No more “Ime players” “Ime players” gave us the •Dickerson deal •DFS deal •FVV deal •Capela deal •Adams deal •worst bench in the league (redundant guys who do the same thing; Okogie, Tate, aforementioned DFS, Tari, Holiday) No more! Whatever/whoever he wants, do the opposite. Trying to turn the team into what he was: scrubby, scrappy, hustle, defensive minded, can’t shoot scrub players
You and anyone else @LosPollosHermanos @DaDakota can have an opinion. I never said any of you can’t. Please don’t twist my words around. I never said I liked the way the roster is constructed. You of all people know this since you’re on here everyday and read a lot of my posts in the past. Again it’s common practice for management to consult coaches for personnel decisions. It’s both logical and practical. There’s nothing that indicates Udoka has wielded great power beyond his normal head coaching duties as we see this in so many other organizations. Udoka is not a GM or president the way Popovich was. This perception he is something greater or has “too much power” has no weight or legitimacy.
If Smart at 33 years old is better than Reed Sheppard, then we have bigger problems… namely how our front office can blow a #2 pick (Green) and a #3 pick (Sheppard) and still be employed. Smart shot sub 40% last year and could only muster a 2/11 deal in free agency… if Reed is worse than that, then heads need to roll.
As for Smart on the Rockets? He defends well, he is tough and while is lacks great court vision, he can get the ball up the court well. He is a zero on offense but will set screens and mix it up enough that he stays on the court. Kind of like Tony Allen. Normally I would want him on my team. However, FVV is back…. Thornton was just drafted and Smart too? When would Sheppard play? Sheppard needs to play a minimum of 30 minutes a night or the Rockets need to trade him.
Really? Isaiah Joe cost 11.3M per year and two 2rps - and required no returning salary, so probably more 2rps to dump Capela or DFS on a cap space team to match salary. He is definitely better, but would have cost WAY more. Also, please no Smart. Please
Smart is the better player right now no question. Better handler, better playmaker, better defender, more savvy, playoff experience, instincts, edge. Shooting 3’s isn’t the end all be all as we have discussed Castle on this forum ad nauseum. Smart fits the culture and brings a psychological edge that haa been a void since Brooks left. This is a good move for Houston.
Don’t forget the stellar defense of the great Ryan Bowen. (honorable mention : Rod Strickland & Charlie Ward
Joe is not “better”. He doesn’t get in the paint because he isn’t a dribble drive guy. He is a catch and shoot and cut guy. If people want a guy that can create, Joe isn’t it. Most of his scoring is three pointers from catch and shoots. He doesn’t give you playmaking or passing. And besides he isn’t a point guard. Different positions different roles. He isn’t what the Rockets need at this moment. We already have guys that can shoot the 3 but can’t drive on this team. Doesn’t matter if Joe is a very good 3 pt shooter. The team needs a backup point and Smart fits the team’s identity and culture. I thought Rockets should have acquired him couple years ago
I’m a soft no on this one, depending on who else is brought in. Smart can defend, and while streaky, he’s probably a better spot up 3 point shooter now than most on this roster. However he’s not a playmaker and creator. Thats the real issue and talent that’s lacking on this roster. If this is the only big addition then we are just going to see more of the same of Sengun and KD playing point guard and the same disaster of an offense. Turnover city. And it also looks like FVV might be very limited coming back so I’m not gonna rely on what he was prior to the potentially career ending level injury.
Why would we see more Sengun KD playing point? Smart was a starting PG for many years for Boston. He isn’t a great playmaker but he is still decent and capable of making solid plays as a pg. He still drives and finds open shooters or bigs. He can run high screen and roll and handle point directing both offense and defense. They need the vet leadership, intensity, and pg ability this team lacks. Although he doesn’t shoot this well every game, this video sums up who he is as a player.
how do you know Udoka single handedly wanted these players? Were you in the boardrooms or meetings or phone calls when these discussions went down? Also every good organization and GM consult with the head coach on personnel decisions. Masai Ujiri: “I think they should take part in how we select these players because at the end of the day, they are the ones coaching these guys,” Ujiri said. “We (he, GM Mike Schmitz and the scouting department) are the ones that do all the work with the background, the research, the type of players we are going to work with. “A coach’s job is to focus on the game and winning games. But big decisions, types of players you get, style of play, sometimes their personalities, we have to bring those to coaches and say: here is all the information about this player. The kind of player he is, the kind of person. So the coach plays a part.”
I remember posting some trade ideas before the 2024 draft that bleacher report either stole or came up with same but one was #3 for Marcus Smart + #9 (Zach Edey) Hou fans called me dumb, ironically Marcus Smart was lighting Reed up 2 years later. The other was #3 for Alex Caruso + #11(Matas Buzelis) Got hate for that one too, either would have gotten us past the first round by now. The over rating the long term potential, refusing to include in trades, and drafting based off of aesthetic jump shots on both #3 overall picks was the biggest mistake of the rebuild.
I assume if we pick up Smart FVV is going out in another deal. Despite all my complaining about signing old injury-prone guys, I don't utterly hate the idea of Smart on this team if he's exclusively a bench veteran for around 15 minutes per game. I think there are better options for backcourt depth, but I don't hate it. I do hate the idea of Marcus Smart being a starter on this team. If the guard rotation was like [actual starting-caliber point guard] / Reed Sheppard / Marcus Smart / Bruce Thornton, whereas the starting caliber guy is like, Jamal Murray, Darius Garland, Dejounte Murray, Keyonte George, Ryan Rollins, somebody who's actually good and in his 20s, I can roll with that I guess. But I'm expecting to be disappointed and instead roll into the season with a slightly remixed version of the same problems we had last season. Prove me wrong Stoney
there’s winning players in the league and GM’s know this. Caruso, Smart, Josh Hart, Draymond, Alverado etc help teams win with attention to detail, intensity, and effort. Their energy and attitude is contagious and those guys are invaluable. A lot of fans on this site seem to overlook that. Example: many wrote brooks off as a scrub but now miss him
Had similar thoughts. Smart makes a lot of sense as a rotation guard if you also have Reed and Thornton in that mix, and your primary perimeter on ball guy is somebody other than FVV. Smart, as an aggressive defending big guard who can comfortably handle ball pressure when needed, matches well with Reed in those minutes. The FVV question looms.
