I think his improvement rate despite Silas kpj all the other other stuff impressed all of us. I was expecting him to be like this at least one year later.
Not me. The only thing that stopped him from doing it a year sooner was that not only he was not given the opportunity, they - and many relevant members of the Rockets fan base - misjudged his potential and the front office/former coaching staff not only did not give him the opportunity to unfold his full potential, they actively scapegoated him (remember some of the Silas and Higgins interviews, the inexplicable benchings, the faces they pulled when talking about him, etc.) and held him down (telling him not to shoot threes, letting the inmates run the asylum, put him on an island with Green, KPJ not having any defensive accountability whatsoever, etc.). Alperen could have done all of this last year skills-wise. What really helped him and thereby the Rockets is a) simply having a coaching staff who "get it" and b) having smart veterans like FVV and Brooks and Jeff Green who actually know how to play with him, and who do not actively freeze him out.
Tari Eason of course. We will all be Guntarian eventually. Resistance s futile. Tari's situation is exactly same to lob-threat days. As a rookie Tari had wonderful stats in limited playing time but can't get enough playing time in his second year. Lay-up excuse is his "lob-threat".
I see three definite keepers right now: Alpi Tari Bari Green, Amen, Cam all possible keepers - my highest hopes are on Amen.
We need JGreen and one of '23 pick to become champion. Any 2 might help us to rise to Malone-Stockton's Jazz level but we need better Ostertags,Hornaceks,Fosters. JGreen/Alp/Tari/Bari/'23 pick is the formula. We need all of them. I was surprised last night to see how limited OKC if you stop Giddey. SGA's Al Jefferson stats makes no difference as Chet's wingspan. OKC's Williamses,Tre Manns,Dorts will take them no where if they can not create a 3rd and 4th star. We are lucky to have 6 would be star, two transition players (FVV,Brooks), two and a half vet bench players (Jeff Green, Aaron and Reggie). 5 out of 6 would be star will bring us the trophy.
Udoka is definitely being creative with Alperen on defense. Using his strengths and hiding his weaknesses. That’s called coaching. All that matters is that the Rockets have a top 5 defense and Alperen is the starting C. You add Clint Capela at the trade deadline and the defense gets even more elite, and we have contrasting skill sets. Great post.
For role related things, yes he could have done last year and they were expected: - playmaking from top of the key - increase in assist numbers(I expect even higher, he is underutilized, not many cutters) - taking more shots - better performance in a better defensive scheme things that I think nobody could have predicted: - he got a lot stronger and grew!!! Contests shots much better, fouls less, cannot be pushed around by other bigs. This has nothing to do with Silas. He could have done this last year if he could and this kind of improvement over the summer is insane! - he developed a new shot, the one-legged, he uses it right away effectively and is shooting better taking many more mid-range shots. That is insane too. Okay Silas didn’t want him to take shots but what is normal or expected is what is happening with the 3 pts. He is taking more 3s with roughly the same % and we hope he will develop that within a year or 2. That should have been the same with the midrange as well. There is a huge difference between taking more midrange shots when you’re open and developing a technique to create yourself space and shooting efficiently using that, making that part of your game without any real game practice. so basically I think it was evident that he would be very good in the new role and he should be given every opportunity to grow. That is what we’ve been preaching. But the two above, especially number two, are completely insane. And should be assuring of the many more unexpected developments.
I think you guys are underestimating the staying power of Fred and Dillon. Both are under 30 and very important to this team. I sure hope we will be contenders while they are still on the team the next 3-5 years… The situation reminds me a bit of the early 90s Sonics. Payton and Kemp were still very young, and they had Sam Perkins, Ricky Pierce, Nate McMilan… That team was a contending team.
2026 FVV is 2023 Eric Gordon:, nothing more. JGreen and Alp will be under new contract, Bari and Tari will be waiting for the new ones. Bye bye FVV and Brooks then.
If Dillon can keep this up after 4 years, he will surely stay. I love Fred, but I don’t think we can go to a deep play-off run with him. But again, it is a possibility. First thing is to see how Sengun, green, amen and bari develops. The guard position will be a decision to be made after that.
^ this. Can't stress enough on how important a vet tablesetter is for a young team. The Spurs fans for example are out for blood (on their GM & Pops), because they don't have a reliable playmaker next to Wemby, this long L-streak of theirs could hurt his RoTY chances. Pops finally stopped using Sochan as point guard, so there's that. Same with Blazers, once Brogdan came back, Billups had the option to bench Henderson, their teams started grabbing a win or two and even in their loses are not blow outs. Brogdan, Sharpe, and now Anfernee Simon's back. Henderson could learn from the 2nd unit. Some of these rebuild / low mid teams (Spurs, Jazz, Wiz), would kill to get a player like FVV on their squad. We don't need FVV to be prime Chris Paul, but he's a crucial part of the team. Even when FVV misses his shots, his defender is still chasing him as he probes the court. Having gravity is part of spacing. That Denver game without FVV, was so bad... was like last year's Silas Rockets.
I am not sure about the finances so I do not underestimate the Power of the Wallet. The NBA is also a short lived business, anything can happen within 3-5 years let alone 1-2 years.
I guess people misunderstand the subject. There is a difference between "Now" and "Future". FVV is paid 40M/year, convenient for both parties. There is no chance him to get a similar extended contract. He will get 150+M, young core will improve simultaneously, FVV will convert to Eric Gordon/DeAndre Jordan/Drummond. It is nature of NBA business. Pop is the synonym of decadence in basketball , Ergin Ataman follows him closely.He promised to retire when Duncan goes, did not, going lower day by day. NBA might reward him two or three #1 pick in near future but nothing will change. A painful future is waiting for him. He is quite likely will fire himself as HC first (Pat Riley version 2.0) and will resign as Head of Basketball later on.Not curable. suggest him to read Althuser: Future lasts forever. You need Obradovic type of coaches who can manage and shoot Next guy to him is Erdem Can, current HC of Efes and last year's coaching associate of Utah, Snyder's deputy.
Very true, nobody expected for him to have a 4-6 days of Lake Charles Camp and suddenly the team is winning games. I mean that means how fixable is the NBA though? It is not difficult to turn things around in the highest of Pro leagues. Sengün and the entire team.
FVV speed is alarming, I know we are winning at home yada yada but god darn he cannot get any slower. 5 years of that kind of basketball. I think he will take the path of Damon Stoudamire - the Initial Mighty Mouse of Toronto. Damon then went to Portland.
FVV and Dillon can be hold-over players. Or they get old enough to start filling the Jeff Green type of roles. NBA careers are not long, and people's prime can be fleeting. All that said 2-3 seasons is also a lot of games. By then team will know at least who maybe 1 or 2 of the cores are. If Sengun and maybe one other draftee hits; if that guy is not a pg type of role. Rockets can still go out get the next FVV, someone in their late twenties and fulfill the role. If the Rockets young draftee ends up deserving a near rookie max; fine pay him. If not, I really don't have issues of Rockets going out and buy a player that's pre-developed; since on both roads; the org will have to start paying.
