Jonathan Feigen: Rockets turn attention to centers in free agency

Stone had a choice.

He chose signing Theis over Olynyk.

 

Yo dude, the organization is carving out a starters spot for him in 2023.

You’re in the minority with your description that indicates his first season was disappointing.

Sengun fans and the organization are on the same page about him deserving more minutes and a starting spot.

YOU have been crying all summer about your fringe, extreme opinion. Take a chill pill and stop gaslighting your rockets brothers and sisters. Just state your opinion, jeez.

 

If he doesn't make a huge jump defensively they will lose 60 games again.

 

Nah, they’ll be ok, and most second year big men make good defensive improvements.

 

Olynyk chose to leave, it was his own choice.

Players go wherever they want to go.

Fans always think the team has a say in unrestricted free agency and if a player stays. That is not the case at all

 

Rockets did not make him a priority signing, they could have. No real effort made to retain him was made.

He loved his role on Rockets.

 

I don't believe his rookie season was a disappointment ..... It went pretty much as expected, He's a very good offensive talent who struggled defensively .

The whole team was expected to struggle defensively because of their overall youth ... and they did just that with the worst defense in the league.

I don't think Sengun has the size / length to play the majority of the minutes at the 5 spot for a quality defensive team. He's got to develop that 3 ball and transition to the 4 spot & play situational minutes at the 5.

 

If everyone around him are 6'6 or under and absolutely terrible defensively, then sure, Sengun will struggle to pick up all of their slack.....but he was one of the best defensive players on the team last year and now that he'll have another big man next to him to help shoulder some of the load.....and hopefully some of the guys who were some of the worst defenders in the NBA last year will develop that part of their game a bit in order to be more than a traffic cone.

Of all the people on the team to worry about defensively, Sengun is pretty much the last person that should be mentioned.

 

They'll probably have to settle for another mediocre center like Theis and overpay him

 

A Sengun/Banchero pairing up front isn't ideal on the defensive end but it's not the worst you can have either. One, these guys are still kids and still have time to get better on defense--they both need consistent starter minutes to get into NBA condition and understand the many nuances of defending in the NBA. The pathway to this team playing average defense isn't improbable, imo:

1. Green needs to improve on defense
2. Sengun needs better conditioning as the starting center
3. Porter continues to make strides with his defense
4. Banchero needs to stay engaged (something our former starting big didn't like to do)
5. Hope that we somehow land an above average to elite small forward

The layup drill defense started in the backcourt and that didn't help matters for Sengun to slide over in help defense thereby leaving his man open.

 

Is that Dikembe?

 

A Green Ivey Porter Jr pairing in the backcourt isn't ideal on the defensive end but it's not the worst you can have either. One, these guys are still kids and still have time to get better on defense--they all need consistent starter minutes to get into NBA condition and understand the many nuances of defending in the NBA. The pathway to this team playing average defense isn't improbable, imo:

1. Green needs to improve on defense
2. Sengun needs better conditioning as the starting center
3. Porter continues to make strides with his defense
4. Ivey just needs to keep improving. The defensive chops are already there.
5. Wait on a big that can defend the rim, switch, and spread the court by nailing 3's.

The layup drill defense started in the backcourt and that didn't help matters for Sengun to slide over in help defense thereby leaving his man open.

And we actually need the defense to be bad for one more season while we play for one more great lottery pick.

 

Well if they are all in on Paolo...



Could this work? I say YES!

KPJ
J Green
Paolo
Sengun
Williams

 

All the things you posted come with experience. All those players will be different by the time they are 25 and with much stronger bodies

 

Segun and, Garuba are 6/8 power fowards with short arms who cant out rebound, and guard true centers. We need a starting center that can be a rim protector.

 

Yup and the one guy that should benefit the most from experience and consistent playing time next season is Sengun. He's a very cerebral player and it didn't help his development last year playing inconsistent minutes while also having to constantly to pick up players driving/diving into the paint.

 

lol ! Gosh I remember the lesser Terrance Jones . He was supposed to be the greater Mo Taylor ….

 

I don't know if you're aware but that post was not @ you.

In any case, I disagree. Sengun often looks more intelligent than 90% of the players on the court, his bball iq is through the roof. He also blocked a shot per 20 minutes. He understands footwork in the post well. I will take that ANY day from a rookie C as a foundation. People here are talking about Jalen Duren who has the bball iq of Shawn Bradley. I understand there are people who want to put Sengun in the "can't be a full time 5 box" but it is clear to me he was better than expected in that area as per projections. Also, if I were Stone and my coach or scout came and told me this, I would fire them on the spot. This is a player who has shown you should develop him more in that area. He's not a player who has shown you should give up on that area.

Sengun's not going to be Rudy Gobert, but people are making him out to be a Domantas or Kanter type which is ridiculous. It's not comparable. Sengun blocked 2 times more shots in half the minutes in his rookie season vs ANY of Sabonis' 6 seasons. That's not his player type.

He is more like a Bogut. He will be fine. So will his 3pt shot, which the coaches are confident in. 25% from 3 and 70% from FT for a rookie who we were told can't shoot is - again - a solid foundation.

He is already a great rebounder, low/high post player, efficient scorer and of course exceptional passer for his experience level. These are common on championship teams and we've never had that. To open a second penetration point on the floor multiplies your offensive options. There is value to it that people won't understand till you surprisingly win more games than you thought you would ala Draymond Green, Al Horford, Andrew Bogut.

 

he had to learn as well. He got lost sometimes on defence and tried to be fancy on offence way more than he should on offence. he will learn as he grows