There are no realistic additions we can make this summer that will guarantee us a spot in the Western Conference Finals. The goal is to just improve significantly and improve our probabilities. Swapping Jalen Green and stuff for Kevin Durant improves our probability of winning in the first round, second round, WCF and the NBA championship. That's worth doing.
For sure, getting Jalen off or exiling him to the bench would boost efficiency. One of JG or FVV has to go IMO, those 2 chuckers are too much. Long term both should be gone.
I think it’s crazy to put Fred over Jalen. Jalen **** the bed in the playoffs but Fred looked bad all season I’m not holding onto Fred over him. I’ll wait to see how Jalen responds this season I think it’s the complete opposite. Swapping FVV for Durant probably puts us #2 in west. Trading Jalen + whoever else probably makes us worse short and long term. How are we suppose to compete with OKC for a decade if we are hoping FVV & Durant win in the next 1-2 years max and trading Jalen, Jabari, Cam or whatever the combo is over Fred? He already shooting 37% from the floor and could easily fall off a cliff in 1-2 years. He’s not CP3 who can lead a team into his 30’s FVV / Amen do not sound like a bad backcourt too
Fixing Amen Thompson Shooting Form, his legs need to be closer together (tie a rubber band to his legs or put a ball between his legs). Thousands of Shots fixing him Mentally. His arms, need to rotate the ball in his shooting form. Spinning for rotation, rainbow shot. Off arm needs to balance the ball. Kawhi Leonard is a Perfect Example how he completely changed his shooting form. Chip England is a "Shot Doctor" now with OKC helping Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Cason Wallace, Luis Dort.
Your only evidence here is your "eye test". Jalen looks cool doing stuff with the ball and FVV doesn't. Jalen flashes awesome athleticism and FVV doesn't. If you care about winning though, FVV was much better this past season. FVV was far better this year on the all-in-one advanced metrics- EPM, LEBRON and DARKO. It wasn't really even close. We were 11-11 without FVV this season. We were 41-19 when he played. Winning matters. We were a much better team with FVV playing than without. FVV's shooting percentages were pretty bad this season and the regression is disappointing. I think some of that though has to be looked at in context. Despite shooting a lot less shots than Jalen overall, FVV took more end-of-the-shot attempts than Jalen. These are low percentage shots. FVV was more often stuck with these than Jalen and it hurts his numbers disproportionately. FVV also took 8 heaves this season. He made none. Jalen took exactly zero. That's pathetic. That's Jalen caring too much about numbers and not winning. Just removing FVV's heaves changes him to 35.1 percent from 3- not good but not as bad. Jalen may become better at some point that FVV. I don't know when or if that will occur. It's not crazy to say that FVV is currently the better player though. It's actually pretty stupid to say otherwise at this time. I don't think you're stupid. Stop saying stupid things about FVV.
Well, FVV is paid the real Max......or closer to the Max by 1 or 2 million.....than anyone on that roster. He should be averaging 23-25 ppg with efficiency if you think he is worth that money and not just play Defense and run the team a little. Sick and tired of people who make Star player money but only bring good role player performance, show up in half of the games......and have the fans and media defend their 'Hidden Advanced Stats'. That should go for every underperformer, not just Fred.
FVV is not a star. FVV played well. If he was scoring 23-25 with efficiency, he would be a star, and he would not be a Rocket. FVV got overpaid to give the Rockets options that didn't hurt the Rockets and would have helped the Rockets a lot if he was traded. Stone not finding a trade is not on FVV, and Stone not finding a trade won't hurt as they will decline the team option, and sign him to an appropriate deal now that the Rockets have other salaries that can be traded. Sick and tired about people getting huffy about FVV getting paid for being in the right place at the right time. Signing more Jock Landale contracts would not help. On "hidden stats", it is easy to see that he helps in a lot of ways besides in easy to read stats like 23-25 ppg and efficiency numbers. If FVV had rim pressure and the associated efficiency that caused, he would be a star. If the Rockets had a star, his ppg would still suck, but the efficiency would improve as he would not have to try to do star stuff.
I agree with everything you said here. I think we just don’t agree on us having his replacement in hand already. FVV and Dillon were great moves and I supported them as soon as they announced the third year was a team option for FVV. Everything has gone according to plan up until now. Re-signing Fred was probably not part of the plan and shouldn’t be with Amen on the team, in my opinion.
I think there are two ways to look at the Rockets PG situation. One is that Amen and Reed are two top-5 lottery picks drafted to be PGs. And if the Rockets truly think they're ready to contend, then these two players should be capable of at least taking bulk of the minutes at PG. Perhaps the Rockets sign a backup for cheap, but nothing more. The other possibility is that they have not developed well, and the Rockets still have a giant PG hole to fill. In which case, the question should be whether the Rockets are even entertaining trades for KD or Giannis. Cause if you're paying those guys and FVV a large amount of money, then you get into the luxury tax/apron status real quicky. For an owner who has never paid the luxury tax bill before, it's not a good idea to push him into tax territory without a team that is certain to contend. Cause you never know how long he's willing to pay it before making cost-cutting moves.
Yeah, his advanced stats and winning ways are overrated to say the least, where were they in his last 2 Toronto seasons..... Mediocre as they come and he contemplated wanting out because it has run its course in Toronto and with his brother named Drake. Don't get me wrong, he has taken full advantage of his chances in Houston, ......it could have been a lot worse...... I am grateful he played in Houston, that being said. Now get down to the plan from 2 years ago, that Fred should leave in 2-3 years, as his original contract says he would...... The over reliance on a 31 year old has got to stop as should this fake and artificial love for Fred.
In FVV’s last two Toronto seasons they played at the net rating of a 50 and 52 win team when he was on the court, and a 35 and 37 win team when he was off the court. Fred VanVleet is good.
I guess the 2nd Year is starting with the not having fun part......40 million reasons cannot buy happiness. His brand of basketball is steady and boring and he thinks he is Chris Paul the mentor, well, guessed the real mentor is Udoka. https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/former-toronto-raptors-guard-fred-vanvleet-explains-why-he-signed-with-houston-rockets#:~:text=“I just wanted to get,have worked out for everyone.
The more you rely on those things, the more you cannot get away.....the more Udoka won't use his brain to build a new Offense. This Fredicious Cycle gotta stop somehow, Ime and Fred and everyone are in that loop they cannot get out of.
FVV was good, not great in Toronto as well. So basically, you are a big proponent of confirmation bias. Anything you can't understand is obviously wrong. Doing things to win games like play defense and not throw the ball to the other team is now wrong. The NBA does not have a conspiracy to let the Rockets and Raptors win minutes more than they should due to FVV's scoring.
Fred will be traded to Phoenix to help rebuild their culture. Warmly welcome Kevin Durant. There is no team in the KD market picking ahead of us that would give up their pick this yr. There is no better leadership vet at a position of need with the massive expiring they need for cap flexibility.
Tell yourself that, I hope Reed succeeds, just to spite this mediocre and blasphemous backcourt of Jalen and Fred. Seen enough of this ref curser.....
If FVV is traded to Phoenix, it will be that he's used as matching salary so Phoenix can get draft picks.
I suspect they want a combo of picks and players. If they are keeping Booker they aren’t going full rebuild.
I will. I hope Reed succeeds as well. I hope Jalen succeeds as well even though I think he won't. Jalen becoming a good primary scorer fixes so much for this team. Continue to exhibit your confirmation bias by ignoring evidence that doesn't support your perception.
I'm just not trading Jalen over Fred who as you said regressed and is probably only going to get worse. Fred was brought in as a baby sitter and god bless him for what he did but I am not trading a 24yr old borderline all star for 1-3 years off a declining Fred. Despite Jalen sh*tting the bed in the playoffs I just can't do it. Jalen had a great regular season despite his playoffs. I think he can still be a great 2nd-3rd option with boom potential any night. I am not putting Fred above that. I guess I am more willing to rip the bandaid off and let Amen / Reed give it a go. I think we are off better offensively letting Amen drive and kick with shooters around. Holding onto Fred over young guys to me is like OKC holding onto CP3 after a playoff run. They traded him and let the young guys take over. It's not the exact same thing but OKC didn't hold on CP3 because they were too scared to slip a couple games Fred is not better than Jalen. More polished, yeah. No GM would willingly trade for FVV over Green though
