I do not think they stopped looking for him. They started giving the ball to Sengun/Wood at the perimeter for guards to slash past their defenders through picks for layups or open 3s. JG had a difficult time spacing out from his defender especially Bradley. JG needs to learn how to beat his defender better especially players like Bradley and the coach needs to design his play better to get JG the ball when they do double-team him. Either way, I just love the fact that a rookie was getting doubled-teamed.
Sengun is our all Star, give them 30 games him and Green can run the team for us, which will significantly reduces pressure on KPJ (4th scoring option). They just need to see all the coaching schemes, all the player types, get pissed off a couple of times. They need to see a 36 year old LeBron James soaring in the air and Anthony Davis powering through a crowd to understand the competition and decide how to respond. Carmelo, Westbrook, Jordan, etc. This was the most veteran team in the league. I'm sure the kids learned a ton. It's all in the process. I was not looking forward to tanking but this is turning out to be a great season.
Chet or Banchero would look real nice next to Green. Green will need to assert dominance over his teammates at some point this year like Ja Morant did last year. Too many young players trying to prove their worth at this point though I would not be upset if the rockets traded Christian Wood to a team trying to make the playoffs for multiple picks or a stud under 23(Davion Mitchell please) I think we all know KPj is going to need to make strides if he wants to be a full time PG. I’m being realistic. I don’t see it. Can he even develop as a Tyler Herro/Jamal Crawford type of 6th man? he seems to lack quickness and the handle needs work. another player I’m torn on is Tate…
Most promising game of the year for Green. First game where I could see a future franchise type player potential. I don’t care about the turnovers, he was engaged and played hard and looked like a diamond in the rough. I have been hoping to see something to give me hope and he showed it tonight. I’m very encouraged.
Name not a star player at C/PF that can give 20/10 consistently while also being able to make 3s? Most PF/C need good playmakers to be fully effective and KPJ that runs PG is not a consistent playmaker while JG is trying to find his own groove. Still Wood can give you 20/10 performance on a given night without a great playmaker. He held his own tonight against Davis. What more can you ask from Wood that managed to give a 26/16 performance tonight against Davis? Maybe not a hall of fame superstar, but Wood is definitely a star and the only player in the team that has been consistent.
The problem with Wood is his numbers look good but his play style is often detrimental to the offense. He has a tendency to catch the ball at 3 point line and then iso, or waste time on the clock, or take a few seconds to make swing passes. For a lack of a better term, he is a ball stopper right now. As an example, here is Wood bringing the ball up the court in a 5 v 4 situation. Green was open for nearly 4-5 seconds before he finally got the ball. In fact, Wood was even signalling to slow down, in a 5 v 4. It's a good thing the Lakers is horrible on defense, because this could have been a wasted possession.
From the video, you shared Green was still running to get in his position and was not even looking behind. Wood lost a second as he lost the dribble. Immediately when he saw Green open he passed it to KPJ and indicated him to pass to Green. This was good offense on Woods's part. Even in a 5-4 situation Davis and Bron who are good defenders were already set in their position and the only one open was Green was able to knock down the 3. The open guy got the ball. Do not see how this argument is against Wood in any way.
It's an example of him ball stopping or slowing the pace down unnecessarily. There are many available videos yet, so the only highlight video I can find is here. This is a highlight video, but even then you can see how often he holds onto the ball at the top of the key and everyone just stands around. For non-highlight situations, you get stagnate offense. Wood holding onto the ball at the top of the key gives less space for the guards to work with, because neither KPJ nor Green would be standing in the paint.
Don't you think these sort of plays are drawn by the coach more than Wood? Maybe it's by design for Wood to draw out his defender in paint so guards could get an easier path to drive. Everyone standing around while he holds the ball at top of the key is not good on guards more than Wood. Just saying that there could be many reasons for what you notice and not necessarily something Wood lacking in his game. Besides stinking at the free-throw line, I did not see much of an issue with Woods's game tonight.
He didn't have a bad game by any means, and I can see if this is more of a Silas thing than a Wood thing. Sengun also gets passes at the top of the key, but unlike Wood, Sengun immediately signals for his teammates to move around. Of course, Sengun basically screams point-center, and is already a much better playmaker than Wood. However, watching the game, it's quite clear that when the offense runs through Sengun, everyone moves around more (and Sengun is always looking to create plays for others). With Wood, when the ball is at the top of the key, he frequently looks at the basket instead. He is at the end of the day the best scorer on this team right now, but it'll be better if he cut down on the number of top of the key ISO's.
Like how they finally ran some actual actions for him coming off those pindowns and such. Him being involved in the offense more and not just relegated to iso 3s off the dribble really showed in his confidence level. He's only 19!
It's clear that Sengun needs to be starting with Wood. When Segun had to take a seat the team was up double digits and that lead quickly evaporated because the ball movement was not as crisp. Hoping that Silas sees this and relegates Theis to a bench role
Pretty much accurate except Green should be 6th. Suggs was sold as an elite play maker. 3 assists and as many turnovers. Everything else, turning out to be a talented draft class after so many said it was Cade and nothing after that.
Exactly. We know that the Rockets spent the #2 pick in a very good draft (picks 1-5) on a guard that will never be a good defender and will never be terribly strong either..... so for that to work, he needs to really really be special on the offensive side of the ball, and he needs to be able to make things happen under pressure..... and against the Lakers, for the first time we saw that type of potential. We saw someone that could potentially carry the team on the offensive side of the game and make his mediocre defense almost meaningless. People will say "well he is only 19", and it may not be fair, but the reality is that at 19 Green already has a year of playing professional basketball and the comparison to rookie Kobe or McGrady or others really isn't fitting. The league was a lot more physical back then and those guys were coming straight to high school. Also, most players that become elite players flash that talent early in their career, even if it isn't consistent - and last night we got to see flashes of it for the first time in the NBA regular season. He not only showed ability, he wasn't mentally overwhelmed and he didn't back down either.... he wasn't scared, and it wasn't bullshit bravado like he had with Cunningham.... he was focused and excelled in the moment.... and that is what the absolute best all time do... so it should give fans hope. It sounds absurd, but the most important thing to happen to the Rockets since they drafted Jalen Green, was his performance against the Lakers last night.
No they haven't and that's not me saying anything negative about Mobley or Barnes because they've been great but Green is asked to do waaaay more than those 2 offensively
