Well it looks like the only remaining players for the core will be Jabari, Amen, and maybe Reed. Cam looks like he’s on his way out. Sengun names keep poppin look in trade discussion. Reed is unknown but he’ll probably make a decision k his future after the upcoming season. More importantly I jsut don’t think Ime really value youth/potential. It’s not apart of development phase. Look at who we’re bringing in. All defensive players with limited ball skills. When Ime made that comment about Ant after he went off to beat us, all I could is laugh. Because Finch helped develop Ants game. Ant wouldn’t be the same player if he came up under Ime.
So true about Ime. I am a bit concerned with Durant's age and injury history - I mean there has never been a case of trading for a 37 year old and he led the team to a ring, never. There are guys getting rings as role players but not as core players. What if Durant gets injured, and we owe him 150m over 3 years....locking us out of getting anyone else? This is a massive risk, I am all for it, but I do worry that we give up too much of our youngsters for older players like DFS, and Capella, when we had their positions covered by young, HEALHTY, athletic players. We shall see, Stone will be judged on whether he makes the right choices or trades away future stars for no reason. DD
If the core players they are developing for the long haul are as follows: PG - Reed Sheppard SG - Cam Whitmore SF - Amen Thompson / Tari Eason PF - Jabari Smith Jr ..C - Alperen Sengun Then I think the Rockets are committed to that long-term plan because they are all still here. Not sure why everyone is sweating one-to-one replacements of the only players we have sent off. Again, those being: Jalen Green --> Kevin Durant (Major Upgrade) Dillon Brooks --> Dorian Finney-Smith (Equal) Jock Landale --> Clint Capela (Upgrade) All else has stayed the same. These young guys are going to have to earn it.
I would slot Amen at SG and Tari at starting SF. Too much smoke around Cam being traded. Seems like writing on the wall.
I get what you're saying—but what window? We were never close with Jalen Green leading the way. Sure, the regular season was fine, but this team wasn’t built for the playoffs when the game tightens up. We made the move we needed to take the next step. Now, I’m all in on smart moves—vet buyouts, leveraged trades—not chasing stars. Unless Giannis becomes available. Then you go all-in, because pairing him with Slim Reaper likely means a champions
Truth. We NOW have a window. This has been a significant off-season in that we acquired an A1, covered our losses, and are still to experience the benefits of internal growth. How much better will Amen be this year? What more might we see from Reed and Jabari? How will Alpy's game grow? Etc The window might seem quite narrow at first glance, but perhaps it allows the young 'uns to take the step and it suddenly becomes wide open?
You left out Tari. Sengun’s name only pops up in trades involving a superstar. In that case it’s foolish not to at least look at it. Otherwise he’s here to stay. The only one lost is Green, and many are arguing it’s addition by subtraction. Cam may be on the way out. But he has no one to blame but himself. Stop overreacting.
The Rockets still have 6 young guys. 5 if they trade Cam. The risk so far has been Jalen Green and a No. 10 pick. I don't see the risk being that big in adding veterans to help the young guys win now while Amen and Reed are still really cheap. When Amen starts his next contract, the Rockets will likely have to jettison most of the veterans over a year or 2 as the Rockets reload around Amen and the other young guys.
I think the window has begun and with the current roster plus future draft assets we can potentially extend it many years out. A lot of that will require leaps in internal development with a young player or two along with good transactions. Sucks Denver made some very solid moves but that's the nature of the game; I would put them over us at #2 in the West until we can prove otherwise.
Clippers acquired Beal for nothing and now have a rotation of Harden/Dunn Beal/Bogdan Kawhi/DJJr Collins/Batum Zubac/Lopez Lord have mercy if we hadn’t acquired KD this offseason because we would’ve been below the Thunder, Nuggets, Clippers, and Warriors for sure
They have an excellent offensive lineup. I don't know how they will stop anyone, especially if Kawhi is injured or load managed.
Kawhi missed half the season and they were still the 3rd best defense in the league they’ve replaced Norman Powell with Bradley Beal and added Collins and Brook Lopez…I don’t see how that takes u from 3rd best defense in the league to not being able to stop anyone
When are people going to stfu about windows. The goal in sports is to contend for championships while doing the best possible job of maintaining future flexibility. If you have a chance to do it, you do it. All of this whining about this team going for "older" stars is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. We didn't give up any of our blue chip talent to get Durant. Jalen Green was a net negative on this team. Even without Durant, Green not being on the team is a net positive. But we have Durant, and Alpi, and Amen and Bari, and Tari, and Reed. Durant gives this team a shot to legitimately content. It doesn't matter how many years it lasts. The team's core is still extremely young. Durant is not part of it. He is coming in to fill a role and raise the ceiling of this team, hopefully for the next few years.
My issue is I think we got rid of the guy with the 2nd highest upside in Cam, just behind Amen........to keep role player get alongs. DD
The only change to the Rockets window this offseason is that it got opened up, the Rockets kept all of their young talent.
Let's be honest, he's raised the floor as well as the ceiling. Even if you consider everything else we've done a wash (which I don't, though we will miss Dillon I think, I do think we generally improved) then just simply the swap of Jalen for KD just guarantees we're a better team at both ends.
Reading some of these posts... I have to wonder about the reading comprehension. I'm all for getting KD. @Rokman makes good points about so far. It's what happens after that.
