Giannis on this Rockets team means championship. Sengun,jock,cam, and tari plus 3 picks and 2 swaps. That would make us the fav and the best team in the NBA by a good margin. Between me and yall... i am sick of all that soft international 5 play. I wouldnt mind keeping him...but I would drive Sengun to Milwaukee myself for GA.
Thinking Sengun is soft shows you have no idea what you’re talking about. Some of y’all need to move on, not real rockets fans
I rather Giannis say I want a trade to the rockets and no one else. It will drive the price way down. He can sit out beginning of season if he has to. We can just trade Sengun, Jock and picks. Keep Cam and Tari.
If you had yourself along with 2 identical twins Sengun would stomp all 3 of you simultaneously. The only question is if he would break a sweat or not doing it.
Teams that (I believe) have potentially high-value draft picks and could use Sengun: Brooklyn, Chicago, Charlotte, Detroit, Memphis, Miami, New Orleans, and Utah. I think a menage with one of them and Milwaukee is the only way the Rockets could get Giannis. But that's not even accounting for the salary cap. Maybe something could work with Brooklyn because Claxton makes $25M—and is a good player in his prime who would fit nicely with Turner. But most of the other teams don't have that kind of highish salary + appealing player combo. I think the only plausible way the Rockets get Giannis is if he demands a trade and has a short list of teams, including Houston. Then, after Turner is trade eligible (sometime in January?) the Bucks tear it down. Much more likely, I think, what Houston has right now is the Rockets team for next season. And that's excellent. Being a dark horse contender in '25 - '26 is a hell of a lot better than I'd hoped for two years ago. And the thing about having a lot of young players, some amount of improvement by most or all is likely, and a leap from one might change everything. If Amen, Sengun, Tari, or Jabari have a breakthrough shooting, or if Shepp becomes a starter-level player, or with Sengun going into the offseason fully healthy, maybe he gets a little more athletic and his defense improves... There are numerous paths to strong contention.
Joel Embiid can’t make it through a personal workout without knee pain flaring up. He’s not going to be a factor this season and may need to have the same surgery Lonzo Ball did. Also, I don’t think Detroit is a lock for the fifth seed. They aren’t more significantly more talented than Indiana, and Milwaukee has Giannis. The Pacers will find a Turner replacement (perhaps DeAndre Ayton who they signed to an RFA offer sheet years ago), and they have two other point guards to replace Haliburton.
Alp is plenty athletic. Also, one of the best defenders on the team. His offense needs to come back to his norms.
Durant was the missing piece we needed, and Jalen needed to go elsewhere to see if he can salvage his career somewhat. It'd be absolutely horrendous to have tanked only to trade Alpi as well though for me. We suffered for these youngsters and a team growing together, I hope they don't sell it all off so that we're forced to try and retool around Amen in a couple of years with no assets to do so...
I LOVE Alpi, but Im not dumb enough to say that I wouldn't deal him for Giannis. You take the top 5 player every time if it only costs you an all star & picks.
Fair point, I wasn't specific enough. He is athletic in lots of important ways, like balance and coordination, and his high level of ball handling (for a big) enables him to maximize what speed he has. However, he is not fast, laterally quick, and he jumps slowly; he has to crouch and gather himself to contest shots. And even when he executes well, he often doesn't get high enough to offer a strong rim deterrent. In general, he does not react quickly on defense. Far too often, he is in the paint, feet on the ground, watching the other team score at the rim. It isn't because he doesn't care; he just isn't quick or explosive enough. And all the stats I know of say he's a less-than-average defensive center. All of his rim-contesting numbers are way below the 50th percentile. But yes, in his way, he's quite athletic. I would like to see if he can get any faster, quicker, or more explosive. Maybe he can! I don't know how much one can improve, but going into last offseason with a ****ed up ankle didn't allow him to try. And he was the 7th-best defender on the team this year. Only Jalen was less effective among the starters (all the metrics agree with scouts that FVV is a very strong defender). And Sengun was also behind Tari, Adams, and Jabari. Plenty of things are debatable, but I can't see how this is one of them. It doesn't mean that he'll never be a good defender, but I fear his physical limitations give him a low ceiling.
He can get more explosive, its just track and core work. He may not ever be a Uber explosive person, but he can make strides
