How would you grade the 1st Qtr of the season? I think no one on this roster deserves an "A", but there are a couple of "B's", "C's" and "D's". Green - B / Been great, need more consistency Porter - C / Too up and down Gordon -D / needs to be traded Smith - C / Just now starting to come on Bruno - D / Been injured Bench Alpi - C / need more like the last game Tari - B / been great but miss too many layups KJ - B / awesome start, needs to improve hands Garuba - B/ love the defense and hustle Nix - D/ SMH, who does he know? Matthews -C/ what took so long? JC - D/ needs to find a new home TyTy- D/ nothing thus far
It's ok to throw an A in there somewhere.. Garuba- A- Green- B+ KMJ- B- Eason- B Sengun- B KPJ- C+ Bari- C- ... was an F until recently Everyone else : who cares!
Based on expectations before the start of the season: Green - B+ / has had a few rough games which is to be expected for a second year player. But otherwise has improved from last season so far. He's already at that Zach Lavine level and will only get better. I could have sworn I was watching a young MJ last game when he sized his man up with a triple threat, before doing a pull back change of direction two dribble pull-up fade. With similar hang-time to that of "His Airness" himself no less. Expect him to get an A or A- by the end of the season. Jabari - C+ / compared to all the hype and talk of being #1 on every "experts" mock draft, he has been underwhelming. Our most productive lineups have been with him off the floor which is disappointing. However, he has been playing much better these last few games. The shot has been slowly improving. It is supposed to be his main strength afterall. And he doesn't take s*** from anybody, just ask Murray. That toughness is exactly what this team needs. If he can keep up the steady shot making he'll quickly get to a B. KPJ - C+ / I knew he was still going to struggle with playmaking but I expected him to be a better shooter and finisher at the rim this season. During the off-season, we were hearing that he was focused on improving those areas. That doesn't seem to have translated on the court so far. New contract in hand, everyone has mixed opinions about him. Hard to tell if he will be a part of this teams future. Sengun - B+ / would you believe he's putting up similar numbers to Evan Mobley? (who many wanted to take over Green) post moves are as crisp as ever, passing still as sharp as his rookie campaign. Would like to see him demand the ball more often when he has position in the post. And if he can add some form of a decent shot, even just being able to pick and pop, I would give him an A- Gordon - B- / most want EG gone. And I agree that he should move on to open up minutes for our young guys. But when he has been on the court, he still shows that he has some "splash" Gordon left in the tank. He makes some much needed 3's and can still get past many a defender for an easy layup at the rim. KJ - B+ / Do not trade. I repeat do not trade. I must admit I wasn't very high on KJ coming into the season. We all knew he could GET UP but the man seems to be getting more athletic as time goes by. After a bit of a down year last year, he continues to make it hard for Silas to keep him off the floor. Tari - B /Tari Ferrari or "Peso" as his mom likes to call him is the reincarnation of the Energizer bunny. A put back machine he always knows where to be when a teammate misses. The team has a different identity when he's in and rubs off the energy he brings. Not much he can't do for a player at his position. Consider him the steal of the draft. Garuba - B+ / coming into the season a 2022 FIBA EuroBasket champion, Usman had to show all the doubters that he could also play in the NBA. And man has he been providing them wrong. The defense, energy, intensity, rebounding all there, but who would have thought he would be making his free throws and wide open 3's. Off course it's a very small sample size and he's not out of the woods yet. But this is what the Rockets were hoping for when they drafted him. Nix - D- / The new tank commander has been one of the first off the bench for reasons no one will ever know. Makes boneheaded plays such as trying to score on two players at the rim even though teammates are open, looses the ball half the time he drives, no effort on D, and one donut away from becoming a spectator. Send him back to the G-league and call up TyTy. Garrison Matthews - C+ / Garry Bird hasn't seen many minutes until these last few games but even though white men can't jump, they can still shoot. And shoot he does. Garry Bird never thinks twice and will let it fly before you can blink an eye. May see him more when players get into foul trouble or miss time due to injury. Haven't seen enough of the rest to form a decently strong opinion about them.
All Fs unless we're grading on a curve based on their experience. I might give Tari/Garuba Ds for being our only players that defend.
Tari needs to get his **** together when it comes to basic layups With Jabari finally making strides KPJ needs to start trying to play make a little more
If we are being HONEST ... The only players playing up to expectations are Green, Segun, Tari and KMJ. I don't even consider Gordon's play at all because he should not be a Rocket at this point. KPJ's problems are still exactly the same as his problems from last season. Garuba shows great signs but needs more playing time to see if he can be a consistent difference-maker. Jabari is much worse than advertised to the point we're happy with 6/17 shooting games BUT plenty of time to turn it around. And everyone else is just unremarkable which makes sense and is why we are one of the worst teams in the league this year.
C for Sengun? More like last game putting up a stat line less than 20 players have ever put up in the ENTIRE history of the NBA?? sure ok
It's relative to experience, role, and expectation. I can give one player an A and another guy a D even though the D is a better player than the A. Like...I could give Zach Lavine a D, he's been pretty disappointing this year compared to how he's been the past few years, whereas I would give Garuba a B+, but obviously Zach Lavine is a way better player right now than Garuba. Anyway, on to my grades: Jabari: D+ Jalen: B KPJ: C- Gordon: D Fernando: B+ Tari: A+ Garuba: B+ Sengun: A- KJ Martin: A- Nix: F Matthews: C-
Grading on a curve lol. Anyways if Jalen Green was doing what he was doing at 28 with 9 years of NBA experience his grade would be much lower right?
Green - C Porter - D Gordon - F Smith - D Bruno - I Bench Alpi - C Tari - B KJ - A Garuba - B Nix - D Matthews - D JC - D TyTy - I Boban - A
Sengun with a C? Really? Not many 20 year olds have averaged 15 and 9 and been considered average. Green A Sengun A Garuba A Martin B+ Tari B+ Gordon B Fernando B Porter B- Smith B- Matthews - C Christopher - C Nix C Washington - Incomplete Boban - Incomplete
Bdb arguments are bad when it comes to Sengun. Yes his stats are amazing but something must have happened in training camp because Silas didn't start him because Silas is very smart....so B-....
Inconclusive, many are finding their footing as winning NBA players. When the team is winning close to 0.500 I would like grading them much better. Now the grades are just about improvement and potential than a full package.
