Are we a better team with KD or Brooks+JG + 10th overall pick (could have been Derrick Queen taken 13th overall)? To be fair we made this deal with Fred still in the picture. We were 18-9 this time last year. Our current record is 17-10.
At the time of the trade, I was weary because the trade left us with very little perimeter on-ball initiation capabilities and it meant that Amen and Reed would need to step up huge in that area, and that was even before Fred went down. Reed has improved a lot but still a lot to ask of a 2nd year player to be a championship level PG. And Amen has not stepped up in that area, so we are seeing the result unfortunately.
I sounded like a Debbie Downer doofus warning that the Rockets getting rid of Brooks and Green was not going to help Thompson but hurt him in terms of increasing the load on a guy who was already asked to play 36 minutes a game at high intensity and it...did. The other problem is the obsession with Jabari who - like Sengun, Adams, Durant - cannot be asked to guard down on the perimeter That's a problem when 3 of them are on the court at all times
I’m ashamed that I was in favor of the trade, because I thought Durant would help spread the floor and thought Amen would immediately be able to adapt as a PG. I still think that Amen can and will be awesome as a pg that drives and dishes to good 3 pt shooters (which we now have). What I didn’t recognize is that Durant’s offense is based on ISO and that he is a terrible passer, too old to create his own space, and a mediocre at best defender. I will say that I wanted FVV in the trade rather than Jalen, just to see what Jalen could do in a more well spaced offense, but of course, the spacing is still horrible with Ime’s ISO offense built around Durant and Jalen would suck again. In retrospect, we should have stood pat and waited for a better fit to trade picks and Jalen and FVV for.
Still happy. It's only been 1/3 of the season and we've had some injury bad luck. I think consolidating allowed us to better develop Reed (despite what some/many think) and will only allow us to focus on fewer young players to develop. Sengun, Amen, Jabari, Tari, and Reed are still young, developing talent and learning to play together. Way too soon to know anything, but still a big thumbs up for me.
FVV's injury changes this trade. Rockets don't make it *after* his injury. This season will be KD's youngest as a Rocket, and he's getting plenty minutes.
I am still happy with it. I don’t think that concept was ever added Durant and win championship. I think that it was at Durant, allow some development and augment roster to give ourselves a shot. there is a three season window, where Duran Duran Durant will be a significant part of the team, and then there is the window of the future that will be built around Reed, Amen and likely Sengun and Smith as well.
If we can't beat the worst team without Fred, it means KD is vastly overrated, and it's a ****ing bad trade for us.
When was the last real game he played.....or shot in....... But yeah you are right that he is a better player than Okogie, there are tons of players that are better than Okogie. Okogie is also more durable and healthy when you need him to.
Look at his playoff stats. Also watch his highlights/ even some of his games. Legit instead of okogie it’s him taking those 3 point shots and he makes em half the time. He seriously opens up spacing
It does not help if he only plays 40-50 games a season and also missing games in the Playoffs. This is like the Kyrie Irving of Forwards......mostly injured. The Rockets are fumbling passes, that is with Spacing, open spaces or not.....
As time goes on people will become more and more unhappy with the trade. Anything short of a championship will be a disappointment for many. Unfortunately, OKC and the Spurs are in position to be dominant for years to come. The Rockets can be a good team, a top 10 team, but that’s not what people were hoping for when the trade was made. Clutchfans demand a championship! So, it looks like many Clutchfans are ready to move on from KD and keep searching for that magical player that will make the Rockets better than OKC. Unfortunately, that player may not exist.
I’m happy with the trade on face value. I think KD has been great. However the value of Brooks to the identity and culture of the team is deeply missed. The team just isn’t the same defensively and lacks the toughness that really looks to have been led by Brooks. His stats really overlook that intangible value he gave. You also see that value in how he really single handily changed the culture of Phoenix from the disaster it was last year. So I think the trade is a mixed bag so far.
Didn't give up a ton and KD is still an elite talent. So HELL YES. A couple of OT wins instead of losses and we would be #2 which is probably where we finish.
We don't have a defensive problem. We just haven't had two of our best defenders (Tari and DFS). Between Tari/DFS/Amen/Bari/Okogie there's no one FVV can guard better so the absence of his defense is irrelevant. Who even has 5 defenders that good? It's just a health issue. I have no doubt we'll be a top 3 defense entering the playoffs. What won't change no matter who we bring in is the fact that Ime drags every offense down, makes shots harder and then blames you for not getting all the rebounds aka bandaids for him. You can bring SGA or Jokic in here and they'd simply be less efficient than they are on their current teams. And you'd wine about something or the other to justify it. If we had Wemby? Lol both legs would be fractured by now from high minutes and forcing him to be an old school big. There's no point shuffling assets around. It's on Ime. Whether he wants an assistant or not, it's on him now. KD is exactly what he's supposed to be - 36 years old and the greatest pull up shooter of all time who needs some load management. That's why they say he's the most plug and play guy of all time. We the only team he doesn't fit with?? Come on. The good lord delivered the perfect player that would highlight exactly what's wrong with our offense. No more excuses.
If only Defense can be attested to 2 players in the NBA.....good luck and good bye. That is probably Udoker thinking, Offense can be relied on 2 players, Durant and Sheppard.
The only reasonable argument against the trade at this point is we could possibly made the insane pelicans trade with the 10th pick. If that was on the table, of course the KD trade was asinine. Otherwise, the trade was great (also stupid to downgrade it because fvv got hurt, there was no way to predict that).
We’re built for the playoffs. Rockets style of play is perfect for when things slow down and every possession is running sets and counter sets to adjusting defenses. KD said after the loss to the clippers, they are being even keeled about things. Every loss can seem like a bigger deal than it is bc of the expectations. Just keep working on the process and things will work themselves out. They lost focus against NO and SAC and had some bad calls go against them in the first nuggets loss. The Clips game was very bad but they could easily be 4-1 on the trip so far. I think they’ll bounce back tonight.
