Charles Barkley Rips Rockets for Lack of Offensive Execution

By the numbers, the Houston Rockets are a fairly good offense. The season-long numbers, that is.

Houston ranks eighth in offensive efficiency, which has been dropping by the game. This month, Houston ranks 23rd in offensive efficiency, heading into Monday night’s match against the Utah Jazz. A team Houston has somewhat struggled against this season.

The Rockets have had a season-long play-making issue, due to their lack of table-setters. Rockets coach Ime Udoka has resorted to a hodgepodge of facilitators, in hopes of piecemealing the absence left by Fred VanVleet’s season-long knee injury.

What it’s resulted in has been players playing relatively out of position.

Amen Thompson has been taken off the wing and mostly pitted at point guard, which limits his effectiveness, specifically because it leaves him at the top of the key and/or behind the 3-point line. Essentially taking him out of the play or playing in the hands of the defense, by taking open long-range shots. Which isn't exactly what you want, for a player shooting 19% from deep.

Houston's offense has oftentimes lacked movement and/or actions. Buy and large, it's generally pick-and-roll action or an isolation-based approach. Which doesn't always work. Even with an all-time talent like Kevin Durant.

The Rockets' offense has a tendency to get stale in the fourth quarter. On Saturday, they led 91-75 over the New York Knicks at the top of the fourth and lost. The Rockets shot 5-of-18 from the field and 2-of-8 from three down the stretch, and turned the ball over nine times.

NBA legend and former Rockets forward Charles Barkley ripped the team's offensive philosophy after their loss on Saturday.

“It’s the same stuff I said before the game," Barkley said. "That offense they run is not going to…Kevin [Durant] and [Alperen] Sengun are so good, offensively. It’s going to work most of the time. But you just can’t give the ball to a player and say ‘go get it’. Not against the elite teams. Because the defense picked up, they turned the ball over.

"It’s the same thing we’ve been saying. I said ‘yo man, this team is going to win a bunch of games because of Kevin and Sengun. But when it really matters against the elite teams, they are not going to win.’ NBA teams are too good for you to go one-on-five all the time. It’s just not going to work, no matter how great you are.”

Rockets coach Ime Udoka’s strength is on the opposite end of the floor. Offense is far from his specialty, which has been on full display, following the loss of Steven Adams, who was the key cog in Houston's philosophy of getting extra bites at the apple and generating high-percentage second-chance points.

Even still, the Rockets hold the league's third-best record in the Western Conference, at 35-21, which puts them on an identical track to where they were just last year at the same point in the season.