I'll preface my response by saying that as a fan I expected more from this team by now. I expected that an influx in talent was going to lead to more wins. What I failed to realize is how important having proactive veterans are for this type of environment. Each level of sports always has those "seniors" that show the freshman how to take care of their business. It works in most sports. This situation turned into a Lord of the Flies type of event where the youngsters were thrust out into the wilderness with nary the tools to help them succeed. Who do these guys emulate? Who holds them accountable? Its easy to say it should be the coach, but in reality we are all held to task by our contemporaries. Have the players underachieved? Hell yes. They should be playing better, but thats all on them independently. Its fingernails on the chalkboard to say anything positive about Silas I get that, and I dont think he's the answer long term obviously, but where exactly is a team of sub 22 year olds supposed to be right now? They play like young and inexperienced players. If they arent going to learn the trade from the vets then we all have to learn to live with the learning curve that is necessary for them to become more experienced and learn how to win together as a team as they stumble along the way. Im hoping this offseason Stone finds a 'star' level vet free agent or trades for one that has earned his spot at the table to offer that glimpse into the prep work required to be successful NBA players and the talent pool itself will be culled to further isolate the best players to keep moving forward. Im not sure what the realistic expectations were for a team this young without any professional role models to help the younger guys figure it out.
I think KPJ has actually shown the most development as a player since joining our team. I think he can be an all star-caliber shooting guard. Get him a majority of minutes at the 2 or 3 and watch him play better team basketball. If we trade EG and KJ, we can open up minutes for KPJ. We just have to consolidate and prioritize. Unfortunately we gave him an extension for starters money, and if he doesn’t accept a role other than his current one, we’ll need to trade or cut him.
Anyone with half a brain knew the Rockets were firmly in the Wemby sweepstakes as soon as the season started. Them being where they are now is right on schedule. This season is hard to watch, but there’s a method to the madness. Just gotta be patient. They have 4 good core players and solid young role players. Once they add the last piece, then the clock starts tickin.
I can't disagree with any of this, I just don't want to overspend or overreach trying to get to the play in game or 7th and 8th seed. I would like to draft a difference maker I think we have some talent just not difference making talent.
Team: C+ __________ Individuals: *KPj: A- (in striking range of my expectations w/40 more games) Green: B+ (close to where I expected....needs to finish strong) Kenyon: A (better than I expected) Jabari: B- (I expected him to shoot better/ recognize & adapt to different backgrounds easier) Sengun: B+ (not as many assists and flunking the 3-pt test) Tari: A (EG needs to go.....gain that consistency) J Christopher: F (non existent) Eric Gordon: C (poor job of training up the troops....low energy) Garuba: A- (staying healthy and contributing) Bruno: B- (greatest ability is availability.....stay healthy young man) Nix: D- (did as I expected) TyTy: C- (still pending) Mathews: D (you have one job!! One job!!) ______________ Leading with KPj as he was expected to be one of the straws to stir the drink. Placed as: My Prediction stats (prior to season) Current Season stats Last 10 games stats Pts....rebs....Ast...FT%.....3P%....FG%....TOV%...TOV...USG%....Ast%....TS%....mins 20.......5.5......7.8....71........38........45.........14............2.7.....22..........34..........57........34 19.5....5.5......5.7....76.6.....34.5.....43.8.....17.1.........3.7.....25.7.......27.0.......55.1.....34.6 22.7.....5.4.....6.0....75.0.....41.4.....50.0.....14.3.........3.0.....25.1.......29.1.......63.1.....35.8 *Im expecting KPj to meet many of my predicted stats for the season. _________________ Green:25 pts....3.8 rebs....4.0 Ast....39 (3P%).......34 mins ...........21.2........4.4............3.6..........32.2...............34.4 ...........Hit a wall of fatigue.....hoping he gets a second wind to finish the season strong __________________ Sengun: 14 Pts.........7-8 rebs.....5 Ast..........33 (3P%).....28 mins ...............14.6 Pts......8.6 rebs.....2.6 Ast.......20 (3P%)....26.6 mins ____________________ Jabari: 15 Pts...........28 mins .............11.8 Pts.......29.8 mins
Great post Nook I wont say much, since we are so young, its hard to gauge. I will say, either KPJ becomes a highly efficient scorer(I dont care as much about being a "true PG") or you should get him off the team. He slows the pace to a crawl and we flat out dont run when he is in the game. We are a young team, I'd like us to get waaaaay more transition buckets than we do. Also start KJ and trade Gordon....that is all I have lmao.
a C+ is way above a passing grade and for the last place team in the league it's a joke. Team: D- KPJ, Green, Sengun, KMJ - B Smith C- Eason C Garuba C+ The rest are D or INC Biggest Problem: Coaching F
Why stop? Let’s continue tanking next year too. Our pick next year is top 4 protected. If we continue to be the worst team in the league, I like our odds. All your top 3 picks are belong to me!
But...but... @astrosrule apparently knows better than Nikola Jokic and Anthony Edwards. I'll say it again: Alperen Sengun is the best player on the Rockets, and it is not close. If we want to win and build towards a championship team, build around Alperen Sengun. Some of the pieces are there: Green, Jabari, Tari, KMJ, Garuba all fit around our best player: Alperen Sengun. Probably TyTy as well. Tate can stay as veteran leader. And Boban can stay for chemistry reasons. All we need is a new coaching staff and a steady veteran at point guard. And getting rid of Silas and KPJ (and Nix, obviously). Addition by subtraction. Plus whoever our first round pick will be (Wemby or Scoot preferred), and some other good free agent. Regardless of whomever we draft next year, Alperen Sengun will still be our best player. That includes Wemby and Scoot, either of whom I would love to see on the Rockets.
Sneakily I think the team HAS improved vs last year despite a similar record. As I stated in the over under thread, Wood was far and away our best player last year no matter what the homers tell you now. He is currently by far the second best player on a good Dallas team with their fans begging Cuban to give him a max extension. Trading him for Tyty who doesn't even play is a major hurdle for the team to overcome. Tate was also one of our best players last year and he has been out all year. So a similar record actually proves that there has been internal organic improvement. What I got right : Sengun has taken a massive leap as expected, DESPITE the coaching staff's every effort to stunt his growth through schemes that marginalize his strengths. He could be contributing so much more if used correctly, with higher usage and touches, but none the less he is still way better as is than last year. Despite what you want to say about kpj, and I do believe he is deeply flawed, and the eye test is painful at times, but his numbers and efficiency are up across the board. He is easily our second best player at the moment. Garuba becoming a decent backup vs nothing last year. Eason being a positive as a rookie(rare) due to his defense, like Mobley and Barnes last year. What I got wrong : I expected improvement out of Green, or at least sustaining his second half from last year. Instead he has regressed and overall is only very marginally better (only because he was so disastrously bad at the start of last season). Does that mean he's a bust? No, scoring guards notoriously take several years before developing into winning players. My assessment of him has not changed since before we drafted him, Lavine or Beal, high scoring guard. But any delusions of him being a superstar, top 10 player, best player on a championship team should be squashed. Those kind of players are positive contributors their first year, and certainly wouldn't still be a negative their second years. (Think Ja, Lamelo, Trae, and none of these may even be best players in championship teams) I was team Paolo all the way, the discourse predraft on him here was laughable. However, I was not down on Jabari at all and thought that due to his defense and shooting he would also be a rare positive as a rookie. I was horribly wrong on that. His shooting has been broken, but it is his defense that has been the real surprising disappointment. He shows flashes, but the overall numbers actually say he is currently a BAD defender, and overall, much like Jalen was at this time last year, by far our worst player and the reason we are losing so much. That doesn't mean I'm out on him, especially due to his age and the flashes that he has shown, but both him and Jalen are the reason why we are as bad as we are currently. Hopefully he will have a second half surge like Jalen did, and I do trust his work ethic much more than the Jalen PR. With that said, with Tate returning, we should still be on track for covering the over on 23.5 wins.
Part of this is coaching putting him in spots on the floor to be successful. Most of the actions run is with him on the perimeter wings or top of key one on one dribble drive. But then u usually have Sengun in the high post and KPJ is too close on the other wing making the offense really bunched and little room to operate while not shifting defenses. Just a weird offense the Rockets run. Next coach needs to put him in a position to be successful
I wrote a pretty long post and I don't see anywhere that I said 'why' I wanted to get rid of Porter, or that I wanted to keep Martin. Also who is 'y'all'? I don't speak for anyone else. I see the similarities between Martin and Harris to be 6'7 tweeners with erratic outside shooting and inconsistent team defense. Harris has a much more versatile game and Martin has better springs. One of the hardest players to come up with a comp on our roster. Not sure yet if he's NBA rotation material. Maybe Kenneth Faried is the more likely. Also remember i was picking my max potential comps, not who I think they are like now. So yeah I think KPJs max comp is Marbury. Go ahead and reload your snark for that one. Or better yet try to explain why you disagree, that would be more useful.
Excellent article @Nook ! My only issue is that you evaluate everyone on what you see now - which is impacted by bad coaching and bad organizational culture - and not by what they could be in a better environment. Can't Green be motivated to compete every night and to care? Can't KPJ become 6th man of the year? Can't Sengun produce at Jokic level if given the minutes and the usage? Is he worse defensively than Jokic when he was 20? Can't Garuba become Draymond-like defensive center with great passing instincts? Can't Jabari and Tari become major cogs in a championship team like Rasheed Wallace / Tayshawn Prince I agree that we didn't draft the sure-thing star like Luca, Ja or Zion, but there is massive waste of talent here now, massive lack of production as to what this talent level can give you.
It seems a trade off. Giving minutes to vets are minutes you don't see rookies/developing players. Cant develop players who see no minutes. Misguided development often occurs without experienced leadership. Guys need one on one tutorials from those they respect at times. It can be argued both ways. Some seem to think we can have it both ways. I'm onboard! How exactly?
Before the season I said the Rockets would be lucky to win 7 games in the "stretch of games from hell" (first 25 games). Rockets won 8. So they exceeded my win total by one game A Then they were suppose to win slightly below .500 Because Green has been fatigued and teams have run gimmick zone defense during some of these games... They have been under exceeding since D- = C- (approx) ______________ You go with your scale and I'll judge by mine. Rockets were close to my preseason prediction per first 25.......if you guessed near that.......then I would be impressed and take your scale more seriously.
