to experience a downturn in his productivity this season. Generally a breakout rookie season is followed by some struggles in the sophomore season since scouting tape is available and there are no real quirks to hide your game behind anymore. Chandler stormed out of the gate his rookie season and then increased his totals by 6 points, .5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. He flourished next to James Harden and helped spark the new look Houston Rockets to their first playoff win in three years. Chandler was at the center of all the new chemistry with Jeremy Lin and James Harden and did all this while missing time for a triple double of corn dogs, beer, and tater tots.

Grade: A+

The Bad

Was there any? My initial inclination was to look at his shooting percentages but nearly 50% from the field, 40% from the three-point line, and 73% from the line is nothing to scoff at. He's no Lebron James but I don't see much of a weakness in his game at all.

Grade: N/A

The Ugly

Nothing about Chandler Parsons is ugly.

Grade: Pretty

Overall

Chandler has quickly become the heart of the Rockets. He's the most tenured member of the good guys and the only fully relevant player that Daryl Morey saw fit to keep around once the roster underwent a severe makeover. Morey is a firm believer in moving players at their peak value, which may not bode well for Parsons (Although he has stated that his daughter would never forgive him for moving him). Chandler will be due a major raise once his rookie deal expires and if the Rockets still have any combination of Harden, Asik, and Lin around I do feel as though Parsons is critical to keep. The amount of bonding, production, and synergy that Chandler has enabled is a major contributor to the success the Rockets saw this year.

Grade: A+

Poll

What letter grade do you give Chandler Parsons?

Player Report Cards: Jeremy Lin

2013-05-22T14:17:11Z

So, I've been dreading this piece since I came up with the idea to do report cards because you just know any write up relating to Jeremy Lin where a critique is possible is going to blow up the comments and my Twitter but you can't back down, right? Ah well, it's been my favorite narrative on the year and I refuse to be anything other than honest with you guys, so here goes nothing.

Jeremy came to the Rockets over the summer on a deal that would have cost the Knicks 80 million or so with luxury tax penalties (Funny enough Madison Square Garden stock dropped 90 million dollars when news broke that Jeremy was not going to be retained) and arrived in Houston on a three year 25 million dollar deal. It was his first full NBA Season as a starting point guard. Throughout this season Jeremy experienced the trials and tribulations that come with a young point guard attempting to establish himself after a much-hyped debut. The season started rough but over the course of the year we began to see a more consistent Jeremy and some cohesion as the backcourt learned to play together. Let's do this.

The Numbers

Jeremy averaged 13.4 points/6.1 assists/1.6 steals/2.9 turnovers per game. Jeremy saw these figures after increasing his minutes per game by 5 minutes (27 as a Knick, 32 as a Rocket) and actually decreasing his usage by 8% (28 to 20).

Jeremy assisted on nearly 30% of his possessions while limiting turnovers to only 19% of his possessions so he had a better rate of conversion than James Harden when it comes to taking care of the ball. Jeremy contributed 5.4 wins per his win shares (.099 WS per 48 minutes played). One thing that may leap off the page given how lauded Jeremy was for his steals and his defensive reputation he actually allowed 1 more point per 100 possessions (107 defensive rating) than much maligned defender James Harden (106). On the season Jeremy proved to be relatively efficient with a true shooting percentage around 54% and a nearly 50% effective field goal percentage. These numbers reveal that Jeremy is above average when it comes to the NBA average (Hoopdata: TS% - 53.5) however Jeremy is lagging behind in TS% where the Rockets are concerned (Hoopdata: TS% - 56.4%). There's no cause for alarm here though, as Jeremy was still better than run of the mill and that bodes well for him.

The Good

Adjusting throughout the year. Jeremy faced a lot of adversity in his first season. The year began rocky with a great deal of turnovers and a feeling out process that was honestly a bit awkward to watch. Chemistry was present from the get-go on the team as Jeremy's presence gave rise to some fantastic gifs of their pre-game rituals and on-court feats (Shout out to Chrive and jaypride001). On the court, however we saw Jeremy get scared in the lane and turn the ball over on panic-passes, poor decision making once he left his feet, and a lack of aggression. As the season went on we saw Jeremy begin to cut down on his turnovers, play smarter in the lane, and begin making more intelligent plays on the court. Jeremy's court vision seemed to clear up and his movement was more fluid. There's no shortage of reasons to see this improvement (Knee recovery, chemistry with his teammates, lack of a training camp, etc...) in Jeremy and the important part was, we saw those strides. You could make the argument when you see the grade that given where he started he could only go up, but credit where credit's due. This is where I lay the stunner down to start...

Grade: A-

The Bad

Attitude. This has been a long standing joke/troll bait I use on TDS when people would complain that Jeremy didn't show aggression throughout the year the usual cover up was that it was not in his nature and he was humble and meek. We saw flares of Jeremy showing some aggression and when the Rockets offense lagged it really begged for Jeremy to be that second emotional leader on the offense. Sadly as it was inconsistent we saw the emergence of Omer Asik as the charge we needed when James Harden became depleted (Yes, it rhymes, yes, I'm gangsta). Aggression played a major role in Jeremy's biggest knock on the year, his inability to finish drives or take the ball to the hoop. Often times Jeremy left his feet in the lane without a plan or with a clear shot of at least a foul (If not an easy basket) and the result tended to be a poor pass turnover. Jeremy will need to work on dedicating himself to finishing that drive as once he establishes he will do so, teams will stop guarding the pass on Jeremy's drives and he'll cut his turnover numbers down even further.

Grade: C-

The Ugly

A return to nasty habits. In the playoffs after his chest injury we saw Jeremy return to his tentative nature. Let's be clear on a couple things before I get complaints. His shooting was not going to be the same, he's not getting knocked for that. The issue was when he returned he had broken so many bad habits back in the regular season that came back to the surface in Jeremy's first playoff appearance. He left his feet without a plan in the lane, he made bad passes, he refused to take open drives, ultimately everything that earned Jeremy an A+ in the regular season returned in a time when there's less margin for error. The young Rockets point guard essentially experienced a second season fraught with the same perils he began the regular season with and it raised the question of just how engrained was his improvement in the regular season.

Grade: D

Overall

Jeremy showed all the right traits over the course of the season. He showed he can be coached, he showed he can make improvements, he showed he was adaptable and close to his teammates. All of these traits are critical to have on the guy running your team. Unfortunately Jeremy also showed either a lack of confidence or a lack of retention at times and that can be one of a few things. He either lacks much of a killer instinct (Linsanity casts doubt on this), suffers from confidence issues (again Linsanity casts doubt on this), or he's just early in his career (That's where my money is). Jeremy has a lot of room for improvement and I am confident he will make that improvement but these grades are retrospective, not prospective.

Grade: B+

As usual hit me up on @QuestionablyBD to yell at me and criticize me. Complaints can go to the suggestion box (read: spam) at TDSmailbag@gmail.com. I reserve the right to RT all angry tweets with #BeWell attached and lastly, if you're a potential employer, I have better writing samples to offer pursuant to my CV.

Editor's Note: Attached a poll because I forgot to do it when I published it initially.

Poll

What letter grade do you give Jeremy?

Player Report Cards

2013-05-21T15:30:20Z

A series appraising the entire Rockets roster and the crew calling the shots behind the scenes.

The offseason has been in Houston now for quite some time. The Rockets fell to the Thunder who in turn was eventually toppled by the Grizzlies. At the very least I gain some sort of sick satisfaction that the Knicks were knocked out by the Pacers. I'm back from my hiatus and I think you guys deserve some new content (Not two week old pieces I wrote, not 2 year old recycled stories that the sports world still demands you read because you're living under a rock or have retrograde amnesia). Let's get the ball rolling with evaluations of the Rockets. Player and personnel report cards. Through this series you'll gain insight into the sheer amount of outrage I have over the Executive and Coach of the Year voting and an appraisal of the players on the roster.

I won't immediately jump into the volatile review of Jeremy Lin. Let's start with a point that we can all agree on, high five each other over, and appreciate; James "The Beard" Harden. James came to the Houston Rockets in his third season after being drafted third overall in 2009 much to the joy of one of TDS's favorites AK2themax. Harden enjoyed the role of bench player who isn't really much of a bench player for the Thunder. He was widely praised for catalyzing the Thunder's run to the NBA Finals and then widely maligned for disappearing against the Heat. He was due a rather large pay raise heading into this offseason and Sam Presti was faced with a decision: Pay Harden or pay Ibaka, not both. On the eve of my birthday, October 27, 2012 the Houston Rockets acquired James Harden for previous NBA superstar Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb (Moved clearly to reduce Jeremy/initial based confusion on the team).

The Numbers

James averaged 25.9 points/5.8 assists/4.9 rebounts/3.8 turnovers per game. These numbers are indicative of a superstar if I've seen one and James proved as much.

Let's peek a little further behind this curtain to see what made this so impressive, though. James Harden's usage shot up to 29% while is true shooting percentage only dropped by six one hundredths of a point (60%). What that means is James managed to become (essentially) thirty percent of a team's entire offense while still converting his possessions at a high rate. James did record a turnover percentage of 15%, however which translates to 15 turnovers per 100 plays. James accounted for 12.8 in win shares while bumping his minutes up to 38 minutes a game.

The Good

Scoring. Clearly. No one will have to endeavor to explain that to you. Harden showed some streakiness throughout the year settling on some jump shots and some dreadful step backs but for all the knit picking to hammer him on that, he certainly delivered despite those issues. Harden showed a complete scorer's toolkit with his ability to slash to the basket, hit the long-range jumper, and draw the foul. He's one of the few players on the team with an elite skill set in a particular area. There's no room for improvement here, he gets a strong grade here.

Grade: A+

The Bad

Defense. I won't go so far as to call him a sieve but I will certainly look at his 106 defensive rating (Points allowed per 100 possessions) both this season and on his career average are not as good as you could expect.

I will manufacture a bit of an excuse here for the simple fact that if James wasn't towing the offense so hard behind him I think you can pour more of yourself into defense. James certainly didn't make us forget about Kevin Martin defensively but he's got the kind of body that can bother other shooting guards. Funny enough James showed a lot of improvement when he was tasked with guarding opposing small forwards, which implies that Harden struggles with the speed of his peers. It's funny considering his offensive prowess that his reading and reaction of offensive players in order to defend them is that lacking.

I did have a runner up consideration here and it's going to prompt some discussion; fitting within the offense. Yes, the term "hero ball" is a pet peeve of mine ever since Dave made it a mainstay on this site because it's been an abused term. Yes, I know that the mentality exists and that there's some merit to the theory. I also happen to believe that when you've got a player ready to establish himself as the superstar to a team you learn to live with those headaches. But James showed a fair amount of trouble understanding that from time to time you have to facilitate or move the ball rather than put the weight of the world on your shoulders.

Grade: C+

The Ugly

Turnovers. James doled the ball out to the opposing team nearly as much as he did to his own. Harden was a poster child for the risky skip pass since he came into the league and it didn't backfire nearly as much as it did this season. Unfortunately the revelation that throwing a basketball clear across the court to a player wasn't a high percentage pass was slow to come to our marquee player. The turnover issue was compounded by the fact that Harden was frequently stripped in the lane on drives where whistles were absent.

Grade: D-

Overall

I don't know if it's that I'm cutting him slack for the role he occupies on the team or if he has so much extra credit stored up due to his offense that his grade comes out the way it does but he's clearly going to score high. James desperately needs to work on taking the ball to the hole stronger, passing up the skip pass, and feeling the rhythm of the offense if it's bogging down. In an ideal world James would have reliable offensive help to allow him to spend some time on defense and this offseason very well may make that happen.

Ultimately the atrocious turnovers, defense, and trouble finding a rhythm forced that A+ (If we're realistic we're talking A+++) for his offense gets dragged down to...

Grade: A-

Enjoy talking in the comments, tweet at me at @QuestionablyBD, email questions or suggestions for future columns to TDSmailbag@gmail.com and potential employers, please assume that this isn't what I turned in on my CV.

Player Report Cards: James Harden

2013-05-21T15:22:26Z

The Numbers

James averaged 25.9 points/5.8 assists/4.9 rebounts/3.8 turnovers per game. These numbers are indicative of a superstar if I've seen one and James proved as much.

The Good

Grade: A+

The Bad

Grade: C+

The Ugly

Grade: D-

Overall

Ultimately the atrocious turnovers, defense, and trouble finding a rhythm forced that A+ (If we're realistic we're talking A+++) for his offense gets dragged down to...

Grade: A-

Poll

What letter grade do you give James Harden?

Dwight Howard and Houston Rockets a potential free agency match, reports say

2013-05-20T00:01:26Z

We haven't even hit June yet, but free agency speculation is beginning to ramp up. With the Rockets set to make a pitch to Dwight Howard in less than six weeks, Ken Berger of CBS Sports is reporting that they are the Rockets "intrigue him the most" at this juncture. Here's what Berger had to say:

With six weeks to go before Howard becomes an unrestricted free agent, the team that is said to intrigue him the most is the Houston Rockets, according to multiple people briefed on internal conversations surrounding Howard's free-agent decision. The Rockets have a young star, James Harden, who has proved himself worthy of playing the leading role for the franchise; a budding 3-point shooting threat in Chandler Parsons; a defensive-minded coach in Kevin McHale; and Omer Asik, the kind of 7-footer Howard is believed to want next to him in the frontcourt.The clear advantage for the Lakers in their effort to re-sign Howard is the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, which allows LA to give Howard a five-year deal with annual increases based on 7.5 percent of his first-year salary in a new deal -- which will be in excess of $20 million. Another team with cap room to sign Howard could only give him a four-year deal with 4.5 percent annual increases -- the same arrangement Howard would be limited to if he agreed to leave via a sign-and-trade.

But Howard is only 27, and barring a career-ending injury, he'll clearly get one more max deal after this one. A four-year deal with an opt-out after three years, for example, would in some ways be preferable to Howard because he'd hit the open market again at age 30 and could then secure his five-year max deal. Also, by signing with a team in Texas -- where the Rockets and Mavs obviously reside -- Howard would reap substantial savings by paying no state income tax. According to some early estimates, Howard's tax savings in Texas could approach $10 million over four years.

In short: Let the Dwightmare begin. Again.

We've discussed Dwight Howard over and over in past 15 months as the Rockets have targeted him over and over again, so you pretty much know the book on him. He, along with James Harden, would form one of the top duos in the league, and would instantly vault the Rockets into the conversation with all the contenders in the Western Conference. There's little doubt that Morey will do whatever he can to get him in a Rockets uniform because the potential payoff is so high.

What is in doubt is how healthy Howard will be and how much of a long-term effect his back injuries will have. There was talk before the season that Howard's back had a degenerative condition, but as the season went along, Howard progressed and improved immensely. By the end of the year, he was clearly approaching 100%, and helped push the Lakers into the playoffs.

Whether that healthy back will hold up is what would give Morey the slightest bit on anxiety before signing him a four year max contract. After waiting years for Yao and Tracy McGrady's contracts to finally expire, the Rockets can't afford to deal with another injured star sucking up space on the payroll.

Regardless of the concerns, it's extremely exciting to even be in the conversation and to imagine Howard in this offense. In Los Angeles, Howard was miscast for his role, and with the Rockets, Kevin McHale could put Howard in the middle and space the floor with four shooters around him, allowing him the space he had to operate in Orlando. Surely that freedom will be a big part of the Rockets pitch to Howard, and let's hope it, along with the potential for a number of titles in Houston is enough to sway him to turn down Los Angeles.

SB Nation Network NBA Playoffs Open Thread: Miami Heat, Memphis Grizzlies try to take 3-1 leads over Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder

2013-05-13T22:18:39Z

The Miami Heat and Memphis Grizzlies are in enviable positions with the chance to take control of their series in their quest to punch their tickets to the Conference Finals. The Bulls and Thunder, on the other hand, will do everything they can to stop that and even the serieses at 2-2. After these pivotal game four's, we'll know a lot more about the NBA Playoff picture.

Sit back, relax, and join us in the SB Nation Network Open Thread at the Dream Shake tonight, with the Heat and Bulls squaring off at 7 PM EST and the Grizzlies and Thunder matching up at 9:30 PM, both of which will be broadcast on TNT. Join in on the conversation!

Next Game

Miami Heat
@ Chicago Bulls

Monday, May 13, 2013, 6:00 PM CDT
United Center

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Next Game

Oklahoma City Thunder
@ Memphis Grizzlies

Monday, May 13, 2013, 8:30 PM CDT
FedEx Forum

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