The Houston Rockets have been one of the league’s top-ranked offenses all season. Quite the surprise for an Ime Udoka-led group, which is generally carried by defensive execution.
Why can’t the Rockets make open shots?
The Rockets have been missing a lot.
Houston’s offensive philosophy is largely predicated on dominating the glass and getting extra bites at the apple.
Simple but effective. The more extra possessions, the more scoring opportunities.
In spite of the Rockets’ top three offensive rating, they could be much better on that end.
It all starts with making shots. Especially the open ones. Those are the easy ones.
At least they’re supposed to be. But not for the Rockets this season.
They rank 15th in 3-point percentage when “open”, shooting 34.4 percent.
By definition, the league defines being open when the closest defender is 4-6 feet away.
Wide open is when the nearest defender is 6+ feet away.
That’s an important distinction, especially when considering the individual player stats.
For example, Jabari Smith Jr., who ranks fourth in Houston’s pecking order in terms of shots per game, is usually left open by defenses, as they key in on Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun.
However, he shoots worse when “open”. In fact, he’s hitting just 33 percent of his threes with 4-6 feet of space. Which comprises 23.8 percent of his long-range attempts.
And 37.9 percent on twos when the same distance between he and the nearest defender.
Ditto for Reed Sheppard, who is making just 34.2 percent of his treys when left open, which is also 21.7 percent of his 3-point attempts. Although his percentages shoot up when factoring in two-pointers, at a 60 percent clip
Same for Tari Eason, who shoots 32.3 percent from deep when left open, which occupies 18 percent of his long-range attempts. And 33.3 percent on twos.
By comparison, Kevin Durant shoots 39.7 percent from deep when left open and 61.2 percent on twos.
Josh Okogie shoots 66.7 percent from three when open.
It may seem like nitpicking or splitting hairs to harbor on this, but it’s noteworthy, when considering that these are open shots.
Role players have to be able to hit these. Especially on a roster with Kevin Durant at the top of the scouting report as the main defensive draw.
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