The Rockets miss VanVleet far more than they miss Dillon Brooks. They do not have a healthy starting-caliber point guard on the roster, and when you pair that with Ime Udoka being a modern-day Jeff Van Gundy, it’s a recipe for offensive offense.
VanVleet’s absence is the primary reason they are really bad at protecting the basketball. He is one of the best point guards at winning the possession battle for his team. It’s also forcing Amen Thompson to initiate the offense instead of playing to his strengths as a cutter and screener. This extra usage is also wearing him down on the defensive end.
Sengun is also struggling to get easy looks without VanVleet.
Yep. He’s fine as a secondary facilitator, not a primary one. It also doesn’t help that he and Sengun tend to first catch the ball beyond the three-point line in the half court.
Udoka does nothing schematically to get the ball to them in easy spots to score. Everything is difficult.
They also have a problem with defense. Last year, it was strong (remember the “terror twins”). It was something of an identity; this year, it seems average at best. This observation is anecdotal as I’m not going to research it.
You aren’t wrong. One reason is Amen Thompson is exerting more energy initiating the offense so he’s not as effective defensively. The other is Alperen Sengun has regressed, especially in recent weeks.
After losing to the Spurs in San Antonio earlier this month, Dylan Harper was quoted saying the Spurs ran the same play against the Rockets 15 straight times. Teams are hunting Sengun on the pick and roll.