He straight up mentioned the Jalen Green lineups were amongst the worst, and then asked if they were planning to consider that in the off-season. Stone answered by basically saying you can make up stats to support any argument.
The Rockets did not go after Butler because the front office really wanted to see if anyone would thrive in the playoffs and step up offensively. The Rockets did not expect to contend in 2024-2025; which is why they did not make a strong push for KD or Butler. If the goal or pressure was to win a series or two, the Rockets would have gotten Butler and extended him. We can discuss whether Stone is too careful sometimes - that is a different question, and I agree with you that OKC and SA are only going to get better.
I'm not sure on OKC. JW and Chet are RFAs after next season. SGA will get Supermax a season after that. I'm guessing OKC can't afford all three and someone is gonna get Hardened within 2 years.
This illustrates why it's such a gamble to draft someone based on potential with no college experience. Instead of going into the G league, he could have really benefited from being on a major college team. Instead, after 4 years, he still relies on his athleticism to score rather than using his brain. His knowledge of the game is still lacking and it's there for all to see (and exploit) which Kerr did masterfully. With his size and all I would like him to study any and all video he can get of Kwahi Leonard to improve his game. I wouldn't dump him just yet but I wouldn't consider him a starter anymore. At this point in time, I could see him as a 6th man off the bench.
IMO Ball makes the most sense -- as a perimeter guy who gives you a baseline of competent halfcourt offense by himself, while being 23, 6'6, and cost controlled long term. Our biggest lack, even more than pure shotmaking, is just overall offensive skill. And LaMelo has as much of that as almost anyone in the world. Obviously the health and defense are significant risks, and why he'd be available for a reasonable package featuring Jalen. But sprained ankles and inconsistent defensive effort/strength/technique are mutable problems; lack of talent or old age are not.
Maybe - but they will pay the tax this time, their ownership and GM both said they will. Having said that Chet is a walking ER visit. On the other hand, they have a LOT of resources left and I think are waiting for the right player to become available.
Means nothing basically He has to say that even if there's a strong possibility Jalen gets traded. What's he going to say, "Dude sucks, we want to dump him ASAP"? That would tank Jalen's trade value. Plus, if there's even a chance he remains on the team--and there almost always is in these cases, you have to be able to walk away from a deal in order to have a strong negotiating position--you don't burn that bridge now. Yawn.
Bro said with a straight face "Jalen did what he needed to do, its just his teammates didn't make shots when he passed to them." Holy **** lol.
Crane paid the tax, but still let Correa, Springer, Verlander, Cole, and Bregman walk and kicked Tucker out the door a year before free agency. It is the curse of having a really good GM that it is tough to keep everyone together when the big guns are no longer under club control. It is not meant as a slight that OKC just has too much talent.
All of the g-league ignite players have been a disappointment. Every single one of them. Maybe Scoot will turn it around though and Matas might be okay. I'm not sure what that says as obviously some prospects have skipped college and turned into HOF players even but every single Ignite player that was drafted in the lottery has been a disappointment. Dyson Daniels might be the only one but he was a failure for his initial team. I do think the most polished players will be coming from NCAA OR Euroleague as both actually force players to get better sure but also focus on actually winning games and playing in high pressure games. I think Jalen would have benefitted greatly from going to Auburn which IIRC was the initial plan and he should have went there. This isn't me talking about how they need to go to college to get education or anything lol just that they learn how to play but also how to win in a team situation. Some exceptions sure, like Lebron, Kobe, Garnett, hopefully Amen, but most guys need the structure the NCAA or Euroleague will provide to better develop.
Stone isn't going to throw Green under the bus. It's unprofessional and would kill Jalen's value. Doc refused to publicly back Simmons after his disappointing series against Atlanta and it made the team a circus the next season.
What does a good deal look like? Getting something of value in return? Some might say that getting out of the contract with no future cap damage is a big win. You keep him around and he has to play, eating up minutes that should probably go to other players that potentially have a future with the team. This goes double if you draft a guard.
Jalen Green Year 1 as a 19yr old under high school coaching: 17.3/3.4/2.6 on .547 TS% Jalen Green Year 4 as a 23yr old after 2 years of real, super legit coaching: 21.0/4.6/3.4 on .544 TS% So what has Udoka been teaching him besides taking more shots to pad your counting stats?
I’m as down and disappointed about green as the next person. But I do think as mentioned by a few posters he is a viable shooting guard for the next few years as long as he is the second scoring option on the perimeter. The problem here is that that is probably not Amen for another year or two. Durant, Booker, Trae Young All interest me to a certain degree because I don’t think we are that far away. With Durant It’s kind of meh because I don’t think we are that close either. I do think Jalen has improved enough defender where Sengun/Adams Smith Amen/Eason Green Trae/Reed Works well.
I kept thinking in this series how different the team would've looked if Durant were there instead of Dillon Brooks. Elite shooter, volume scorer that could've taken the ball in the halfcourt and had everyone else get out of the way when the offense broke down. Interestingly to me, Dillon Brooks didn't feel very important or impactful to our defense in this series. The Rockets had a chance because Amen, and to a lesser extent Jalen and Fred, did an excellent job on Curry. Sengun and Adams did a generally good job in drop coverage on everyone else. When Butler got hot, Ime moved Amen over to take care of him. My other take would be how far will Reed's defense allow him to go? How badly would he have gotten hunted? He needs to study Curry on that end too -- I give Curry a lot of credit for how much he's improved himself from being a complete liability. I think Amen's ability to be an absolute warlock on defense can help hide Reed, but I don't see how Reed and FVV co-exist as undersized guards. Also, all this will be moot when we get the #1 pick and draft Cooper Flagg.
