Assessing the New Look Rockets

The Rockets have now played 12 games since the trade deadline deals that sent Shane Battier to Memphis and Aaron Brooks to Phoenix while bringing Goran Dragic, Hasheem Thabeet, and DeMarre Carroll into the fold. We've gone 9-3 during the stretch and very easily could have gone 11-1 if the refs hadn't screwed us in Phoenix and the NBA schedulemakers hadn't scheduled 4 games in 5 days in Houston, New Orleans, Portland, and LA. It's obvious that team has been clicking over the past few weeks, but why? The answer probably doesn't lie in the new acquisitions, since Goran Dragic is the only one to receive any meaningful minutes. It also probably isn't a result of the culmination of the Free T-Will Campaign, since he has only slipped further into the recesses of Rick Adelman's doghouse. So the question is, how is a team that traded two of its best players playing like one of the best teams in the league right now? And, how good are the Rockets actually playing right now?

T-Will hasn't made good use of the PT given

to him when Shane Battier was traded

In the 12 games since the trades, the Rockets' offense has an Offensive efficiency (Points scored per 100 possessions) of 109.43. To put this in context, the Denver Nuggets currently lead the league in Off. efficiency at 109.9, and the Rockets past 12 games would be good enough for second in the league. Unless you were one of the few people that still believed in Aaron Brooks or you hadn't watched Shane Battier since his days at Duke, you probably could have seen a slight offensive improvement coming (the Rockets have a 107.7 Off. efficiency for the season). Chase Budinger is simply a better offensive player than Battier, and Brooks' cold shooting and non-existent passing had turned a bench unit that should have been one of the tops in the league into a mediocre group at best.

But the improvement is more than just addition by subtraction, Patrick Patterson and Courtney Lee have played great in extended minutes since the trade, and, obviously, Kyle Lowry has been playing out of his mind. A promising sign for the continued success of the Rockets' offense is the fact that none of the shot location data shows any fluky percentage increases in the past 12 games. Shots at the rim have increased from 24.5 per game to 25.75, but the percentage made has actually dropped from 63.4% to 60.1%, and the Rockets' percentage on long 2s (the fluke-iest shot location stat) has gone down from 39.3% to 37.3% and they are attempting .75 less per game. The offensive improvement seems sustainable, which makes since when you realize we replaced a player shooting 28% from three in the rotation.

Even this Aaron Brooks could shoot better than 28% from downtown

The most impressive component of the Rocket's resurgence has been the improvement shown on the defensive end of the floor. Most people assumed that the defense would implode after the trades because we lost Saint Battier and his incomparable defense. Its now obvious that 1. Shane's defense wasn't all it was cracked up to be anymore and 2. Aaron Brooks might be the worst defensive player in the history of the league.

Worse than Nash?

The Rockets are now more athletic and energetic on the defensive end, thanks to the play of Courtney Lee and Patrick Patterson, and the results are amazing. During the past 12 games the Rockets have posted a Defensive efficiency of 101.15 points allowed per 100 possessions. This mark would put them 7th in the entire league (ahead of the Lakers, Spurs, Mavs, and Blazers) and is nearly 6 full points better than the rest of the season. Its now clear that Battier had lost much of the lateral quickness that had enabled him to be one of the best defenders in the league, and Chase Budinger and Lee have used their increased minutes to play better defense than Shane did this season. Budinger's improvement is promising because most people (myself included) feared that he had nearly maxed out his potential and needed to be traded. Brooks' defensive shortcomings were well documented, so it isn't as surprising that a 6'4'' point guard who once embarrassed Sasha Vujacic in front of the entire world would be a good addition to our rotation.

Machine is Kobe besty friend

I believe that the new look Rockets will not only pass Memphis and make the playoffs, but could prove to be a tough out for the Spurs in the first round with a chance to shock the world and pull off the 1-8 upset. The collective winning percentage of the rockets past 12 opponents was .499 and they played 9 games against teams in the playoff race. Their average scoring margin during this stretch is +7.83 (the Bulls lead the NBA at +7.4 for the season). This is a team that is getting hot at the right time and has a chance to do something special, as long as Memphis loses a game or two in the next couple of weeks.