Zach Lowe: Houston keeps surprising me that they are not trying

Jalen Duren sign and trade??

 

Agreed.
They already had Brunson Alvarado was just insurance for them.
Rockets didn't have anyone who could dribble past half court.
Alvarado could have at least got us past half court into whatever sets they were running.
Stewart is a pretty decent back up I was just using him as an example of it only taking 2nd rounders to get established rotation players.

 

Is the thread title some phantom quote or did he actually say that? lol.

 

You always have a way to just bring reality into the picture and then I come feeling away disappointed lol. I still had hope that Sengun will break out, but you are absolutely right, the man is probably the player he is going to be. Hopefully he proves you wrong and adds a damn three point shot this offseason.

 

I honestly think there’s still more untapped with Sengun. He’s only 23 and he’s frankly been in a terrible development system. Think about it: 3yrs with Silas. 3yrs with Ime who literally has no offensive system and makes Sengun’s job abiut as hard as it could be. He has to initiate all of his offense with very little spacing help or facilitation. Giving up on Sengun at 23 given what he has shown in as terrible of a development system as a player with his skill-set could have…I think we need to change the coach and GM before trading away Sengun. I feel strongly he’s going to hit another level on another team. That’s a terrible feeling.

 

This is such BS. We didn’t have any problem bringing the ball up court and Amen and Reed were not problematic at all with turnovers. Our issues were almost exclusively based on poor spacing and Ime’s pathetic late game insistence that the ball go through turnover prone Durant and Sengun.

 

That is why OKC got rid of Wiggins and Joe paying 9 and 10 million was too much. Just going to lay there new first round picks. Cheaper and under control for more years

 

At least according to here, the quote is:
https://fadeawayworld.net/nba-trade...rockets-hawks-in-the-jaylen-brown-sweepstakes

The title is clickbait paraphrasing.

 

We were watching two different games ....

There's a reason the ball went thru KD and Amen went back to standing in the corner / dunkers spot.

 

I said this quite a while back but I think Giannis was too expensive and eventually Kyrie is the target. Don't shoot the messenger.

 

I think there is some offensive upside to Sengun but defensively I think we've seen what he is ... He's passable assuming you don't have a bunch of defensive liabilities on the perimeter - I'm looking at you Reed Shepard.

I do think it likely that eventually he gets to ~35% from 3. I think Ime is a big part of his struggles there - always biitching at him for shooting those shots, even going so far as to pull him for taking wide open looks on more than one occasion and he actually hits them at a respectable rate while playing for the national team .... so there is actual empirical evidence leading one to that conclusion.

The other thing, Ime didn't do him any favors with spacing or play set up tor even letting him catch the ball on the block or high post .... a better coaching staff could probably get more out of him .... but he needs guard help - entry passes, pick and roll / pop partner and one more shooter on the outside.

I'm not sold that the Amen Sengun pairing works if Sengun is the one who finds a 3 point shot - it really doesn't affect spacing or change the way teams defend Amen when he's off ball - unless he's in the paint - which was the main reason teams were so easily able to double KD and Sengun all season long.

For this pairing to work, it's Amen who has to find his 3 point stroke because it just doesn't make sense to take Sengun out of the paint and play him outside the arc .... that's kinda pointless.

In the case of Segun finding his 3 point shot, you are still left making a decision on one or the other.

 

Player= Good
Contract=Gross

 

The way we've been playing Sengun, way up there at the wing or the top of the arc, him having a 3P shot absolutely changes things. He basically lives up to his "Baby Jokic" nickname. You need a center or a big forward to come out and guard him, which opens things up everywhere else. He looked like a monster at the beginning of the season when the 3P shot was falling. We were destroying other teams and were right there with OKC. You park Amen in the corner and let him cut and then the opposing team either has to have two big rim protectors on the court or they're in trouble.

I do agree that Sengun can probably become an OK three point shooter at some point, if he's allowed to be.

 

I largely agree with you and I think the answer is that Stone believed they would compete for a title with KD and vets added. Adding so many old players was monumentally stupid, but it why I tell people being cautious can backfire.

Also I personally don’t think Stone knows what he is doing as well as some other GM’s do.

 

No - I already have an opinion on this off season. I give it a “C”.

If the Rockets get lucky and get a top 3 pick (equivalent to top 10 in this draft) I will give them credit, but still disagree with the process. They deserve the praise if they get a top pick but I wouldn’t change what my opinion was at the time.

This off season is disappointing to fans but it could be worse - just glad they didn’t double down on stupid.

I don’t think Stone and Udoka are incompetent— I view them the way I viewed Lovie Smith, good at some things, but not enough to be top tier.

 

I think a top 3 pick in any draft in 2027 or 2029 potentially represents a lot more than just beating the 4-10 players this year. Our pick ended up at #6v and went to Brooklyn. Darius Acuff or whomever doesn’t necessarily represent the same type of franchise prospect that Boozer, Peterson or Dybantsa are

The landscape between now and the 2027 draft is gonna change a lot and to even speculate on the 2029 class is difficult. Keep in mind that we now have an extra opportunity in 2027 and two extra opportunities that did not exist before in 2029. Those are unpredicted and still carry significant trade value. not to mention, they represent bites at the apple for a franchise player.

I assume if Durant wanted out, then we would’ve heard about it by now. Maybe certain conversations have been had.

Sengun/Adams/Capela
Smith/Eason
Durant
Amen/Thornton
FVV/Reed

Is still going 53-29 and there is still six players on the roster that can get better. I just would hold off before seppoku.

 

You forgot, they actually believed Amen & Reed were playoff caliber PGs

 

You forgot the GOAT
Bruce Thorton - 2 2nds

 

I love how despite all of the evidence to the contrary and all the experts who spend their careers analyzing draft classes, that the copium among fans for those 2027 picks vs this deep 2026 draft remains strong.

 

You didn't answer the question. By what objective measure do you say Ime is a "bottom 5 coach"? You provide a very specific number (5) so I assume you can share with us how you got to that number.