I feel the same way. One of the most frustrating aspects of this season is the lack of development by our young guys. I know they have to make shots, no question there, but we don't do a good job of leveraging the current strengths of our players. This is the primary reason why I think Fred needs to go. Ime is relying on him way too much to the detriment of our other players. At this point in his career he should be playing the Derek Fisher role; get the ball up the court safely, pass it to someone useful and go chill in the corner in case we swing it around for a three pointer. Amen as a screener was destroying teams last season, that should absoultely be a part of our offense. Why are we sticking Amen in the corner all the time? He is an our most athletic player and a will passer; put him in the mix. Sure his ball handling needs work but that's why the short roll is perfect for where he is today, you get him going downhill in the paint where he is the most dangerous. That's how you force defensive rotations and get the ball movement we've been missing. Can we get a look at Jabari as a screener, PLEASE. He's another player just rotting in the corner because we have no ability to force rotations. A Jalen / Jabari pick and pop should be another staple of our offense that just never happens. After a slow start his shooting is coming along. He should be on the strong side wing, one pass away from the action as often as possible. His height and shooting ability makes the his man have to stay just THAT much closer when other players are driving. I saw another post suggest some inverted pick and roll with Sengun as the ball handler and Amen or Jabari as the screener. I can't say I'm sold on that but hell yea, let's try it out. Our offense is bad enough as is, it won't get any worse trying out some of these other wrinkles.
exactly we run no plays for any player outside of Alpi / FVV … majority of JG is ISO, DB gets his off ISO or catch and shoot … Bari (Catch and shoot / Rebounds) .. Amen , rebounds or cutting none of our actions are to purposely get someone the ball in their spot, it’s why we shoot so many above the break 3s instead of corner 3s The Rockets are ranked 19th in the league in above-the-break three-point percentage, shooting under 35%. They also rank 29th in corner three-point percentage, at just 25%. Several players, including Jabari Smith Jr., Fred VanVleet, Alperen Şengün, Dillon Brooks, and others, are shooting under 34% on uncontested three-pointers.
Yeah, I suggested in a thread here that we use Amen like an uber athletic rim running big and Alpi as the ball handler . You have to choose to stick to Amen or give Alpi very good post position on the other side of the screen and we know both players will identify the open man if you help….not sure if it will help tremendously but it would be nice to see these wrinkles in our playbook for when the matchup is right. Amen in particular is a walking matchup nightmare because of his size, strength, and speed.
I know everyone is frustrated with Fred and I am too. But just look at the terrible guard options available in free agency. It’s basically just Kyrie and that’s it. We aren’t going to have access to a good ball handler once Fred is gone. And while he’s shooting like sh#t this year, he’s been a good shooter over the course of his career. If he’s willing to sign a value deal I still want him on the team; maybe not as a starter but definitely as a 6th man. What Fred does is gonna be harder to replace than Jalen.
I think it will if he gets on the right team. Phoenix coach is not using that team correctly. I figure we could use a guy like him. They said the same thing about Javale McGee until he got on the right teams and won 3 rings.
I think you are being overly optimistic but that’s on you. McGee was getting playing time on bad teams the whole time. You gotta play to develop and McGee won rings as a vet minimum player after hanging around the league for a decade plus -most of which as a Shaqtin a Fool candidate. Those just arent equivalent comparisons - especially given McGee was always a conventional center and Bol Bol doesn’t have a natural position on the floor - not quick enough to guard wings/guards, not strong enough to play inside, not productive enough to have a coach figure out a highly specific scheme and roster for him. what you are describing is something EVERY player has a chance for if a coach takes them under their wing but you gotta show more than what he has to get that treatment. Amen Thompson, Ben Simmons, even Wemby are all examples of players who don’t fit traditional size/skill archetypes - but they could be productive despite that.
Jalen 79 of 250 (171 bricks) Fred 78 of 244 (166 bricks) 337 bricked shots of 494 attempts *157 made shots of 494 attempts When your starting PG and SG are less proficient than your starting PG, SF, and backup SG it doesn't look good, especially when the poor shooters take way more of those shots. Jalen and Fred are the Brick Twins. Brooks 71 of 184 (113 bricks) Smith 56 of 158 (102 bricks) Holiday 17 of 42 (25 bricks) 243 bricked shots of 384 attempts 144 made shots 384 attempts
The Rockets can trade other contracts of players not even in the rotation. I just don't see FVV as much of an asset in a trade. I don't see opting out of his contract and letting him go elsewhere as bringing in talent. The only reason not to keep FVV next season* is if the Rockets can trade for someone else better with draft capital/expirings and that the Rockets need to opt out to create room beneath the 2nd apron next season. *other than the belief that young players can't develop while he's on the roster despite Amen, Cam, Sengun, Jabari, and Tari showing improvement (in some cases drastic improvement) while FVV was/is on the roster.
Once he gets that opportunity he can be a nice pickup for the cheap. I’m just saying. It’s easy to write guys off these days.
This. You have to think beyond this season. FVV will most likely go back to his normal averages and be a good all around rotation PG. Not better not worse. If you get that on a small contract you should be happy. You want a team with some true stars but then you want good all around guys that don't kill you on either side of the ball surrounding them. The rockets have to be careful not to throw away the identity they've built to fill the gaps they have. They need to find ways of keeping defense and team play while adding stars and efficient scoring. It's harder than it seems and plenty of teams destroyed their depth and identity in the process.
I don't think Ime wants to trade Fred so I don't think it's going to happen. Fred is playing poorly this year and I don't know what the solution is. Again, if Ime wants to keep him he'll stay. (Also, Fred gets credit for getting us here. A bad PG last year would've had us be a 25 win team. Low turnovers are a huge boon to this young squad.) Fox is not the answer. We need a PG that can shoot 3's. Fox can't. Fred is actually an average 3 point shooter except this year. Booker is not the answer. He is not a 1A or 1B. To me he is a 2 (2nd best player) and maybe not even that. Just because Fox and Booker are the best free agents out there doesn't mean I think we should trade our assets for them. I do think we should try to get value out of our expirings but not at the expense of going all in for players that I don't think are going to push us into contention. Butler is out, too.
My whole point was that it's the Brick Twins who are the ones struggling to make the 3's, not all the other starters.
I don't see Fox as an all-in move. The Rockets would be trading 2 young guys with 2 or 3 FRPs and contracts to match salary. Assuming the Rockets flip the 2025 Phoenix pick for a 2027 or later pick(s), the Rockets have 5 young guys, Fox, and full complement of FRPs in 2 years. I don't see that as locked roster.
Even in that trade outcome, the issue isn't that we'd no longer have any assets. It's that: a) We wouldn't have the assets to compete in a bidding war if a true #1 becomes available, and you can't win a title without a #1 b) Fox will either be signing a $230M/4 extension starting at 29yo, or more likely, Klutch will want to sign a 1+1 to get to his 10 years of service and get the 35% max, $380M/5 starting at 30yo. In the former scenario Fox is one disappointing season from being an albatross contract, which is what very often happens for his level of player at this age (i.e., Jamal Murray, LaVine, Beal, Kemba etc.). In the latter scenario (1+1 and 35% max) our future outlook is cooked.
Great points. That second full-max contract (35%) for guys who are not Top 15 players is what really teams ability to compete. Your examples are spot on. Every one of the guys you listed were fine on their first “big” contract. It’s the second one that becomes an albatross. I don’t want us to be in that situation w/ Fox.
