Houston Rockets: 3 ways Stephen Silas can fix the offense

Houston Rockets Improvement #2: Assists and Turnovers

The Rockets’ biggest struggle on the offensive end has been their lack of efficient passing. Whether it’s setting teammates up or handing the opposition the ball, the Rockets have struggled mightily with their passing.

Let’s start with the Rockets’ assist numbers or lack thereof. On the season the Rockets are assisting on 46-percent of their 2-point attempts and 79.9-percent of their 3-point attempts. Both are well below the league averages of 50.1-percent for 2-pointers and 82.4-percent on 3-pointers.

Unassisted shot attempts aren’t necessarily bad, depending on who’s taking them, but, by and large, assisted shot attempts go in the basket more than unassisted attempts. If the Rockets can improve their assist numbers they should see their shooting, and by virtue, their scoring improve.

To hammer home the point, when the Rockets complete 24 assists or more in a game this season they’re 8-3, when they’re below that mark they’re 3-7. The more the Rockets set up their teammates the more they’ll win.

While the Rockets need to improve their assist numbers, they also need to cut back on the turnovers. On the season, the Rockets are coughing the ball up 15.8 times per game, which is the fifth-worst mark in the league.

Turnovers are not always a death sentence for a team’s offense but the Rockets’ ability to win has been directly linked to the stat. In games where they have kept the number of turnovers below 15, they are 9-2, when it is at 15 and above they’re 2-8.

The recipe for success for the Rockets is to get to at least 24 assists and to keep the turnovers beneath 15. When they’ve done that they’re undefeated at 6-0 and have averaged 124.2 points per contest.

Next: Improvement #1