No, they are not forced to match if a team foolishly offers Jalen a max/near max contract in FRA without him having proved he deserved it by being consistent this season. Yes it would suck to lose him for nothing but it would be better than tying an albatross contract around our necks for a still inconsistent player IF he still shows to be inconsistent this season.
Extending them and Maxing them are two different thing I think if you can extend but not max them . . .you do that Rocket River
The loyalty thing isn’t real. Players sign max deals and demand trades all the time. The team should always look out for its own best interests, ala Philly with maxey.
Although still effective, He did struggle or wasn’t as effective in several games in the latter part of the season as teams camped in the paint waiting for the dribble drive spin or zoned it up against us. Not really just about him but how teams are effective defending our compressed offense. Anyway hopefully he added some new dimensions to his game.
I think the Randle comparison sorta makes sense, actually, if you have a pessimistic view of Senguns potential. Not that they play alike at all, because they don't, but just in terms of tier/value. There's a group of players in the NBA who are very good but don't really fit anywhere. Randle is a perfect example of this, what kind of team would actually want him? He's certainly not good enough to be a franchise player. But if he can't be the best player on the team, then where do you want him? His skillset really isn't complementary, for example, is there any superstar in the league that you would say "Julius Randle would be the perfect Robin to our Batman." I think the answer is no. He's just in a weird spot where he is obviously good, but he's not quite good enough to fit on a really good team. He just doesn't have a skillset that fits in the "second best player" role, and he's not good enough to be the best player either. I think Sabonis is another good example of a player in this tier. I just can't imagine wanting Sabonis in any role if I'm trying to build a championship roster. Another guy is probably Lauri Markannen? If you have a low opinion of Sengun's ceiling, I think he could also end up in this category. I have higher hopes for him, but I think it's in the low range of Sengun's possible outcomes.
Alpi I’d have no problem with. He’s proven to be a consistent starter in this league. Jalen is on the training leash until the trade deadline.
One might be worried that he falls into the category of Randle and sabonis, which I agree to be a possible outcome. But his floor is definitely higher than these guys. Sengun would be an all star at 21 years old if the rockets were in the East, 5 years before Randle got an all star nod. His assist numbers are higher, his efficiency is better and he can definitely read defenses very well. And his development over each summer is one of the best you can hope from a young player. I have said it many times, Sabonis and Randle are limited players and their main advantage over Sengun is size which shows in rebounds and maybe deterring shots. Sengun clearly has the offensive advantage. We’ll see how it balances out but typically the gains from a good offense far outweighs defensive shortcomings unless you are really bad on defense.
To me, neither player has proven to be that franchise player as of yet. I think most of us want either of them to be a franchise player(s) but I just don't see it. Sengun had a good yr last yr but before that, he was a question mark. He was battling Bruno forna starting job. One yr does not make a franchise player. And Jalen had a great March but before that he was sporadic. I think they need to play it out!
Only if you can get stretch big that can also anchor defense. Otherwise you'll be playing with a arm behind your back cap your potential. That said, I'd still max him at the end of the season, just pointing out that maxing him out right now would be the dumb move
Randle is 6’8. Also has mid range game 18-21 feet. Can shoot 3s as well as dribble drive pull up. More diverse than Sengun.
Lol the franchise is still a far cry from what it was during the CD, Tomjanovich, Dream, Drexler era or Ralph Sampson. I mean these so called franchise players do kinda fit the current style of Tilman. Extroverted and confident.
Currently, I think a good value for Jalen or Alpi would be 75% of their max deals. It may be a win-win situation if they are looking to get paid sooner. They may be able to get more in Restricted Free Agency, but they also might not receive any offers. I think max contracts are going to be much rarer since the new CBA. I don't think there are many players who deserve the full max. Also, just because other teams overpay their players, doesn't mean the Rockets have to. The Rockets have too many studs to be overpaying anyone. Next year I would be willing to give Jalen max money if he takes a shorter term 3-year deal with a team option for year 3. That way we can have flexibility in the future and insurance in case he hasn't made the leap.
Yeah the dude who scored 30% FG on the playoffs? SMH I am happy to have Sengun as our franchise center, he has earned a max contract and is good enough to carry a shitty team to 0.500 last year in the West. . Sengun is a lot better than other players who got the max. If you don't pay him the max, he will leave and some other team will pay him the max. Jalen Green probably wont get the max as he is too inconsistent. Other teams wont break the bank for him so the Rox should just tell him to let the market decide his salary and then they'll match it.
Good post. However, the idea of being compatible with others can be easily simplified and demystified. It's simply the ability to be good at making open catch and shoot shots and passing the ball. Sengun was probably better at passing the ball when he was 16 years old than Randle is right now. What plagued Randle his whole career is that he could neither pass the ball intelligently nor was he good at catch and shoot jumpers. He even seemed offended to be put in that position as though it would take away from his cache. Sengun actually loves sharing the ball and is happy to create shots for his PnR partner. We actually have to push him to be more selfish at times. We're hearing rumblings that he's worked on his jumper and is lighter on his feet than ever. I think he'll break this comp in 2-3 months. For the time being though, yes if he doesn't improve at anything from here onwards, he could end up a player who needs a team built around him but is not good enough to win a championship that way.
Doing a few things very well is much better than doing many things poorly. Alperen last year was more efficient than any of Randle's years in NY by TS%.
