This assumes there is only one basic offense ever. What if--hear me out--you could have an offense that doesn't depend on the Center being in the dunker spot? A good coach designs systems for the roster talent. Let's see what a real coach does with Sengun and the rest of the youngsters.
So a big like Sengun or say Ben Simmons can do a couple of things. 1) Post Up............Sengun √ 2) Dunker Spot.....Sengun √ (not the swiftest.....and not a lob threat) 3) Shoot Mid Range...."No-Go" per Rockets philosophy/analytics 4) shoot 3's...........Sengun X 5) Willing Screener.....Sengun X (I don't see screen after screen in same poss) _____________________ So..... 1) Sengun is good at post ups but so is Jokic and Embiid and you see their number of post ups decrease from seasons where they posted up 10 to 12 times a game to recently a mere 6 times. If teams deemed it efficient they would run it as much as say, the pick and roll. But they don't. So Sengun running Post Up means nothing to me...... hopefully a Nets team or other favors it. 2) Dunker Spot usually interfere with the facilitator driving thru the paint. Rather take him off the court if he is not setting screens everywhere Including off ball, or is not a vertical lob threat. 3) mid range.....Rockets only trust a select few....mostly those facilitating as they pass the free throw line. Because it's similar to FT's, which are normally hit at a 70% clip or better. 4) I question his 3-point shooting. Good when he wants it to be. 5) If you watch clips of Zach Edey, he sets screen after screen after screen. And 6) WTF are we talking about? Everything Sengun supplies can be substituted by means of others. Example: fancy passing and assists; enter the Assist leader in Harden getting 10.7 assists while scoring more points than Sengun. Hello
All this assumes Sengun doesn’t improve mid-range or 3 pt shooting. He massively improved with more playing time and with an actual offensive plan. Sengun is pretty much the same as Sabonis, so it is the players and system that differentiates them, not athleticism. It is laughable that you are claiming greater in-sight into the NBA than NBA coaches and front offices. I like your posts and think they are reasonable, but I’m going to take the opinions of the mass of NBA players, coaches, and FO’s that are singing Sengun’s praises. Both offensive and defensive splits show that the Rockets were much better with Sengun on the floor than not. No one in the league would take Eddy, Claxton, or Kessler over Sengun. I’m all for finding a rock solid defensive backup Center.
The assumption is that the Rockets let Sengun shoot. I say the Nets or other destination will let him. We will be at a stalemate. Your bias for Sengun is probably equal or greater than mine fore Jalen Green/Jabari. Those are my untouchables
if you got this version of him it would be fine. it is the version the next 4 years you dont want. He will be worse next season. Even worse the season after that. So on and so on.
Man is currently averaging 21 and 10 assist. No sht u want this version. Only downside of signing is we will hear the nonstop btching once more about harden and potential dramatic drop off
I am so happy people want Harden who will be 34 by the start of next season. The guys body is barely holding together. Playing less than 70 games each of the past two seasons. People seem to focus on his offence a lot yeah he puts up a double double on the offensive end, but what are his defensive numbers? The Rockets are not that great at guard positions for defence. How do you think that’s going to go inserting Harden in there? I would take him on a discount maybe 20-25million. But paying him over 30 million a year is not using your money wisely. If possible though I would like to see the rockets sign somebody that can help build something for the next 6 or 7 seasons
Who in their right mind would want to come here (without Harden or Wemby)? I don't think people understand how much a of drop there is in talent between starting role players on a playoff team that can contend, vs. what the Rockets currently have. The drop off between Harden and everyone else on this team is massive, this franchise is in a dark era we are not going to get top FAs , and the longer we go without competing the tougher it will be to convince others to sign. How many people made the same excuses about giving CP3 his money and saying he needed to be traded? Harden has extremely high bbiq, he will age like Lebron, CP3, and other guys like them, he is not a Westbrook or Melo type player that is low IQ and wont be able to contribute with age. It is not ideal signing him to a max at this age without other pieces, but the other options are extremely bleak. We also will hold our other players back from developing unless we get real NBA players around them, they are not going to learn from vets like Boban and Eric Gordon. If you look at the regular season highlights and some of the most dominating plays, the Rockets were often on the other end of the play this season. We are getting embarrassed to a different level and do not have the front office that is competent to trade or build a team without someone like James joining.
A win is a win, I get it. But 3-13 FGs and 5 TOs... looks like a vintage Harden playoff stat line. Undisputable genius, but the playoff underperformance is real and will be something that sticks to his legacy.
CP3 is definitely not aging like Lebron James, he is much worse but still good. Also CP3 was never the player Bron was. It is not even a discussion. Harden is somewhere in the middle but I do not see him age as Lebron did as well. In fact, nobody is. Probably like Vincent Carter, who could score 10 points as a 41 year old.
Which is exactly why for now the win will cover up this sub par performance, Harden with Rockets avg between 26-32ppg in playoffs 8 yrs which is really good legacy compared to the bad games, its just they mainly resulted in losses which being MVP candidate last 4 or so seasons with Rockets put him under heavy media spotlight to deliver at least finals trip which never came about If they advance to next round and possibly ECF then these type of performances will stick because they will most likely lose these type of games to better comp
