Houston Rockets Defense to Depend on Success of Offense

Houston Rockets new head coach Mike D’Antoni believes an efficient offense will lead to better defense.

Houston Rockets new head coach Mike D’Antoni hopes the team’s defense will improve as players find his new offense more rewarding.

“I’ve always found when people are comfortable offensively, if they like their roles on the team, their energy goes up on defense and you become a better defensive team,” D’Antoni is quoted saying by the Houston Chronicle. “There’s no secret strategy about how to defend somebody. There’s heart and soul and work.”

D’Antoni’s logic is one of the reasons he is considered an offensive coach. To act as though satisfaction on offense is enough to make up for a team’s lack of defensive strategy is the mindset of a coach whose past teams have had sub par defenses.

Even when D’Antoni’s teams have been at their best offensively, they have been underwhelming defensively. The Phoenix Suns team that went to the Western Conference Finals back-to-back years in 2005 and 2006 ranked 19th and 20th in terms of defensive efficiency.

Had the Suns been a top ten defensive team those seasons, perhaps D’Antoni would have two championships under his belt. Instead, he has none.

Every team that has won a championship since the 2006-2007 season has been a top ten defensive team, with a good portion of those teams falling within the top five.

Make no mistake, in order for a team to win a championship, they have to be solid defensively, and that is one of the reasons D’Antoni has yet to do it.

More from Rockets News

• 3 reason why the Houston Rockets should draft Jalen Green
• NBA Draft: Should Houston Rockets select Evan Mobley or Jalen Green?
• Houston Rockets: 2 Pros and cons to trading back in NBA Draft
• 3 reasons the Houston Rockets should select Evan Mobley in NBA Draft
• Houston Rockets: 3 options for pick No. 2 after NBA Draft Lottery

Perhaps I am reading too much into D’Antoni’s words, however. Perhaps D’Antoni means that producing a solid offense will go a long ways in helping the players buy in to a suitable defense. Or perhaps D’Antoni means that playing efficient offense will give the Rockets an advantage when the possession turns around and they have to play defense.

Having ranked 5th in the league in turnovers last season, the Rockets often put their defense in a bad position by forfeiting the ball to the other team. If the Rockets were to capitalize on their possessions more often, it would allow them additional time to set their defense after made baskets.

Being an offensive minded coach, I imagine D’Antoni’s first order of business will be to figure out how to cut down on turnovers.

Still, the Rockets will need more than just offense to improve their defense. Being among the worst defensive teams in the league last season, they will need a major upgrade.

The man with the plan to fix the Rockets defense: Jeff Bzdelik https://t.co/o5wNTqEONp via @HoustonChron

— Reid Laymance (@ReidLaymance) June 3, 2016

While I do believe a better offense can help the Rockets to put forth more effort on defense, it will be defensive strategy that makes the Rockets a top ten team defensively.

Seeing that D’Antoni is unlikely to help the Rockets make that drastic of an improvement, Houston will rely on the defensive expertise of new assistant coach Jeff Bzdelik. Let’s hope he is up for the task.

Next: Houston Rockets: The Undeserving MVP

Next: Draft, Finals, Harden Buzz

Space City Scoop is always looking to add new talent to our writing team. Currently we’re looking for individuals with a specialized focus. The first area of focus is perfect for someone who is constantly surfing the web for breaking news on injuries, trades, insider info etc. This individual would select the top news items and provide timely quick hits to keep SCS readers in the loop.

The other area of focus is someone who possesses a strong social media background who likes to interact with Clutch City Fans. This person would promote SCS team content on Facebook and Twitter while also making sure to promote the best content coming from H-Town fans. If you have this capability and are interested then check out this link and fill out an application.