Fox isn’t a 2 guard. He’s a natural pg. but he has been a combo guard as he has a primal scoring role. Amen’s game reminds me of Fox a bit in terms of his ability to get to the rim or make certain cross court passes as a point. Fox has a longer mid range game and craftier in terms of handling and making plays/finding players.
Agreed. Fox can't really help us. His game doesn't fit. Green can't be traded for a little while if I'm not mistaken. That said, if you're adding Booker he has to be part of the deal
That’s the issue. Ime runs 2 man game with his PG not SG. FVV dominates touches playing PNR with Sengun or handling the ball. Insert any of these star SG how will they play with Sengun. I think it’s more complicated playing with a big man who dominates touches while the whole offense runs thru him. Kobe had issues playing with Shaq. We saw Jalen’s touches drop since Udoka is running the offense thru Sengun. Who would the PG be if we insert a Booker or star SG? That SG whoever that is need touches. I can’t imagine they would be satisfied being 3rd in touches with a PG and C dominating in touches. And their games would be affected as well running thru Sengun while the PG gets more touches and possessions. I think it could work with a SG playing 2 man game with Sengun. Even with Jalen. I just think the PG needs to not be involved as much and just shoot and defend and secondary ball handler playmaker like a Tyus Jones or Bane.
Ant is a very good scorer and playmaker but his playoff performance is disconcerting. He definitely hasn’t been clutch or focused it seems in a few of the playoff series he’s been in (5 playoff series in 3 years). Much like Booker he had a time and window and didn’t do it. He did not perform well in The most important games of some of these series. 2024 WCF against DAL (lost in 5) 77% FT% 3.4 TO .353 Overall FG% 4.0 TO last 3 games of series .281 FG% last 3 games of series 2023 Against DEN WC1 (lost in 5) .308 3 FG% 0-6 3 Pt% Game 5 2022 WC1 MEM Game 6 (lost in 6) .417 FG% 10/24 shooting .75 FT% 2022 WC1 Game 5 mem .400 FG% 8/20 shooting .75 FT% 5 TO
Check again after January. I hate to say it, but without some type of offensive mind-shift we will fall out of the top 6 by Feb. 1. I'm pleased with our progress as a team, especially defense and rebounding, but the schedule starting Dec. 29th turns brutal all the way through January. Staying healthy and having our competitors suffer injuries might help us weather this upcoming storm. Defense alone will not carry us to contention.
I agree. I don't think Fox is a good fit for this team. Booker would be a better fit. Ant is the ideal fit, but it is highly unlikely he will be part of our future. I don't see an obvious course correction for this team, outside of a different offensive scheme or a lucky draft pick. Might as well hope the core, including Jalen, and Ime figure it out.
I'd see Fox as more of a Green replacement than an FVV replacement. JG would have to come off the bench until he could be traded or we'd have to make the trade in the offseason and include him in the deal. Fox at this stage in his career is a better shooter, better passer, and better rim finisher than Jalen. I think they're pretty similar defensively, basically a sidegrade, both average-ish but undersized guards. Bottom line, Fox is a direct upgrade from Green in almost every way. As far as fit long-term, I suppose I can see how Fox/Amen/Sengun is a little too much questionable shooting ability. Fox did show the ability to hit 37% of his threes last season, though he has come back down a little this year. I think it's borderline and depends on where the shooting for all three players would end up. You probably would try to avoid having all three on the court at the same time very often, regardless.
I agree and we couldn’t hang with OKC as our offense stalled again. Just not enough movement, off ball screens, and not utilizing personnel properly.
Fox isn’t a good 3 pt shooter and not a SG. Natural point. He is a combo guard as he scores a lot but can make pg plays.
In order for our offense to progress in the future, FVV needs to be off this team. He was a really good fit to re-set our culture and we had to spend the money anyway. If something of value becomes available during the course of this season that trading him makes sense, we should jump all over it. We should only pick up his option if it is for purposes of a trade already in the works. No way FVV will take Dillon money and come off the bench as our backup PG (which would be fine). Unless, we can fix our guard rotation we are a couple of years away from being truly competitive. That could happen internally with Amen and one of Jalen, Cam, or Reed, but that is looking less likely.
Either way if you successfully trade for Fox, let us assume, then you would still need to wait until next season to evaluate. You probably at least have to give up one of the Core 7......and I am sure they are not after Reed Sheppard...... You lose couple of your standard guys and depth and Fox might come on strong or not, that is depending how he integrates.......takes at least some time. This is one of the few circumstances that you better wait until the offseason.......and let the young core develop further...... There is no rush doing anything than finding a new home for Ja'Sean because he deserved it. And check if Adams is apt for playing real minutes.
Rockets don’t have an identity on offense is running the ball through Sengun in the half court set. But this style doesn’t match the Rockets personnel. Den plays a similar style but they are very creative with Jokic especially in the high post running slip screens for him coming off a guard screen etc. They also have several 3 pt shooters from 1-4. Murray isn’t a dynamic guard in Jalen’s mold in terms of iso play or taking players off the dribble but a simple guard that shoots, play high screen and roll, and dribble drive when needed. Rockets need to figure out whether they want to give Green the reigns to play the 2 man game with Sengun. The offense isn’t working right now at least not consistently. FVV isn’t good enough to dominate touches. But its s conservative call since Udoka believes Green can’t be that playmaker we want him to be. I disagree. We have seen Green make plays through the years so he has the capability and Silas loosened the reigns a bit in year 2. But his role now has not been that as he’s a tertiary player currently on this team. No primary scoring guard in the league or “star” touches the ball as few as Green per game. I would advocate getting a pg that can shoot 3’s and defend and not try to do too much. Kobe had Fisher. It just gets really complicated when you run an offense through a big to couple him with a dynamic scoring 2 guard or PG. This is the challenge.
So many idiots who don’t know Fox is PG lol - him and JG would work because Fox pushes to pace … while FVV plays a slower pace which means JG goes against set defenses more … our team likes playing fast - our offense looks great when we play fast .. play fast to get the lead and then go through Alpi to maintain and close games ..
Thank you! With all this youth on our side we should be pushing the pace much more. Part of the reason we don’t is because we don’t have a PG that can do that consistently. Insert Fox and that changes instantly. And like you said, we would still have Sengun for half court sets.
I realize he is a point guard, but Amen gives you much the same thing and is better at most everything other than perimeter shooting than Fox (not good at 3 pt but good at mid-range). Why not just move Amen to point and save the assets rather than pay for a player that just turned down a max contract and is basically a two-year rental? I am in violent agreement that FVV is the wrong PG for our team and Jalen will play better with the right PG which is not FVv.
Yeah I feel they can be a 1-2 combo like Harden CP3. It all depends on everyone accepting their role and being on the same page.
I won’t say Amen is better in mostly everything. Fox is a superior offensive player and playmaker and very crafty player in terms of stop and go’s, ball control, and finding open players. He also is a dominant finisher in the paint. I think Amen might get there next couple years or sometime in the forseeable future. But this is why Fred has a 3 yr contract with team option. Fred was never part of a long term plan for this team.
Using Amen as a full time point guard is not the best way utilize him in my opinion. Allowing him to bring the ball up and initiate the offense at times throughout a game is cool or against teams 2nd units. Amen does so many other things like back door cuts, offensive rebounds, etc that if he was playing the point full time those things we may not see as often.
The irony is, Fox is not a statistically better 3pt shooter than Jalen. Jalen shoots a higher career 3P% on higher volume with same assisted %. Yeah Fox shot 36.9% one year. That was in year 7. He also shot 29%, 29%, and 30% other years. (Yes, of course Fox is an overall much better player. But in terms of offensive fit after controlling for player quality, I don't see any real fit improvements from Jalen to Fox). To me obviously Fox isn't the guy we'd go for. Our FO is too smart to be excited about spending our asset trove for the opportunity to give $60m/yr to an athleticism reliant one time All Star for his age 29-33 seasons.
