Since 2022-2023 FVV and JG are first and second in the league for...

But only one month with no Sengun.

I predicted Green would tear up the league in the Green to the bench thread.....where I said Green
should be traded to a team like Pacers or Boston that have a three point shooting Center and he
would excel. Then 2 or 3 weeks later Sengun went out and Green stats went through the roof.

You say easy schedule but I know better.

Give him room with multiple consistent 3-point shooters and we'll watch you eat your words.

 

How does that work?

Jalen and Fred step into open threes mostly. They really don't take that many "bad shots".

Jabari, Amen, Tari etc are all guys who score based on offensive advantage either in transition or close outs. They ain't braking half court defenses down. Amen can do some of that a tad bit but being a complete non shooters harms that. Fred and Jalen aren't non shooters. They are streaky. They are mechanically sound shooters as you can see with both their career ft%

So creating more shots for those guys simply means "better offensive system". Because I'm going to be straight with you. If you think there is anyone on this roster that can do what Jalen and Fred does better you are fooling yourself. There is no magical youngster on this roster that will do what Jalen or Fred do better.


If Jalen and Sengun at 53% ts and FVv at 50% ts being the primary on ball players on this team, rest assured no one is going to exceed those efficiency numbers on this roster if especially Sengun is scoring at 53% ts which is really low for his standards. This offensive system stinks.

When I watch this team on defense, I realize I've never been a fan of a NBA team that is this disciplined in the defensive chain link and the communication and quick switching tells me this team excessively practices defense and expends a lot of energy on defense. This is I think harming some of the offensive efficiency numbers for our guys.

 

Oh. You think Sengun makes Jalen Green worse.

Jalen Green makes Green worse. That's his issue. You're basically wanting the Rockets to build around Jalen Green like a gambling addict takes the last 2k he has in his account and bets it all on the #13 on the roulette table.

I agree though. Trading Jalen to the Pacers for Mathurin/Walker would make both teams better.

 

If Sengun is the reason Jalen plays poorly, why doesn't Jalen do well when Sengun goes to the bench? if this theory was true, wouldn't we see that reflected in the Jalen minutes without Sengun? Is Senguns presence the problem, even if he's not on the court?

 

People always forget that in that crazy 8 game stretch where Jalen played like a legit star, he shot 48% from 3 (and 6/8 games were against the worst tanking teams also). Everyone i think recognizes that if he was a curry level shooter (or better like in that stretch) he would be incredible and easily our best player. Unfortunately it's clear it was just a small fluke.

 

Jalen sure is the undisputed numero uno for racking up an astounding number of negative stats.

 

You are not reading my posts.

I don't want Jalen Green to be the only facilitator
slash scorer on the team.

I don't want Sengun to be the only facilitator scorer as well.

I want 3 decent facilitators with 3-pt shooters around them.

Read posts first. Don't assume anything and respond all willy billy like.

 

I'm trying to understand why you think that Jalen Green in March was him "unlocked" other than the insinuation that he's better without Sengun. He didn't have shooters then. They were the same shooters as always. So what do you think changed during that month that "unlocked" him? And why is he "locked" right now?

Jalen is not a good creator. He is not a good shooter. He is not a good mid range shooter. He also doesn't move well off the ball for a player with great slashing athleticism. I'm not sure what he does well right now outside of shooting free throws. Jalen's best partners are Amen (in transition) and Adams who can free him up for drives and more open 3s. Sengun has more of a tendency to roll instead of stick on the screens.

So I guess here's my question. What do you think the Rockets should do that would give you your hypothetical "surround Green with shooters" situation? What shooters do we get and where? And you are aware that Jalen can't break defenders down right? They easily wall him off where he has to reset constantly. He's like a star RB in college that can't turn the corner against NFL caliber linebackers. So even if you gave Jalen 5 out spacing he doesn't have the technique or ability to do anything with it that isn't a straight line drive to the rim.

 

I'll address it when I get off work.

Just hypocritical of Sengun fans to say adding 3-pt shooters will help Sengun be good. Nevermind
his FG% is 7 points lower than Centers in the NBA.

But Jalen Green with no 3-point shooters is just bad. Supposedly adding 3-pt shooters around Jalen doesn't move the needle.

That road goes both ways.

 

If he were showing any progress on his three point shot I would feel so much more optimistic about him, even if it was slow and he was still not great overall. When he started out shooting 34% from three as a rookie, I imagined a gradual progression, like maybe he would shoot 35% the next season, 36% the one after that, until reaching some kind of plateau. Of course, progress isn't always linear, there can be ups and downs. The problem is, it's all been downward motion since then. He went from 34.3% to 33.8% to 33.2% and now he's shooting 31.3%. It doesn't leave a lot of room for hope when he so far hasn't even had one season where he improved over the previous one.

The only tiny spark of light at the end of the tunnel is that he has improved his free throw percentage. There's a chance, a pretty small one, that he's gotten better but through some combination of bad luck and receiving tougher attention from defenses, it just hasn't shown up in the results yet. Personally, I doubt it, but I won't rule it out completely just yet.

 

I also want to add that Jalen is averaging 5.5 potential assists a game so I don’t think the playmaking is bad as people think. Shots just aren’t falling.

 

Once we trade Jalen Green our team will get a lot better overnight, he is an anchor to success.

DD

 

You admit teams are utilizing multiple defenders to quote unquote "Wall" Jalen off from
dribble penetrating. That's by design as teams game plan the teams leading scorer from,
well, SCORING.

according to basketball-reference.com
+/- per 100 possessions......Sengun +8.1 (on).......+6.2 (off)
Jalen Green is......+2.1 (on)......but a shopping -11.1 (off) without Jalen.

per status's.com the FG% average as of (12/18/24) for:
Centers: 55.2%
SG's: 44.4%

Sengun 47.2% (FG%) - 55.2% = -8.0%
JG4 39.5% (FG%) - 44.4% = -4.9%
Jalen is more efficient compared to SG's vs Sengun compared to Centers

Jalen Green FG%: 0-3 feet: 70.5%
Sengun FG%: 0-3 feet: 58.5% (pathetic for a Center)

Play Type
PnR (Roll Man)
Sengun
(23/24): 26.2 freq....50.6 (NBA percentile)
(24/25): 23.4 freq....29.4 (NBA percentile) non factor, just get him out of the way.

Sengun got hurt last year (03/10/24)
(03/12/24) thru (03/31/24) Mavs showed league to trap Jalen at half court after this game.

Jeff Green: 38.5% (3P%)..........31.5% prior
Landale: 37.5% (3P%)..............19.0% prior
VanVleet: 39.3% (3P%)............35.3% prior
Jabari: 41.9% (3P%).................35.8% prior
Jalen Green: 44.4% (3P%).......31.4% prior

So scheme and/or pace can make a difference. Sengun was out but VanVleet
also slows the pace (at least last year). I feel Vv is picking up the pace better.
Might be deceptive.

I put it in my posts before: my trade targets are:
Jerami Grant: 38.4 (3P%).......46.3% in last 8 games
Cam Johnson: 43.1 (3P%).....50.6% in last 11 games
Jalen Smith: 35.0% as a back up Center....small ball center
Trey Murphy: usually around 39% from 3.
John Collins: 45.3 (3P%)......53.8% in last 9 games

Don't ask where will the minutes come from.....READ PREVIOUS POSTS !!!!

Rockets in 2023/24 were 29-35 (W-L) prior to Sengun injury. Below .500
So give some respect to an 11 game win streak. It's the NBA and not often
done. We had the 9th easiest schedule in 24/25 and didn't duplicate an 11
game win streak.

 

They shoot too many threes for the personnel that they have. They can't hit them, yet they keep jacking them up. A lot of the time they arent bad shots, they just dont go in. They miss a ton of wide open threes. I can live with that. Jalen's shot selection, on the other hand, often makes it worse. He takes a ton of bad shots, and that's something that should be easily fixed. But....

 

I don't think you know how to read +/- numbers.

The Rockets offensive rating with Sengun is 114. Without him it's 109. Hence he's a +5 on offense. On defense, the Rockets are 96 with him and 102 without him. Hence they are overall -5.6. However, because the fewer points you give up on defense, the better, the negative number is a good thing. Overall, the Rockets with him on the court outscore their opponents by 8.1 points per 100 possessions. And they only outscore their opponents by 1.9 points without him. Hence, he is a net +6.2 on court vs. off court. Which is VERY GOOD.

You can repeat this with Jalen Green too btw, and you'll see that when he plays, the Rockets are overall +2.1 over their opponent. But when he's off the court, the Rockets outscore their opponents by a whopping +13.2 points. I mean, being +2.1 isn't bad. But when you're not playing and your team is outscoring your opponent by 13 points, your replacements are clearly better than you.

 

Ya he thinks the rockets are 11 pts worse without jalen when they’re 11 pts better. Small detail but important

 

I know it's per 100 possessions. And -11 without a player says a lot. If Sengun was -11 without him, you
would s#it your breaches.

 

Fred may be putting on the worst performance ever for a player going into a $40M team option. A lot of teams are going to be retooling with a deep draft next summer, wonder if he gets anywhere 50% of what hes making this year.

 

You're averaging potential assists? You could say that about almost anyone that throws to Jalen when he bricks the shot. That would give Fred at least 12 potential assists per game, and he doesn't turn the ball over near as much. Jalen averages a turnover for every assist this year. 2.6 AST and 2.7 TO per game.

 

So what’s your point?