Adams will be load managed somewhat. I expect he plays about 15 mins a game. Starting him and moving Alpi to PF would be foolish unless he becomes an incredible 3 point shooter. He would also be horrible at defending PF’s that can shoot.
Some good posts have laid out reasons for different guys to start, but I agree with you. With our depth, we can rotate that 5th spot to take advantage of the best matchups. This will also obviously, change bench rotations/matchups. So my question is whether Ime and staff are willing and able to commit the time needed for planning and adjustments to make this kind of approach. What do you guys think?
I definitely have my doubts. If they don't do it they're wasting the team's depth, but I haven't seen many signs of flexibility from Ime. Yes, he did try double bigs and zone, so maybe there's a chance.
Mostly agree except I don't expect much load management. Sengun is the starter. Even with double bigs 10 mpg, there is just a finite amount of time available for Adams (15-20 mpg). I assume Rockets will be very versatile this season to make them a tough matchup for most teams in the regular season. Teams have to plan for starting lineup, double bigs, and small ball (DFS or JSJ at center) lineups.
I agree with this. They have multiple ways to attack and mulitple guys that initiate the offense. I hope Ime or somebody on his staff can take advantage and be innovative with multiple offensive attacks.
If we use reverse logic, as in who is best served to come off the bench we might find the best starter too. And to me Jabari makes most sense as the starter given we have Amen and KD as the disrupters on the floor already and don’t need that dog necessarily. Then to have that Amen - Tari like effect we had last year, something we clearly lost when Amen was starting, we can bring in DFS alongside Tari who is much more like a dog in the Amen and Tari mold than Jabari. Jabari also is way better served from KD and Sengun getting all the attention to get his shot off cleanly. It will also be slower with FVV & Sengun and Jabari works best in that line-up. DFS and Tari are better in that faster paced offense I think than Jabari. The big counterargument is that Amen is most likely to be the guy who will lead at PG when FVV is out and in that case we don’t need DFS and Tari to be leading off the bench. In that case there’s a great argument for Jabari to come off the bench and DFS or Tari to start. It’s very exciting to see what all 3 will do regardless. We’ve got a long, big and dog mentality ass team man. Would love to hear y’all thoughts.
I would have Adams as the 5th starter. We saw how effective the doule big was and Sengun spoke this Summer about how it helped him have more energy to play both ends. The only downside would be 3 non shooters on the floor. The subs also work nicely. Reed covers Fred, Tari for Amen, Smith for KD then DFS and Clint come in for Sengun and Adams.
I think the big line-up is way overblown, it worked because we MISSED so many shots. Since we should be a better shooting team with Amen,’s improvement, DFS and KD, we should be able to MAKE more shots and need Adams less to rebound. Also stretching the floor is way more important and you’re getting none of that with Adams. Plus DFS, Tari & Jabari on the bench is just roster mismanagement.
The double big mostly worked because the defense worked. During the regular season, shots were fine with the lineup. In the playoffs, it mostly worked because the defense. The offense was bad even with the rebounding. As long as the defense works, it will work.
I hope it is Tari. I have great respect for Bari and his game. But the starting five with Alpi, KD, FVV, Amen, and Bari would not have the speed that would be required to run when there is the opportunity. Amen alone is not enough. Bari would be suited to start in the playoffs, and I think he was second to Alpi in positively impacting the team in the past playoffs. The game also generally slows down in the postseason. But for the regular season, the team needs a running game to complement their regular sets. Tari has a propensity to speed up the game and to run and gun.
Defensively well be fine and need much better offense at this point. Remember we were 4th on defense when Green was meh and Brooks more bark than bite, Tari & Jabari out for periods of time, so I really don’t think we should sacrifice offense even further.
Whether Sengun will work starting at the 4 spot will depend on whether he has a consistent outside shot. It doesn't have to be 3pt shots. He just needs to be able to punish the defense for crowding the interior. If he can do that, it'll be fine to have a non-shooter like Adams playing center. From one of the interviews, they said that the double-bigs lineup was for defense in order to save Sengun's energy not having to bang with big dudes under the basket all the time.
Why not double down on the bigs. Start Amen, Tari, KD, Alpi, and Steve. Fred comes in to right the ship if things don't go our way, Sure, it's a flawed lineup... but we don't have to die on that hill, we're crazy deep and can go small ball in a blink. Forcing the other team to make adjustments right off the bat is a thought and I guess it is kind of a Tari at the 2 experiment.
FVV will never be benched, right now for the right reasons since Amen cannot lead the team the way FVV can, and Adams is never going to play more than x amount of minutes and rested on back-to-backs so that alone should be a reason for him not to start. I rather Capela start so we at least have a above the rim big alongside Sengun. That I could accept.
I am confused. You posted a twitter article that says a player could be the 5th man in the starting lineup?
I still have not figured out why the double big works so well defensively. Seeing guys cover ground and lock up at the POA is much easier for me to see than the off-ball stuff. It takes a concerted effort to look at off ball for me while I am typically watching a game for fun. I can see the double big controls the boards and doesn't give up much inside. JSJ typically contests 3s well in the double big, but it would seem like teams would be able to find more guys open on the perimeter with more guys inside for the Rockets. I guess that the Rockets deploy the double big against backups, so there will be less shooting on the floor.
I think at the end of the day, I still don't trust Ime to set lineups or rotations, but maybe we have so much talent even he can't screw it up
