Posted this in another thread but worth bringing up in its own thread. Before anyone calls me a JG lover, I bring up an interesting scenario considering how our team especially on the offensive side hasn’t had much improvement over last year’s team. One of our issues is a compressed half court with lack of spacing with 2 non shooters which allows teams like Spurs to sit back in the zone and clog the paint. Maybe we should have given up Amen and Sheppard in the deal for Durant? In hindsight would Durant Sengun and JG work? We would have a dominant scorer flanked by a SG that could drive and shoot and a big that can pass and iso. This would be a Very balanced team with 4 shooters and Sengun. I always said this team is limited with Amen and 2 non shooters in the starting lineup. This lineup wouid give 4 shooters surrounding Sengun (JG Durant Brooks Fred/pg) You would still have the great Dillon Brooks, Bari and Tari. Durant would open up JG’s game and he could have wreaked havoc when Durant is doubled or create double teams which opens up durant. We would be more dynamic and spacing would be incredible! We will never know I supppse. But what could have been?
Jalen would have been a great fit next to Durant. But we wouldn't have seen it since Jalen has been hurt all season. That being said he's a free agent next season if we really want him back you can make it happen.
i think so too. But the injury happened with Phoenix. We will never know if he would be hurt with Rockets. I love Amen and think Reed could be a decent bench guy but just think it’s an interesting scenario. He wouldn’t be a FA unless he opts out in 2027 I thought
Jalen would have been a great fit next to Amen. We pivoted away from trying to be a long athletic team to a slow methodical team. We would’ve been better off just giving the Amen/JG backcourt a shot and waited for a younger star to become available before going all in on Durant. Of course, Ime is a JVG style coach so that change would’ve had to be made as well. It’s all moot anyway.
they got impatient and greedy but again I think Amen is a problem. And if we have him we need a stretch 5. That’s the rockets conundrum. Amen JG would be explosive and a 4 like Giannis and stretch 5. That’s a fun team. Not sure if thats a championship team but a team that can score and defend.
Jalen is not a good player so its good that we gave him up. Jalen is not a SG that could shoot and drive, never shown to be a reliable shooter in any of his seasons and his loose handles and lack of consistent finishing made his drives not worth talking about.
I’m coming around to thinking Sengun has to go. Amen is our best hope for the future, so we need to surround him with shooters. Problem is do we trust Ime to run the kind of offense that would work with that setup? Not sure that Bam is a stretch five, but I could see a world where Miami might entertain Bam and maybe Wiggins around a trade for Sengun, filler and a good draft pick.
he ran a team with Tatum and Brown with Robert Williams (9th team off rating) (6th in isos). I think he prefers defensive bigs. Bam isn’t a great 3 pt shooter although he has the capability and launching more this season. I would love to have him but prefer Myles turner. Telling you man we need Giannis before Warriors or some sorry team picks him up.
Jalen as an average ish shooter is a better fit with many players than non-shooter Sengun who operates in teh same areas as Durant - it's just true. Doesn't mean he's a better player, he's not, but for the Rockets PF-heavy G-light roster it would have offered more flexibility (but, they might be a worse team, idk). Obvously Dillon was the guy we undervalued the most here - he's basically an all-star now.
just a miscalculation on management’s part. I agree. Im not saying JG is great but I do think his game would improve and open up with Durant. Great players make it easier for others. I think a lot of fans are realizing Amen and Sengun together doesn’t work.
Jalen scored only 3 points more last season than Amen this season on 4 more attempts. His eFG% and TS% are much lower than Amen's. If he was here this season, assuming healthy, he would have taken at least a third of Durant's shots. As much as I hate to see Durant playing that many minutes and iso-ing so much, I would hate even more to see an inefficient chucker taking KD's shots.
I have no regrets whatsoever about giving up Jalen. I don't think he's good enough to start on a contending team. He could still get there, but right now his talent level is "6th man", and the odds of significant improvement after four years of treading water seem fairly low. You don't pay $36M for a 6th man. I miss Dillon Brooks though. In hindsight, we probably should have held onto him and given up one of Jabari or Tari.
Let’s not ignore that Jalen isn’t better at ANY facet of his game today than he was in his first year. He played defense because he was forced to play defense. But otherwise the same player. He didn’t miss time due to injury and you could count on his inconsistency. If you think about it, his fate as a Rocket was sealed when they signed him to the short extension with friendly option. His ceiling is firmly at 80% of Jordan Clarkson. I’m super happy that we moved on.
Jalen is a nice individual who's just an inefficient and bad at basketball player. I miss Dillon though, could have used him this season.
I thought about this exact thing when the Coby White chatter started up. All the things the Rockets would want from Coby White, the kind of were already getting with Jalen Green.
Jalen good player, but just not the type of guard you say could be a 2nd star. Like people said hes like a good 6th man option for scoring punch. Easy 24 a game type guy. Not a leader at all, or shot maker when it counts.
Yeah, but White is a better shooter and a better passer and is getting paid $13M instead of $36M. (Granted, he's on a contract year, but I don't see him getting the contract Jalen did.)
Anybody can work next to Durant. Fact is Jalen doesn't have enough offensive bag to be a go to scorer, doesn't have the vision to be a PG, doesn't shoot well enough to command high gravity and doesn't defend well enough to be an impactful player on that side. I don't think we would be worse with him, but we wouldn't be noticeably better. Once he starts earning role player money he may be a guy worth looking into as a bench microwave type. Jalen Green as your best small defender is a recipe for some absolute s**t defense. The real issues this team have had is losing Brooks and FVV. Brooks has much better and consistent defensive intensity than KD, and FVV was an outstanding perimeter defender and game manager. Okogie has filled in well for FVV on the defensive end, but since the hot start he's killed us on offense. Green showed no significant improvement in 4 seasons, he is just not a guy that makes a meaningful impact on a team, Reed and Amen may be eventually even if they currently have shortcomings.
Yes, the majority of Rockets fans have a broken cognitive dissonance about Jalen’s time as a lead option in the NBA during his alternative to going to College. I wouldn’t say they’re dumb, it’s just a natural defensive response caused by attachment to past beliefs with a lot of mob mentality going on. People hate the young player inefficient in to big of a role development path. They often turn into good players but that reputation lingers for a long time after it being relevant. Andrew Wiggins is now a premier 3 and D role player. RJ Barrett has quietly become a good winning team player. Jalen will to. It’s pretty obvious a lot of the opinions aren’t going to age well.
