I think the starting point guard position should be open competition between Reed and Smart...let's see if Reed improved his dribbling and decision making this off-season
You are an optimist and it's fine. I'm used to be accused of being an optimist during the Silas years. Now I'm supposedly a whiner, because I absolutely hate this roster construction and the moves this FO is making. There's room for both viewpoints. What else is a sports forum for, if not for debate. Rah, Rah, Rah gets boring pretty quick.
The team had a good record with Reed starting, so I would put him out there. The problem was when things started to fall apart, there was nobody with experience to steady the ship. Having someone like Smart off the bench and to help close games would do wonders for this team, whether it’s Fred starting or Reed. My biggest fear is that they jettison both DFS and FVV to get under the tax and don’t replace them with legitimate rotation players. That would be unforgivable.
Smart needs to come off the bench, for sure. Reed needs major minutes for his development or at least to see what we have in him. I'd hate to lose him without finding out.
Can promise that every internal expectation is that Fred will be fully cleared and ready to go by camp. Lots of optimism on his medicals and has hit a couple key milestones in recent days. With that said, I could maybe see the case for starting Smart to limit Fred's minutes early on... but I'm personally skeptical because then you'd be really small with both Fred and Reed playing in your second units. So my guess is either Fred or Reed starts to break that duo up as much as you can. Smart is primarily being looked at as a defensive wing, i.e. a second attempt at replacing Dillon (the first was the DFS disaster). They do like that Smart can handle the ball and that's valuable insurance, but much more of a secondary motivation than a primary. IMO, you start Fred because Fred/Sengun and Reed/Adams feel like the more optimal pairings. It's been kinda forgotten, but a huge part of Reed's incredible start last season was playing off Adams' screens. Took him a while to adjust once Steven got hurt.
I could care less about who they put on the court this year if they got something useful for the future for all our geriatrics.
Reed is a bust if he can't win out the starting role against injured FVV and old Smart. Imagine the Spurs not starting Castle over Smart and FVV
Not really sure what to expect. Assuming FVV is reasonably healthy... FVV, Amen, Durant, and Sengun are locks with current roster. I'd start Smart if like last season. I'd guess JSJ starts. FVV, Smart, Amen, Durant, Sengun is the lineup I expect to close right now most often. I'm expecting Reed, Smart or Amen, Tari, JSJ or Durant, and Adams lineups as Reed's top lineup in minutes. Thinking FVV, Amen or Smart, Tari or JSJ, Durant (or Tari or JSJ), and Sengun are possible bench lineups without Reed. I also expect to see some FVV and Reed lineups to give Reed some lineups with 4 shooters.
Again, I’m left with the same question: Why, in the year of our Lord 2026, do we have so many BRICKLAYERS on the roster?!?!
Much of the downfall of this team from a leadership perspective is due to arrogance IMO. In this case of "why so many bricklayers?" it's arrogance that you are special and can make non-shooters shooters because you have cracked some formula nobody else in the league knows how to crack. It's also a combination of the Rockets developmental staff not being very good, and also thinking they are sooo good that they don't need to draft any more prospects because the ones they already drafted are going to be stars anyways because they are so awesome at evaluating and developing stars. If they at least knew they weren't good at developing players, they would have put more emphasis on drafting more prospects in the hope that more of them were going to pan out on their own instead of needing massive development and support.
Also don't forget that we NOW have the ability to go not only double big with no spacing, to double PG with no spacing or dribbling ability as well. Keep in mind that DeSean Nix is a career 28% shooter from 3, and he also can create turnovers (for the Rockets!) at a fast clip as well. Last season in 4 minutes per game, he managed to get almost 2 turnovers a game in those 4 minutes. Seems like a match made in Ime Udoka heaven!
Don’t forget the double big, double midget lineup Ime ran out there last year. Sengun, Adams, Reed, Holiday.
