One game after punching the locker room door after the Spurs loss. Will ask Momster about this during next phone check-in. — Rockets team psychologist
He’s goin to have to shoot that 3 at a higher volume because you can’t have both your starting forwards finishing weak at the rim
considering Tari is usually 150% energy wise every game, I think we can all cut him some slack for on egame
No need to start him now - it won't help his development(probably would hurt it honestly) because he isn't yet good enough to learn things against other team's starters. Let him wreak havoc on the defensive end against other team's bench and give him some time to develop his offensive game(which is still very very raw - too raw for a legit starter). He's going to be fine, lets not rush into it with his development...he needs to learn some better ball handling skills and brush up on his offensive game before he can swim with the apex sharks out there.
Eason is good off the bench. He gives you defensive intensity and his offense is coming along. The problem is Eric Gordon. He's in KJ's spot and once he is gone both guys will get more minutes
Btw tari is about the same age as KMJ I do think Tari has higher upside and will be a better player . He’s prolly not there yet . I am a known KMJ skeptic , but there’s no doubt he raised his stock . I think the flaws are still there , but he’s improved a bit ... and that’s promising given the underlying athleticism. I want to trade Gordon and/or kmj . I love Tate . I think Tate is just as much of a “guard” tho . KJ is a FA this summer ? Yeah it may be tough to retain him . We’d definitely have space to tho . Can we get him to sign a short year deal tho to keep flexibility ? back to tari . He needs to get upped to about 20mpg as the year goes on . honestly , Fernando and garuba are factors too . Both are making convincing charges for PT (Bruno keeps getting hurt tho) Silas probably has similar principles to MDA on spacing and shooting . Idk if Tari could get minutes at the “3” yet ... given his shooting . he’s a good wing defender tho . I see Us loving Jabari more and more . Sengun will gave him to contend with too for mins at the 5 . I bring up the C position because completion in one part of the lineup effects competition in another part of the lineup if guys have positional flexibility . given that we aren’t super focused on winning , we can make the choice to run 10-11 guys right now . But , we have some redundancies coming up and guys lower on the totem pole have to claw right now .
**** prolly double posting , but I agree . last night out of the “bigs” Sengun , garuba , tari all had tough games . Bruno played well , but got into foul trouble . and smith played great . MIL is tough . Tari is also a rookie and we shouldn’t expect him to be good every game
Gordon out hopefully, KJ starts, Eason gets more minutes but what about Tate? Gordon out, Tate in to do Gordon's role and nothing changes for KJ and Eason?
KJ can be a RFA this summer or he can be a UFA after next year. It depends on what the Rockets do with his 4th year option. If they exercise it, he's a UFA after next season. If they don't exercise the 4th year option, he's restricted & they can match any offer he gets. Similar to the situation Tate went thru this past summer which resulted in him signing that 3y/20m contract. I expect them to treat KJ in a similar manner.
Both KMJ and Tari are capable at the 3. One offers more offense the other more defense. One thing that popped off from Rocket's recent Pelican win was the comeback lineup. When Rockets was down double digits, the comeback consisted of both guys. ------------------ ~roughly first 6 min of Q4 KPJ (pg) Josh Christopher (sg) KMJ (sf) Tari (pf) Sengun (c). <- despite 5 fouls already ------------------ Later Green came back for JC, and eventually Smith came in for Tari. This isn't me advocating Christopher over Green nor one of KJM / Tari over Jabari, but it was surprising to say the least. Hustle defense started making Ingram miss (he was hot in Q1-Q3). And offensively, Rockets steadily scored (every other possession it seems). Was a lineup interesting of both offense and defense. Putting Green and Smith back was still correct as they later pushed to the finish line. But it was on the backs of the lineup above. ... But on the original topic; I think KJ hasn't lost his spot. Since Sengun is starting, the Sengun/KJ pairing has offensive synergy. If it was few games ago, I'd consider staring Tari over Jabari at the 4, but based on how well Smith is playing recently, looks like Tari still wait his turn.
Sure. He has some stuff he needs to work on, but he's probably already a better overall player and definitely has a higher ceiling than KJ.
I love KJ's synergy with Sengun, but he has it with Jabari too and I'm 100% sure Sengun is going to keep finding Eason because he's constantly cutting to the basket. I'm starting to feel like KJ would be a great energy player off the bench. We can use Eason's wingspan and 3pt shot in the starting line up to improve spacing for those attacking the basket and to improve the defense. We could really use both those things more than we can use 2 extra cuts to the basket from KJ.
Its because the high table staff(owner/gm) is all in plus some on flat out tanking while the fan base is scattered with some being pro or anti or neutral when it comes to tanking, so they waited over half the season to remove dead weight vets and others to free up even more minutes, which of course they should have done this once the season started
It's a tiny decision which won't affect the long game, won't tip the scale towards winning or losing overall. However, it would have been relevant for Tari and his further development on Offense!
