Start Eason - bench Green

Very good and reasoned post.

 

This guy gets it. Pay attention DD.

 

And your logic is faulty.

Jalen is the only true 2 guard of the group.

Brooks is a 3 who can defend the 2.

Tari is a 4 who can play the 3.

Neither of them has the on ball skills required to displace Green as the starting 2.

You aren't going to ask either of those guys to run a pick and roll set as the ball handler. They might be the pick man but not the ball handler.
You need a secondary ball handler no matter who else is on the court.

Cam is the only other true 2 on the roster and he isn't ready for that role either - maybe next year.

You know how I feel about Green .... was one of the few who wanted Scottie Barnes instead of him or Mobley -

But I don't like the idea of Eason / Brooks at the 2 and 3 spots. They don't have the on ball skills to be that second ball handler nor can either beat anyone off of the dribble. They are 3D / hustle players that get theirs as it comes to them ....

 

I agree the plug should have been pulled sooner. Perhaps because the game remained close Udoka stayed with him so long.

Just a guess.

 

It’s asinine to think that dude can’t get buckets. The reason he’s not playing, beyond us just having a lot of good wing players ahead of him, is because he doesn’t move the ball. Bad tunnel vision. Which we actually need in that spot

 

My two cents: Don't judge Jalen, yet but give Tari his chance to be a starter!

 

Green had more then enough chances but ist time to bench him for Tari! Second Pick or not!

 

Ime said in postgame that Jalen is struggling to read the game properly. Not passing when he should, attacking when he shouldn't. Sounds like he's completely broken right now because under Silas, he could just jack up whatever he wants without consequence. Now that a real coach is making him accountable, we see how often he is making mistakes.

 

Jalen is only just starting to learn basketball.

The disadvantage of the Ignite route to the NBA, and the 2 years of no accountability tanking.
The losing would have been more tolerable had our young guys learned to play basketball, but it is what it is.

It may be time soon to put Green on the bench and ask him to earn back his starting spot.
I don't buy the argument that he can create - his dribble is weak and his decision making worse.

We badly need Green to score 20ppg - but it doesn't look like it will happen....

 

Jalen's collapse has pushed things to the point of urgency with Cam where they must try him in the rotation just to see how he performs against non-scrubs.

The big question is whether Cam will be even worse than Jalen at understanding team concepts on offense and defense. The notion "he can't be any worse" doesn't seem far fetched now.

I'm not a Cam fan but since we are still in the experimental part of the regular season, they should give him 5 mins at the end of the 1st and 3rd quarters for a couple of games.

 

It seems like the Rockets have been starting games with less defensive intensity but build it as the game goes on. If Jalen is not scoring, he definitely ain't providing defensive intensity. Someone like Tari could definitely bring that intensity at the start of games. Maybe then we wouldn't have to dig ourselves out of a hole every game.

If not Tari then maybe Holiday because he is clearly the better shooter and defender.

 

Eason's lack of touch around the rim and slightly off BBIQ / decision seem like they will be serious limiting factors for him, which is a shame because the dude has some insane strengths otherwise.

 

I think his lack of a left hand is maybe his biggest limitation, it affects his finishing around the rim in traffic and pretty much keeps him from being a real ball handler type .... and why you don't play him in place of Green.

The guy that's in his way minutes wise is Brooks - Tari was the main reason I didn't like the signing at the time. I thought he should have gotten the starting 3 spot, then they go give Brooks $80m.

At least he's getting ~20+ minutes a night behind both Brooks and Jabari.


Pulling the plug on Green likely means Holiday gets more minutes .... the other options being Cam and the two SG's on 2 ways Jeenathan Williams & Nate Hinton.

 

No