I mean yes there is a logjam of guards. Your post doesn't make sense. Are you saying there isn't between Wall, EG, Green, KPJ and then we finally get into "scrub/12 man" level at the guard position. So ya it's a log jam.
It’s totally possible to do both. Player development happens when you win and teach youngsters how to be efficient and thus win. Wall and EG are assets, both to our team and others, and the more we treat them like that the better the outside offers for them will be come trade deadline time. If players 9-14 in the roster need developmental PT, that’s what RGV is for. Sengun, Christopher, Brooks should probably be getting 30+ mpg there. Garuba in the G league is a joke; he could be putting in rotation minutes for any of the contending teams right this minute with how good his defense is.
3 of those 4 were here last year along with LOLadipo and the Rockets not only had to play Mason Jones Jr for long stretches they actually had to re-sign him to play even more minutes .....after releasing him. I know this is wild but Wall and Gordon may not be able to go 82 games next year like they did last year
I'd gladly take Wall and Gordon missing a significant portion of the season or getting traded before the deadline. Trust me, I'd rather not there be a logjam where there are 30-35 minutes for both KPJ and Green.
Wall has to be all star to garner trade attention across the league. cp3 was an mvp candidate in okc which is why he had value. Russ led the wizards to the postseason after a horrible start. Ain’t nobody trading for wall if the rockets are fighting the number one pick. He had to have positive impact to trade off that contract
This team isn't going to come out of the gate in tank mode just like they didn't last year either. I dont want that for Silas or Stone or any of the players. At worst I want this team to be like those post Yao, McGrady team where they fight hard and give themselves a real chance at making the post season. I do not believe that becoming a perennial loser is the best path to becoming a winner. Especially not with the way the lottery is now. Making the playoffs or even the play in would be huge for this teams growth. And they could add top tier talent through trade or fa. So to answer the question, Silas should play the best players. His rotation should be built with no other goal in mind other than winning. At least to start with out of the gates. If injuries happen or they just suck, then build value and get young guys playing time.
playing wall to increase his trade value i would consider CLEAR CUT example of penny pinching whatever you could get for him, if anything, is soooooo minuscule in comparison with what you could lose if not giving the right players PT. And don't even get me started on the topic of How ugly is the brand of basketball that Johnny the ballhog plays?. Sit him for the season ! trade him next year when he becomes expiring. I guess gordon you could play some minutes in order for the youngsters to have some structure with a strict caveats of: 1. No 35 footers for you!, especially early in the shotclock...and 2. No more than 2 dribbles at a time on your bad dribbling days!
You also pump the value of the rookies by playing them along the way if they develop of course for later.
SMART, you also pump the value of the franchise by playing smart way, I am simply not gonna watch this team if wall is running the show again. I did the same thing last year as soon as I figured out what is happening.
Am I reading this wrong? We only had a 72 game season last year. And Wall and Gordon didn't play 72 games combined.
I don't think you play Wall to increase his value, you play him to increase the value of the players around him. Wall will likely be injured at some point this year. The Rockets need to maximize the time that they have him available. These young guys need an experienced player (and former All-Star) to learn from. He may not be as good as he once was, but I think having a more talented cast will help him, too. I think we should go into every game trying to win. It's not going to always happen. In fact, this year, it's not going to happen more often than it does. When Wall an Gordon ultimately get hurt, the young guys will be forced to step up and apply what they've been learning. They will be better for it. It still is not likely to lead to a ton of wins. And the expiring contracts of Wall and Gordon should be most valuable by just letting them expire. An expiring contract is valuable when a team going nowhere has an expensive star signed long-term and they want to start over. To get that star, a team needs to give an expiring contract of similar value and attach additional assets such as future picks. If a situation like that arises, a lot will depend on who the player is and how long they are signed. But if that situation arises next summer, we will have only had one year to evaluate this year's draft class. We will know how well they progressed through the year, but we won't know how much they improve from one year to the next, who is on an upward trajectory, who is working to improve in the offseason, etc. I would rather wait until 2023 and let the contracts expire. Then you will have more information on Wood, Tate, the rookies, etc. and you will have room for two max contracts. You can target the free agents that best fill your weak spots instead of just being opportunistic with who was available when you were trying to trade your expiring contracts, and you will still have your future picks. What I am trying to say is... be patient. I'm not against trading them if it makes sense, but Wall and Gordon are not going to hurt this team by playing this year. I believe they have the ability to help this team the most by actually staying through the end of their contracts.
Effort and situation can change a lot as to perception and performance. After the Harden trade the Rockets went 8-4 over the next 12 games. The team proceeded to go 6-45 the rest of the way. Now I am by no means saying we are, or were, 8-4 good, but the 6-45 was inflated by a team that realized they were playing for nothing and made no honest effort whatsoever. Wall at the end of the 8-4 stretch was shooting 44%, taking 15 shots per game and had a positive on floor impact. After a rough stretch things spiraled, Wall being the worst offender. He stopped playing PG, became a chucker and like everybody else abandoned any effort on defense. We saw really good basketball from Wall to start last season, so I don't think its a pipe dream to think we could see good ball from him this season. At least good enough that some other team will be willing to take him without costing us assets. Frankly, I think on a team trying to win, with talent, he could still be a really good player.
My opinion - play Wall and Gordon until the trade deadline. Half a season of those guys getting 30-35 minutes a game isn't going to really affect the development of 19 year olds. (As long as Silas doesn't have MDA's aversion to giving any time to rookies). Let them play some of course, but if those two guys look at least pretty good, that will increase their trade value. There will be injuries in the league to major players on competitors, and you need to show that those guys have value for the long term of our franchise. If we get to the trade deadline and aren't able to get something valuable for one or both of them, have a team announcement that they ran into each other during practice and both injured their knees and will be out the rest of the season
I think it is a dangerous thing to not play guys who are top performers even if they don't fit the long term plans. For example, if Wall is beating KPJ up in practice, but KPJ is given the starting job and minutes at PG, you have a couple potential negative consequences: 1) Does KPJ develop some entitlement now that negatively trickles into the locker room? 2) Does KPJ feel like he "earned" it and is actually the right guy to control the team? 3) Does the team start to lose faith that winning ball games is the goal of the organization, and develop negative associations with being a Houston Rocket? I am a big SF 49ers fan, and we have this same dilemma with Trey Lance vs. Jimmy Garoppolo. It seems to make the most sense to me to give Trey the starting job ONLY when the rest of the team can see that he has clearly earned that spot. That way he can step into the QB role as the clear deserving guy, allowing him to be seen as a valid leader on and off the field. I want the same thing for the Rockets. Once the whole team can clearly see that the young guys deserve those minutes, the young guys then have been set up for success as the deserving leaders of the team. Too much minute manipulation invites the potential for unintended consequences IMO.
Obviously to let the old vanguard retire. Lebron James turns into part owner of Lakers and GM. Durant’s ankle breaks off. James Harden gets a Kardashian pregnant, Giannis stays, our top picks turn into Baby Michael Jordan, Baby Kobe, Baby Kevin Love, James Harden, and Baby Hakeem (2022 lottery pick).
EG needs a lot of burn out of the gate so folks can see how much he still has left ...when healthy. Then dealt ASAP to the highest bidder. (before another injury) Forget about waiting until the deadline. Lots of minutes available for the youngins once he's gone. I prefer to deal Wall as an expiring next year. We know JW won't play more than half a season anyway. And, he won't be cutting into KPjr's minutes... That said, IF the right deal came down the pike I would consider it this year. I'm not giving away picks to unload him at this point though. We need smaller contracts that are expiring or easily dealt.
