Like I suspected, he’s washed. Not his fault. Injuries suck. he’s slightly quicker than Boban but I suspect he will be picked on like crazy in high leverage situations
Do you think you can answer that after his first game in a year and a half? it seems like there should be some range of improvement. Also his minutes should come mostly against bench players (otherwise he has been a starter the last 9 years) and less minutes per game. All of that should lead to a higher chance of being a positive player this season.
Landale looked terrible at the start of last season, when he was coming back from injury, and then he looked very good at the end of the season. Makes it even more remarkable, in my opinion, how sharp Alpi looks now - remember, he is also coming back from a pretty bad injury. Adams is slow and doesn't have a lot of hops, but he is strong as an ox and sets great screens, and is smart. I am pretty sure he will be valuable for us down the stretch.
I hope that the Alpi and Jalen extensions mean that we will prioritize keeping Fred and Steven Adams around. There aren't any super duper free agents I would rather have. I love Steven Adams as Alpi's backup, and in fact, I would love to see Steven and Alpi together on the court more. Stone and the front office did great today - if FVV and Stevo perform this season and remain free of terrible injuries, extend them longer-term. They are both still young enough. Love our mix now.
Yup. Resign FVV at 30 - 35 per, Adams at 10 - 15 per. Easily doable with the space Green and Sengun gave us.
Adams might command more on the free market, that's my concern. When is the earliest we can extend him?
My only issue with giving Adams a big extension is - how much money do you want to allocate to your best player's backup that can't play any significant minutes alongside him? I like Adams and think he will be great but for how many minutes a game ?
I guess, in certain matchups but unless Sengun becomes more of an outside shooter he won't be moving down to the 4 for even short stretches on a nighty basis. You need spacing.
What a fantastic article. “Every bit of chemistry helps. Adams and Sheppard will play together often as focal points of the Rockets’ second unit, which is why Adams said the center-guard relationship is so important.” I was told Reed was going to the g league and would be lucky to even sniff the rotation. What is this talk of “focal point of the second unit”?
I will say I expected it would take Reed longer to be treated as the backup PG than it appears going into the season. The mid range game that he's displayed in preseason and summer league made me think more of his long term outlook along with him likely being mostly just a sniper from long range that can play point.
From the article: “The good teams, when they have good chemistry, you won’t even need a timeout for the coach to say, like, ‘Hey, do X,’ ” Adams said. “I think, for this team especially, that’s the goal. You reach that point communication-wise, chemistry-wise and confidence-wise, we can clean up a lot of that stuff, save these timeouts and save Coach having to harp — then you’re really playing the game. That’s a huge win in the season, regardless of the outcome.” Wow, what a fantastic quote. I was already pretty excited about what Adams can add size- and skills-wise to the team. But I think his veteran presence is going to be just as invaluable.
Adams is easily going to be a fan favorite, already a favorite of mine. With that said, Reed needs to develop a bromance with the $185m dollar man if he wants more playing time beyond being a backup.
