The Rockets going forward from now until next October

I am not saying you are wrong I agree with most of this I just don't understand why you think KPJ has to be a 6th man, shouldn't we wait to see how he plays with better players or at least another wing playmaker?

 

Ts% and efg%.

Don't use fg%. This makes it look like Cade is the more efficient scorer. Green is.

 

I dont think hes good enough to be a true facilitator. Hes more of a go to scorer and more of a secondsry style playmaker.

Imo, thst places him as a prime 6moy type candidate. Similar impact to an eric gordon or lou williams where they avg 30 mpg and are almost all star talents.

 

Lou and Eric play within themselves, KP is young and very flawed, it's not just maturity issues, something is making him not see things he could easily avoid.

 

I don't understand why that makes him a 6th man guys like that start all the time just look at jrue holiday.

Most of those 6th man types are bad at defense, and none of the guys you named are as of a playmaker as KPJ.

Everything you described would fit more when talking about JG a guy that can get buckets but is not great at defense, I am not saying he needs to go to the bench but he fits your criteria.

 

You do know Lou Williams was considered a bust before he got his 2nd deal he most definitely took awhile to "play within himself"

Lou Williams was also young and very flawed.

 

Jrue in his age 22 season dished 8 assists per game and shot more efficiently than KPJ is this season. He was by far the best player on a 34-win team that was much less talented than this Rockets squad.

At some point, "he's young" doesn't work as an excuse for bad play. Jrue was a much better player at the same age.

 

I think he's more of a Gerald Green/JR Smith/Danuel House type of player. Scoring punch every 2nd or 3rd game type of guy. He even gives me the same vibes as them. Jamal Crawford/Kevin Martin is a really high bar for him.

 

I just worry that the path they are on is one that is about 2 times longer than it needs to be....

DD

 

Rebuilds don't follow schedules.

 

KPJ can be a starting SG on some team. But that position on the Rockets is Green's. So they kind of forced him to play the PG which is not the best for him. In a way, it's unfortunate for him to have to play behind a talented guy like Green. I think he can still start with Green in the backcourt but should not be the hub of the offense. Teams can play two SGs effectively with someone else as the playmaker. LeBron's teams, for example, are always like that. Steph Curry is really an undersized shooting guard. They have Draymond to do the playmaking.

 

Ok and?

That was in his 4th season after he had played 220 games KPJ has yet to lay 200 games, before that year he averaged about 5 asst a game.

His career average is about 6.5 so I don't know why that year with 8 is supposed to mean something.

Jrue was not a much better player at the same age his shooting numbers are about the same, the fact that you are using his asst to say he was a much better player tells me a lot.

He also played with more veterans on that team and that team was not much less talented.

That team had

Jason Richardson
Evan Turner
Damien Wilkins
Nick young
Thadeus Young

And Kwamee Brown who had proved to be a valuable rotation piece by that time.

We got Garry Bird playing major minutes, that team was not much worse.

 

I don't even know if Green is better than KPJ at this point, considering KPJ has a more all around game and is better at defense.

But with that said teams don't really have pg's anymore, and it's usually combo guards and with the team at this stage of a rebuild it really does not matter.

I agree we need more overall playmakers, I just see why he needs to play behind Green as if he has proven something himself.

 

30 games of Jason Richardson at the very end of his career. 10 games of Kwame Brown at the end of his career scoring 2ppg. Wilkins was mediocre and old and was out of the league after that year, too.

Evan Turner, Thad Young, and Swaggy P? That's the high level talent you refer to?

Gary Bird barely plays for the Rockets, you think 12mpg is "major minutes"?

 

The question is what Stone is thinking. In the past he has valued players too highly and paid the price with subpar returns (see Dipo, Theis). Trade deadlines have not been friendly for him and much of the time it feels we make trades that work against our rebuild or make little sense (Schroder).

Part of me thinks Stone wants to take a big swing this offseason. He understands that we have a roster crunch and bad fits, but wants to try to package players together the next time a disgruntled star hits the market a la the Cavs and Mitchell. Tate, Garry Bird, etc. So I wonder if we'll see that pattern break at all this trade deadline or if he'll make a move for future picks and depart with the EGs, Tate's, etc.

With KPJ, the PG experiment feels like it's coming to an end. I'd have to think by the trade deadline we'll see some changes, but then again the team is WAY too invested in KPJ to make that sort of move in the season. In which case we'll see it resolved in the offseason through a possible moving of KPJ or change in role. I guess we'll see.

 

Never said it was high talent, but then you seem to somehow think this team has talent?

Turner was in his 4th year, and he signed a max contract after that, so he was not some scrub.

Thad Young was 15 and 8 and was an above average NBA guy.

Nick Young was a better player than Gary Bird and was averaging about and the fact that he is getting rotation minutes at all should tell you something The last 4 games he played 17 ,14, 16, 12 so he is a vital rotation piece.

Tari Eason last 5 games 12, 12, 15, 23, 19.

So yeah major rotational minutes.

 

I posted this in the game thread but I think it makes sense for what the Rockets should be really focusing on as a system for the rest of this season:

This team needs to be doing a lot of Green and Sengun pnr possessions. That alone should be the reason Silas is fired.

From the pnr, you break into many possibilities. Either a Green drive, or a screen and pop where Sengun works in space in the high post where the Green, Tari, KMJ etc become explosive cutting options, or a simple roll where Green feeds Sengun.


But I think that a Green Sengun pnr should be the base of what this offense centers around and everything revolves around that. That should be the future system ignoring the potential of a heavy hitter like Wemby comes along and changes the entire game.

 

You can see in 5:55 how Green's screen craft with his dribble and using them in creative ways is something that impresses non-Rocket neutral fans. You have to combine that with Sengun's high post playmaking ability. Hence the Green Sengun PnR being the base of this offense.