FVV is still treated as a shooter by opposing teams so it's not that bad in terms of spacing. It's more that his inefficiency has been costing us points.
Amen should come off the bench when he returns from injury. The team is on a roll with Tari as a starter. And no, it's not just due to the light schedule. Keep in mind that the Rockets also defeated the T'Wolves and Bucks after the break with him in the starting lineup. Plus they're back to blowing out lousy opponents. Prior to that drubbing of the Spurs a few weeks ago, they hadn't blown out anyone since they won at Portland in mid-January. Another reason I'd like to see Amen as a reserve(for now) is that he was playing way too many minutes when Jabari was hurt.
I am not going to disparage an 8 game win streak in the NBA. But this was the Rockets fluff part of the schedule…. They snatched a few victories from the jaws of defeat, especially the 76’ers and also the Bulls games. So it’s true to NBA, anybody can beat you if you let your guard down - so those victories were impressive. Hence they were favored to win each of those 8 games. Nevertheless they had plenty of talent to go toe to toe with the best those teams could offer. Have you seen the Rockets WS for VanVleet, Green, Dillon, and Tari is 4.6-4.7 through the year. Even Jabari would be in that range if he’d of not gotten injured, his WS per 48 minutes would have placed him right around the 5 WS (currently he is in the 3 range). But Sengun (7.4) and Amen (6.7) are on a whole another plane they are top 20 players in the NBA with WS hovering around 7. I think the Rockets will be like the Astros of 2017, some fellas will likely have to leave because of cost, but I think this group has a solid 2 runs at a title. Even as soon as this year they can shock the NBA because they have a punchers chance with any team! but the rebuild is going well, a few hiccups, but overall very positive.
I feel like NBA defenses care about guarding and closing out to shooters if they just let it fly regardless of percentages. Defenders can see the hesitation and lack of confidence in the jump shot in Amen and Sengun when they sometimes do pump fakes while wide open. That reinforces to the defender that they don't need to worry about them. Those two just need to let it fly the moment defenders sag off then. No hesitation.
yeah I still think this is just a down shooting year for Fred and I love what he brings, but I don’t want him in the same role next season.
On Amen starting, he needs to start. On FVV to the bench, he's still one of the Rockets best 3 players even if he sucked to start the season and since he's been back from injury. While he would be the best backup PG in the league, he's still the best PG on the team by a large margin, even with his poor scoring efficiency (i.e., below-normal three-point shooting and FTAs). There is more to the game than scoring efficiency. I am fine with adding a PG that can do PG things as well as has a better scoring efficiency (or a playmaking SG to pair with Amen). I do expect FVV's scoring efficiency will improve with Amen starting and his attempts get easier. On Tari versus Jabari, Tari has easily been the better player when healthy. The three point shooting has been close with Tari being significantly better on the offensive glass, rim pressure, passing, and defense. I'd like to see Tari continue to start to see if this is a hot streak or if he's made a jump in talent. I don't think Tari will continue to start when Amen is back. I'd send Brooks to the bench before Tari. Sengun has to start. I'd like to see FVV, Amen, Tari, and Sengun on the court more when Amen is back and try different combinations to see what fits best even if Tari isn't starting.
If they're truly wide open, I agree. That said, I do think one of the biggest strengths for both players is that they don't just jack up bad shots all the time (this applies moreso to Amen than Sengun, but to both of them to some degree). Amen in particular could probably have much higher scoring numbers if he was willing to shoot inefficiently--but he's not, and that's part of why he's a winning player, not just a chucker.
I’ve never really seen a roster as versatile as ours. Depending on matchups you can argue any number of guys would be a better starter. But ultimately what matters is the game time adjustments. And for the most part, Ime seems to be rolling with whatever is working on a particular night.
It's a good problem to have. I do think consistency matters though. Now that everyone(knock on wood) is about to be healthy again(well, aside from Reed) and there's only one B2B left, we can finally run the same starting five out there on a nightly basis. And I just think when you're undefeated since the All-Star Break with one particular guy starting, you stick with that.
Amen starting and Tari starting are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Those two have been amazing together when Amen is playing as a guard (i.e., one of Green or FVV are on the bench). I suspect this is because the forwards on the team can switch onto guards/centers better than the guards can handle switching onto forwards, centers. While I may be more creative, I think Tari has a better case for starting than Brooks, and a way better case than Jabari. I just don't think Ime would even bench Brooks at this point. I do expect to see FVV, Green, Amen, Tari, and Sengun play more minutes as a backup unit once Amen is back than it has been used before.
It's been a minute where we could actually pose an argument as to who should be in our starting 5, due to how great our players are; developing, meshing, or both. This is a great problem to have! I honestly believe Amen is amazing. I love his grit, his drive, and his overall game but I've said this before and I'll say it again, all that energy coming off the bench against second units will completely overwhelm the competition and allow us to gain so many mismatches along with fast breaks that come from the overall hustle he would bring.
I'm so conflicted on Dillon. He's such an integral part of the Rockets going from bottom feeder to a second seed in the West. And he's having such a good season offensively. But this all means his trade value this off-season will be higher than expected. And he's the guy that makes these starting line up discussions so heated. Even Fred is making this convo difficult. Without the two main vets, I'm seeing the future championship starting line up if I squint which would be a Amen Jalen backcourt with both doing primary ball handling duties back and forth with Tari, Bari and Alpi as the front court. That is what the end state of our rebuild looks like I think. It's becoming clearer and clearer who are the long term keepers at least. Between Tari, Alpi and Sengun, one has to drastically improve their jump shot and one has to marginally(Tari) for this end state line up to be dynasty level. Amen has shown the most accelerated progress in his jumper in the season and a half he's played so far. So I am optimistic and this can come true.
Because of our struggles with shooting, I'm only trading Dillon if I'm getting back a 40% three point shooter on volume. (Or maybe 38% if it's a PF/C type.) Can't afford to lose our only dude who is consistently punishing teams from beyond the arc. And I say this as one of the posters who has been pushing to sell high on him. Still can't believe he's shooting 39.5%. It's not that surprising he's no longer hovering in the low 30s like he was with Memphis, given his career numbers, but I didn't think he would become damn near elite as a jump shooter.
What on hopping is Tari can get to DB level jump shooter. He's young enough where he can and his base jump shot form is decent enough to get there. That way you can trade Brooks for multiple niche roles that don't have much usage eating up reps for guys like Tari and Bari and draft capital. This team has too many guys that need the ball and any trade that involves Fred or Dillon I hope is to just consolidate the roster and reinforce our draft war chest. Or there is a legit superstar(above Booker level, like a Giannis level guy) available
Just a quick look on how the Amen, Tari, and Sengun lineups have fared. I dislike how few minutes there are with these 3 and the best possible other two players. While this table is mostly small samples, there are some trends that occur in larger samples that show up here: 1) Tari and Jabari don't always work well. Mostly on offense. 2) The Amen, FVV, and Greem lineup here is typically outplayed by the lineups with only Amen and FVV or with only Amen and Green of those three.
I hope so. He has been taking more jump shots lately and converting them at an okay clip. I want to see him get that 3P% up before I trade Dillon away though, unless, like I said, we're getting an even-better shooter back.
What are you talking about? Jabari takes more 3's than Tari and he still has a slightly higher %. He's shot better this season and last season. Of course he's the better shooter. More importantly, he's the WAAAAAAAAY better spacer because spacing is about reputation not about who had the better reputation last month.
He also takes a higher amount of contested threes than Tari. Tari rarely takes contested threes. Almost all his threes seem to be open corner three. Bari does a lot more pull up contested threes. It's obvious he's a more natural shooter than Tari.
