Totally agree. Amen has played well in the 4th quarter such that Rockets need three great shooters on the court. I get that the on-ball stuff is very visible, but the off-ball has been horrendous offensively lately in clutch and non-clutch situations. KD getting doubled would not be a big deal if the Rockets could score 4 on 3. Sure he makes more turnovers than one would like, but a lot of that is he's not getting help.
Does KD not want to move in the 4th? I know he is 37, so maybe he rather be stationery. It's either he is stationery while watching his teammates fumble the ball or he is asking for the ball as soon as they cross the half court line and he asks for it right at the top of the key. Is the coaching staff really this damn incompetent of not running any sort of plays to get KD in motion. We really are damn predictable.
Problem is that he is a Narcissist and can’t see his imperfections. He has not once, taken responsible for any failure we have had. No head coach is going to hand over the rotations to an assistant, so hiring an offensive coordinator can only go so far in correcting our problems. The answer is a more balanced coach, but that ship has sailed with the extension. No way Tito pays him to go away.
Told yall over and over last season… Ime only adjustment is more defense - he doesn’t know how to draw plays and get players easier shots When FVV went down and JG had to play PG and teams started to blitz and double him ( Ime: well he needs to learn to work through it and defense defense defense) if they wanted KD - Jabari and FVV should of been sent out .: JG - DB - KD - Amen - Alpi … this line up with 3 40% catch and shoot 3pt shooters allow Amen to play dunkers spot and Alpi has room in paint to operate 1 on 1 All FVV would do is slow pace down, he’s still no threat to drive so no one reacts to him in the paint …he would just prevent some of the horrid turnovers
KD is old. His teammates are not the best at getting him the ball, and he's not the best at catching it on the move, while the defense is geared towards not making it an easy catch. Reed isn't ready to be full-time on the ball as much as I enjoy his game. Someone has to have the ball and make the initial action. KD, Sengun, and Reed are the only real options right now. If KD does it, Ime gets criticized for not getting the ball to KD in a good position. If Sengun does it, Ime gets criticized for not getting the ball to Sengun in a good position. If Reed does it, Ime gets criticized for Reed struggling with ball pressure. I think Reed will be the guy in the future to handle the initial action. Personally, if a player gets a double team* and passes out, he's done his job. It isn't his fault that the rest of the team can't use the advantage. It should be easier to figure out how 4 players beat 3 than how to get the ball to Durant in a good position from guys that can't win 4 on 3 matchups. *A true double team and not just nail help. I did not expect the Jalen truthers to come out again.
Disagree. The offense is pitiful. You need to put guys in the position of their strengths. This can easily be done. Sengun is amazing in the paint and a fantastic passer. KD is a world class shooter. Shep is a very good shooter. Bari is a good shooter. Amen is a world class finisher. Go 4 out with Sengun in the low or high post. Main side action is Reed top of key initiating to KD on the wing. KD make entry pass to Sengun. Three man game between Goon, Reed and KD. Week side is Amen on the wing and Bari corner. Amen can go week side pick and pop with Bari or flash to the dunker spot. I can make variation off this play all day to get guys their shots.
Yeah but slowing down pace, preventing turnovers, and getting decent shots down the stretch would give us either +3 or +4 wins right now. It's sad but that's literally all we need.
we wouldn’t get better shots - FVV would take 10-12 seconds to get into play, pass to KD who would get doubled and either turn it over or pass to Alpi to try and back his man down with 7 seconds left on clock Ime thinking he could build a all defensive team around KD and Alpi is the true issue - sometimes you have to accept a player might not be everything you need on defense but he provides exactly what you missing on offense
The pace was faster with FVV. Sure FVV isn't good at fastbreaks, but he was so much better at getting the ball to the playmakers than Amen and Reed that the Rockets had more time actually trying to score in half court. I'm not 100% convinced FVV is a cure-all, but he would help a lot.
I know that the pace was higher overall with FVV, I'm talking specifically about playing smart down the stretch and protecting a lead. Otherwise we agree on everything else you said. He's not a good enough player to be a cure-all, but he brings something to the team that is completely missing right now.
Maybe the Rockets turn over the ball enough that it increases the pace now in the stretch. It just takes so much more effort to get the ball to playmakers that I assumed FVV was faster-paced based on eye test.
I think we just disagree here then. I think the turnovers would be way down, I don't think we'd be initiating through Kevin Durant and seeing him turn it over into a fast break dunk that only takes 3 seconds off the clock. We'd have won a lot of these games even if we had Sengun bricking baby hooks with 1 second on the shot clock every time because it burns clock and it doesn't give the other team an opportunity to get a fast break. Or we might even get offensive rebounds. I just watch us blow these leads and play poorly in crunch time and it's clear to me that this is due to not having a steady point guard. Any shot is better than a turnover.
Honestly, none of this really surprises me. This was what losing Fred was ultimately going to mean to us in the short term. Fred was on the low end at being starter level at most everything he did on the court(shooting, playmaking, defense, etc) but he continued to be a rock star well into this career at executing and not turning the ball over. Incidentally, those two things happen to be really important in in two places - late game situational play, and in the playoffs. I agree that Ime's late game play calling is weak, that KD has not been a great playmaker when teams swarm him, and that Sengun appears to be overconfident in his offensive skills outside the paint in late game situations(KD hyping him up a little too much)....Those are also things that need work, but we win at least half if not more of those games with Fred because he had an attention to detail on both sides of the ball that we need to get the rest of our young guys up to speed on. To an extent - every player who might get playoff minutes on our roster needs to know: - where they are going on the offensive side of the ball and hit all their actions perfectly - they need to strike a balance between playing confidently but being very selective about the passes you make and shots you take especially in late game situations when the number of posessions remaining is limited - how to be very vocal defensively, calling out pre-switches before the offense is set and trying to identify offensive sets just based on what the personnel and sides of the court your opponents appear to be lining up Those are the types of skills we need more players in crunch time walking in with. Fred and Dillon I think understood that. I think that's the biggest difference between last year's team and this years team. We have much better talent this year compared to last, but the things listed above where somewhat mitigated in late game scenarios because Ime ran the ball through Fred in late game situations precisely because he couldn't trust the other guys to do that and now that he doesn't have the Fred crutch to fall back on - we are a much more talented team losing those situations we won last year because we can't close out close games. ...so the question is, what can we do? I think Ime needs to find a crunch time lineup of guys he can trust(and it will probably skewer a little more towards vets) and continue to work with that team to level up throughout the season while Ime comes up with a better late game offense the team can execute well. It's not exciting, but organic growth and maybe dipping into trade scenarios in the offseason is the best option for us long term. DFS may be useful to that lineup once he is back in game shape. I don't think there is FA/waiver wire support who can fix the Fred problem(CP3 is not the answer here because he isnt good enough to play anymore even in non crunch time minutes) so if Houston wants to address it now it would most certainly come via trade and Tari seems like the obvious piece to be moved here...only I'm not sure how much value Tari has today and since Tari is still on his rookie scale deal, he accounts for like $6m in cap and a crunchtime level guys isn't going to be available for that much money straight up so you are almost certainly pairing Tari with another player to make a deal happen - Adams, DFS, or Capela and that is also impactful. Yes, there are some moves that could be made here but they create other holes - the best way to address is roll with what you got and take your lumps as learning lessons so guys like Alpi, Jabari, Amen, and Reed get those valuable lessons they need to carry us into the future...because this shouldn't be about short term gains to get a title while Durant is here.
overall our turnovers would be way down - you are correct there because KD Bari Amen Alpi are simply turnover machines lol - people used to think JG and DB turnovers were bad but both were below middle of pack of guards and even when FFV got hurt JGs only went up like .2 and still was below middle of pack Ime needs to play Davidson who is a true PG when he doesn’t have Reed in the game playing point .. Amen will either drive, see he can’t get to rim and panic and kick it out, pass to Alpi in a crowded paint, or brick that 8-10ft jumper … I would play Davidson Reed KD Amen/Bari Alpi/Bari depending on size of team we are against
Well I wish the coach would tell the team how to play. Clearly, if Ime doesn't correct this type of play, it's his idea to play hero/iso-ball through KD in clutch time.
Not really... you've been consistently wrong since last season about the playmaking on this team from underestimating FVV to overestimating Amen. The coaches aren't making the players turn the ball over, make poor decisions, or miss crucial FTs.
Get the ball to one of the best scorers in NBA history seems like a smart plan... Not to mention, Sengun has also been the other crunch time player who has made some shots but also made some pretty terrible decisions. The issue is execution by the players.
I don't understand why they almost never post up Sengun in the low post. Why does he always have to dribble from the 3pt line in order to score a low post shot? Another simple solution is PnR with Reed and Sengun or Amen. Reed might need some time to get it down. But it should be the bread and butter play in the playoffs. Spam the defense with it until they decide to come trap the play and you have 3 on 2.
