Jalen! Similar to how MDA gave the ball to Harden. Our offense is CLUNKY and I think FVV is slowing down the offense. Since Amen is coming off the bench and since Reed Sheppard has a game similar to FVV where he likes to walk the ball up, why not just put the ball into Jalen's hands to speed up the offense? Jalen is being doubled more often and I think its hard for him to get a rhythm. He's not a pure PG by no means but by playing similar to JaMorant and Murray who initiates their offenses in Memphis and Denver, I think it will free him up, where he's just not standing around waiting on the ball at times. I think this will speed up the pace and have the offense more geared around him AND Sengun and less around FVV. In addition, this will put FVV in a position where he does what he do best at this point....WHICH IS JUST SHOOT 3s.
His role has already increased significantly but he still has a ton of room to grow on handling blitzes. not sure he needs an increase in ball handling then where he is at. Sengun needs the ball more for sure tho.
Good god no, he is at best average with it, and his decision making is not great. Let him focus on what he does well - score...and not burden him with other stuff. DD
Jalen + Brooks + Amen + Tari + Sengun lineup... Offensive rating (157.1) Defensive rating (90.9) Net rating (+66.2) True Shooting% (72.1%) (according to nba.com) That lineup of needs to be ran a minimum of 20 minutes per game.
Especially when they tack on a few extra periods. You know, 'cause the correct three just isn't enough to get the thought across.
Jalen is not an offensive "system" creator. He is principally a finisher that can occasionally make the right read and pass when doubled. Jalen's currently at his 2nd lowest ast% of his career at 14.7%, just above his rookie year. Ja's was at 35% his rookie year, has consistently been over 40% lately, and is at 51% this year. Harden started low but by the end of his time in OKC was at 19%, then jumped to 25% his first year with Houston and grew from there to consistent 40%-50%. Its possible Jalen has it in him to get his ast% up towards 20% eventually. Ast% btw is % of a teammates fg% a player contributes to via assists while they are on the court. 20% would mean that when Jalen is on the court, he assists on 1 out of every 5 fgs made type thing. This should be the goal wrt to that type of creation. More than that, the goal needs to be to continue to get Jalen going as a scorer. This means dont let him lose whatever 3 point magic he had to start the season, and conitnually think about spacing needs. I am increasingly off the opinion he's just not very good at operating in halfcourt sets if its not a 5 out type lineup or not a big that just sets screens and gets out of the way for the most part (ala 5 out) This does, ultimately, lead to a conclusion that Jalen and Alpi might not be the best together... not giving up on it, but you can only say "nah, 2 really good players should be able to figure it out" so long with VERY few games where both are great simultaneously and not start to question things...
Just a little correction, '20% would mean that when Jalen is on the court, he assists on 1 out of every 5 fgs made type thing' This interpretation is not correct. The correct form would be. '20% would mean that when Jalen is on the court, he assists on 1 out of every 5 fgs made by his teammates type thing' For example Jalen's teammates can make 5 fgs all assisted by Jalen and Jalen can make 5 fgs all assisted by, say FVV. Jalen assists 5 out of 10 (or 50%) of the fgs made. But his assist percentage would be 100%. Assist % does not see the assists made to the player of interest. And if none of Jalen's assists is to FVV, i.e. if FVV did not score, in this scenario FVV would have an assist % of 50%, although both Jalen and FVV made 5 assists.
Harden was a turnover machine, so what's your point? The more you handle the ball, the more you turn it over but over time, you get better
Neither is JaMorant or Murray. He only has to make the basic passes which he does now to Sengun up top or on PNR and to the corners to the wings when he drives like he did to FVV in the Dallas game....remember that? With the ball in his hands it'll speed up the offense and spread the court.
And again, Harden was a turnover machine. It's not like Harden was John Lucas or CP3, in the assist to turnover ratios.
Jalen is shooting 20 shots a game right now at career-worst efficiency. We need to see a better offensive structure from Udoka. More DHOs and Princeton cuts.
Can you explain why you think speeding up the offense is a good thing? I assume you think that our offense would be better if we played faster, can you explain why you think that?
The Rockets have a roster makeup of predominantly players who are young and athletic. Players who prefer to score in the open court. They do not shoot particularly well but they can get to the basket. By catering to what they do well, you get more people involved, which is running, thus the offense doesn't not become stagnant. I think right now, the Rockets play good in spurts, halfs, a lot of up and downs. I think by putting the ball in Jalen's hands, it keeps your two best players involved, Alpi and Jalen, and it helps FVV as well, because he can play off ball. More catch and shoot.
