Alpi, Amen, and Green are the core of the core of the core

lol

nope

 

Amen Thompson - Definite core

Alperen Sengun - Definite core

Jalen Green - Looking really really good right now, but I still have doubts. If he finishes the season strong, pencil him in.

Jabari Smith - We'll see. His buns will be on the grill after he returns. You just cannot ignore how the Rockets went next-level when Amen replaced him the starting lineup. It can almost make you wonder if they need him at all. IMO, it does not seem like he is an impact player on this team. If Jabari's motor has a higher gear, he needs to kick it up asap. Opponents need to fear him on offense.

Tari Eason - His place in the NBA is not as a starter, but he has 6th man of the year potential. We all know his bball IQ isn't the highest and his poor finishing around the rim is frustrating, but Tari's positive impact can't be denied. He and Amen being on the floor together is often when the Rockets best offense is a missed shot.

Cam Whitmore - I'm open-minded either way. If he continues near 40% from long range, he is a key member of this team. However, if his bball IQ doesn't improve by a lot, I don't think he'll be here long term.

Reed Shepperd - To those who are obsessed with hating on him, it's way too early to write him off. To those who assume he's the future starting PG for our team, LOL. I'll cut him slack for this season but next year better show huge progress.

 

Heh, I don't hate those guys nearly as much. That Spurs team, especially with Pop at the helm, was hard not to respect. Plus, unlike the Whoreiors, we almost never played them in the playoffs (only once IIRC, and they were all in their career twilight), much less had our hearts ripped out by injuries and sh!tty officiating repeatedly.

... All that being said, still a very lofty comparison.

 

@Williamson The real core is Josh Christopher

 

There is no core until we win a ring.

 

Tell NBA media that OKC doesn't have a core group of players.

 

jalen is in though. Both performance wise and he also got the contract. He is a moody player, when he has his confidence, he can literally do anything. When he doesn’t he can be useless. He just needs to pull his bottom line up with consistent team defense.

 

Ok bro

 

You are not wrong, he is under the radar waiting for that Finals Appearance.

 

We would be the #1 seed if we still had Josh Christopher.

 

Listening to the ESPN guys it sounds like they’ve all kind of agreed that Sengun is the guy who they’ll vote in.

I get the sense these guys collude as much as they can so I would assume that Sengun makes it unless the fan vote is too much to overcome.

 

Sengun and Thompson are already key parts of the core, while Eason, Green, and Smith all have strong potential to join them. Because Eason missed significant time due to injury, he’s essentially in his 2nd NBA season, so it’s reasonable to expect more time for his development. Green, with his extremely high ceiling, is worth waiting on for another 1-2 seasons, while Smith could solidify himself as a core piece if he becomes a very good 3-point shooter. Eason already does so many things well that he just needs to be a decent shooter and cut down on the occasional boneheaded plays (which I fully expect will happen with experience).

It's way too early to tell with Sheppard and Whitmore, but Whitmore is starting to buy into the system. I think we’ll have a much better sense of his long-term potential next year.

 

I honestly don't think Amen or Sengun has solidified themselves more than Green.

For example this season Green is our most efficient on ball scorer. Amen offensively is feeding off the gravity of other players. How many times have guys like Amen got easy buckets at the rim because Green draws blitzes that result in hockey assists for Green?


You can't ignore that the player that bends half court defenses as much as Alpi isn't at the same level as the other two. Each of the three have flaws that don't make the jump ahead of each other. Amen is not that effective in half court sets where the POA defense is squared in on him. Alpi can cause spacing issues when he isn't posting up. Green can shoot you out of games sometimes.

 

It’s his consistent inconsistency and lack (though those are fading this season) of other contributing factors when he's not scoring that put him, IMO, a level below. However, he has the highest ceiling among all of them, so I’d consider him as untouchable as Sengun and Thompson - at least for now.

 

I just think the "inconsistency" thing is a lazy argument. He's a guard which means his standard deviation from his averages are going to be higher than a big man scorer simply because threes have higher variance.

Green for the season has almost a 3 percentage point gap in scoring efficiency over Sengun... Not for a hot stretch but for the entire season..


I genuinely think if prime Harden was playing on this roster people would say he's more inconsistent than Alpi because Harden had these horrendous 4-16 night games once a couple of weeks even in his prime. Its just the nature of modern guard scoring.

 

It's time to surround Amen with his friends. Amen is the only cornerstone, everyone else is a role player. Amen needs special privileges and 1 rapper of his choice where he misses team flights.

 

I am a Jalen fan but he isnt part of the core. The main reason Jalen isnt part of the core yet is because he only got a 3 yr deal. This means the Rockets didnt fully buy into him at this point last year otherwise he would have gotten the same 38M deal as Sengun instead of the 3 yr 33M.

We can still end up with Booker in the offseason and Jalen would get traded in that deal as I dont see a backcourt of Booker and Jalen working out.

Of course if Jalen continues his torrid performance into the playoffs all bets are off lol.

 

I think if the stats end up like this by the end of the season where Sengun is a 53% ts scorer than he's back on the question make list with Green. Hence why I don't think there is a player set in stone.

It seems like people are more confident in players who are being used as role players to have more certain futures because it's easier to fill the role player shoes. Amen merely not being asked to be a primary on ball scorer and being on his rookie contract makes him more solidified sure. But if for example the Rockets test Amen being a primary on ball scorer for a stretch and he falls on his face doing it, then he becomes a question make also.

There are certain tests Amen hasn't faced yet. People need to remember that. We don't know how efficient or inefficient Amen becomes once he isn't primarily designated as a dunker spot/roll man connector
How does Amen impact our offense when he changes to a more Green type role?

 

Cam Whitmore and Reed Shepperd will be the first names added to any package of picks for that upgrade.

I personally don't have them as a core piece right now.