The Houston Rockets Struggle to Shoot the Ball

The Houston Rockets poor start to the season has left many questioning what exactly the problem is with the team. Many rumors have surfaced as to why the Rockets are struggling. Among them are chemistry issues, poor coaching, James Harden‘s attitude, Ty Lawson, Khloe Kardashian, and a lack of effort.

While all these issues may have had an impact on the Rockets’ disappointing play this season, and it while it is likely that a single issue is not what is preventing the Rockets from finding success, the bottom line is that the Rockets have been miserable at putting the ball in the basket.

In order for the Rockets to start winning games, they’re going to have to start making shots. They currently own the fourth worst field goal percentage in the league, shooting 41.5% from the field. From behind the arc, they are the worst team in the league, shooting 29.6% despite shooting more threes than any other team in the league, averaging 32.5 attempts per game.

To put things in perspective, the Brooklyn Nets, who have the second worst shooting percentage from the three point line, also attempt less threes than any other team in the league besides the Minnesota Timberwolves. On the flip side, the Golden State Warriors, who shoot the second most amount of threes behind the Rockets, also boast the second highest three point shooting percentage in the league.

For some reason, the Rockets just can’t shoot the ball this season, following in the direction of their leader James Harden. Coming off a season where he averaged 37.5% from deep, Harden is currently only shooting 29% from three.

The Rockets inability to shoot the three ball begs the question – at what point does it no longer make sense to shoot so many threes each game if you’re unable to make a decent percentage of them. The Rockets philosophy of shooting a large amount of threes has found success elsewhere– Golden State just won a championship being a three-point-shooting team– but if your strategy is to shoot a lot of threes when you cant make very many of them, you’re going to have a hard time winning basketball games.

The Rockets have more problems than just poor shooting. It is likely that all of their struggles are interwoven, and that their struggle to put the ball in the basket is not simply due to their inability to shoot the ball.

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Tensions may have arisen from chemistry issues, poor coaching may be preventing the Rockets from finding quality shots, and the poor start to their season may have forced the Rockets to lose their confidence, all resulting in a drop off in the Rockets’ shooting percentage.

It’s not as easy of a fix as it sounds, but the Rockets have to find a way to shoot the ball better. Even though it’s still early in the season, the Rockets are running out of time to turn things around. They will look to start shooting better tonight against the Philadelphia Seventy Sixers and hopefully avoid giving the Sixers their first win of the season.

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