Lol so Alpe is hating??? It's more like posters declared him their darling son or brother, he can't do anything wrong, guess what, spoiling him has the much worse effect.....
We didn’t lose the game in the last 4 minutes. We lost the game because of a full game of not boxing out. Defensive rebounding is a known shortcoming for zone defenses. Every college coach knows it and most pro coaches as well. The last 4 minutes Reed played horrible defense. It was an experiment by Ime to see if he could step up in crunch time. The experiment failed. If the starting unit was in and we were playing man, we would’ve had a chance.
18/6/4 with 2 stks per 36 45% 3p% with 5 attempts per game 58.5% TS +2.4 BPM Still issues on the defensive end but guys this is his 50 ish game played and he is closing the gap. quiet confident guys are severely discounted in the league castle sucks btw
Does it make me a Reed hater to believe that we need a better primary ball handler on the roster? I'm glad we have Reed on the roster and look forward to seeing him improve. We're trying to contend for a championship though and I don't think Reed is close to being a championship-level point guard. That's not hate. That's just realistic. We need a better primary ball handler to survive against the ball pressure that good teams will use against us- especially in the playoffs. Jalen was the same way. Promising young player who is often fun to watch but he just wasn't good enough once we became a good team. That's not hate. That's just honesty. I've had many posters argue with me that Reed would be an upgrade this season over FVV. That's foolishness. We're seeing how much we struggle without FVV. Reed's shooting is an upgrade but FVV was better in every other facet in the game than Reed. There's some insanity on both sides of the argument. Posters actually argued with me saying that someday Reed would become a superior defensive player than FVV. There's plenty of stupidity on both sides of the argument. Reed is a promising young player who is still developing. The Rockets are a contender who need a better primary ball handler. That's where we are.
The zone is being run the majority of the game, even when Reed is out. It needs to be a situational thing being run in short spurts like last year. I know the personnel is different but there's no way man-to-man could be worse. Just hide Reed on whoever is in the corner and take your chances.
Lost the game on two things – TOs and not rebounding. To a bit lesser extent, the third thing was the defense on Wemby. Went from what was working (1Q, where he was guarded by a quick, shorter defender with quick help) to a zone and man-on-man coverage on Wemby by Sengun. The Rockets’ offense was actually strong and efficient. BUT… the final few minutes are what count. Experienced team (KD and IME are experienced, right compared to the Spurs’ rookie players and coach) rise up and close out. They got cooked in the final minutes by horrible defense and lack of coaching, which accumulated into the unsurprisingly awful defense down the stretch.
Here is what's clear - using Amen/Sengun/KD as the de facto point guard is good enough to beat the Grizzlies and such, but won't hold up against contenders. Your choices are to continue to develop Reed, trade for an experienced PG, or concede our limitations until Fred comes back, likely next year.
I think zone is being played whenever Reed is in the game and whenever the two big lineup is in the game. The league is game planning for it and Ime needs to adjust to only using it when the two big lineup is in. I don’t think playing a two big lineup when your team is knocking 3’s down at a level that is near the top of the league makes a bit of sense. It’s not all on ime. Durant needs to play way better and Amen needs to quit passing so much when he is in the lane. If he starts shooting in the lane, the opponents will have to collapse and quit playing the passing lanes. They watch the video and watch him pass up bunny after bunny, so are not collapsing.
Giving up on Amen and Sengun running the offense after 8 games would be ridiculous. Amen gets in the lane at will. He will learn when to pass and when to shoot once he gets more familiar with the role. We didn’t lose this past game on offense, we lost it on defense. FVV was one of the worst PG’s on offense in the league last year. PG’s need to be able to break down their opponent and get to the hoop either scoring or setting up the perimeter players. FVV was horrible at both. I have no problem getting another guard, but tell me one you can get without screwing up our cap or roster. The last two games Amen scored 27 and 29 points. Ime needs to get in his face and tell him to shoot the dang ball.
This is gonna trip you out but the zone is actually there to protect another player on the team or a duo of players that cant defend smaller faster players.
I know you are committed to the Amen pretending to be a PG bit, but he's just MUCH better off ball in the dunker's spot when it comes to the half court. His recent increase in scoring has been to him getting back into that role more. Now that's not to say he should never be on ball, he's useful as a secondary or tertiary ball handler and he's notably really good in transition and pseudo transition situations... but he's not a PG, he's a wing that can pass a bit. The sooner we acknowledge that, the better it's going to be for both Amen and the team.
The Rockets offense has yet to be a problem this season. Even as disjointed as it has looked we are putting up points just fine. Thr zone has honestly been our biggest issue, and I'm sure Udoka knows it. I do think trying to build up Reeds confidence by protecting him is part of why he's doing it. Zoning up the majority of the game to protect your PG is not a long term solution. If Reed continues to get improved results on the offensive end, I think Udoka will start demanding he sink or swin defensively.
Bailing on Amen at PG is like bailing on Reed. He needs the opportunities to figure out how to play that role and relegating him to dunker spot duties doesn't accomplish that. If he hasnt progressed in a year then sure. Same with Reed. Give them chances to do this stuff but if after a while they cant or show they really cant then yeah....do something else. You have to give Amen the chances you also want to give to Reed.
Not at all similar, one is putting a player in the best situation for them to succeed and for the team to succeed, the other is giving up on a player. Amen is a star in the right role, he's a mediocre in the wrong role.
Reed was clearly better on offense, but the two mistakes he made in the fourth really cost us. Sengun was visibly frustrated with him for missing Castle and giving up that cut. I’m not sure how much his defense can improve, and teams consistently exploit that when he’s on the floor.
My mistake, you were defending so vehemently I thought you were involved. Bit strange to be so big on defending random posters, probably one of your alts I guess.
They don't try to play double big....adjust your lineup, you know like every good coach does. Ime is a stubborn coach who doesn't seem to think the game all that well. DD
The Ime Zone was not meant to hide Reed. It made its debut when Reed was playing 8 minutes a game. It was meant for the double big lineup. Some of his previous assistants playfully were like, "We tried to get Ime to play some zone and he wasn't hearing any of it." It loses its effectiveness if you do it too much. That's not what she said!
