I'd say it isn't just one person. I'd say the Rockets front office has given the Rockets a chance this coming season, and are well positioned in the future to have more chances. Maybe the team implodes, and Stone wastes the draft picks he's accumulated for the future, but I'm happy with the current position of the Rockets.
Yeah I said most. There are some eternal pessimists on this board that hate our young core. DD is just butt hurt over Cam. Maybe Tari can stay on the court and DD can trumpet that he was the only one that realized his potential.
Depends on what kind of improvements we get from the young players. If little to no improvement, then yeah, it could be a struggle. If a moderate amount of improvement all around, I think we'll be average-ish offensively without KD on the floor. If one of the guys (my money's on Amen) takes a major leap to superstar/near-superstar...
Same but the challenge for them will be that because they lack range, they can't shoot themselves out of deficits as easy as teams with better 3pt shooters so it will be interesting to see how Houston generates offense this year when KD isn't on the court. Same comment as above - I don't know if you can really be a superstar guy without a 3pt shot. You gotta be hyper efficient on 2s on volume to get into that conversation and really Giannis is the only one in recent memory who was efficient enough on 2pt volume to lead a team despite a lack of outside shooting. My money would be on Amen's freak athleticism if anyone and I think this is one of the structural problems of Alpi's game that will keep him as a 'Robin' at best until he is able to shoot 3s reliably.
Just as a point of reference, the Rockets offense was above average in the regular season and playoffs* last year. Points off of offensive rebounds and scored because the PG doesn't pass it to the other team count. *Teams that played OKC, got hurt, or are crappy Eastern Conference teams kind of skew the offensive numbers in the playoffs.
Nah, there's quite a few Stone haters on here .... and a lot of Ime haters too. Stone should probably be in the mix for executive of the year .... he's had a great offseason. That coming from someone who really didn't want to trade for Durant - mainly because I thought the cost would be too high and would include the 27 & 29 picks, luckily Stone drew a line in the sand and stuck to it and PHX caved.
I am in the same boat. A No.10 pick is valuable, but the chances of winning a Top 4 pick had passed. Brooks's defense has likely been replaced, but will still be missed a little as he handles smaller guys better than DFS.
And we are still flexible to add someone during the mid season deadline if we need some more offensive punch.
If the team is generally healthy for the playoffs. I think that we have as good as shot as anyone. I personally expect Alpi, Jabari and Tari to take notable steps forward and Amen to explode.
I havent watched DFS but Brooks def cant handle smaller guys he does a great job against bigger guys like Wemby.
Brooks wasn't great against guards, but he wasn't can't handle bad either. DFS can handle big wings, PFs, and can play small ball 5. LA kept guards off DFS when I watched, but what I'm hearing is wasn't good when a guard got DFS on an island. Edit: DFS looked great when I watched, but could have been small sample size.
I guess we will see but I still see it as an upgrade since DFS wont get as much PT as DB. DB was critical for us since he was our best 3 pt shooter but now we have KD and DFS just becomes the terror twin replacing Amen last year.
Spot on. It's ridiculous honestly and his value around the league was proven when all we could get is a second round pick
