[ClutchFans] Jabari Smith steals show in Rockets preseason opener

It was like that last year too. With Bruno in our offense clicked better!!

 

Bruno will not be starting for this team. If they are trying to win, Favors will be the backup center until he is traded and Bruno will get trash time minutes.

 

You want to tank a 3rd season to chase an injury prone Wemby? I don't understand.

We have so much talent on this team that they'll have trouble figuring out how to distribute the minutes.

As the cliche goes "a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush". There is no way to predict if the next draft picks will amount to anything. We literally have 5-6 players that could grow into a franchise player. Surely, at least one of them will live up to that.

Tari Eason is looking like the Dramond Greene type of steal.

KPJ is just coming into his 2nd season as a starting PG, and his rookie contract is up soon, right? Wouldn't surprise me he beasts out this year.

Green, Sengun, Smith plus others.

Literally, any of these dudes could develop into the franchise cornerstone for a decade ...based on what we've already seen in the NBA. I see no need to chase unproven talent at this point.

This could be the next Golden State Warriors team that develops together into a dynasty. I'm excited to let them play and see what we got.

/rant

 

Great write up as usual.

 

Eason, Smith, green, and sengun are definately keepers. i hope KPJ beasts out this year so we can ship him out at the deadline for two first round picks. Look, i like the kid, he's a nice player, but he aint no star and definately not no franchise player. He'll never be a star, he's basically what he is, a good iso scorer who needs space with shaky handles, a combo guard. My prediction is that he'll be one of those hired guns for most of his career. he can put up numbers in the right system. He doesn't have the handles to iso against a double team, much less a great individual defender. He's a bench player on any contender. He benefits from the space that Gordon, green, and even sengun gives him. He's the most replaceable out of those five. Combo guards aren't that hard to find. there's new players like him all the time in the NBA.

So if you're asking me if i'm ok being a mediocre team for ten years cuz we want to bloat this dude's stats and next contract at the risk of losing out on a generational talent, the answer is HELL NO. He aint going to bring us to the promised land. Steve francis was a nice player too. so was sleepy floyd.

and it aint just wemby, its scoot too. Look at the kids highlight reals, now that's a point guard.

 

Why you spending half your post on KPJ? He's just one of our prospects.

I look at it this way, just look at the odds.

I say one of the players on the current roster turns into a franchise worthy player is at least 50% (I'd say higher) since we already have seen them play in the NBA.

Odds of getting the #1 pick in the draft is 14% (13.4% of 2nd).
Looking at the years between 2012-1992:
Odds of getting an all-star (80%)
Odds of getting a HOF caliber player (30%)

So if we tank, the odds of getting Wemby and he turns into an allstar is 11.2% (or 4.2% he turns into a HOF). And I'm not even calculating the odds that he reaches those heights on the team that actually drafts him as many of those players get traded.

Wemby could turn out to be a Kenyon Martin or Andrew Bogut that is good, but worth a #1? Worse, could be Olowokandi or Kwame Brown. Or could be a Greg Oden and gets hurt early in his career as Wemby does have injury concerns.

I say, go to battle with this squad and see what they have. No way I'm tanking at this point.

When did I mention being mediocre for 10 years? That's a strawman argument. Why do you assume that's the outcome?

 

While I am condoning playing Smith and Green a lot (i.e., if the Rockets tank, it isn't going to be to the level of some teams), this math assumes Wemby is the only player worth tanking. Injury is the primary risk with Wemby. Also, tanking doesn't cause the Rockets young players to be erased from existence (though it will cost some development time).

I expect the Rockets will try to develop their young players which will for most purposes be a lot like tanking and is just a semantics argument. When Green and Smith are off the court, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rockets throw out some junk lineups. The Rockets front office is not going to round out the roster with easy to be obtained vets (I don't even see Favors playing much) that can help this team win games (i.e., the Rockets will be tanking, but likely not to a big extent of some teams).

 

I disagree. The result may look similar but the path you took to get there is very different. So no, that distinction is very very different than semantics.

Sorta like the argument that extreme Fascism and extreme Communism look about the same in the end. However, the path you took to get there is dramatically different. That difference is in your mindset and intent which manifests in very different ways along the path.

But hey, to each their own. Seems plausible to get ~25 wins this year. Year 2, 35-40 wins. Year 3, 45+ and in playoff contention. That seems plausible. It's super rare to skip from <20wins to 50 wins.

Tanking this year with <20wins, means we are still 3 years away from being a legit playoff team to acquire Wemby with an extremely low probability of a desirable outcome. Doesn't make sense to me. If no current player emerges as the franchise player, you chalk it up to bad luck and go from there. Every year there is always that player. If Zion were coming out next year, you'd be saying the same thing about him ...and how is that working out? At some point, you gotta pony up and go. Now is that time.

 

David Robinson
Shaq O’Neal
Lebron Jamnes

All of those teams took major leaps after they drafted those generational type players. The Rockets may eventually become elite with this current core, but generational talent is generational talent.

Also as is, they’re still 2-3 years away. And there’s nothing wrong with that… these guys are young AF.

 

Not every generational talent leads teams to turnarounds instantly. Look at KD or Giannis their first couple of years. Both on **** teams and they stayed **** for a bit until they got better.

 

The point was that it happens… not that it happens every time.

 

Looked it up, even the Shaq and Lebron teams failed to make the playoffs in their rookie seasons, albeit they each had significantly improved records.

David Robinson indeed led the Spurs to a deep playoff run his rookie season, but he was also a 24yo rookie so that's a unique scenario, which doesn't apply to Wemby.

Are you suggesting that Wemby is a generational player the likes to Shaq and Lebron? How do you know he won't be a Greg Oden?

 

The thing about almost every generational player that makes immediate impact their rookie year like Shaq or Lebron, they have one trait in common. At their young age they could push around grown men.

Wemby if he is going to be a generational superstar, it ain't going to be like Lebron or Shaw where he instantly impacts games because he has similar issues that Chet does. He will get pushed around.

 

I can agree with this.... however I DON'T want to see KPJ beasting anything. Worst thing for this team is him trying to show why he deserves a max.

 

Jason Kidd was 6'4", 210 and helped the Mavs improve by 23 games (yet still missed the playoffs his rookie season).

Expecting any rookie to come in and quickly flip a team to be a playoff contender is asinine.

 

What if the Rockets can pull off a S&T?
What if he transforms as a perfect complimentary player with Green and Smith?

Let me drop some deep financial wisdom on you right here. Wait for it. More valuable assets are better than less valuable assets. Your welcome.

 

Best case scenario for Rox is the Thunder 2009/10 season. They had KD (3rd year), Russ(2nd year), and Harden (rookie) and won 50 games and made the playoffs after struggling during KD and Russ's rookie seasons. It wasn't until that 3rd piece (a rookie) where they found success.

As I said best case, KPJ (4th year), Jalen(2nd year), and Tari/Bari (rookie) seasons all line up and they are what we think they are then they will compete. Especially with Gordon and Tate providing that veteran roles.

I'm not saying that KPJ = KD, Jalen = Russ, Tari/Bari = Harden/Ibaka but only that the rebuild timeline is very similar.

However you could argue that the roles are very similar even if the timelines are different, for example, KPJ=Harden, Jalen=KD, Tari/Bari=Ibaka/Russ. Playmakers, Scorers, Defenders, all very similar roles.

 

Still too young. KD third year is a MVP level player. We are hoping Green third year can at least be top 15. That would be Jabari's second year also so that is when I think they can make a push for 45 plus wins.

 

i pretty much agree that's why i said best case. realistically we are 35 wins plus or minus 4 games.

 

Jabari Smith steals show in opener…













…and was never heard from again.