Instead of worrying right now about who to trade maybe we should just shift a few minutes to other players instead, giving them more opportunities to shoot and see how that works out to make our offense better. I'm all in favor of shifting more minutes to Thompson, Holiday, Eason and Smith and having them take more of the shots. They have the better SC-EFF and SH-EFF. Holiday has a good ASST/TO ratio as well, and Eason and Amen are great on defense. You can still bring in Cam and Sheppard for more development as well behind those guys. Thompson, Holiday, Smith, and Eason have only 90 min per game combined per game so far this year.. Sengun, Green, Brooks, and VanVleet 130.4 min per game combined. SC- EFF Thompson 1.458, Holiday, 1.391, Smith 1.250, Eason 1.222 (29.8 FG attempts per game combined) Sengun 1.216, Green 1.174, Brooks 1.123, VanVleet 1.064 (57.2 FG attempts per game combined) SH - EFF Holiday 0.62, Thompson 0.58, Smith 0.53, Eason 0.53 Brooks 0.51, Sengun 0.48, Green 0.47, VanVleet 0.46
Not necessarily a knee jerk but the offense hasn't shown any signs of improvement and it's a third of the way through the season. The Rockets are a super streaky team, but overall, very below average when it comes to shooting. Is it the system or are players just not executing? I'm not expecting to be contenders but am expecting progress and it seems like the offense just hasn't shown any progress. I don't think a trade is the right thing at this time considering how young our guys are, but there definitely needs to be a change in line ups. I mean how much worse can the offense get?
I love the results but the actual game play is hard on the eyes... Scrappiness will only get you so far as far as being a legitimate threat... But I'd be a fool to not appreciate it from a team still a few roster moves away ... Let's make this push and see where we're at by season's end.. In Ime I trust!!
Yep. I love this team as is. But they aren't ready to win big yet. And that's okay. I'd rather watch them continue to grow than rush it with a bad panic trade.
Yes, take some more minutes from our lowest efficiency shooting starters, and give them to our best young shooters off the bench. See how they develop with more time on the court.
We aren't currently contenders but we're at a point where making the needed moves isn't easy and making the wrong move can have lasting effects. Sure, we'd like to acquire a top 10 player in the league but those guys don't shake loose that often. Do we wait? We've seen multiple teams stock up assets waiting to use them for a superstar and never get the chance. Do we want to give up what it takes to acquire a true star if that player is an older player? Or does whoever we acquire have to fit with out current timeline? Or do we step down an bit and acquire an all-star level player rather than a superstar? That's definitely doable, but even those guys will come at a cost and the ones that can be gotten likely have some type of issue. Acquiring an all-star would likely make us better, but is that player fixing some of our weaknesses? Do they introduce other weaknesses? Will we be able to easily deal that player if they don't work out? Does that player or players make us a contender? You hate to pass on a all star type player, but is the available guy a fit for our roster? What do we even need to really become a contender? - Shooting/Efficiency - Currently, we're the 2nd least efficient team in the league, just barely ahead of the Pelicans. Right now, our starting SG,SF,PG and C are near the bottom of the league in efficiency for starting players at their position. I think that most people realize that we need to be much more efficient. Everyone knows that Green has been very inefficient so far in his career, but this year, Green ( 52.4%), FVV ( 49.4%), Brooks( 53.2%) and Sengun( 53.4%) have all been more inefficient than any of Green's first 3 seasons with the Rockets. Of our 7 players who play more than 15 minutes per game, only Amen Thompson has an above average efficiency ( 61%). For reference, league average TS% last year was 58% and so far this year it's 57.4%. -Dependable scorer - We don't have a player that we can count on night in and night out to get us points. We need a guy that when things start going bad, we can just give them the ball and they'll get us points. Having a guy that we could count on every night would go along way towards minimizing the scoring droughts that we tend to go into. Having a dependable scorer would also give us someone to count on at the end of close games. In yesterday's pregame, Bob Myers pointed out, multiple times, that the Rockets didn't have a goto guy and Myers is a guy that knows a bit about roster building. - Roster fit. We've got quite a bit of young talent but there's also quite a bit of overlap. In a perfect world, you'd like your roster to have talents that complement each other. Right now, simply packing the lane against the Rockets is a very effective defense on the vast majority of the roster. We don't really have anyone that can make teams pay for doing that. So what does everyone think that we should do? - Wait for a Superstar? If so, how long do you wait? - Acquire an all-star level player? If so, do you just take anyone available? BTW, when I say "all-star" level player, I'm not strictly meaning guys who've actually made all star teams. I'm refereeing to players who have the ability to be all-stars but are not really super-stars. - Ride with our young guys and hope that they improve over time so that we become a contender? Here's a hypothetical trade proposal. Tell me if you'd do it. I'm not advocating for this particular trade or even arguing that it's possible. I'm just throwing out an example to see where people stand. If you don't like this deal, then make up your own. Rockets trade: Green, FVV, Brooks and Whitmore and Receive De'Aaron Fox, Zach Levine and Kevin Huerta. Kings: Trade De'Aaron Fox and Kevin Huerta and Receive FVV and Cam Whitmore. Bulls: Trade Zach Levine and Receive Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks. Feel free to include draft picks anywhere you see fit, I'm really just focused on the players we'd lose and receive. So this deal would help the Rockets in some ways. Fox and Levine would probably improve our efficiency. Both guys can get their own shot and Fox is very clutch ( 2023 Winner of the NBA's first NBA Clutch Player of the year). What would a deal like that do to our defense? Fox's deal is ending so you'd have to shell out a lot of cash for a new contract. Levine doesn't have the best reputation in the league. He's generally not considered to be a guy that affects winning that much or makes his teammates better. If we trade for him and it doesn't work out, then could we get rid of him? Chicago has been trying to deal him for over a year. Huerta's been a good shooter but he's been terrible this year and he's on the books for $16M. He's the cost of acquiring Fox. Most of the other guys that we could probably get are going to also have questions. Guys like Zion, Ingram or Butler. There's a risk/downside to all of them. So how patient does everyone think we should be and what kind of deal do you think that we should make? Just get better or does it have to make us a contender? There's going to be a cost to upgrade and potentially some risks in doing it. I'm referring to realistic deals, not the Landale, Tate and a first rounder for a super star variety deals.
Rooster blames everybody but Alpi. Lol This was a total team effort; Alpi missing shots at the rim, Jalen and Fred missing 3s, Jabari as well. EVERYBODY
Who the hell is this roosh moron? Yeah I get Fred is annoying to watch but this is disrespectful on so many levels. I loved Fred's energy with the refs the other day. I hope this roosh the bumwipe can keep this same energy if he ever sees Fred face to face.
Nobody even expected us to be here so this is all just a bonus. I can def see the Rox maintaining the record because tbh only Amen and Dillon are performing great in the rotation. Sengun is actually in a slump compared to last year, as are Jalen. FVV, Tari, Jock. Cam and Sheppard havent even seen significant play. Adams still isnt 100%. Law of averages these other guys should pick it up later in the year. I dont see the Rox slipping past T4 tbh, our previous bad matchups dont exist anymore like Wolves just destroyed their team and OKC lost Chet.
I think fans can both take joy in the great record and better than expected season while also being alarmed at some of the issues on the team. I don't think anyone is taking issue with the start, but rather where do we go from here? If you subscribe to the idea that any contender needs either 2 stars or 1 mega-star at the minimum, which has been basically the case in the entire history of the NBA, the Rockets are falling way short here. Sengun is a worthy #2, but he's showing clear efficiency issues now that defenses are gaining up on him. Jabari and Tari both looks good, but neither projects to be a star. Jalen is, well, I've said way too much about him in his thread but suffice to say every year it's looking further and further that he'll be a star. Which leaves Amen/Cam/Reed. Amen and Reed still has that potential, but both look to be 2 years away at minimum even if they do reach their ceilings. And even that's a big IF. So yes, the Rockets are doing great. If they finish with something like a 47-35 season and get into the playoffs, I'd call that a big win. But the team also leaves questions on how to take the next step given the overall offensive deficiency. And its' the type of deficiency where you can't just say let young players develop. And every game that deficiency is showing very loudly.
On schedule getting harder (7th ranked in SOS so far even though the Rockets have not played the Rockets). On rebounding edge going down in playoffs, the Knicks rebounding edge wasn't that affected in the playoffs the past two seasons to my recollection. I'm much more worried that non-shooters get worse in the playoffs when there is less transition and better half court defense being played. The Rockets need a perimeter playmaker and shooting. The rebounding edge will make just one more offensive player's impact hit harder.
At this point, I'd consider winning 47 games a big disappointment as 30-29 would be the rest of the season pace. If one thinks the Rockets are a true talent 47 win team, the Rockets have banked wins early such that a a 47-win true talent teams would have an end of season win total closer to 51 wins starting like the Rockets have. This is before considering the Rockets schedule gets easier. I am very pro in adding a great offensive player and a guy like Keon Eliis/Nickeil Alexander-Walker. That said, I think the obvious area to improve the offense is in the backcourt. On not being able to say internal improvement can fix this deficiency, it really depends on whether guys improve or not amd which guys. Reed could be half the improvement in the backcourt if he becomes starter quality. Amen if he improves his shooting even more could be the other half. I'd rather just add a guard and hope one of the young guys fills the other long term. I think FVV, even with his dreadfull shooting so far, will be a guard here for the next 2-3 seasons if the Rockets don't add someone externally.
Really thoughtful post. I think we are still building and developing our team, and I dont think there are championship expectations this year. Furthermore, I think our ability to do trades that significantly improve the team is probably best maximized in the offseason. So if all we do is recoup some value for our expiring vets at the deadline I can live with that. But I do think we have to tinker with the backcourt rotation over the last two thirds of the season. For one, keeping Jalen in his present role isn’t good for Jalen and it’s not good for the team. We’ve got to try something to jumpstart his shooting. The slump buster approach is not crazy. Having Jalen tee off on 2nd units coming off the bench to get going makes some sense. At least why not give Jalen a shot in that 6th man role? Fred is actually best suited coming off the bench on a championship team, but I think it’s harder to bench our only true point guard/max player and historically one of our best shooters. the problem is that we only have non-shooters to replace Fred and Jalen and Reed isn’t really ready to take on big nba minutes. I could live with giving Reed minutes at both guard spots. I could live with using non-core assets to acquire a guard like Huerter, as some have suggested. But it doesnt solve the Fred-Jalen problem. While a guy like Fox would certainly help our scoring, he doesn’t really help our spacing. If we can get Fox without giving up the farm, sure we should do it. But we still have a shooting guard problem. A Fox-Jalen backcourt would not be good IMO. But a Fox-Fred backcourt could work. Despite the early slump, FVV is a much better shooter than Jalen and Fox needs a good shooter next to him to maximize his effectiveness. The lineup below isn’t perfect because it still lacks shooting, but Dillon’s shooting is starting to regress to the mean, and Amen is simply a better player. Ideally you replace Fred with a knock down shooter in the offseason. Maybe Jalen thrives in the Jamal Crawford roll off the bench. Maybe Fred becomes the 6th man off the bench. But we can’t have another non-shooter in the backcourt with Fox. Fox Fred Amen Bari Sengun
I used 47 wins because there are reasons to wonder if they can keep this pace up, most notably the fact that they are playing very hard on defense and if they can keep it up the entire year. Their net rating has dropped down to +5.9 from +8 range earlier, and the earlier blowouts have turned into more close wins. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, just that despite the really good record, there are clear concerns. I wouldn't consider 47 wins to end the season to be especially disappointing. It would still be a clear sign this team's youngsters have improved, especially once you factor in FVV's big drop in production. Yes, the backcourt offense is currently putrid. But that's obviously the issue. Jalen is the #2 pick and the anointed one since 4 years ago. FVV is the max player they brought in. That's production that needs to be improved. But it's not like Reed is ready, Cam is MIA, and Amen is mostly playing offball. It's an issue that's not getting resolved with a big trade or offseason signing.
The Rockets have banked 17 wins. My math was a little off, but still think Rockets easily win more than 30 going forward assuming average health even assuming they can't keep up this pace. Just quickly looking through the remaining schedule, I'd expect the Rockets to be hugely favored in about 24 of the remaining games, close to 50-50 in another 24, and be dogs in about 8 of those games. On the Rockets Net rating dropping to 5.9, it was 8.4 prior to playing OKC twice, GS twice, LAC and the Kings. I'm going to assume, the Rockets SOS is much less than 63% the rest of the year. That last game against OKC really hurt the Net Rating over that time span. Edit: Maybe I'm optimistic, but I think there are few teams that are signficantly better than the Rockets, and quite a few that are going to have trouble with the Rockets.
I would keep Brooks and attach another pick if need be, but I second this trade. Fox will only be 27 by the end of the season and is a Katy native, and his experience playing with Sabonis will hopefully result in less of a learning curve when it comes to playing with Alpi. He is the legitimate perimter scorer we have been missing. Zach Lavine should be available for cheap, and I have no doubts that Ime can get him to buy in on defensive end. He will be a huge upgrade over Jalen and is shooting 40% from 3 this year.
Would be great to acquire Alexander-Walker, not everybody knows he is the Cousin of Gilgeous Alexander. Great rivalry.
