A faster more switchable defensive team can compensate for lack of a top-end rim protector, but the Rockets just added 2 plodders to the proposed starting lineup. One of whom is 37 and needs to be protected from achilles tears more so than quick guards.
That's because Tari and Brooks and Amen are elite on ball defenders??? What do you mean they put Jabari on the corner 3 guy? That's patently false. FVV guards point of attack because he's the PG, who usually has to because they are too small to guard anyone else. Lol they don't hide Jabari on defense, the Rockets defense works because they try to make sure anyone they put on the floor doesn't have to be hid on defense. Even Jalen was an average to good defender, you simply don't play much for Ime if you can't defend. Sengun is our worst on ball defender in space obviously (among players that play) because of how big he is but even he has to make an effort and get down to do it. They hide no one on defense, if you can't play defense at all you're sitting on the bench next to Ime. I don't expect this will change. Fact is, the numbers don't back up your claim. The team is not worse defensively when he plays. Jabari got sent to the bench because Amen broke out, but they end up playing about the same amount of minutes all the same.
I don't need an hyper parameter clippy machine to list all stars for me dog. That kind of stuff is pointless because A) I know! lol and B) I watch the games, something a large language model does not and cannot do, and I have a model of the real world as it exists outside due ot my embodied presence therein. Others have noted Sengun was worse on offesne this year than last year becuae his shooting % at the rim got kind of - well - BAD. What is his path to improvement? That's what I want to know from you. I see one path. He's not going to get taller or jump higher or get faster or stronger. His one path is to become a good 3 poitn shooter and he sucks at it - he's been going backwards! See Domantas Sabonis.
It's true, they didnt put Jabari on the corner 3 guy last time we saw him because they benched his ass for the most part, lol.
Durant isn't a plodder, stop. He was second in the whole NBA in eFG% against last year (behind Amen). He's not as quick as he used to be but extremely far from a liability and a far, far, far superior defender to Jalen. You are crossing into being ridiculous, so I'll give you the last word but I'm done.
Sengun's shooting % got worse at the rim taking the same kind of shots which likely indicates he just had a bad shooting year at the rim. What do you mean he can't get stronger? You're saying a 22 year old man never added strength? Seriously? You're acting like its impossible for someone at TWENTY years old to get stronger? Boy, let me tell the NFL that the players they draft will never get stronger...apparently, it's impossible as a man to get stronger at 22 years of age. I forget which poster said this, but, it's true, you really do see players as statues that can never get better or worse. And yet the best NBA insider is saying the Rockets refused to part with Jabari and Reed because they see both as cornerstone pieces and Jabari still played 30mpg...riiiiight. Again, I have no idea what this guy did to you, it seems pretty personal though.
I agree. I'll be honest I haven't watched much of Durant the last few years, but I thought at this point he was a slow, but long stretch 4 that could be ok on defense there but can't guard the perimeter. I don't think Jabari on the perimeter with him makes much sense either.
There was a reason he played PF a lot of times, he was getting slower. He could only take those bigger guys off the dribble.
I think you are way overestimating how good Jalen Green was defensively. A switchable defense requires forwards that can guard guards for a brief amount of time and guards that can guard forwards for a brief amount of time. Having Amen as the SG allows the Rockets to have a guard at the POA that can switch onto a forward if needed. I'm a little concerned with JSJ or Tari as the 3, but having them at the 3 means there is one more person that can scram switch for Sengun when Sengun gets stuck.. Green, Amen, and FVV in the starting lineup just wasn't working defensively except when there was a person that Green could get put on without having to worry. I was surprised the defense held up as well as it did against Golden State. Udoka did a good job of hiding Sengen for most of the series. I think playing two guards will make this easier.
The way some of you guys talk so confidently about what is going to happen with the young players on the roster is funny.
I don't think it's worth a lot of effort to stress about lineups for a team that hasn't even hit FA yet. We have no idea what the final roster will look like and Ime hasn't run a single practice with next year's roster. I'd advise waiting. For all we know Jabari won't even be on the team.
Who cares if Alperen Sengun can bench press more - what precisely do you think that's going to help him with on the basketball court? I think he does pretty well now with his lower center of gravity to push taller guys off. It's Draymonds that he gets stoned by. The bigger problem is that - having an undersized C who can't shoot from outside & can't provide spacing & has to be helped on defense with all-defense caliber help is a not great place to be unless you can put 4 spacers/defensive demons around him. You can cite the mantra of personal improvement but it's irrelevant (also, he didn't improve last year, at least on offense) - I dont' need to look at the trajectory of some guy's numbers from 10 or 20 years ago and do a bunch of inductive reasoning that Sengun will likely improve to some degree - I can look at the context of this year's Rockets and see that spacing sucks when you have multiple non-shooters on the floor at once - that alone is probably reason enough to get rid of him since Amen can defend like crazy. Sure, I don't doubt the Rockets still believe in their own picks, hell they gave Kevin Porter Jr a big contract. It would have been silly to include Smith in a deal in any event because salary wise he doesn't count for enough, you can get better value by including him in another deal - they basically had to include Green and Dillon (or Fred) - that doens't mean that Jabari Smith Junior is going to be an all star (he won't be).
It’s not personal to Sam. He hated on virtually our young guys from the moment they were chosen. He is the most negative guy on the forum.
Sam, you know better than this. Of course, as a low post center, becoming stronger would benefit him because it means he can consistently get himself closer to the rim. The reason Draymond guarded him so well is because he couldn't consistently get to his spots by posting up and Draymond is one of the few bigs that he can't put the ball on the floor against and drive. He could better attack this kind of player by either getting stronger or getting craftier. No, he can't shoot 3s, but this idea what you need a stretch center is not even relevant anymore. The whole everyone needs to shoot 3s is outdated and only existed because the Warriors and Rockets those years back when the idea was threes and layups, nothing else matters, but its not the only way to build a championship team. Thankfully, teams are realizing there is value for more traditional kind of players that operate in the mid range and low post. And it really isn't impossible that a player improves his shot lol, I know you think players are what they are, but many players have turned themselves from bad to average shooters. Hell, it took Amen one year to improve his shooting to where last year it was laughably Ben Simmons bad, now its good enough to where it's not "Has this guy ever shot a ball before" and to where its "Hey, maybe he makes it..." and the guy actually knocks down mid range jumpers with consistency now. So it's not some impossible thing that Sengun starts hitting a set open 3 pointer. It's not like he has no touch like Shaq or Dwight or something.
It really is this way, he's been down on every one we drafted and I remember before last season he was expecting another horrible season and the team massively proved him wrong. Players improved, the team improved, and now we have Durant, which is what he wanted...but now that's still bad because of course the young guys are still bad. I honestly think he's never gotten over the team moving on from the Harden-MDA-CP3 era.
LOL did you happen to catch the NBA Finals? Both teams had elite floor spacing. Almost every single rotation player is either league average or elite from deep. By my quick count, there are maybe 2 players (McConnell and Nembhard) who are below average, and even they are around 30% (and they were much higher in the playoffs). Contrast this with the Rockets who have 2 bottom-tier, back the hell off him, lol let him shoot 3 point shooters arguably playing 35+ mpg each & theoretical high usage franchise cornerstones! That is a problem - in fact that's why they got Durant. Neither OKC nor Indiana (nor any really good team in the last few years) really has this problem.
Just because he can't shoot 3s now doesn't mean that he can't also. Its really just reps. Lopez wasn't a 3pt shooter until he was. He can get that shot this summer. Shooting is probably the easiest thing to improve. I would like to see him improve his athleticism
I'd go just over mid-level. $31 mill per is still too rich for me. And I like Fred. I think $20 - $25 million per should get it done.
