Why are the Rockets persistent on bringing FVV back?

I think Ime loves Fred and Fred is a big reason we had the success we had this year (even though he had a down year). A PG that is a good defender and doesn't turn the ball over is what every coach would want. Fans want Fred to be a player that he's not.

His first year here, Fred had 8.1 assists per game and was 7th in the NBA. This year he was 5.6 assists but we won more games. It's hard to tell if more assists helped us as a team or not.

I don't think we trade Fred and as people have said we would need a competent starting PG to replace him. I don't think Amen or Reed are it (at least not yet). The idea that Fred will take 3 years at $60 million seem absurd to me given that we (overpaid) him $44 million a year. A 3 year $30-$35 mil a year contract seems more likely.

We don't know how good or bad we would be with Amen, Reed, or someone else starting at PG this year and that's the worry. We will probably drop from the second seed as the playoff was very tight and other teams have improved.

 

I don't care if he was drafted as a tight end, he's not a guard. He's a wing that can pass a little bit and can't shoot.

He can be a secondary ball handler, but he's at his best off ball where he can score from the dunker's spot and fight for offensive rebounds.

His shooting is simply too terrible to be a guard and when it comes to guard skills, he's either really bad for a point guard, or really good for a wing.

 

If the Rockets trade FVV it will be very rewarding for 2 reasons. #1. He's a terrible watch. #2. people are so adamant that the team isn't moving on based off the same rumor that Kelly Iko has gotten wind of (we are a year out from him proclaiming the Rockets preferred Clingan over Reed when the actual debate was Reed or Castle)

 

There was no debate. It was Reed or trade out of the draft.

 

Y'all don't enjoy being last in ball / player movement, bottom 3 in assist, and watching Fred shoot 37% from the field? How would we survive without him

 

No.... it was a role he fell into because he's really good at it. It should be his primary role. That doesn't mean he shouldn't get touches on ball as a secondary ball handler.... he definitely should, but it's a secondary role, he's not a point guard.

Attempting to force him to pretend to be one would just harm the team and his production.

 

1) Ime didn't do enough to develop Reed Sheppard in his rookie year. This is equally on Ime and Reed. Reed was the designated backup to Fred in the first month of the season, but he played so timidly out there that he got benched in favor of Aaron. Ime waited too long to give him another shot though.

2) Ime favors veterans. Guys like Dillon and Fred have a much longer leash than the younger players. I can only think of a single game where Ime benched Fred this season(at Utah).

3) The team is under the mistaken impression that it can't win without Fred. That slump before the All-Star Break did coincide with Fred's ankle injury, but I still vehemently disagree that his absence was the reason the Rockets struggled. The schedule was brutal with 8 out of 9 games on the road, there were multple B2Bs(which meant no Tari or Steven), Alpi was out a few of those games, and most importantly, Jabari was injured. The Rockets were 12-13 without him this season.

4) Fred played out of his mind in Games 4-6 vs the Warriors. Granted, he also sucked in Games 1-3 and the Rockets lost 2 of those. But recency bias is a thing and that's what a lot of people remember the most right now about the guy.

 

If Amen is forced to just play in the dunkers spot and rebound, honestly they should trade him. His future value drops tremendously if he is forced to play off ball. Amen surrounded by 4 shooters is his best path to superstardom. His value is sky high league wide right now. They should just package him for someone like Cam Johnson (39% career 3 point shooter). This way the Rockets get the spacing that they need with this current roster

 

Because after rebounding, Udoka's other big OCD is turnovers. He has an unrealistic expectation of a 90's contender level of turnovers that suffocates our offense drastically. This has of course been proven to be a myth many times over. Turnovers are important only within the context of your assists, transition and pace. Udoka is like a coach from the 90's trying to achieve the lowest overall number of turnovers at any cost. Where the rest of the NBA tried that experiment and realized it has diminishing returns, Udoka missed the memo.

Allegedly the most unselfish team, we were 28th in assists despite taking the most field goal attempts in the entire league.

Someone explain to me if he's this balanced unselfish coach how does a team with no veteran star end up 28th in assists. How do you even do that with a passing C, a floor general at PG and Amen Thompson at the 3 also? lol

 

Did you guys forget the stretch when Fred was out? We literally went like 1-9 in that stretch when Jalen and Amen were taking turns handling the ball.

I think people have a really poor understanding of Fred's role. Fred was never supposed to be a number 1 option and he isn't the player you want to be running the offense through. He is a good number 2 option who can create his own shot and work the pick and roll when the primary ballhandler is out. Currently he was forced into taking a ton of our shots and creating all the offense because Amen is raw/can't shoot and Jalen literally did nothing for us the entire playoff series. If it wasn't for Fred the warriors would have beaten us in 5.

Fred takes a lot of the bad shots at the end of the shot clock as well. When Sengun has trouble posting or Jalen dribbles himself into a corner they both just throw it to Fred with 4 seconds left on the shot clock. Fred mentoring and teaching Amen/Jalen is a really good situation for the Rockets. CP3 and Sam Cassell mentored SGA and he wasn't dominant until age 24-26.

 

We were 5-6 and Sengun and Jabari missed some of those games. When FVV got back we lost the first 2 games immediately. Sometimes there are multiple causes to an effect.

 

The Rockets played fine without Fred once they got home from that 8 out of 9 stretch on the road. He missed over a month and they were able to win games without him once they returned from the All-Star Break. Why? Because they got Jabari back from injury.

 

Fred is an NBA player in the best sense of the word. A vet, a champ. I hate to say it, but he's a coach on the court. He's also got some fire in him and is not afraid to mix it up with opponents or refs. That means a lot to a young team. Do I wish he was 6 inches taller and had a vertical that allowed him to finish in heavy traffic and was less streaky? Of course. So does he, I bet. Anyway, I'm OK with Fred though I would like to see his regular season minutes reduced. Nobody on a team that is supposedly this deep should be averaging more than 30-32 minutes. Fred played 35 minutes per game this year and almost 37 last year.

 

Not true at all, and no one is saying for him to be exclusively off ball.

He's a DPOY caliber defender and is amazing in the dunker's role AND he is a plus secondary ball handler. That's not a player you ever trade.

 

This. Not just Gen Z brains either...

So many posters are hand waving away what it actually takes to run and setup an offense on court. If someone or a combination of players were capable of doing then it would have already happened.

 

I think he is exaggerating how much of a waste it is to keep Amen at the dunkers spot and PF. It keeps Amen from working and developing his full potential and also keeps Jabari out of the starting line up which would help with spacing

 

Team was all youth before, it was called the Silas era. If Lopez didn't neg his deal, 3 of the starting 5 would have been vets instead of 2/5.

On opportunties for other young guys, I'd like to see Reed get more minutes next year, but it was correct to use Aaron, as Reed didn't look like he was ready. Sometimes players just need more time, instead putting someone out there and embarrass himself, ease them into it.


2 of 5 vet in the starting lineup is a good balance.

 

All the best PG’s in the league produce turnovers. FVV really isn’t a PG, he is a bad SG that dominates possessions dribbling away the shot clock. He can’t drive and dish. Ime is obsessed with turnovers and how they would affect his precious defense.
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=player+with+most+turnovers+per+game+nba+24-25

None of the FVV or Ime acolytes will even look at this link. It’s all about how we failed when FVV had his injury. What’s ironic about that is we went about .500 during his absence and Jabari and Sengun both missed games during that time. His Assist rate per minutes played is pathetic. We have one of the most athletic teams in the league and play at a snail’s pace with no movement and no spacing. Some is an improperly balanced roster, but more is due to the choice Ime makes on rotations.

 

You are right if it was good vets.