I dont think you can hang on to KD in any capacity if you want to win moving forward. I think the order of dead weight on this team is: 1) Durant -big gap- 2) Sengun 3) Fred / DFS 4) Adams Stone has managed himself into a corner with these "look how smart I am" veteran moves that have all more or less blown up in his face. He hit a home run with Dillon/FVV and then thought he could do it again with Durant and DFS. As long as Durant is here the chemistry wont be and the young guys won't grow. The pressure to "get him the ball' is too great from everyone (Durant included because hes a petulant sociopathic narcissist) so the young guys will second guess themselves the whole time and we're just going to be spinning our wheels.
I’m concerned Stone doesn’t get the chemistry stuff or the build around good guys stuff. He wanted to build around KPJ. I’m worried he doesn’t get it. I completely agree with u. KD is not good for our young guys. That’s a huge factor in the trade KD debate.
If we're not trading for another star, then our off-season goals should be to get younger at the point guard position and athletic/dynamic (FVV has to go), we need to get more athletic in the Center position (Steven Adams and Capela are old), and fill thd bench with 3-D shooters. I think we keep DFS and he'll have a full off-season to get back to his basketball rhythm. Tate, Jeff Green, and Aaron Holiday can walk...I think we'll bring back Okogie
I agree but don’t think the guard we need and getting rid of Fred are mutually exclusive. I think we need to switch to an alignment with 2 quality point guards in the starting lineup at PG/SG. A full health FVV is already 1 that is capable of bringing 3&D value even when playing off ball. We can’t be stranded again if 1 guy goes down.
Sometimes my brain blocks out the fact that KPj was on this team. Christian Wood as well. Stone thought he was cooking lol.
Enjoy Game Theory podcast, generally. Not big on the proposed trades Sam suggests involving the Rockets, though, as much as he loves the Rockets (not just this episode). The Giannis trade suggested does not leave Rockets enough to build roster around Giannis quickly. I'm not ideologically opposed to trading for Giannis. I get the NBA is a star driven league, but you still need guys around the star. If that is the price for Giannis, I think he's a free agent next season.
I haven’t seen much evidence that KD is hurting the young guys’ development. He’s not taking away a ton of developmental minutes, and he’s certainly not preventing Amen, Reed, or Sengun from getting meaningful on-ball reps. Even with KD taking a lot of ISOs, those guys have still had plenty of chances to create, make decisions, and play in competitive possessions. What KD has clearly provided is elite spacing on a team that badly needs it. That matters for development too. It gives Amen, Reed, and Sengun more room to operate instead of constantly trying to create against a packed paint. Granted, the paint is clogged a lot, but that is not on KD. The main on-court negative I see is defensively. KD is not an especially active help defender at this stage, and that can make it harder for the younger players to learn rotations in a clean structure. Sengun, in particular, has not been covered up the way Brooks and Jabari did so well last season. But there’s also a developmental upside there. KD’s presence has forced Tari and Jabari to guard down the lineup and take tougher matchups. That may not make their defense look as good in the short term, but it can help them grow long term. To me, the bigger issue is that the Rockets need to find a way to get a fourth shooter on the floor, not move away from their best spacer. Personally, I think young players benefit more from playing meaningful, competitive minutes than from piling up touches in non-competitive situations.
