How well do you feel the Rockets do at developing players? Who is most responsible for success/failure of developing players (GM, coaches, players, owner, fans, etc.)? What are the Rockets strengths/weaknesses in player development? What is the biggest recent success/failure of Rockets player development? What Rockets have the most potential for future development?
I don't think this deserved a thread . We don't do any Only just barely kidding. Outside of Clint we haven't developed and retained any above average talent. Part of this is on purpose , we have been trading picks and any young assets of potential to try and bring "win-now" players. But we've been hit or miss on that too . Really not a good look for our club . Everyone is to blame IMO . Owner , gm , and coach . Our fortunes this past 5 years have pretty much been solely at the grace of harden and that one deal .
We draft poorly, but do seem to get most out of average players. We also tend to hold on too shortly to players or don’t play them, so probably lots of untapped potential. I’d say average as we’ve had some nice players who thrived: Parsons, AB, Landry, Capela, TJ. Some serious duds in Royce, Budinger, Nick Johnson, Dekker, Onuaku and some clear untapped potential / let go too easily too: Marcus Morris, Montrezl and Patterson.
In the recent years i always had the idea that the Rockets are above average in finding "diamonds" in the dust considering where they've usually drafted, but not good enough in trying to develop them. I don't really know if it's more on the front office/gm or on the coach, but it's like unless a player looks pretty good from the start (Parsons), he doesn't get a real chance unless there's a big need of bodies. So yeah, i'd say average overall.
We might develop young talent by giving them playing time but it's all a moot point as they barely get off the bench come playoff time.
I used to believe the Rockets were a top team in player development, but lately haven't seen as many successes. I'm curious how much of this is on the Rockets staff, how much on the players, and how much on the nature of the league nowadays. It seems that the majority of the player development is left to the G League and the individual players. I don't know if this is because of limitations on practice time with the season schedule or organizational philosophies. How much does the team give players individual growth plans or work on specific things. I think hands down the Spurs do the best at player development, but cant pick out many other teams that are great at it, maybe Toronto and Philadelphia. Seems like there are many factors involved in development, with picking the right people being one of the biggest. I think we pick good players as an organization, but sometimes the turnover is too quick to properly develop some guys. That revolving door may be one weakness of the current construction of the team relying on vet minimum type players. Also, not incorporating set plays into our offense puts more pressure on the players to think and have good instincts and reactions vs being able to move work autopilot sometimes. James Harden has improved greatly every year, only guys like Kawhi and Giannis can match his growth rate. But seems like that is more on his hard work and dedication than the team. Off the top of my head, I feel like Robert Covington was probably the biggest recent fail at player development, more from not recognizing or valuing his potential than not developing the player. He has developed into the exact player type player we need and look for every season, but we let him walk for cheap. Dwight Howard and Melo development fail seems to be based on getting a vet who didn't buy into the system (not letting nerds,coaches or anyone else tell them how to play). They also failed to develop at previous stops, so maybe partly on staff for not recognizing this ahead of time. Patrick Beverly and Parsons both developed quite nicely as a Rocket, improving playmaking and shooting. Clint Capela started strong out the gates, but seems to have stalled in his skills growth and in learning the mental game. Not sure how much he has actually grown since a rookie. I think this is one of the challenges when getting foreign players, especially when they were introduced to the game late. I am disappointed that even with millions of dollars on the line Capela hasn't even been able to improve his free throw percentage with that supposedly being one of Assistant Coach for Player Development John Lucas' specialties. Culture and language difficutlies along with a lack of fundamentals make it hard to anticipate exactly how good a player can be. Our young players got little to no playoff experience the last couple years despite playoff runs. German Chocolate, Isaiah Hartenstein, seems like the best candidate for player improvement resources. He dominated in the G league and has size and range. Also, he's already under contract for a couple more years. As the son of a coach and pro-baller he seems like he should have solid instincts and decision making and can focus on improving skills. Also, although he is technically a foreign player, he has roots in the US and speaks English. Unfortunately his salary isn't guaranteed so he might just end up trade fodder or something. I think he should be working on range, perimeter d, and adjusting to the speed of the game. Danuel "Swisha" House also could be a future star, but without being locked in a long term deal, doesn't seem like we are going to be working as hard to develop him. I think he needs to keep working on his range and shot creation, and better anticipation on d. Would have liked to see both of these guys more against GS, would have helped them grow tremendously.
There was a kid name Harrell on the Rockets a couple years ago but the head coach wouldn't give him any playing time, especially in the playoffs. I wonder what happened to him.
I would ammend this to "only in the playoffs" MDA gave him plenty of time during the regular season that year (granted Clint was out for like a month and a half) This is why his playoff decision making was all the more msytifying . You could tell this kid had it .
Bump... With Hartenstein developing into something, i thought this thread was pretty relevant. Hartenstein D House Jr. Capela Chris Clemons in the Rick Adelman era: Carl Landry Luis Scola Aaron Brooks Von Wafer Chase Budinger in the McHale era, just Chandler Parsons... maybe Omer Asik? not a bad bunch there... but to me, a few bad deals here... Robert Covington Montrezl Harrell Ish Smith Kyle Lowry plenty of players have left to join teams and developed into key pieces for them. Ish Smith is in a distant past, but all the others are with either MDA or McHale.
Don’t have any first round picks 2015 to 2019; 5 years Assets are 2020, 2022 first if keep Ariza and Knight and deal for bad contracts and 2 Firsts and better Paul deal. would have 6 firsts now.
Kyle Lowry was indirectly the center piece to the Harden trade so I can't regret that one. I also don't care about Ish Smith because with Harden, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, Austin Rivers and now McLemore guard just hasn't been an issue. Covington and Harrell hurt though.
I'd say we're below average... we try to develop a guy occasionally - Clint, House... but most often MDA would rather pump up his stats with known commodities - an opposed to actually developing prospects... imo... Id rather bring down minutes for the starters and give other guys some somewhat consistent minutes...
