How Rockets will be under 0.500 in 2022-23 season?

Yes, the Rockets saw some qualities in a *young SG from OKC and gave
him on the job training as a Point Guard slash combo guard......Harden.

Now they are training Porter to do the same. Christopher is also being trained
up. And people shouldn't be fooled by experts that rated TyTy as the 2nd
best Point Guard (behind Ivey) coming out of college. TyTy is more SG
than PG......but I look forward to seeing him in PnR. See if he's as good
as advertised.

Harden started with us in 12/13 and had:
Beverley, Delfino, Francisco Garcia, Terrence Jones, Lin, D-Mo, Parsons, Pat Patterson

Bev, TJ and D-Mo were rooks....so similar situation as KPj....but Harden had some
experience running point for OKC as backup; older than KPj.

Harden:
12/13: 5.8 Ast.....4.9 rebs...3.8 TOV's
13/14: 6.1 Ast.....4.7 rebs...3.6 TOV's

So Josh Christopher be in continued training....as would Scoot Henderson
_______________

I posted (early last season) that KPj/Green together wasn't working like Harden/Lin wasn't
working.....Rockets needed to separate them.... preferably concentrate on Porter learning
PG skills first. Then I said sit Porter and let Green learn PG.

Rockets kinda did my advice by sticking Green in the corner. Porter did improve so
I said the Rockets should probably shut down Porter. Instead they gave Porter a
lesser role so that Green could get his groove on.

Here are how the stats look:
Porter
Year.....pts.....rebs......Ast.....TOV's......3P%.....FT%......FG%
21/22:..15.6.....4.4.........6.2........3.1.........37.5.....64.2......41.5

Last 38
Games:.17.3....4.4.........6.4........2.7.........39.5.....66.7.......44.3

Last 21
Games:.19.5.....5.1.........6.4........2.6.........37.0....71.2.......44.2

basketball-reference.com projects KPjr (22/23):
...............18.2.....5.1.........6.8.......3.4..........37.4....68.2......43.2
[ My Projections ]
..............20........5.5........7.8......2.4.........37.6....71.8......45.5



____________


So then we talk about traded at trade deadline:
If Porter is getting near projections (by some and me) and the
Rockets don't want to pay $20M to $30M because of past
incidents (none this upcoming season)......then fans may
be pissed that they trade Porter when they have a reported
$71M to spend (yes $9M cap hold set for Porter)

If half the Rockets brass don't trust Porter now.....I doubt they will
at the trade deadline. But that would be great if they do and match
any offers.

I don't like the idea of training up another SG.....but I feel true PG's
are irrelevant nowadays. The 1 better be able to rebound and defend.

 

you pose interesting questions for discussion but I think you can’t just formulate your assessment based on comparative stats between Curry and Porter. Curry makes better decisions with the ball in terms of decisiveness on the dribble drive or creating seams for team mates which is superior to Porter. He also doesn’t hold the ball 6+ seconds as much as Porter. Besides Green runs the point in many sets and on the break.

Todays guards have morphed from traditional roles its true but the pg skillset still needs to be there to run point. And to your point that teams are playing more combo guards I don’t know if that’s the case especially when you look at the playoff teams. Morant, Lowry, Luka, Trey, CP3, Jrue, Lonzo are all traditional pg’s or have that skillset. With the exception of Raptors, Celtics and I think Wolves who played Russell at point most of the playoff teams had a player who was very skilled at handling, distributing and playmaking including Draymond as I already mentioned. Kerr didn’t have to handle the ball as Pippen played point or MJ took it himself at times. It’s whoever has the skillset on the team.

Boston has issues in my opinion without a true point as their offense is very stagnant with two SG/SF guys and combo guard in Smart.

 

Harden 3rd season: 21.1 PER, 66% TS, 9.3 WS (0.23/48 if you prefer that), +4.3 BPM, while shooting 49/39/85 splits
KPJ 3rd season: 13.5 PER, 53% TS, 0.8 WS (0.021/48), -1.6 BPM, while shooting shooting 42/38/64 splits

 

Why would I prefer Harden stats at age 22 who played next to Durant, Westbrook, Dereck Fisher, Ibaka, Kendrick
Perkins....that team finished 1st in their division?

You want me to compare Porter to that? Age 21 (21/22 season)....as some podcasts
have noted, Kevin Porter jr is about 3 months older than rookie Keegan Murray.

I'm not saying Porter will be Harden.....just that there can be seen
progression in players just learning how to play PG in the NBA.
Porter first year at PG was this past season.

 

i cant either. Where’s the catch

 

No doubt, but Curry isn't playing PG for the first time either.

Yes, I've said in the past that Curry, Morant, Trae Young are the exceptions because
they are exceptional scorers that offset their defensive liabilities. Shooting range from
mid court.... Luka does as well.

Luka demands 4 players key on him.......and how many rebounds does he secure? Like 9?

So yeah, unless you got a Durant, Giannis, Dray, Scottie Barnes in your pocket....
Rockets may have to go combo guard for the near future.

 

this thread's readers be all like

 

So, you're saying @Ankara1923 is the Bania of CF?

That's gold, Os, gold!

 

Rockets will be within 5 games of .500 by all star break.

 

To be fair, I'd expect us to be above .500 if KPJ, Green, and Sengun average 70 ppg collectively.

 

Yeah, if that happens then at least two of those guys are way ahead of schedule from a development standpoint if not all three. But the likelihood of that happening is crazy low. I appreciate OP's optimism, but he's definitely jumping the gun a bit with his predictions.

 

Those four will likely combine for something closer to 65 then 80. Young talent takes a few years to evolve. Jabari isn't going to put up big offensive numbers his rookie year partly because he's not the center of the offense like many other rookies, and partly because at 19 he's not going to be that good. He's 3-4 years away from seeing his offensive game blossom. And that's likely true for a lot of young guys.

Green and KPJ are the current two guys who can give you close to 20 a night, and even that would be a lot to see from them as a pair. You have to remember how many possessions get lost on turnovers and how poor offensive rebounding will also impact shot attempts.

This is a really young team. They will lose a lot more games than you think. Not because they aren't talented, but because usually you don't see this many young players on a team all at once.

 

For comparison's sake, Lebron/Wade/Bosh only averaged 70+ ppg once, their first season together.

 

Yeah, frankly the likelihood of the three of them EVER averaging 70+ in a season combined is super low. Even if Green reaches superstar status and is averaging 27-28 a night in a few years and KPJ gets to that 22-23 range (which seems pretty unlikely), they'd still need another 20 out of Sengun. In the history of the league, I wonder how many times a single team has had three separate players average at least 20+ in a season—that has to be pretty rare.

 

shiiiiiiiiiite, Sengun is already way better than LeBron will ever be

 

Individually*

 

Higher ceiling than Josh Smith even.

 

over 500? We’d be contenders. Does any other team in the league have 3 guys combining to score 70 points?

 

There is no way that those 3/4 guys get 70-80 points lol. KPJ will average under 20, Alp ~14-17ppg. The only way this is not a bottom 3 team is if someone we have seen very little of just somehow is a super star and carries the team. As in Tari Eason is one of those fluke mid firsts and turns into Giannis or Kawhi level good. Other than that, I would expect to win 3-4 more games than last season. If EG is traded, I would expect to win around the same amount as last season. Keep in mind Wood is gone, and the last 2 seasons he was a big part of both 6 game win streaks, he was the best player in those small stretches. I am not a fan of Wood, but that fools gold contributed to some wins.