Thoughts on the current roster? Your expectations of individuals and the squad as a whole, in the near future? To tank or not? Who gets traded or extended? ROY? Most Improved Player? Win Total? Playoffs? Whatever....
I'm excited to see Senguns improvement when he's a permanent starter playing 30 MPG. Is it possible to run offense through him? I don't expect another Jokic, but running an offense through a passing big opens an entirely different dimension of offense. I'm excited about Jabari, but I already know what he can be. Not winning ROY wouldn't mean anything long term. Green will average 22+ with modest improvement. I'm most excited about Sengun. Although I wouldn't be upset to see Jalen jump to 25+. Some say he has the work ethic of Kobe or Jordan. Show me. I wouldn't exactly say we're intentionally tanking, but there is no way we're making the playoffs especially if Wall is sitting again. 25 wins max?
This is a really big year for Sengun and Porter. Sengun has a perfect opportunity to shine with Smith and Eason joining the team. How he plays this year will go along towards how he is viewed going forward. Porter really struggled the first half of the year and his stunt leaving the game marred his otherwise passable behavior. He finished year strong and whether he is here long term will depend on his play and attitude this season.
Expecting the Rockets to start these young gunners KPJ JG4 Tari Jabari Sengun Soon as possible? Sure hope so.
Green's hamstring injury and skinny frame makes me worried about how durable he is. It will be interesting to see if he will be durable with more weight added this season or not. Can Porter overcome his behavioral issues? No question he has the talent, but if this is the pivotal year to see if he can control his behavior to be a positive professional. Sengun should benefit from more NBA conditioning and having Smith cover up some of his defensive weaknesses plus the space Smith, Porter and Green's three point shooting should create. I'll be watching to see what defensive improvement Sengun can make this year too. Can he be good enough defensively and from the 3 point line to be a complete player? I hope Eason shows an even more improved 3 point stroke so he can get significant minutes this season. His defense, strength and fast break ability could be huge for the team. Hope we see Gordon and Tate traded so we can see which of these young players rise to the top. Christopher is another fun guy to watch and he showed flashes of stardom. Hopefully this continues. The Nix/TyTy battle will be fun to watch too. I see another rookie from another team winning rookie of the year. I could see Jaden Ivey winning it and also being the star of this year's draft. I hope our win total is low so we can get a good chance for the draft lottery again. Playing all of these young guys could accomplish that AND get them valuable live experience.
Jabari Smith, Tari Eason and Tyty Washington will play a combined zero minutes for the Vipers. That's my expectation.
I think we will be naturally bad, but hope we don't tank. I'd rather see us 6th or 7th worst, and improving late. I know that flies in the face of Victor tanking, but there is something about young guys learning to win We need a couple of really solid locker room vets who don't need to play much. No idea who they are, but let's find them
I'm expecting Green to play well. Christopher and Sengun are the X-Factors I'm looking to see besides for Green and Jabari. Christopher has times he looks great. I could see him fighting his way into starting lineup if Gordon is traded. Sengun was great early with 15-18 min. Hoping he gets better conditioning and can play like that 30 mpg.
What would you like to see from each of them? For Sengun, I go back and forth on whether a consistent 3 ball is a must have or a nice to have. I do hope to see more consistent rebounding performance from Sengun and of course progress on D -- staying on the floor with effort and not fouling. For Porter, I want to see plus defensive play, and want to see him figure out more balance when playing off the ball (and especially supporting Green and making him successful). The catch and shoot stats that have been posted are eye opening if sustainable -- he clearly made strides as a pure jump shooter. I'm curious to see how he behaves if he doesn't get an extension this summer (which I doubt he will) -- I could either see him taking a huge leap or having another outburst that leads to him being cut.
I would not be suprised if Sengun takes a big step forward this season. With multiple marksm Well Boban is basically 2 guys. Maybe 3 lil guys.
Think JC will come in much improved. Would rather he start over Tate, but I imagine it will not be long before Tari is .
KPJ and Green have really great offensive years, but the KPJ haters will still find fault and scream for him to be traded for a “true” pg or for Tyty to be called up from RGV to start. Sengun gets 30 mins a game and improves tremendously on the defensive side of the ball. Tate starts and Eason barely sees the floor until after the all-star break (because Silas going to Silas) Smith will average about 14 pts a game, play great defense but will be a disappointment on the boards. Gordon continues to suck minutes away from youngsters until the deadline. KMJ is traded. Nix sucks. Matthews gets more playing time than JC for some inexplicable reason. Garuba gets about 10 mins a game and shows promise, but Silas won’t play him until forced to near the end of the year. We win about 30 games and miss out on a top five pick, because the lottery gods will not shine on us 3 years in a row. Stone will give Silas another year to figure it out since it was another development year.
I'm looking for signs a player can be in the playoff rotation of a championship team. That means they're either on trend to be 3 and D, great offense, or great defense. Jabari and Tari are rookies and their floor is as 3 and D guys so I'm not worried there. Tate would be ok in a bench role if he developed a decent open corner 3 like Tucker. I think KPJ needs to commit more on defense but I think he can do enough on both ends to stay on the court. I'm most worried about Jalen and Sengun. Because of their size I question if either will ever be a great defender. They both essentially need to become dominant offensive players to play the type of minutes we would want them to play in the playoffs. They can't just be Kevin Martin and Enes Kanter. There's obviously so much more but that's the simplified version of what I expect to start seeing signs of.
Silas must loose enough games to be a lock for a top lottery pick, but win enough games to just barely make the playoffs. Anything less and he is fired.
I expect the coaches to spend too much time trying to figure out how to go small with all the combinations that we have. I'm expecting Eason to earn some minutes and the confidence of the coaches, but he won't be a starter in year one. I'm expecting Nix to beat out TyTy Washington for minutes to begin the season. I'm expecting a Garrison Mathews sighting after Eric Gordon is traded away. The shooting combination of Mathews and Jabari Smith will open up the floor. I'm expecting a Wall buyout soon. Can this happen before Summer League, please?
I think Christopher is being slept on this offseason. It is tough to be a rookie in the NBA. He could still become a very good player. It might be this year, next year, maybe even never, but I think he gets a chance to shine this year.
