Honestly, whatever… I don’t care anymore. With Clutch and others talking about our 2022, 2023 picks being our "core", we are not talking about NBA basketball anymore, we’re talking some hypothetical development project for draft nerds. The hope I had was to build something around a #2 pick the way Memphis did it, for example. Year 1: ROY Year 2: Play-in/Playoffs Year 3: maybe HCA, MVP consideration, borderline contender status. Good org. culture, good coach, good system. Good supporting players. A timely trade here and there… Obviously the goal for the Rockets is not to build, the goal is to accumulate. In that regard, I really don’t care how Jalen Green plays anymore. Let him run and jump around, obviously the kid’s got tremendous speed and hops. If establishing winning habits and wining culture a la Memphis/Ja is not the plan, then what are we discussing here? Why are people arguing? SIDE ONE: JG has tremendous physical talents and he’s young. SIDE TWO: Yes, we agree with our esteemed opponents, but JG is not a factor for winning games in the foreseeable future. SIDE ONE: Yes, we agree with our esteemed opponents, but winning games is not the goal in the foreseeable future. SIDES shake hands. END of DISCUSSION
People think a rebuild was going to be quick and easy? Some teams have been rebuilding for decades. There's no guarantee they can get out of the cycle. It takes time and more than likely will flop a few times before it hits.
The issue with rebuilds like Memphis, Toronto and Cleveland is that they just put you at .500 again. Maybe a 4-6 seed but thats where you stay forever unless you're Miami, New York or Los Angeles where a free agent superstar wants to live in your city. Memphis can't do it with just Morant. Cleveland is cute but unless Mobley is the second coming of Tim Duncan they're just going to be like Toronto is now. A middling team with a couple of All Stars getting gentleman swept in the playoffs by teams with real superstars. You need to hit on draft picks to be good for a while. Rockets got two already. They need a third.
I think this year might be special for Memphis, I agree with the rest. Mainly because outside of GSW, the Suns and the Jazz I do not see any consistent teams. Memphis was a gritty team when they were not bad. Some dudes called ZBo the Dark Grizzly and Marc Gasol the Light Grizzly. It all depends on the potential greatness of a certain Morant.
So basically, you have nothing at all of value to say, so you're deflecting and making yourself look stupid? Interesting direction, what a loser you are.
We either need to draft a player that will be top 6ish in the league or trade for that player. I'm on record as loving Green but I think he maxes out in the top 15 range. Sengun may have that potential, hard to say. The thing though, is those guys are 3-4 seasons from even coming close to those ceilings. People need to understand we are still in the infancy of rebuilding. Trade Wood now. Suck for 2 more seasons. Build around....... Green/Sengun/Garuba/Jaygup/KMJ and keep Porter if the contract/development are right. Draft highest potential player in 2022 and 2023 drafts. Trade the pick if a young potential top 6 guy becomes available. Not likely, But have enough in the war chest to make it happen if it occurs. 2023-2024 is the year that we want -Our player that we feel good about being a top 6 player in 2025-2026 with continued development (fyi this would be year 5 for Sengun and Green) -To be playoff competitive (to attract mega stars wanting out) -enough talented youth to have a playoff team type if core OR to trade for better players -Draft capital to augment team with superstar or select role players. -A coach that is good. We happen to be on track to suck in 2022-2023. We might as well settle in and play for Victor W. Not likely but it seems that he will be the highest rated draft prospect in awhile. I'm having fun watching our games again but we arent winning anytime soon. Ride out the process.
Even if Green is the guy to build around, and I think he’s projecting to be that guy, the inevitable high lottery pick that the Rockets get next year will also factor into the core. You don’t expect to completely rebuild in a couple years, that’s ridiculous. They are trying to win, they just aren’t very good. As to Memphis, they landed the #2 pick coming out of the 8th worst record. The rockets landed the #2 pick with the worst record in basketball. The rockets pre Jalen Green won 17 games, the pre Morant grizzlies won 33 games. The state of these two teams prior to the selection of their 2nd picks was very different and the subsequent rebuild is likely not to look the same either.
Toronto just won a championship a few years ago ... and they have young guys and just added a number 4 overall pick . I feel like they will be a perennial homecourt team in a couple of years
They only won a ship because of a 1 year rental of a top 5 talent in the league though. Let's not pretend it has anything to do with their draft success or player development.
I just don't know how people can make definite claims like him maxing out at top 15. He's 19. He's doing things now in the past 10 games which in his very young career is a sizeable chunk of his entire career that very few 19 year olds do. If he finished the season averaging around 19 ppg at around 58% ts he is on track to be a a multiple time scoring champ which is more than a mere top 15 player. Do people not know hard it is for 19 year old guards in the NBA?
If having a top 5 player in the league is all it took to win a ring, then the Rockets would have multiple ones in the past decade. That team is well coached with Nurse. Barnes is lucky to be drafted there.
Also, the Grizzlies team that drafted Ja won 30+ games and leaped frogged a handful of teams on lottery night. This team started on shyzt river the day fatty called it quits. Zero to go on, nada. This is basically year one of the process
Green is now - one the season - 15.5 points on 12.8 shots in 25 games. This while shooting 32% from 3pt range, which it looks like he will improve on. He's going to the line almost 4 times a game which is amazing considering he barely ever went to the line the first ten games. I want to remind you that unfortunately the Jalen Green that started this NBA season had no idea how to play NBA basketball on either side of the floor and he doesn't have the elite athleticism to impose his will on a game either. 25 games in the 19 year old understands and has significantly improved his off ball play on offense and defense, and he is better at both shooting and getting to the rim. This is rapid improvement, if you can't see that then you are just watching the clock too much. 19, athletic, can shoot, cares about defense, high motor on and off court. Would you really bet against that?
