[Poll] What it is CF pulse on team direction/superstar?

@Snow Villiers - “We do, it’s Brickari”

 

Sengun and Amen are, far and away, our best prospects IMO. I love Eason, but I'd trade him towards a star who fits next to those two.

 

We have the core of a team that could make the playoffs every year for the rest of the decade.

That's perfectly fine for now, when you have seven 21-22 year olds, no max contract commitments, a bunch of future picks, and you haven't played a postseason game since 2020. It's great actually.

Do we have championship winning pieces? No, not yet.

So we're going to play out the season, and maybe future seasons. Develop players, hoard assets, play competitive basketball games, and execute well organizationally until the opportunity presents itself to acquire those championship winning pieces (assuming one doesn't develop internally). You can't manufacture this. There's only ~15 of those pieces in the world.

IMO, low key I think a lot of fans find the prospect of opportunistic patience, even while the existing team is playoff quality, to be boring. Hence the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

 

We need to tank more. We just have a bunch of role players.

 

To be clear, 49 of the past 50 NBA champions have had a first team All-NBA player on them. Many people, myself included, think it is a requirement to win a championship. Yes obviously you could try to be the second team ever to win without one, but I don't think that's a good strategy. The goal is to find one of these guys. So yeah, the bar is really high...as is the bar to win a champoinship. We need one of those guys.

 

It REALLY depends on your definition of star level talent. Do you consider players like draymond, jaylen brown, kyrie as star level talent? We have guys who can be that. What we do not have is someone who can be jokic, luka, shai, etc.

 

Kyrie is not someone who has ever come close to 1st team all nba or MVP, Tatum is considerably above him IMO. I think amen and sengun could get to kyrie level, but if kyrie is the best player on your team you are going nowhere. I would classify Kyrie as a star but never a superstar.

 

I think Sengun and Amen have the most potential to be that tier of player. I think this off-season is when we start consolidating.

 

I 1000% agree with you….but it would be so fun if the Rockets won a title being the second team ever to do that !!!!

but I 1000% agree with you…they need THAT GUY…one way or the other

 

There will be endless discussions about whether the Rockets should go for a Booker-level, Fox-level, or Anfernee Simmons-level style direction. If it's the very latter, then you probably feel like the Rockets have a very strong core (with a possible all NBA level player in waiting) and just need an offensive punch.

 

Jalen Green and Sengun are stars to be.

Just get one opportunity to add another 1,2 or 3 option on offense.

1) Not too old Rockets need to forget about stars above age 31 or 32 (with exception of Kyrie this summer).
Divas won't join Rockets for final Hoorah. Kyrie is still a wizard on the court at his age....would allow Green and
Sengun to progress. Can take the lead when needed.

2) Not too young preferably, ages 19 - 23. Adding another kid the age of our core 8 group is like
asking for another hole in the head.

3) Rockets need to find an up and coming player between the ages of 24 - 31, making in
the $20M to $39M range. Facilitator/Scorer from all 3 tiers (preferably), potential for
good defense, rebounds, steals, assists, transition O & D.

With the new CBA deal and our own regular young core growing, allows for a narrow window
for this subject remain or be replaced by one of our young players.

Jeff Green, Steven Adams, Tate, Jock Landale, VanVleet, Dillon Brooks can be used in trade
to better ourselves today.

 

Doesn't matter how good the other young pieces are.

As long as this organisation continues the fascination with a subpar SG, it caps how good the team can be, and the team isn't moving in the right direction.

Jalen is a literal ball and chain holding this team back.

It's absolutely disgusting this new ownership group is trying to pigeonhole him into their own version of Morey's meal ticket in Harden, even though we're now YEAR FOUR into Jalen doing everything he can to prove he isn't that guy.

 

We do not currently have a star level player. Sengun would be closest but I have my doubts he will even make the all-star team this year because his stats are down from last year and he did not make it last year. Maybe the team's record will shoe him in but ASB is still months away.

 

Our lead star is Sengun who will likely make an all-star game this season with good marketing. One thing to keep in mind we take for granted, the guy is averaging about 20 pts 10 rebs, and 5 assists at 22 years old.

That is rare company historically, he'll just get better and could potentially average 25+ points 10-13 rebounds, and 6-7+ assists with good defense over his prime years. That is a star or superstar player at center imo.

He needs to learn how to close out and take over games, but at his position, he'll always need quality guard play for double teams. Superstar Center + Shooters has historically done well, and we know what's missing.

 

We have one, his name is James Edward Harden - Tillman going to bring him home for real, this time

 

Need Booker, Fox, or Ant to demand a trade then offer Green, Cam and all the picks.

 

Being forced to choose I guess I'd say we don't have "that guy". I think it's very possible one of our players will get there, and there's plenty of time to see if it happens, so I'm willing to wait and see if the right trade doesn't present itself in the near future. But I think there are at least 50/50 odds we'll need to go get a #1 option type of player via trade.

 

I think there's a lot of talent on this roster ..... There are stars, then there are superstars.

We have a couple stars, what we don't have is that superstar who can elevate everyone around him.

It's possible one of these kids turns into that superstar eventually.

@carl_herrera mentioned above there are maybe ~15 of those guys in the league. I think there are much less than that right now with most of those that were in that select group having aged out, still good players, just not what they were at their peak (Lebron, KD, Harden, Embiid, Curry) and even those players tend to have some flaws (Giannis, Tatum, Luka, Jokic, Ant).
And then there's the issue of the new CBA making it incredibly difficult to add talent once you get to a specific level of spending - You can have that guy and not be able to put a team around him, especially when they reach the 35% max. Curry is at 39.66% of the cap this season, the next two highest contracts on their roster don't equal it - nuts.
With this new CBA being so prohibitive above even the first apron, you really have to make certain that the players you pay big money to earn it, get it right or wreck your cap potentially ruining any chance at a title. I really think there's going to be a whole lot fewer max contracts in the future.