Same here. Rockets will be a top contender this year. Just need to iron some kinks with more playing time. The weaklings don't know what they're watching.
Ime definitely needs to “sacrifice” first half advantage, especially in games against tough opponents, and play as much as he can with guys off the bench, like in most of the late 1st quarter minutes to the end of the 2nd quarter. We may not be able to create a 1st half lead with our starters less involved, but at least they’ll have energy for the 2nd half. I never liked Ime’s rotations, they are not much better than old Tibs’.
To be fair, OKC was playing without All-star Jalen Williams too. My gripe is the zone. It gives up open 3s and drives. Our rotation is non-existant. We got extremely lucky that OKC missed so many open shots for much of the game. If you look at our individual defensive numbers, nobody was that bad. Just too many cases of nobody guarding a shooter. Obviously, having twice as many turnovers as OKC (22-11) hurt. I get that Adams and Capella are sitting in the paint for offensive boards but it really clogs the lane. No matter how well we shoot from the outside, there's still going to be an opposing big camped im the lane making it tough to drive. Durant's defensive numbers were crazy. He defended 13 shots and the opponent shot 1-13 (7.6%) on those shots. OKC took a page out of our book and cross-matched a lot on defense.
my overreaction is this: If this Sengun is for real, then we’re in a window and have to push all the chips-in to get a decent guard. Amen, Jabari, picks, whatever it takes.
Lost by one in double overtime to a team that has a championship year's worth of experience playing together. Rockets will look vastly different in game 81 versus game 1. Looking forward to watching the growth.
So we trade Amen, Jabari and picks for a “decent guard” and then what? We’re going to be in the same spot we are already in.
My overreaction is Sengun outplayed the reigning MVP last night so clearly he will win MVP this season, lesssgooooo
They'll link a lot better after they've played 20 games together than they do now.... and they didn't look all that bad last night.
Idea is we get a chip in the next two years, while KD still resembles KD. let's say Garland. They get Amen, a big defensive G/F next to Spyda, better fit. Spyda/Garland are a bit redundant. 37-38yoKD/MonsterGoon/Garland That's a 'ship core.
Should of traded Tari Reed and FVV for KD JG KD Brooks Amen Alpi we win last night give Reed a few minutes a game, if he looks poop then you come back with Holiday we still have no motion or cutting on our offense
My positive overreaction: Defense looks right where we left it last year. Offense looks better thanks to individual growth. They were missing their 3rd star, Chet stepped up. We were missing our orchestra director and main leader. If we match up this well without a PG and experimenting, we will have to measure ourselves against Denver and think seriously about cashing chips and thinking about going all in. Tari+Reed+Picks is a competitive package for a veteran lead guard. Not sure who would that be? Norm Powell? Kuminga? Not a lot of people on the trade block.
Does this mean we can finally start a thread titled: (OFFICIAL) Alperen Sengun is the Rockets’ Certified® Franchise Player?
