ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Clippers 12/23/2025

Brooks yes JG absolutely not

 

It is what it is, one thing you learn following sports is you really find out what a team is made of when they face adversity.

We can bring up the NFL season.

The Colts were front running, 7-1, at the top of the world 98% chance of making the playoffs...they get just a little adversity and the team completely crumbled and fell apart.

Texans on the other hand started 0-3, looked to be all but out of the race and they never gave up on their team...and now they are a win away from the playoffs.

Rockets are facing some adversity. Don't really have a good offensive identity, defense is lost, they just are not playing well right now despite a good start. Now they are facing adversity and now we're going to see what the team is made of to end this month.

They will either collapse and just accept being a mediocre team or they'll get their ish together and figure things out.

 

No reason to pay attention to this team. Wasted year. Garbage team.

 

Yup. Crazy thing is the colts even went all in after going 7-1 or whatever with that trade for Sauce Gardener they gave away 2 first rounders for him…..

 

It’s disappointing no doubt. Turnovers and poor defense are killing us. I think the defense can get corrected, but the turnovers are a feature of this roster, not a bug. No ball handlers = more turnovers.

We may have shortchanged a focus on continued development for a win-now approach. I see a lot of guys that still need the freedom to make mistakes and continue to develop. I don’t think we mortgaged significant assets for KD, but it’s looking like a win-now approach was premature.

I still think we need to wait till Feb before hitting the panic button, but it’s hard to dig out of a hole in the west with how competitive it is. We can’t keep losing games like this.

 

I agree it's not the time to hit the panic button. Things will change.

However, I think it's fair to say that contention is out of the picture. I've named the NBA champs in December for the last 3 years. Having watch all of the Rockets' games so far, what I'm seeing is not even close.

So what's end goal for this season? 2nd round exit?

 

So happy I went to sleep at a regular time instead of watching that abomination last night. We definitely have lost our identity over the past 5-6 games.

 

I don’t understand not putting Alpi out there early in the 4th for a final push before conceding.

 

The trade was stupid.

Meanwhile Brooks is having a career year. Dribble pullups, driving, bombing threes.

The trade took away 2 guys that could defend, dribble drive, and shoot. Replaced that with an old star who isn’t a great on ball defender. Then inserted a journeyman 3-D guy who can’t dribble drive/get in the paint.

2 for 1. Why on earth did they think this deal would bring a championship?

 

KD plus Sheppard plus Okogie isn’t better than Brooks and Green. That’s a fact. Not saying we shouldn’t have traded Green but we needed a star guard in that deal not a 3 or 4.

 

I remember, it was great!

 

Man really everyone hate Jalen so much that they can't even admit that he was literally the only one on the roster that can break a defense down off the dribble consistently.

Ya'll better pray JG is actually ass when he comes back next month or else we might have an actual crisis on our hands.

 

One is 22, the other is 21. Ridiculous comment.

 

I think most of us underestimated Durant’s negative impact on the defensive side of the ball. I’m not sure we get our defensive dominance back as long as he is part of the team. I was in favor of the trade, although I wanted FVV instead of Jalen and wanted Jalen moved to another team if a more wide open offense didn’t help him realize his potential. Now we are stuck with a much worse defense and the same iso heavy mediocre offense. Might as well go all in on defense. Durant and 3 picks for Giannis. Amen, Giannis, Tari or DFS, Jabari, Sengun. Now that’s a team Ime could get behind.

 

Stop crying over Fred & Dillon (& Jalen). Same on Rockets twitter. ***** embarrassing. (“oNlY EmBaRrAsSiNg tHiNg iS ThE CuRrEnT RoCkEtS”)

sOmEtImEs yOu, SoMeTiMeS Me, AlWaYs uS … cute, fun, not a contender. Just like the Suns. Cute, fun, not a contender. (WeLl tHe cUrReNt rOcKeTs aReN’T A CoNtEnDeR eItHeR!1!!) Great, bring Fred, Dillon & Jalen back. Fun little scrappy first round exit team. Cool.

I thought Udoka was the “culture setter” anyways?

Depending on VanVleet & Brooks, your rebuild has failed.

Pistons are winning with their young talent they drafted. (Imagine Pistons fans crying “We rEaLlY MiSs dUnCaN RoBiNsOn, ToBiAs hArRiS & CaRiS LeVeRt”)

Magic are winning with their young talent they drafted. (Just can’t stay healthy)

Thunder are winning with their young talent they drafted.

Spurs are winning with their young talent they drafted. Gumby, Harper, Castle, Vassell, Johnson, Sochan.
But but but Fox, Barnes & Kornet!

Yeah, Fox was available. Spurs got him for peanuts.
https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/deaaron-fox.324953/
https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/fox-should-be-the-star-the-rockets-trade-for.323606/
https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/...ncludes-san-antonio-houston-and-miami.325282/

I said at the time, didn’t want him because how is Fox/Sengun any better than Fox/Sabonis? Kings 2.0.

Dallas is going to go as far as Cooper Flagg takes them (and how well or poorly they build a team around him)

It’s ok to say it. We tanked for 3 years, got some ok pieces but we didn’t land a Edwards, a Cade, a Gumby, a Flagg, a franchise altering talent.

The guy everyone hates and best player from their rebuild was the 16th pick.

1-16 Alperen Sengun
1-4 Amen Thompson
1-2 Jalen Green (“I SwEaR BrO! tHiS Is tHe yEaR BrO!JuSt oNe mOrE YeAr bRo!”)
1-3 Reed Sheppard
1-3 Jabari Smith
1-17 Tari Eason
1-20 Cam Whitmore
1-23 Usman Garuba (bust, out of the league)
1-24 Josh Christopher (bust, maybe playing in G League)

 

No not at all. As I explained in earlier posts their current abilities are indicative of how they will play through the rest of their careers. If you never had a dribble pull up in your game you likely will never develop a proficient one. If you can’t get in the paint at 21 years old you aren’t going to magically become a dominant dribble drive paint scorer. Doesn’t mean these two players can’t improve, it just means that any improvements will be marginal.

I also explained that this team is built to win now. Not developmental phase anymore. Which is baffling since Shepperd is a developmental player.

To win now they need to move these 2 for a bonafide guard that can both get to the paint and shoot.

 

Durant plays fine defense. Did you seriously watch Jabari Smith Jr get hunted mercilessly for the last 3 games? The clippers were ACTIVELY hunting him on defense.

I’m sorry but blaming someone averaging 25 ppg on 63 TS who btw has been playing phenomenal defense is absurd.

 

JG wouldn’t thrive in the udoka system. It’s not his system.

 

Sengun and Giannis doesn’t work. Similar spots on the floor. Although Thompson running the show would open up shooters. But again the problem is he is so limited on offense that he hurts thus team. If he’s limited then our 2 guard needs to be a guy that can get to the paint and shoot to move defenses. A guy like Simons, jalen brown, booker etc. unrealistic but these are the types of guards the rockets need