this is what I’m sensing as well. They didn’t stay patient with Jalen just to trade him after he’s finally taken a big step this season. In fact, if Jalen can string together another improved season, he’ll cement himself as one of the best young players in the nba. I have been a big Sengun fan since we drafted him, but if he doesn’t take real steps towards having a consistent mid-range shot, his ceiling is going to be much lower than Jalen or Amen. If we are hunting for another star or need to extend other plsyers, they’ll have to move big salary. I’m still not convinced of the fit with those 3. Sengun would probably be the odd man out. I think Ime would rather have a center that can protect the rim than post up.
I agree Sengun being used in Giannis trade. VanVleet team option might be enticing if the Bucks are ready to re-build. But to keep VanVleet salary with Dame salary would be too steep for the one year, for a back court defensively challenged. VanVleet looks like he is limping or favoring that left knee/leg. --------------- I've stated what teams will do to us while in the playoffs: *Zone Defense, force us to be a jump shooting team. Pack the paint. *Box out while packing the paint. *Get 4 1/2 men back on defense to take away fast break points. To my surprise teams started applying these tactics immediately after my post. Fortunately, it forced the team to see Zone Defense well in advance of the playoffs and seem to have gotten familiar with how to attack it. Teams would have been better off just using it in the playoffs series. We would have been dead in the water. Now we stand a fighting chance. One thing Udoka did do to get us past the, "Packed Paint Dilemma" has been inserting Steven Adams. In today's thin center era, the Jokic, Embiid, Sengun. Steven Adams can dominate the rebounds in the regular season. It takes two guys to keep Adams from getting every rebound. That allows Sengun and Amen to do their damage and allows the Rockets to continue getting rebounds and second chance points in that double bigs lineup. I did not factor in Hack-an-Adams tactic being used. That would be fatal if the Rockets can't play Steven Adams in the playoffs. The 3-point shooting of Jabari. Holiday and Dillon would need to stay above average in order for the Rockets to advance. Even moreso. **Good tidbit Hemingway, this is why I check in with Clutchfans.....it has the most knowledgeable basketball fans. Even my eyes can't catch everything. Kudos.
I don’t think my assessment is silly at all. And I never said his shooting will not improve. I said he cannot shoot beyond 10 ft at this point. He improved from last year being able to shoot 10 ft floaters or runners etc but he simply isn’t efficient or capable of consistently shooting beyond this range. Shooting 10 ft floaters is diff than a pullup j. why? that's not part of his bag. that's not his game. He has never had a FT line or elbow pullup shot. That’s not a move you easily or simply implement into your game if that’s not how you play. I had this discussion years ago when people criticized Jalen for “poor” 3 pt shooting. Yes his shooting could have improved and he had great potential. Why? Because that was a big part of his game. Pullup threes, threes off the screen, catch and shoot. He was comfortable doing all this. Westbrook wasn’t an efficient shooter beyond 10 ft early in his career but he always had a 15 ft jumper. He was comfortable with that shot and he always played that way. He had potential and he gradually improved that shot. Similar with Fox who always could shoot a 15-20 ft pullup jumper or off a screen. Could Amen implement a 15 ft pullup? Sure. But I can’t see this being a big part of his game. If anything I think like Rondo or Kidd he could improve his catch and shoot 3s. It’s very hard to implement a move you never had your whole life and become consistent in using it. Can you think of any player who never had a dribble drive but then became an awesome dribble drive guy? Or how about a player that never post up becoming a go to post guy? It doesn’t happen.
That makes sense. But as I said Amen is a different player. Not a traditional guard with no Jumpshot ability. Very Rondo like except he is superior at getting to the rim than one trick pony Rondo. I would not be surprised if Amen is on the table.
I would bet that the front office hasn’t given up on Reed as a potential long-term solution at the point, even if they also want to develop Amen at that position. And given that he’s early into his rookie scale contract and our roster is about to get pretty expensive, I bet they hold onto Reed, at least for another season. If a star at the point guard spot doesn’t shake loose, I think they’ll try to sign Fred back and lean into developing Amen and Reed. And I’m honestly fine with that because I think Reed is going to come into next season ready to play.
As I said in the Green thread, had a bad longboarding accident dude. Been in hospital, then bed for a few months. Just about starting to get back to some semblance of normalcy.
I love Sengun but if Giannis is available you make that trade and dont look back. Giannis would make this team the best team in NBA for the next 7 yrs esp with defense minded Udoka at the helm. Giannis for Sengun, Tari, salary filler (Jock, Tate, Jeff etc), Cam, Reed and all the Suns assets. I dont think any team can beat that king's ransom. Jabari can fill in as the full time starting C like a young Brook Lopez. Dillon and FVV are around the same age as Giannis. Jalen and Amen will be the robins. We sign Tyus Jones and resign Adams and Tate as the backups.
As crazy as it sounds, I still wouldn't give up both Tari and Sengun for Giannis. One or the other and whoever you want from: Jabari, Cam, Sheppard, Brooks, FVV, Scrubs and picks. I couldn't imagine parting with any 2 of Sengun, Green, Amen, Tari to be honest, those are really the 4 I think we should keep no matter what.
Tari is not that good, he is very impactful for us but looks of guys in the league are like him Keon Ellis, Toumani Camari, Bald Eagle, Josh Hart etc. If you get Giannis he pretty much does what Tari does but better. Also Tari has injury issues I wouldnt make him untouchable due to his durability. Tari also seems like he has JR Smith level of bball IQ he is more likely to do something dumb at end of game just like JR Smith or De Andre Jordan. Jabari should be the untouchable with a Giannis trade cuz Jabari as a stretch C is the perfect running mate for him. If we trade for a superstar we lose our depth so health becomes even more critical.
Tari's the more impactful of the 2 though. It's not even close if you go by the numbers. Comparing their per 36 to even the minutes tells a lot: Tari: 17.4pts 3.3ORB 6.0DRB 9.2TRB 2ast 2.5stl 1.2blk Bari: 14.5 pts 2.1ORB 5.7DRB 7.8TRB 1.2ast 0.5stl 0.9blk He's also only played 1 less game than Bari this season. It just doesn't seem like your opinion's grounded in the facts tbh dude.
You gotta pull up those TO stats, shooting percentages, and games player when referencing Tari's game. Those steals are incredible but how many times does he get a steal only to turn it over moments layer or miss a layup? Not saying he won't work out those kinks in his game, but he has more flaws to his game that are obscured by the stats you referenced...and we aren't even talking about the curious lingering injury history that has prevented him from stringing together more than 20ish games over the last 2 years.
And yet he's still outperforming the other guy whilst having those flaws, so that's mostly an irrelevant point to what I'm actually discussing. edit: just because you asked Tari (per 36) : 48.8fg% 34.73p% 1.6TOV Bari (per 36) : 43.2fg% 35.43p% 1.2TOV The things he does better are much better than the things Bari does better. Literally the only 2 things Bari wins at are 3p% and TOV and those are much smaller gaps than the things Tari does better. Nice try though.
I think that's highly doubtful. He's cutting it very close on the games played(has to play at least 20 minutes each in 6 of the last 8 games to qualify) but he is potentially a first team All NBA Defender this year as a 2nd year player. He is possibly the best perimeter defender in the league right now and a future DPOY candidate to add to being a very Giannis like offensive guy who's athletic gifts give him opportunities to score efficiently despite lacking a more advanced skill set. He's also a matchup nightmare all over the court - can guard 1-5 and finds ways to make plays regardless of the offensive role he has. Even if you manage to box him out from hitting the offensive glass, he has that thing he started doing where he poke the ball out from behind the defensive rebounder......he's just a cheat code against all the other athletes in the league. If Amen is on the table, it can't be for anything less than a top 15 guy.
Until Jabari develops a motor of some sort, he'll remain inferior to Tari. He's not even a better 3-point shooter this season. Plus he can still barely dribble in his 3rd season. People keep saying Jabari's long term potential is higher than Tari's, but I sure would like his play to prove it. Right now, if Tari stays healthy, I expect him to make it obvious to everyone next season he's better than Jabari.
