After 3 years of unwatchable basketball the front office could only build a team with a core of FVV and KD? I am definitely quitting this team
THEY ARE ****ING YOUNG - we didn't draft finished products, we didn't draft number 1 - we also value the WRONG thing.....Draft picks should be evaluated based upon. 1. SKILL - are they able to score? 2. BBall IQ - do they read the game well 3. Athleticism We went in inverse......and it means we have a longer wait period to find out what players are when they are done. Right now, NONE of the Rockets young guys are fully developed into all they will be, the closest one is Alpi, the rest are all developing - it is also why I didn't want to get rid of Cam, because he was 20......we need to see where they are at 24-26 before we judge them fully. So, Amen is still developing, Reed is still developing, Tari is still developing, Bari is still developing.......we just need to wait it out......because if you go all in on VETS like Ime would do if given the chance you build around old guys that are always injured. Here are some of our mistakes lately. Signing FVV to a 2 year contract extension at 50m - he is not a difference maker at the NBA level Signing Adams to an extension - also a guy who is a dinosaur, he is a bit player at best Letting Cam go - He may never get there but deciding what a gifted scorer is at 20 years old is frankly stupid....and we got nothing for him. Letting Jock Landale go - he is a modern center who shoots better than 40% from 3 - we could use that BIG TIME Trying to build a team around a 37 year old KD - will never work. Not having a good offensive system to maximize what our talented young players do well and minimize what they don't. This org is doing it wrong - the coach is wrong, the GM clearly values the wrong things....... And the irony is a small adjustment to RUNNING the ball up the court, would help everyone......but Ime is too stubborn to make a simple adjustment. We are royally ****ed as long as IMe is the coach, he is not good enough. DD
I can agree that Fred was at least one of their most important players (even THE most important) last season. But it does not follow that he would be the most important player going forward. It also does not follow that they couldn't have found someone better than Fred for the same role. It smells like tunnel vision to me, the proverbial putting all eggs in a single basket. And that basket is not necessarily the best basket you can find and is not unbreakable. Just because a guy helped your business doesn't mean the guy is the best you can find to help your business.
You can blame Ime and he may very well be part of the problem, but a roster constructed of having to start Okagie is a whole other bigger issue. This is a front office who thought Silas was the answer. Ultimately, one person runs the show and is the one nobody mysteriously ever blames….Fertitta.
It does start with Tillman. He sucks and we knew it when he bought the team. I think he just sees the Rockets as a money-making business and doesn't care (sadly, this is probably what most owners are like). Losing Fred was huge for our team. It capped how far we could go this year. I would've been a fan of trading for a backup PG because some success in the playoffs is better than none and I believe we need a PG for these playoffs. Neither Stone nor Udoka are going anywhere anytime soon. That fantasy is just a fantasy. Maybe (but probably not) they feel the hot seat in a year or two. Udoka was just resigned to an extension last year. He's our coach, get used to it.
And if he is so important, why not find a younger model.....just saying. You know the archetype......you obtained the blue print of a ball handler, 3 pt threat, low Turnover guy. Now go and find a younger version! And nope, Reed is actually more like worse JJ Redick, not a PG.
Agree with most of this. Nothing has reallt changed and everyone acting like the sky is falling. We drafted 7 valuable chips. Two are gone and another two to go (Alpy, Tari). We need to continue to develop Amen, Jabari and Reed. SGA wasnt anything close to his current form until his 5th year. His 4th year (we are in Amen's 3rd) he was averaging .300 from 3. Just chill.
I understand holding ontoDFS if they think he’ll get better the further removed from the injury. But it was still probably a bad decision to give him the mle knowing he was hurt, relative to other options. It’s also questionable wasting this first yr of KD. Adding KD obviously helps your team, but that’s a win-now move. If not for this yr, we have to be progressing as a team so it looks like we’ll be sure-fire contenders next yr. But that’s not what’s happening. We are regressing as a team. Our young core is getting exposed. We’re not ready and some of these pieces are ill-fitting. And the coaching is not adjusting. The Fred excuse is too convenient. Yes Fred is extremely important, but he’s an aging player who has missed significant time the last several yrs. Fred was always gonna miss some time. If their backup plan was that Amen and/or Reed will step up, I’d say that’s not working. Teams have learned how to defend Amen as a non-shooter, and Reed may not be ready, but Ime isnt really playing him more than 20 min a game, so it’s hard to know. I think the trade deadline disappointment comes from there being some obvious gaps that are significantly hurting the team. I don’t care what the numbers say, our offense is not good. It is obvious we need better on-ball initiation. It is also obvious that we can use some additional rim protection. If they didn’t want to address some of these problems through trade, at least make some adjustments with existing personnel. But we’re just running out the same personnel at the same positions doing the same things and expecting a different result. I think we’ve seen some mistakes from the front office and the coaching staff. And I think a wasted yr of KD does not bode well for the decisions we made this summer. I hope the coaching staff will make some adjustments so we can see better development from our core the rest of the season and make better decisions this offseason.
side note: While I'm not on the Twitter , i do listen to a whole bunch of basketball podcasts. Whevenver I see Chris Gorman tweet shared here, it's usually stuff I heard (or read) already (from the original sources). That said, he always seems to be aggregating on other people's work. Normally hoop-collective, but now also Locked ON and Ben. He's like a professional aggregrator . No judgement, even respect the grind a little. At least he's citing his sources, unlike an Evan Sidery, who either makes stuff up or re-words other's people stuff and try to pass it off as his.
We got excited that the rebuild was going to be on ultra-fast mode. It might just be on pretty-fast mode. Reed clearly has a lot more development to do. Tari's body is one of the only thing holding him back from being Kawhi-lite. Amen might not ever be a point, but he'll always be a great slasher, cutter, defender. Maybe, just maybe, in 3-4 years he develops a respectable shot. Alpi's legs look dead. He used to surprise us with occasional athleticism. Not anymore. Could be from all that Euro play. He needs to put his head down. Quit complaining. Play STRONG without expecting a call. And run back on defense like he did last season and early this year. I think the rotation fluctuation is also hindering our chemistry development. This is about the time you need to set a lineup and go with it. And by April I hope to God I never see KD give up on a play. I get it. Your 37 and we don't need a regular season hero. But y'all torched Tmac for that one play where he didn't run back. KD does it multiple times a game. Team is frustrating the hell out of me but I'll never stop watching.
I always blame Fertita especially blame him for being so cheap when we could have gotten Harden and CP3 some help. Instead they did nothing when they were rumors they could have gotten some decent back up for cp3 and a wing defender. He still the cheap owner. If they were getting Durant they should have also gotten more help for him. A back up pg for the old Fred and a young athletic big for Adams. Those have been urgent things we needed to address and we got nothing. now they’re blaming it on luck. It’s not luck it’s players getting old and not having a B or C plan.
If they knew that the team would be toast without Fred, then why not invest in a proven b/u PG during the offseason, just in case something were to happen to "their best/most important player", who also happens to be on the wrong side of 30? That's embarrassingly short-sighted Not only that, but they handcuffed themselves with the contracts they did give out, making it virtually impossible to now bring someone in who might actually make a difference.
Ironically, I boycotted today's game and spent quality time with my granddaughters. After the last 2 debacle games I wasn't going to waste time. Of course they won and appeared to have played decently, but no more will I prioritize other opportunities over watching this team.
The whole idea of "it's not our year" suggests external locus of control. Not what you want from a GM. Embarrassing to say out loud. Any sports team that has won a championship did it because the whole organization fought for it. "Your year" doesn't come hunting for you, begging for you to seize it.
