Gotta say this thread is amazing. Rockets have so many players with high potential it's impossible to reach a consensus on anything. Very strong opinions are all over the map. The culture of the franchise has been completely transformed by the hiring of Ime Udoka and the signings of FVV, Dillon Brooks and other veterans (and the huge subtraction of Kevin Porter Jr). There is a lot of hope in a lot of players and that is so awesome! We have much to look forward to. If you aren't highly interested in this team, just turn in your fan card. To those with very strong opinions some of the players will never amount to X, Y, or Z, I look forward to those same players exceeding your expectations and you happily eating plenty of crow. Get out your popcorn. Take a seat. Let's enjoy a fun 82-game ride with ups and downs that will help us forget the dysfunction, disgrace and ridicule this franchise brought upon itself. P.S: Please don't jump ship or jump to early conclusions when the team and particular players start the season slow. It's gonna happen! Give guys time to adapt and figure things out. Two years ago with Ime Udoka as coach, the Celtics started the season 25-25, finished 26-6 and were 5 mins away from going up 3-1 in the NBA Finals.
Its not easy to pick one player. Its a Team game and if they dont work together no one of them will win games solo! If they work and help each other, this team will arrive the Play Offs. This Team is very talented and they will score enough. If they play the defense like the first two Pre Season games, this team will win a lot of games and every Team will get problems against this Rockets Team!
None of them except Sengun makes the team noticeably better. He creates for others, directs the ball movement so the answer is him imo. Ppl who are answering this Amen or Green are smoking sth that has never been smoked. Amen is non factor atm we can obviously afford losing him he is a raw rookie. Cam looks good enough to replace Green imo. Give him 30 mins a night i bet on my left nutsack that he averages 16-17 because the guy can make 3s. The answer is either Jabari or Sengun and i'm going for Sengun for the reasons i explained above.
Great post. This team seems to finally be headed in the right direction. You have to give everyone some time to get used to each other and the offense/defense. Figure out rotations. Develop some chemistry. I think it will take 10-20 regular season games for these guys to learn how to put together a good winning streak.
To me what determines a franchise player is a player's level of consistency and can you put the ball in their hands at the end of games...I trust Jabari. He has shown the ability to hit big shots time and time again. Jalen seems more like a complimentary piece, more like Jalen Brown. Very good but not great. And every team need those players. Also, I know some on this board doesnt want to hear this but for Jabari to be more effective, he's going to need a bigger more defensive center next to him. Similar to AD at the beginning of his career. Right now, we have two frontcourt players who can not get a shot consistently under the basket against the better teams. The Rockets understand this, I think that's why they were going hard after Brook Lopez.
Yeah, but time and time again........dude has been in the league for 1 year and probably 70 games, I do not get that time and time again. Jeez......people are so eager to jump the gun.......
I don't want to lose any of them. I think the squad all fit well together. We have a couple of playmakers/shot creators for themselves and others (Amen, Sengun), a few future defensive stoppers (Amen, Tari, Jabari), and three guys who you give the ball in the flow of the offense to go get you a bucket (Jalen, Jabari, Whitmore). That's perfect. One of those bucket guys is going to have to come off the bench as a 6th man, and that's okay. We'll just figure that out as we go. As for affording all of them, that's a problem for the future. We should have no trouble locking up Jalen and Sengun. Bill doesn't come due on Amen and Cam for awhile. Future cap increases should help and the only long-term money we have committed is (unfortunately) to Dillon Brooks.
Jabari Smith has one game winning shot in his NBA career. Nothing about in court play says that Jabari is more consistent than Green. Absolutely nothing. You are making up stuff dude Jabari Smith had a significantly worse rookie year than Green's rookie year. He scored on significantly worse efficiency on less ppg and on a significantly easier shot selection than Green. Green took more difficult shots and still was a lot more efficient. Jabari also averaged the same amount of turnovers as assists. That's something Green will never do.
All 6 are starter material but you cannot start 6 so one has to be an eternal 6th man which is not a great place to be. This is called what is the best for the player, I hate to disappoint you, but that is how it is.
I don't think being a perpetual sixth man is so bad for a certain kind of player. Worked out for Manu. I think some players are so set on being starters that they kind of shoot their future legacies in the foot. Who knows, maybe a guy like Rudy Gay makes the Hall of Fame if he's a sixth man playing against second units much of the time and wins a ring or three in the process. Instead, he's a footnote who is most known for being an inefficient chucker. Best thing Iguodala did for his legacy was take a step back and accept that he wasn't a superstar and play a key role off the bench. Edit: I want to make sure to mention I'm not referring to any specific Rockets player here. Just make everyone compete and see who ends up in what role based on performance.
Of course but most of the people do not think like that. They want to get their maxes and get their minutes, get their touches. They might come back but they need to go out in the world and see what they can be. I am sure it is not your first rodeo, it really is just common sense. Business side of a high performing and fast changing industry. Manu and Parker were foreigners who were lucky to be in the NBA, or they considered themselves to be lucky.....so they stayed. Tony Parker said it himself, he was lucky in the situation to not be Number 1 and he was content with being just that.
I also think this thread's title would be hypothetical question of who can you not lose to injury ....as well. Whose game can be replicated more easily. That sort of question. Losing can mean couple of things.
Whatever but to someone again and again should mean over hundreds of reps... Ever read Malcom Gladwell's Outlier?..
I appreciate your optimism, but it will probably take a while longer for the team to begin executing on both ends consistently. In particular, figuring out how to close games could plague them well into the season. I look forward to being wrong and enjoying some crow during Thanksgiving.
For sure we’ll be learning all season but I think we’ll have everything important installed by game 20 and the terminology/assignments will start to get instinctive to the players.
