I don’t think we should swing for the fences looking for young stars. Just take the base hits, look competent, win a playoff series. Then we’ll be on the top of any established stars list when they decide they want a change.
It looks like Grimes will command around 15M annually, Gillespie - 10M and Brook Lopez is around 9M but maybe hes willing to take a Vet Min. - the real question is if Tari Eason becomes too expensive or not. Other one is dumping DFS and Capela opens about 22M but will require giving away picks - Ideally hoping eason signs sub- 20M a year if not he may get priced out of the team, instead we sign and trade create a TPE - if he makes 25M on new team create 12.5M TPE- use to acquire Grimes, Maybe combine DFS, Capela for Herb Jones, and sign Brook Lopez for Vet min. - Draft Project #3 C and shooter with 2 2RPs C Sengun/Adams/Lopez/ Rookie C PF Jabari/ Karaban SF KD/ Herb Jones SG Amen/ Grimes/ Holiday PG FVV/ Reed thats our 13 man reshuffle
All of those guys are too small outside of lamelo who is a decent potential, but also probably the biggest risk in terms of cost . I think if you hope to find a play maker on the level of James harden when you traded for him in OKC. Ideally young so he can grow with sengun. Pragmatically speaking , you just want the best playmaker you can get .
We don’t need a playmaker. Amen is already a playmaker and with a decent mid-range shot or even an SGA shoulder bump shot in the lane is a 25 ppg scorer, passer, and the best perimeter defender in the league. All we need is to substitute KD with a good shooting SG that is willing to play off the ball and play defense. Oh, and a new coach.
A huge part of why our offense was so bad was the turnovers running the offense thru KD and the total inability for anyone on the team to run a basic pick and roll set, you put a high quality ball handler (One of the most efficient pick and roll players in the league) in place of the ineptitude we had at "running the offense" and it probably cleans that mess up and leaves KD to do KD things and the offense as a whole is much better - probably better than last year's offense just on the strength of having 2 52/43/88 guys on the floor and the fact that you can actually run a pick and roll which is a big part of Sengun's game. That gets KD, Jabari and Sengun easier shots and probably Amen too because teams just can't double anymore - you can't leave anyone in that lineup. No more Sengun starting the offense from outside the 3 point line .... It might not put them on equal footing with OKC / SA but they'd assuredly be much better for it and at least have a punchers chance.
I want to think this is the answer, and it seems logical but the our players play differently. Sengun slips EVER pick and chooses to (Milkhair —> sticky ball). We need basic fundamentals to make this happen and we lack. Coaching and execution meet is what is needed not new players.
It's an emotional attachment of the hope that someday, one of them is going to turn into The Man. I get it - We all want this team to be successful .... but I just don't have any feelings .... I'm not attached to any of them.
Established stars cost big money both contract wise and in terms of matching salary. Lottery picks come with relatively cheap salaries and bird rights ... You end up trading away half the roster when you trade for one of those players .... I'll go the lottery route.
I’m not against lottery picks but the Sengun for the #6 overall pick or Amen for a pick stuff I’m seeing a lot of, is a terrible idea.
Everything should be on the table at this point. I would like to see the rockets get aggressive and try to trade Amen for a top 3 pick in this draft. We really do need a top 3 pick at this point we’re just not good enough and with Sengun and Amen as your best players we’re going to be stuck in mediocrity. We can’t have 2 players in the lineup who can’t shoot. Sengun’s value is also low right now.
Is the 11th seed/ 30 win team where you want to go? You want me to believe the dude judging if our best players our capable of leading a team to championships in their entire careers right now when they’re 23 years old and surrounded by scrubs.. Is now cool with the Rockets stepping back into being a bad team after trading their best players for rookies.. is going to be patient with them now. You’re either lying or you’re just dumb and confusing the reality of what you’re talking with some fantasy land Victor Wembanyama scenario.
I live in no fantasyland where the Rockets land a transformative talent like Victor, that happens to one team once in history. Two dudes that can't shoot, one of them 36% from 3 feet and beyond. A center that can't defend. A 38 year old being asked to carry the load A 33 year old point guard coming back off of a major injury that shot 37% from the floor before the injury. An entire roster that consists of 3 guards currently, one of those being JD Davison - one of those the 33 year old listed above. The other- Reed - bust of a 3rd pick. 2 backup centers totaling 12% of the cap, one of those a 33 year old coming off a major injury Jabari - He might be the only part that isn't broken. DFS .... LoL. That's your roster. Yeah, it's almost inconceivable that another team would give up a 5-6-7-8 pick for any of that. That's your reality. But you go ahead and cling to these guys .... and probably struggle to be a play in team.
Changes definitely need to be made, it’s just weird that you list the only good players first. I get that podcasters and content creators get clicks for talking about the bigger names. Shooting charts serve as good a graphic to accompany a post. Blaming everything on not having a 5 out offense is very popular right now. but why are you doing it? Are you a content creator or are you just that easily influenced?
I agree, almost. KD for any frp would be good. Sengun for a top 3 pick would be good. I’m not trading Amen even for the first pick unless 1 or 2 other high ceiling young players were coming back. I would trade Sengun for two good young players and a top 10 pick, because of his physical limitations. He is not big enough to be a dominant force on the inside, especially defensively, and is too slow to be even average from the perimeter. My favorite would be to convince Atlanta for Okongwu, Naw and the 8th pick. Doubt it would come to fruition though.
To be clear, if hindsight is 20/20 we should have gone hard for NAW and if unsuccessful then go for someone like Ty Jerome. However, I am just very dubious that Ty Jerome would have even equaled what FVV would have done. I think Ty is a better shooter ..... I wouldn't say Ty Jerome is a far better offensive player based on his career since there's a bit of gap in experience. I think the shooting is more real, but being a major rotation player on multiple playoff runs isn't something he's had to do so I'm just not as confident he would equal FVV over a full regular season and then a starting PG in the playoffs. He had a playoff series where he played very well and then followed by a very poor one. I feel much more confident in saying Ty Jerome would have been a good 6th man on a healthy Rockets than saying he would have been a better starting PG than FVV for an entire season. I think we are far too dismissive of FVV being overmatched in his role in the 2024 season. FVV playing next Kawhi or KD is vastly different than playing next Jalen Green. We clearly didn't know FVV was going to blow out his ACL this last off season. However, would you be confident in Ty Jerome's ability to give a mid to late FRP for him for this offseason?
I don't have any delusions that we currently have a top 10 franchise player on the roster, but I still think we have the ability to upgrade. I think we have a good mix of assets and flexibility to pivot. I like Amen and Sengun.... more separately than together now but I think they can optimistically be top 20 players in a better situation. The "phase 2" to "phase 3" shift wasn't with a hard delineation but a bit of a gray area where we are still figuring out what we have in the young core. No doubt got some troubling data from last season but I also think there's a case to be made we had a lot of bad luck.
Define playmaker. Amen averaged about the same number of assists as FVV with a non-consequential Asst/TO ratio. This in spite of being used as the PG for only about the first 10 games before Ime went into brain dead double bigs and KD iso mode. Get a defensively competent spot up shooting SG in place of Durant and hand the ball to Amen and he will average 20 points and 8 assists even without a shot. With a shot and the lion’s share of initiating opportunities and he will have an SGA type impact. He gets into the lane virtually at will.
