Another poster mentioned the Golden State Warriors in another thread. Incredible how winning makes you forget that they had to go through 3 painful years after drafting Curry followed by two just ok seasons in 2013 and 14'. Rebuilding from scratch isn't easy but I like what we're doing, minus not giving more than 18 minutes to Sengun.
no assessment of coach silas? doesn't he also play a crucial part from a player development and future perspective?
Most of these decisions make themselves. Focus on Green, JC, AS, Garoobs. Theis is whatever. His contract is low enough where you could get off his deal pretty easily, so I am not all the worried about it. I never would have signed him, but I don't think it hurts you. Wood and Gordon are obviously trade bait. Although I would have moved Wood at the draft for Davion Mitchell. I feel like we really blew that. Really the only pressing question for me at his time is what to do with KPJ. I am not sold on him personally, as a player, or as a fit. I value him at like a 10-12 million dollar player. He is not a max player or anywhere close. He might be an offseason trade candidate. Other than that, the majority of our brain trust needs to be evaluating the top 5 of the next draft class.
Right, not to belabor the point but if we had drafted him we could have flipped Wood this year for other talent at a position we need, instead of having 5 centers and 5 combo guards
Or you could go with a bigger SF at PF. Covington (C) even excelled at that on that mini line up not too long ago. Spacing only works with the other shooters are 35% or above shooters.
Agreed No one wants him when they think they can get him for free or Unless they can unload some garbage on us. . . and I don't think Stone does that Rocket River
Green, Garuba, Martin, Sengun, and Tate are 5 I'd 100% keep for the future. Porter I'm open to keeping but coming off the bench like Clutch said.
A really nice read, @Clutch. More please! What I especially liked was your mea culpa on Alperen Sengun. I recall @BimaThug trying to tell you not to sleep on the guy and you weren't convinced, but you've owned up to it. Kudos! Sengun may well be the steal of that draft. Major props to Stone for pulling it off, and stealing the talented young Turk from the Thunder is especially sweet.
I do wonder where the FO is on Wood right now. Coming into the season there was this sense of him being the cornerstone of the rebuild and face of the franchise going forward. Do you aggressively shop a player you think that highly of? I don't know. But I hope that was just PR talk and not how they *really* think about him.
Two things: 1 - I don't think we can really tell what the Rockets have in the kids until the vets are moved. Augustin, Gordon, Nwaba, House, and Theis should each be moved by the deadline so that all the available minutes are going to the guys that are the future if the team. Maybe Wood and Tate too... 2 - Whether Silas is the guy to lead the team or not, it seems clear that the 5 out offense is what the Rockets want to run. The implication of this is that the Rockets need bigs who can be credible threats from the promised land. Also, I think that system allows for you to get by with a combo guard in lieu of a traditional 1.
As for the roster: KPJ: Not sure about him being a pg. But in this offense I don't think a traditional pg is needed. So KPJ could be fine if he cuts his turnovers down and if he can play more instinctually. Still think he has 20/6/6 potential which are solid Robin numbers. Green: Always saw Green as more Lavigne than Kobe and that appears much more likely at this point. That's still a 25 ppg scorer so there's no shame there. Has work to do but agree he is the franchise guy right now. Sengun: Starting center for the next decade. See him as a near 20/10 guy in the mold of domantas sabonis. Garuba: I just don't see how he isn't a rotation player once he gets up to speed. I'm confident his floor is backup 4/5 with a chance to start at the 4. Christopher: Again, a rotational player for sure. Could play anywhere from 1-3 I think. Like KPJ, he can play at the 1 in this system. Martin: If he can find his 3 pt shot from last year he could be a starting 3 on this team. If he can't then he gets minutes off the bench as a 3 or small ball 4. That is 6 guys that I think can make up most of a rotation on a good team in the near future. Everyone else I'm not married to at this point. I really, really want to add Jabari Smith to this team as I think he's perfect next to Sengun and the back court. I'm excited to see how these guys progress this year.
For me it’s evaluating who could be part of what could be a really good playoff team in the 2023-24 season where the framework aims to have at least a roster similar to the 2001-2002 Nets who became really good because they had a mix of exciting young talent and acquired Jason Kidd. I hate to bring it up but if there is a potential “coming home in 2023” storyline in our future and I’m sure there will be the hottest of hot takes. However there are a lot of intriguing players that’ll be available that Summer and having young athletic players surrounding a veteran star who can have a field day making highlight passes and ally oops the way Kidd did in 02 while winning a ton of games is an exciting concept. Green, KJ, and Sengun could be a very exciting couple young players not too dissimilar from Kittles, Kenyon Sr., and Van Horn.
First of all, thank you for the write up it was a great read. I just don't see Wall accepting a buyout this year ergo opting out of 47.3 million next year. Wall would have to sign a 4 year 12 million dollar contract just to match equal what he is going to make in the final year of his deal. John Wall at this stage of his career has about the same value as players like Reggie Jackson Ricky Rubio. At best players at their tier are MLE players, which is scheduled to be around 10 mil or so for Non-Tax payers next year. Unless John Wall has an All-NBA type of finish to the end of this season it does not make sense financially for him to opt out.
