Rockets' Big Man Rotation

On late Sunday night, the Houston Rockets released Jeff Adrien. While not on par with news like LeBron James heading back to Cleveland, Adrien’s release brought attention to the strange dynamics in the Houston frontcourt. Prior to being waived, you could make the case that Adrien was Houston’s third best big, behind incumbent starters Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones. Yet due to contracts, Adrien finds himself looking for a new team. The leftovers - Donatas Motiejunas, undrafted rookie Tarik Black and Joey Dorsey -- are now left to fill out the crucial rotation spots behind Howard and Jones.

Coming off an underwhelming FIBA tournament, Motiejunas was a mess this October. He posted a preseason PER of 7.88 and was also at fault for more than his fair share of defensive lapses. Part of the struggles could be attributed to the Rockets using Motiejunas as a backup 5 and encouraging more post ups than he will likely see in the regular season. But combined with his 4-of-13 showing on three-pointers, Motiejunas didn’t do anything to justify a rotation spot come Houston’s regular season gams.

Dorsey, signed this offseason after a three years in Europe, didn’t look much better. At 6’7”, Dorsey is something of a Ben Wallace-lite and the Rockets are surely hoping he can fill such a role in the minutes behind Howard. Upon returning from an ankle injury that cost him the first three preseason games, the 30-year-old Dorsey struggled to finish, rebound or impact the game defensively. The ankle injury did keep Dorsey out for the beginning of camp, so with some time to adjust to Houston’s scheme and regain his fitness, Dorsey should be better, but the question is how much?

If Dorsey’s preseason performance doesn’t drastically improve, the next option the Rockets will turn to is likely Black. Coming from out of nowhere, Black impressed with his energy, rebounding and toughness all preseason long. On a younger team with less lofty expectations, Black would be a no-brainer for minutes in an attempt to accelerate the refinement of his game. But this Rockets team is coming off a 54-win season in a loaded West and though Black brings some positive attributes, he’s only 6’8” (though he possesses a wingspan that’s just shy of 7’3”, according to DraftExpress), has an offensive game that’s limited to garbage buckets and is still feeling out the nuances of NBA defense. Black is a potentially a great find for Houston in the long-term, but right now he’s a rookie that’s still trying to find his way in the world’s most competitive league. 

There are a few other options the Rockets can possibly sort through as the season wears on. The first being rookie center Clint Capela, who is a virtual unknown at this level because he’s missed all of preseason with a groin injury. The second is shifting rookie small forward Kostas Papanikolaou to the 4, like Houston did with Chandler Parsons at times. But Papanikolaou has also been adjusting to the power and pace of the NBA game and may not be physically capable of holding his own at that spot until a full offseason spent working on his body.

It seems as though with all their roster shuffling hoping to land a third superstar, the Rockets find themselves now with more questions than answers when it comes to an increasingly important part of NBA team-building: depth. 

Fire At Will

One of the more fascinating subplots of the recent emphasis on shot efficiency is how spacing-obsessed coaches have handled “shot tweeners” -- players with limited jumpshots thrust into systems that demand their position stretch the floor all the way to the 3-point line. The old rule of development when it came to players like this was that you simply found the range they were most accurate from and limited them to attempts from that far and in. So a lot of coaches simply adjust their system to their personnel even if nowadays it’s been hammered home that 3's are much better than long 2's.

The most brazen conversion attempt happening right now is in Salt Lake City. Trevor Booker and Enes Kanter are currently being thrust into the role of ‘stretch 4’ by new head coach Quin Snyder. Snyder’s system calls for 4-out spacing and lots of ball movement around the perimeter. The problem is that when the ball finds the hands of Booker or Kanter out there, defenses don’t exactly fall over themselves in order to contest the shot. And with good reason as Kanter and Booker have combined to shoot 13 3’s in their career. Yet this preseason, those two have combined to launch 28(!).

Snyder’s system works best when the four players on the perimeter can create maximum room for post ups, pick-and-rolls or drives to the basket. Instead of just accepting what his players current limitations, Snyder (and coaches like Brad Stevens in Boston and Brett Brown in Philly to name a couple more) just tries to jam a square peg in a round hole and hopes it changes shape in the process.

Now there are definitely some underlying factors to this. The biggest one is that all those coaches mentioned are dealing with teams with little or no expectations and currently have the job security needed to watch players develop their perimeter shots on the fly. Monty Williams would probably love to let Anthony Davis get game reps with his 3-point shot, but given his job status depends on New Orleans making the playoffs, that isn’t happening. 

Another part of this is the player being challenged to add this shot to his game. Two questions likely need to be addressed before any random player on the roster is told to shoot 3’s for the first time in his career. The first is whether or not that player’s current shooting stroke can handle a shot from further back. Certain mechanics can look funky, but with repetition, they can still be turned into accurate shots from that distance. Some players, like Brandon Bass, may have certain movements in their jumper that mean a drastic shot overhaul (which is a really hard thing to do) would be needed in order to give that player a realistic chance of flirting with league average.

The second question is much more simple, if you give a particular player the green light to test out a new skill in a game, will he work on it diligently during, and more importantly, before and after, practice? There has to be some reciprocity between the coach and player in this situation. If someone like Snyder is giving players like Kanter and Booker the green light to develop this shot on the fly, he should make sure they understand they are required to put in extra work in order to fully take advantage of their newfound freedom.  

All this is really just a fun gamble for both the coaches and players in the positions that Snyder, Booker and Kanter are in. If it fails, it will at most cost Snyder a few extra losses for a team that isn’t expected to be in playoff contention. If it works out, Booker, Kanter, Snyder and the Jazz will have hit the jackpot.