With Ime at the helm and no PG, Rockets will need to choose between Amen and Sengun

Fire udoka at a bare minimum. The defense has looked like ****

 

Keep them both. They will be instrumental post KD. Fire fat Ime also @J.R. @RB713 @jch1911

 

I want to keep both but gun to my head I’m keeping Amen. But we should keep both. No reason we can’t surround Amen and Sengun with the right pieces. Amen should be playing 4/3-3/4. Reed and KD are the right pieces because they are shooters. But who else can you say honestly fits with the core? If Bari comes around he’s a fit. If Tari stays on the court and keeps shooting well, he’s a fit. But no rim protector. Not shooting guard. No point guard. And Tari/bari are question marks.

I’d say there’s lots of roster questions. And there should be questions about the coaching as well. Even if resetting the timeline is best for the team there is no way in hell this front office is going to do that. So I’m really worried there isn’t much of a near term pathway to contend without some really smart moves. It feels like we are going to waste this yr if we do nothing. I just want a definitive direction and vision with a sober understanding of where we are.

 

It’s either Amen or Sengun regardless of no PG or Ime. Your two best players can’t be unable to shoot.

 

Do none of this as Sengun and Amen play great together. Get rid of Father time team killer stat guy KD.

 

I can see Stone trading Sengun to the Knick’s for Towns.

Will say we did him a favor so he can play with the largest Turkish community in the United States.

 

Also: call me a knee-jerker, bad/fairweather fan, grass-is-greener syndrome…why is anyone on this roster untouchable? Why? (No, I don’t want Giannis.)

With the exception of TyTy, Garuba, & Christopher, we didn’t draft any busts but we didn’t draft anyone special either. JAGs. Guys.

I can’t go find a 6’4 streaky guard? (Hello Cam Thomas)
I can’t go find a 38% 3pt shooter who is awful defensively?
I can’t go find a forward who gives me 12-15 points, 5 rebounds and 34% from three?

I know many of you don’t like him or don’t think he’s good enough, and that’s fine, but that’s the reality of their rebuild. The best player was the 16th pick.

16. Sengun
4. Amen
2. Green
3. Jabari
17. Tari
3. Reed
20. Cam
29. TyTy
24. Christopher
23. Garuba

Jalen, Jabari, Amen, Reed … four top 4 picks, that’s what they came away with.

And we can talk about the CBA and it’s limitations and how big threes are dead and it’s better to be 9/10 deep instead of a big 2/3 but Morey’s philosophy was/is right: stars. Still need stars, at least one. Until you do, I don’t care about the rest.

And whether your Team Sengun or Team Amen…

They aren’t Gumby. They aren’t Jokic. They aren’t Luka. They aren’t Ant. They aren’t Shai. They aren’t Steph.

 

This thread didn’t age well, Go Rockets!!

 

Keep all three.

 

I agree 100%, and I'll add that finding a capable starting stretch 5 is much harder than a wing who can shoot. Also, it's much easier to make an offense work when all your guards and wings can shoot. For that reason, even though I love them both, I would be open to trading Amen. We could get a very good package for him and build around our other youngsters + KD.

Now, if somehow Amen develops a shot, I'd say he's an auto top 10 player in the league. Just VERY unlikely to happen.

 

So you disagree with op?

 

If I thought there was a chance they fire Udoka, I keep both. Since that is not likely to happen, I keep Alpi if forced to choose.

 

I don't like that we're in a "win now" mindset already

Both of these guys are still really young and if just one of the two (let alone if both) develops a jump shot over the next 3-4 years, things will look drastically different.

I am starting to sour on Udoka's coaching though.

 

I think the last few weeks showed what some of the haters have said, having a minus defender at the most impactful defensive position is pretty bad in the same way that having multiple non shooters is bad - your flexibility goes way down.

Also Reed & Gun replicates the "KAT Brunson" problem in nyc a bit - that's 2 weak points in the half court to attack

I'd honestly consider selling high & moving Sengun to a team that has no focal point. I think we've seen enough now.

 

I might agree if we hadn't already seen that Sengun can be a solid defensive player. He's not Sabonis, he doesn't seem utterly incapable of playing defense, he's just been somewhat inconsistent.

I don't think he's truly untouchable at this point (Amen isn't either), but I don't see a realistic trade that makes sense in terms of the value coming back. Are we getting Ant Edwards? Maxey? Haliburton or Tatum and banking on whichever one coming back strong from injury? I don't know how interested the teams that actually have young top 10 players are in moving their guys.

It may be true that there are some fit issues on this roster, but if the goal is a long championship window, you have to get comparable long-term value back, and I'm not seeing where that deal materializes from.

 

I agree with you that Alpi is leading the best young Rockets player race for now. As you suggested, he's no top dog. However, if either Amen or Alpi develops a reliable jump shot, they can turn into this 1A, HIM, the dude, Batman, top dog comps. History suggests some players develop it and some don't, like a coin flip. I rather roll the dice on 2 of the chips to deliver in 3-4 years, than one chip alone. I don't see any of them going anywhere in the next 4 years - unless you're presented with Luka - AD level of absurdity. We might as well have Reed chip in the equation as well.

Not sure if I would roll the dice on Ime though. If he doesn't win a PO matchup this year, go get someone else.

 

I mean, if you can somehow get Giannis that's a no brainer for me.

Markaanen probably worth a look.

If the Cavs break up you can probably get Garland & Allen, but obviously Mitchell is who you want.

Sengun definitely CAN be ok on defense - if you surround him with dogs.

But the Rockets locked themselves into 3 years of Durant who's not much of a dog (and who gives up lots of transitions the other way)

 

lol imagine posting this after one of our best defensive games of the year.

The haters weren’t proven “right” in any way. Sengun was obviously gimpy from his ankle injury. Now that he’s getting healthy, and Bari has broken out of his funk, we’re back in track.

 

It’s crazy to me that some people are acting like the Rockets are in the gutter. We’re on pace for 52+ wins despite a lot of injuries and playing 5 guys who are 24 and under major rotational minutes. We’re fine, yall. Calm down.