On Green…. it seems like his best minutes over the last 10 or 15 games have come when he is the point guard running the second unit. This has allowed him to attack a little bit more. That being said, even in this role, the shooting has been inefficient. I’m just saying that he ends up looking a little bit more comfortable, and the passing has been decent. he needs another pass inside other than the pocket pass. On the core……. Smith/Sengun/Eason.
Fans, especially American fans give so much emphasis on athleticism. This is not Olympics, it is basketball. Streets of America are full of athletic Kids playing on basketball fields but who knows nothing about real basketball, 0 fundamentals, only jumping from one place to other. Same for Jalen, everybody talks about potential, this is year 3, what potential? Potential occurs in short time, l see a kid who does not know how to cut, how to dribble, how to pass and how to consistently shoot in Jalen, sad but True. We dont need to force the fact that #2 draft is our best player, cause he is not and he wont be, because he has no basic basketball fundamentals Under Silas, he had a chance to hide this, cause we were playing Circus basketball. I see zero chance with that mentality week player to contribute to this team. He can be a good kid, l am sure he is, but as a player he is poor man's Jordan Clarkson at best. He is a burden to Jabari and Sengun right now.
It took time, @Joe Joe, but Jabari has proven that @Clutch was on target, in my opinion. I certainly think he was.
Jabari looking good. Good call by @Clutch. I prefer him to Banchero for the Rockets. I don't see anyone picked behind him (other than maybe Tari!) whom I would personally rank higher.
Everyone has hits and misses, and Clutch wanted him for his elite shooting, I think he has a good midrange game, his 3 pointers are not elite IMO....maybe later. Banchero has the edge that he is a playmaker and he can bully his way into the paint, it worked well for Orlando....I think, I doubt that Jabari has the same impact early on in a Magic jersey. And Orlando was not going to wait 3 years for Jabari to show any kind of game.
Thats because the Top 75 basketball players ever is a list littered with mostly athletic players. Usually you need a player that is smart, savvy and athletic to win a title. The athleticism is bare minimum. Jokic obviously changed that discussion last year but he is the exception. Not the rule. That being said....Sengun is more athletic than Jokic and I'd want someone to show me how or why he's less athletic than Embiid/KAT. I can't remember either having the poster dunks that Sengun has or be able to lead a fast break either.
Wrong! If you look at the Stats last year, Smith even with his awful play through 3 quarters of the season outperformed Banchero in most categories. Banchero has peaked. Jabari is gaining steam.
The Rockets absolutely played their hearts out tonight and to lose the game because it is impossible to overcome a -19 in 19 minutes hole that the Rockets “actual core” dug the team is downright despicable to witness. I’ve tried my best all season to be patient with him, yes his offense was always going to take the longest to adjust to winning basketball from And1 streetball, yes his defense has improved somewhat, but on nights like tonight it is just too hard to stomach and keep patient. It might be time for him to be the actual core for another franchise or at least be the actual core of the bench instead of sabotaging the main team night in night out.
It's easier at this point to make a group of players who definitely are NOT part of the Rockets core, as opposed to trying to identify who would be in. Rockets NOT part of the core: - Jalen Green - Jock Landale
All needling aside, this win/loss wouldn’t have mattered, none of the wins or losses this season really matter. What this season is for is to identify who the Rockets actual, ACTUAL, core is, through their production on the court and how they fit with Udoka’s coaching, rather than…however the OP reached his conclusion. And with that in mind… Coming into the season we knew that Udoka would be a hardass. Jabari has been benched multiple times. Sengun has been benched. Both of them have bounced back stronger than ever. It’s not about bad plays or bad games, it’s about how you respond and improve, this is how you show you can be a part of a Udoka coached team, a part of the core. Jalen has also been benched. And then benched. And benched again. At this point, whatever message that was supposed to be sent, whatever fire that was supposed to be lit, is bygone. The benching now has nothing to do with any of that, it’s just about him not being good enough to be on the court compared to an…Aaron Holiday. Minimum contract third string journeyman. Playing for Udoka, you either always had it in you and he will bring the best out, just like players who some wanted traded have blossomed into superstars. Or you never had it in you and put up garbage numbers on a bad team that masked it, in that case Udoka will expose you. So circling back to what this season is all about, seeing who fits, identifying the actual actual core, what we are witnessing is actually invaluable for the franchise going forward. Rockets could have handed Jalen a max deal like Andrew Wiggins and cost them exponential assets to get rid of him years down the line if we just ASSUMED who was the actual core instead of letting the players earn it like we have. And for that, we should be thankful. As depressing as it is, this is for the best going forward.
Our core is Sengun, Jabari, Tari, FVV and Brooks. Those are the players that have given this team its identity. Cam and Amen look like really good prospects worth developing. I wouldn't lose sleep over moving anyone else and/or our draft picks.
Right now I include Jabari in addition to Sengun as the "core" of this team. The core should only be 3-4 players, or maybe even less Like the Bulls had MJ, Pippen and Rodman as their big 3, but you know it was really only MJ and Pippen. Spurs had TD, Parker and Gino, but IMO really only TD was the core of that team. I guess everyone has different definitions of what a core means but to me that's the dude/s who is at the center of the team, basically their crown jewels. For GSW for example I only consider the Splash Bros as the core cuz although Draymond was also there he wasn't as valuable as prime Steph and Klay.
Like him or hate him, if you don't think Draymond was part of the core of the Warriors, you know nothing about basketball.
Draymond was the Rodman but the question begs......if he is aging and cannot stay on the court, is it time to blow it up.....
