Is anyone slightly concerned about there being enough playing time for all the rookies? While christopher will most likely spend most of his time in the G-League..Sengun and Garuba will primarily be backups I imagine. The only thing i'm slightly confused about, is since winning isnt as important this year or next, why not just allocate the center minutes between garuba and wood with sengun at the 4? Our defense within the front court stinks which is why the theis signing makes sense, but wouldnt it maybe be better for garuba and sengun to hv as much playing time as possible? Since winning isnt as much a goal? Please dont flame me, just an honest thought. For what its worth i think the theis signing will help us win games and his defense was needed, just worried about playing time for the bigs.
Not at all .... The Rockets only have 4 big men in Wood , Theis , Sengun & Garuba. There's plenty of time for 4 players across those two spots and still time for KMj to spend some time at the 4 spot too. As for the guards .... Porter's gonna get his minutes at the point , likely splitting those minutes with Wall while Augustin will play on the nights Wall sits. Green & Christopher are SG's with EG and Khyri Thomas .... I expect Green & EG get the bulk of those minutes while Thomas gets the leftovers & Christopher in the G-League. Tate , KMj & House will get the minutes at the 3 spot. Not concerned at all with playing time .....
The thing is if you are serious about player devt you want some vets there playing with rookies, you dont want 15 rookies on the court cuz they dont understand wtf is going on, esp for Garuba and Sengun they are foreigners and Sengun isnt fully fluent in English as well. PT for rookies is good but they also need some vets they can learn good habits via osmosos and example. Thats why I like the Theis signing and would prefer we keep EG around.
That's a really good point you bring up..id still like wall to be traded or EG tho...so christopher eventually gets some PT
Wall aint gonna be traded at his salary. EG is still decent value for what he brings and is a good role model imo.
Rookies aren't guaranteed to "develop" just because you play them. Plenty of rookies fail to develop and bust, most actually. Playing alongside and learning from vets gives them a better chance at success than running around like chickens. For someone like Sengun, who has the iq to play defense but lacking some quickness, it would be invaluable to learn from Theis for the next 3-4 years.
I am going to assume the following starting lineup to begin the season, with the minutes they played last year in parentheses: PG - Wall (1288) SG - Gordon (789) SF - Tate (2043) PF - Wood (1326) C - Theis (1601) I would probably assume that KPJ starts at SG, with Gordon off the bench and KPJ sliding to PG to spell Wall. I'm also not sure if Theis would start, but just indulge me for a minute. With an 82 game schedule back this year, there will be 3936 regular minutes available for each position. Subtracting what each of the above players had last year, the remaining minutes for each position would look like this: PG - (2648) SG - (3147) SF - (1893) PF - (2610) C - (2335) To see how that averages over the season: PG - 32 minutes per game SG - 38 minutes per game SF - 23 minutes per game PF - 32 minutes per game C - 28 minutes per game Again, that is what would be available at each position, on average. While that starting lineup may not be exactly right, I expect Wall and Gordon to get as much playing time as possible to start the season. This will give the rookies time to get adjusted. The plan has to be to wait for injuries to another team to bring them to our door looking for a trade. Barring that, someone is eventually going to get injured. History suggests that it's likely going to be Wall, Gordon or Wood... and quite possibly all three. So while we might want to try to ease the rookies in, it's pretty obvious that they are going to get their fair share of minutes one way or the other.
I have expressed my opinion on this issue elsewhere. In my opinion, throwing all rookies on the court at once would end their careers before they even started. First of all, as you said, assuming that the Rockets won't be a competitive team like last year, this means that the team can take a series of losses in a row. This can be quite discouraging for rookies. Think of it this way, you put a 19-year-old kid from Spain or Turkey or anywhere into an ambience that he has never been to before. They can play badly, they can make mistakes. Because they are not used to this ambience. But what if their self-confidence is broken as a result of these mistakes? Everything could be even worse. Contrary to what some say, Theis's move quite correct for me. Theis has improved a lot in recent years and he has a lot to add to Sengun especially in defense. Under his mentorship, Sengun will improve his defense even more. You can't expect rookies to thrive in a non-competitive environment if you don't get veterans like that in front of them and put them in competition. Also, Theis always has trade value. You can find a buyer for him whenever you want.
On veterans, having them play instead of rookies only helps if they are better than the rookies/young players. I expect Green will start. Sengun depends on his defense on where and when he plays. I expect Usman to be a rotation player day 1 likely off the bench with Theis starting while I expect Sengun NBA minutes will start slow and then increases significantly by mid season. Christopher seems G League bound with a wait and see on when he's ready. I see Theis or Usman to be on the floor with Sengun or Wood to keep Sengun and Wood off the tougher defensive matchups.
Rookies struggle. Even when they are good rookies they go through stretches where someone figures out how to exploit them and they take some time to adjust. You dont want to be forced to keep them on the court when they are being embarassed. That is traumatic. You need to have the ability to play a full game with the rookies on the bench.
If the Rockets were a playoff team, I would be all about rookies earning their PT in practice. The Rocket are not that, so I am fine with "guaranteeing" each of the four rookies 5-10 minutes per game and letting them earn more PT from game and practice time effort.
I would not like rookies only getting 5-10 minutes a night. I'd rather they be getting 30 mpg in the G League for a few weeks (or longer if needed) to get more time on the court than that.
I think for this team the priority is developing the young players - so you play them for the amount, that helps them most. Winning is secondary. If it helps Green to play 30 minutes a night, let him play (even if it cuts into Gordens/Walls minutes) - if it helps him more to only play 10 minutes, only play him ten minutes. Personally I would like to see them more - but I am fine with limiting their minutes or sending them to the G-League if it helps.
There’s more than enough playing time for everyone. And players have to earn their minutes. Just throwing a bunch of rookies out there is not smart. They have to learn. And the way they learn is by playing with veteran players. They don’t learn by all playing next to other teenagers.
I wouldn't be surprised if Sengun and/or Garuba begin their careers in the G-League. The Rockets have a strong record of developing talent down there. I think we'll bring them along slowly (though I also wouldn't be surprised if Garuba fights his way into the rotation early with his hustle/D).
There is no reason to send either of them to the G-League because they both came to Houston having played in tougher and better leagues than the G-League. I see Christopher as the only rookie likely to play in the G-League.
