In recent seasons, the Rockets have been a team with guards, and the team has invested a lot of salaries and places in the configuration of defenders, but it has not paid much attention to the configuration of the interior.
Trading Theis to the Celtics before the trade deadline this season in exchange for Schroeder and Fernand is a correction of the interior configuration, before this season, the Rockets' configuration on the inside has been for the guard, and in the past 3 seasons, the Rockets themselves have paid less attention to the interior.
Since Harden was traded to the Rockets, the Rockets have been on the inside, the first is Asik, the Rockets signed with a 3-year, 25 million poison contract player, the first two years of this contract were 5 million, but the third year salary soared to 15 million, the Rockets used two years, the third year to trade Asik to the Bulls.
Before the Rockets traded Asik, the Rockets had already signed Dwight Howard with a maximum salary, and the Rockets formed a modern combination, with Howard becoming the team's best starting point, and the Rockets' bench center shifted from Dorsey to Capela.
When Howard broke up with Capela, Howard eventually left the Rockets, and the Rockets helped Capela to sign a free-agent contract as Capela's replacement.
When the Rockets introduced Westbrook, the Rockets finally chose to trade Capela in order to solve the space problem, at this time the Rockets are a centerless lineup, Tucker acts as the team's center, and the Rockets become the only team in the league without a center.
And when Westbrook left the Rockets, the Rockets signed Wood for 3 years and 41 million, Wood became the rocket's starting center, the Rockets signed Wood not long ago, Harden was traded, the Rockets began to transform, the configuration in the center position appeared to be more critical, the Rockets once tried a third-rate interior line like Patton in the bench center, but the effect was not ideal.
The Rockets won the 36 million yuan in the offseason last year by signing first and then exchanging, and selected Shen Jing with the 16th pick in the draft and Garouba with the 23rd pick, thus strengthening the interior line.
However, this season, Theis and Wood did not match, and eventually fell out of the rotation lineup for a long time, being traded to the Celtics by the Rockets before the trade deadline, Garupa has not played out in the Rockets, and has been developing the league for a long time, and the Rockets' internal problems are still obvious.
From the current point of view, the Rockets' starting center is Wood, and the backup center is Shin Kyung, both of which have a lot of problems on the defensive end.
Wood's defense in the Rockets is a catastrophic existence, whether it is a big defense, or anti-small effect is very bad, Wood as a good hand to block the ball to hold the ball attack, defensive block demolition is a catastrophic existence, Wood's defensive position selection and defensive scale is not good, Wood's defensive awareness is not good, Wood's defensive enthusiasm and defensive attitude are not good, Wood's strength is not good, can not prevent the tall and strong inside line, Wood defends small players, often shot by opponents.
And Shen Jing's defense is not good from the current point of view, Shen Jing's footsteps are not moving fast, often by the other side's step by step, Shen Jing's strength to fight losses, height and arm span losses, Shen Jing's foul rate control is not good, Shen Jing's defensive experience is insufficient, often make mistakes at the defensive end, Shen Jing's ability to change defense is not good, the defensive position and defensive scale are not done well, resulting in some mistakes that young players often make.
That is to say, the original configuration of the Rockets' inner line this season is Wood on the offensive end of the starting lineup + Theis on the defensive end, Shen Jing on the offensive end of the substitute lineup + Garupa on the defensive end, and the result is that the defensive end of the Theis is very dragging space, resulting in poor results, being abandoned by Silas, and finally being traded, and Garuba on the defensive end has not been played, and has been sent down by the Rockets to the Vipers, resulting in the players on the defensive end of the Rockets' interior line unable to play, resulting in the collapse of the Rockets' inner line.
And the root cause of the Rockets' defensive interior line can not play, is the Rockets offensive players poor stability, poor scoring sustainability, poor grade at the offensive end, once the space is not good, resulting in team offensive constipation, once the offensive constipation, resulting in the current Rockets' top two stars lack of hard solutions, resulting in insufficient digestion of offensive ball, resulting in the rocket offensive end collapse.
In a sense, whether the Rockets are Capela's period as a center, through Harden to attract pulling force, Capela is a carrier for Harden to amplify his strength, or let Tucker and Covington swing to the inside line, to ensure that players rotate quickly to make up for the lack of height.
Although the rocket's investment in the inner line has formed a closed loop, it has finally proved that the defensive interior line has failed, not in the defensive players are not suitable, but in the core offensive grade and strength of the offensive end, which is caused by the low level and strength of the core offense, and the defensive configuration of the team is sacrificed, and the defensive configuration promotes the team's offense to appear to kill a thousand self-inflicted losses of eight hundred, which is the root of the rocket vicious circle.