ClutchFans Game Thread: Jazz @ Rockets 10/8/2025 (Preseason)

Great NBA defenders use speed to close out to shooters.......it is not that easy.

Better not get used to standing there alone like in practice and thinking about his favorite food, .......

 

Yall are over rating JD a lil bit too much now

 

True, but it's like if you found 5 dollars on the ground. Sure it's only 5 bucks, but it's still kind of awesome because it's unexpected.

 

Who's next?

 

Revisiting my impressions from the Hawks game, now that I've watched the Jazz game:

1. Feeling reinforced in my belief that we need to play Sheppard a lot. He'll have some howlers, but his performance against the Jazz offers further evidence that he's learning and fixing some of his mistakes.

I love his hands on defense, but he needs to gamble less and work more on using his feet to deny penetration. There's no reason why a guy who's this mentally quick and this good at anticipating the location of the ball can't learn to apply those talents to footwork.

Also, in the real season and against better teams, he won't get away with so much leaping in front of shooters. They'll lean in or stick a foot out and get 3 shots, and he'll be on the bench in foul trouble. But he'll learn that the hard way if necessary. I remain a Reed believer.

2. So this was KD's first game, and ... hey, I love what he brings, but he's not the story of this team, in terms of what we've seen so far. The story is the Alpi-Amen-Jabari triangle. It's a striking improvement from last year, and KD's role might be to draw enough defensive attention to liberate those guys to do their stuff. KD at this age looks relatively limited (sorry, I know that's sacrilegious). I'm not even sure I'd go to him in the clutch. But I'm glad to have him, because if you plug Jalen Green into that slot, he's not creating nearly the same gravity.

3. Still not feeling the Davison love. There must be something wrong with me. OK, he has a more distributive mentality than some of our other guards. But I can't name a single thing he does particularly well: not ball handling, not passing, not shooting. And his defense, ugh. It looks like he's trying to improve his footwork since the Hawks game, but he's still not cutting it. On a couple of plays, he turned his head and got hosed by his man going to the basket. A big Ime no-no.

The raves about JD since Fred's injury feel like people are just relieved to see somebody other than Sheppard who could conceivably play point. Like you haven't eaten all day and somebody hands you a bag of stale fries, and you could swear they're amazing.

Having said all that: If Sheppard's on the bench (maybe due to rash fouls, see above), who are you gonna put in to generate some semblance of ball distribution from the backcourt? It sure as hell isn't Holiday.

4. I like Okogie so far. Better defender, sticks to what he's good at, fits well with the squad.

(This updates my impressions from the Hawks game, here: https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/...6-2025-preseason.327350/page-35#post-15882103)

 

First JD hater spawned.

 

Jazz and San Anton going at each other... overall a night of Overtime.

 

Brice Sensa has been impressive (MIP)!

 

Keep Kessler, Sensabaugh, Bailey, Filipowski and a couple guards and build around them.

Add another Top 3-4 Pick to go along with that.

Then defensive Coordinator + sign FVV type and an enforcer type, you know the Drill!

 

That's what u got out of that?

I think he'll be productive coming off the bench in spot minutes but all this starter talk is ridiculous

 

Would you trade Tari for him? I actually like Tari, but Brice would be a steal, I feel he's poised to become a star or even a superstar.

 

Random question, anyone have the replay of the game, with the halftime show included? Grandkids performed at halftime and wanting to have it saved on my computer.

 

@jaychi

 

Sorry but IMO Ace is already better than Jalen in year 4

 

Yes, I would trade Tari for him.

 

I can get to it on League Pass - maybe you could get to it with a "free trial subscription" and record it, not sure.

 

I suppose that Bailey learned that you are not supposed to take 8-9 three pointers every game not named Curry.

 

Tari and Jalen for him

 

same, but most of the board wouldn’t trade Tari for Giannis or Luka.

 

End of day it's about value and COST proposition.

• How much (players / drafts) it takes to get a player.
• If that player is up for contract extension how much to pay them.
• How much to reconfigure / reshape a team in order to fit a new player.

Guys like Tari and KD can fit most teams easily. But teams can't say the same on a guy like Giannis. Yes Bucks is stuck in terms of flexibility, but it's weird that Giannis is faulting MIL, when Horst is doing all of that to appease Giannis. That small market team is bending over backwards, when the result is not flattering, Giannis just threatens to leave.

Media people saying 'giannis likes to win', 'giannis is putting pressuring on the org', as a good thing. ...But what happens when a desperate org reponds to pressure, it's not always a postivie outcome, when the assets are bled dry.

Bucks is like that protoypical woman who keeps getting expensive plastic surgery, becoming more poor and more ugly. Except Giannis is that Body Dysmorphic Disorder that keeps asking the org to change for him.