Ime Udoka: "Chet Holmgren shouldn't be pushing guys around so easily"

Chet and J-Dub are roughly on par with Sengun. Which of those three will be the best player remains to be seen. SGA is of course better than anybody on our team, or most teams, given that he's in the top 3 on the MVP ladder.

 

I really thought Ime could wrangle in Stone since I thought Ime was a man. He’s looking more like a puss who’s scared of losing his job.

Change the lineup. Haven’t you seen enough? Change the game plan. You that scared of disobeying Stone? He got blackmail on you or something?

 

I do think we played better, but we are not sniffing 40 wins. The rest of the season should be used to get Amen and Cam to develop synergy with Sengun and Jabari. It is up to Stone to sign or trade for a star level shooting guard. Our starting 5 by the deadline next year should be Amen, SG other than JG, Cam, Bari, Sengun. Leaves you with a great bench of FVV if not traded, brooks, Tari, and Adams.

 

Yup except for Giddey and Wallace(and alexei who they released), they hit on a lot of guys at various draft positions

 

Our backcourt : 8/28

Theirs: 22/38

Our issues begin and end with FVV/Jalen Green. Teams have the blueprint. Take away the Sengun roll and force him to give the ball to FVV/Jalen and they'll brick. If we straight up had SGA on this team we'd be a playoff team easily.

 

Chet is simply all around better than Sengun. Ime should just acknowledge that and make peace with the players he has until they can go find some REAL game changers.

That reverse YAM and1 was FILTHY!

 

Sengun is close to Chet and J-Dub. It is arguable who is better, for sure. Personally, at this point, I'd rank it: J-Dub, Chet, Sengun.

 

I think Kiddey is not a bad basketball player, he just has issues off the court.

He is one of those inconsistent players that can just pass really well and was still a useful player.

Cason Wallace is a rookie and a decent defender IMO.....

 

Agreed. J-Dub and Chet are probably the best players taken in the 22’ draft. I’m not sure there’s a better prospect on our team.

 

Wallace is gonna be a stud.

 

Genuinely curious, between Jalen Williams (Santa Clara) and Jabari, in hindsight would you still have Rockets to go with the consensus 3rd in Smith?

 

We have 3pt chuckers and amazing offensive rebounders. Let it fly and let's see what happens.

God I miss MDA so much...

 

Williams and Holmgren are both plus defenders and can play without the ball - that makes them more valuable than Sengun due to flexibility IMO.

 

I mean this was an obvious NO last year to most neutrals, it will take another year for it to sink in here.

 

There were a number of things that went into it. First, Fred still isn't healthy and that was part of it. Second, the effort for the first 20 games of the season on the defensive end just wasn't sustainable for this team. Third, other teams were able to make some adjustments when they would see particular tendencies by a few Rockets players. Last - Jalen Green has not been nearly as good defensively or effort-wise.

The defense last year was so bad - that they went out and got a few veterans that were dependable and knew how to defend in a system. The problem is that while Stone got a 10 win jump after adding these veterans and a new coaching staff - he is somewhat capped by these players too.

This team is just really poorly constructed.

 

jalen Williams is special. In hindsight I’d pick Williams, but can’t completely hate on Stone for drafting Bari. I just don’t think most teams got the eval right with Bari. There’s a significant gap between Paolo, Chet and Bari. And I have a hard time believing Bari will be a top 5 player from that draft when we look back a few years from now. I dont think the rockets made the most of their two highest picks since Yao. To have Jalen Green and Bari to show for the #2 & #3 pick in deep drafts is frankly not good.

The front office appologists point to our drafting prowess, but I see a very mixed bag. Our front office is going to continue to hold this org back.

 

Ime Udoka: "Our players shouldn't miss open shots so easily"

IMHO....This is a more accurate statement!!
Continuously pushing a defensive narrative on a player/team is asinine at this point.


Go Rockets!!!
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Sengun might have an argument with J-Dub, but I’d rather have J-Dub at this moment in time

 

Jalen Williams and Chet also have length that Sengun lacks......... Williams is a 6'5" guard and forward but he has a 7'3" wingspan.

Chet Holmgren is 7'2" and has a 7'6" wingspan......

Both of these guys are also mobile and can switch defensively.

Sengun is the more skilled scorer and passer, and is a solid rebounder - but he is harder to build a team around.

At the end of the day the top 3 OKC players combine for almost 70 points a game...... OKC has prospects that are not even contributing but likely will down the road, Ousmane Dieng is barely 20 years old and was a lottery pick.

 

On shooting luck:

Oct-Dec 26 Rockets were #1 in the league giving up 32% on opposing 3 point shots

Dec 26 to today: Rockets are #23 in the league giving up 37.7% on opposign 3 point shots

The Rockets also give up a relatively high proportion of 3's vs 2's vs. most teams, so it hits a bit harder.

FWIW the Rockets 2 point defense slipped to during that time, but not nearly as much (52.5% to 54%)