Ultra Small Ball -- Rethinking Rebounds

By Taylor Pate on February 20, 2020



The Rockets have embraced the Micro USB (Ultra Small Ball) era. With the only remaining centers on the roster being 37-year-old Tyson Chandler (8.4 minutes per game in 26 appearances) and Prodigal Son, Isaiah Hartenstein (recently sent to the G League), the Rockets have taken head coach Mike D’Antoni’s vision and created a reality.

The idea behind this upheaval is that any player on the floor for the Rockets is responsible for being able to guard 1 through 5. The Rockets will implement the switching defense that was so successful with pieces like Luc Mbah a Moute and Trevor Ariza in previous years. With the recent additions of Robert Covington, DeMarre Carroll, and Jeff Green, the Rockets hope to maintain a level of defensive flexibility that translates into offensive freedom.

After being a top-12 rebounding team, largely due to Clint Capela, the Rockets are being out-rebounded by double-digits per game since the trade deadline. How does the team plan to tackle the Rudy Gobert's and Anthony Davis’ of the world? Well, by crashing the boards. With everyone.


On this play, the Rockets are playing a hybrid defensive set, involving Box and One and their switching scheme. As Russell Westbrook cuts off Anthony Davis on the way to the goal, Rajon Rondo passes off to LeBron James at the top of the key. Robert Covington maintains his position at the free throw line, eventually leading to a pass to Rajon Rondo in the corner. After a quick closeout, PJ Tucker and the rest of the Rockets are all in the paint and boxing out.
By keeping a ball-hawk on shooters/ball handlers and leaving non-shooters open, the Rockets are enticing teams to have their less-than-stellar shooters put up shots while they lay in wait for rebound opportunities. Obviously this strategy isn't unique to the NBA, but it's even more important for a team with no center to have as many bodies as possible to grab a rebound.

Rockets opponents are also being baited into thinking that they have a mismatch down low. In the next clip, Alex Caruso badly misses Anthony Davis on a roll, but Davis winds up with a mismatch and the ball nonetheless. Eric Gordon plays some sound initial defense and Austin Rivers collapses to help. But again, the Lakers have four players on the perimeter and the Rockets have five players in the paint. A contested Anthony Davis turnaround, even with smaller guys guarding him, is a win for the Rockets defense.


Of course, the downside to playing this style is that a defensive lapse is far more devastating for the Rockets. On this play, Thabo Sefolosha and Danuel House Jr. have a miscommunication and both follow the roll man, Daniel Theis. This leads to the WIDEST of wide-open threes. Luckily for the Rockets, Tatum misses this shot. Unfortunately, Ben McLemore tries to contest the shot and the long rebound comes right back to Tatum, so McLemore’s man, Marcus Smart, is left for an open three. McLemore’s close-out on Tatum prevented him from being in position at the free throw line to grab a long rebound (see PJ Tucker in the last clip), which all started with Sefolosha missing the switch.



Again, a small error by Covington coupled with Austin Rivers sliding down late leaves the Rockets out of position and James Harden is unable to get in front of Theis. Had Rivers been in position (pause the clip at 4 seconds) when the pass was made to Jaylen Brown on the opposite wing, you would have House boxing out Tatum, which leaves you with Rivers and Harden on either side of Theis. Alternatively, if Covington switches on to Brown sooner, the open three is never there.



Sometimes, the bigger squirrel just gets the nut. Grant Williams gets in and takes advantage of the smaller Rivers. Aside from Ben McLemore not crashing the boards, this is otherwise pretty good defense. With a unit sporting Westbrook, Rivers, and McLemore, this kind of rebound is just going to happen sometimes.  



At this point, the Micro USB lineup doesn’t have enough time on the court to pull enough data worth analyzing, but finding trends over the next few weeks should provide some clue as to whether or not the Rockets can compete for a title with their revolutionary changes. If the Rockets can remain competitive on the glass, they should find success both for the rest of the regular season and in the playoffs.

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