ClutchFans Game Thread: Celtics @ Rockets 3/13/2023

That would be Smith. Silas talks about it a bit below, starting at 5:45 or so.

 

you still think the higher you pick the better? good luck to you and to GM who believes this myth, because you gonna need it and it wont matter even if you do get lucky!

 

when you're not busy icing out Sengun and playing him to his weakness and setting up rotations so he looks bad, you are free to play some real basketball and make sound decisions all around...

 

Great win to build up confidence in these young guys going forward, nice to see how excited they all were.

 

I guess with this win, Silas has assured himself of not losing his job until the off-season. Yay

 

Winning without Sengun made it more impressive. Alperen has the highest overall IQ on the team.


It's really nice to see Jabari stepping up. They can complement each other with Usman Garuba off the bench.

I hope Josh Christopher will end the season strongly too. The return of Green and KPJ is making a big difference. Props to KJM and Tari too.

 

You can see why being a great defender is extremely valuable and why scouts thought Jabari was worth such a high pick. Superstars will still get theirs, but the difference between a 22 point night on mediocre efficiency and 35 point night on excellent efficiency is all about who's defending them.

 

And that’s why I am not high on Sengun. Flashy passes are meaningless if he can’t defend.

 

Sengun will have to be hidden on defense if we decide he's a core piece. It is doable but it makes things more difficult. Makes it a lot harder to build a competitive team next year if Harden comes back, unfortunately.

My question is, would you ever consider trading him for a young three and D guy like Trey Murphy who is more of a roleplayer and less of an offensive focal point?

(Might depend some on who we draft, to be fair.)

 

We already have more than enough SF and PF’s and may add another one (Miller in the draft). If you trade Sengun it would need to be for a PG if you don’t sign Harden. If you do sign Harden it would need to be for a Center (this sounds like a crappy idea to me).

 

Yes, it was........just easier to say 5 to 1 than 5.5 to 1....

DD

 

The issue is that people keep overrating the differences in the percentages depending of the rockets placement between worst and 3rd worst record of the picks after the 2nd pick. With a sample size as small as 2 events, the end result will never approximate the percentages.

Especially when the main thing that matters is getting No 1 or No 2, and those percentages don't change. Any pick from No 3 to No 7 will make the whole fanbase feel dejected no matter what, and that player will be a total wildcard in projecting to become a star player.

 

Sure hope to hell we don't add Miller. Organization shouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole unless he somehow falls to the Clippers pick. If it's not Wemby or Scoot I hope it's one of the athletic guys like Walker or one of the Thompson twins. Walker's a 4 in the NBA and the Thompson twins are guards.

 

I dont know. We've had a piru blood gangbanger on the team with Wall. We have a soup throwing GM hating spawn of Satan in KPJ. Kyle Lowry slapped a female referee with a basketball. Iman Shumpert was a drug mule. TJones was a homeless stomper. Several wife beaters (Kurucs, Jordan Hill) a bunch of drunk drivers. TWill jumped into white collar crime post playing career. Miller might feel right at home!

 

Never too late to start showing some class.

I also just don't buy into Miller that much anyway. I think he's overrated. People are reading way too much into his college statistics. He's older and less athletic and playing in a situation that's perfect for him to put up big numbers. Not sold on the upside.

Personally, Walker's my guy outside the top 2. Been watching more and more tape of him and I see his upside as being Sengun plus defense and athleticism. Kid has great touch around the hoop, great passing skills, and his D is already incredibly good. Him plus Bari in the frontcourt together would lock down other teams.

 

I think they are young enough that the Rockets can try to figure out something. You need the right coach though to come up with that system though.

Plus keeping him could allow the team have some diverse options depending on match ups going forward. Again that depends on having the right coach(s) to get the players to be open to that and for it to work.

 

It was not Smith - Smith got Horford for most of the night other than the last possession (and maybe 1 or 2 before that).

Silas in the press conference at 5:30 or so is referring to "JT" (Tate) as the guy who had to deal with Tatum and Brown, the follow up Q is about Smith.

If you go back and watch the highlights it does appear to be Tate and KPJ who are stuck on Tatum the most.

 

More excuses

 

Maybe it happened in spurts?
Anyways, at around the 1:15 mark in that same video, Silas talks about how Smith's versatility allows him to take on Tatum, and allow others to guard the "5 man." He's mentioned this part of Smith's game before, too.

 

alpi can defend, he is a positive defender already with an elite ceiling on defense, its just that you are not good appreciator of defensive talent.

and stop pretending alpi is only about flashy passing...his game is already as complete and as rounded as it gets....there's almost not a single element of basketball that jabari or any other rockets player is better than alpi in....