Right now we lack shooters, we all know it been saying it all year, and the team struggles at times because of it. However, we actually have guys that can shoot on the roster, Stone put some excellent shooters on there, guys that could come in and make a difference.... BUT, They are not great defenders and Ime doesn't play guys that are not good at 1v1 defense (Other than Sengun)..... Whom are the mystery players that can shoot the ball? IMHO, there are 3... https://www.espn.com/nba/team/stats/_/name/hou/houston-rockets 1. Jock Landale - clearly is not great at the low block and is at best average on D, but, he can shoot the ball, has range out to 3pt land, and would open up the paint for people like Jalen to drive. Jock is shooting 48.3%FG and an astounding 50% from 3pt range. He could even play WITH Sengun at times to give us a stretch PF/C which we desperately need. Jock playing more than Adams makes this team a lot more balanced, and would serve as a ZONE buster when teams pack the paint, Ime seems to have little ability to adjust other than CLAP CLAP - play harder - CLAP CLAP....and that is CAP. We don't need to play harder, we need better skill players to come in and SHOOT better, we aren't losing by giving up 105 to GS, we are losing by only scoring 98.....we need more balance 2. Jack McVeigh has only taken a few shots in the NBA so we need to look at his G-League stats to see his value. https://stats.gleague.nba.com/player/1629098/?Season=2024-25&SeasonType=Regular Season McVeigh is shooting 46.8%FG and 41.4%3pt shooting overall., and he is 6'8" tall.....he is NOT a great defender, but he is adequate and can shoot the lights out of the ball - we need contrast on this team we have so many like pieces in Amen, Tari and Brooks, we need a CONTRAST person who is a real threat at the 3pt line.....McVeigh might be the answer.....while I love the lock down defensive lineup, I hate watching the ACME brick explosion on the other end, we rely on turnovers and transition and that is NOT a recipe that works in the playoffs. We have to be able to score the ball at least adequately, and this team and the guys IME favors are not good enough at it. 3. Jeenathan "Nate" Williams in the NBA this year he shoots. 66.7% FG and 42.9% on 3pters......now that is limited usage, hasn't played much, but damned well should be......in the Gleague he shot: https://stats.gleague.nba.com/player/1631466/?Season=2024-25&SeasonType=Regular Season 52.9%FG and 42.1%3pt.......that is outstanding - I have seen him personally and he is far too good for the GLeague and has good size at 6'5/6" tall. Why he isn't getting a sniff is another case of Ime favoring guys like Tari who are great on D, but not on O - we need contrast....I would love to see Jeenathan at least playing when Tari is out....why is he even on the damned roster? I believe Stone may need to trade some of Ime's favorites away to find out just how good this roster could be.....if it were more balanced. You win the playoffs by being able to play Offense and Defense - we can play D, have enough of those players why not sprinkle in a little more offense you could still play Tari, Amen and Nate together....but at least now you have more 3pt shooting especially if you had Landale out there. This team is broken, but it may be broken by the coach and his favoritism towards defense - we need BOTH offense and defense to win in the league......we just might have some guys that make a difference already on the roster, being blocked by a role player coach who only plays defenders......... Try some other guys when teams go to a zone Ime, it can't hurt. DD
I think the problem is that our best players can’t shoot. Bari is the only one of our core 7 that has proven he’s going to be a good nba shooter. I’ve seen no improvement in Sengun’s shooting. Jalen has slightly improved but still very inconsistent and below league average. Tari hasn’t played enough to make the shooting improvement he needs. Saying Amen’s shooting is a work in progress is an understatement. If u look at Cam’s numbers this year, they aren’t good. And the verdict is still out on Reed. Add to that that Fred is having a bad year and you see we are super vulnerable. I’m okay with giving guys like Nate Williams a little more run, but the reality is that we need more balance on the roster; we need more than one of our core players to be good shooters. When we finally make some tough decisions and reconfigure the roster, I’m assuming we’ll see a lot more shooting balance. I also think Reed will get there eventually. But we are stuck with the shooting weakness this yr. having Bari and Fred out at the same time literally kills our shooting; makes a bad situation really really bad. They are probably our two best shooters generally. It’s why we’ve lost 7 out of our last 9
There is a reason why nba teams want 3&D and not 3pt shooters. The idea is you need to be able to shoot 3s AND don't suck at the other stuff to be a good rotation player or better. Guys like Ariza, Parsons, Beverley, Battier, etc. These are the guys you need as role players to contend. Not just a guy who can shoot
Come on, seriously? Jock Landale, Jeenathan Williams and Jack McVeigh are not going to save this offense. Ime knows what he's doing. These players should never see playtime outside of garbage minutes. It's foolish to argue that these fringe NBA players should get playing time over guys like Tari, Reed, and Cam...guys we've spent 1st round picks on and need to develop.
Agreed with all points. I think eventually there will be a consolidation trade for a star player and at that point we'll build around that star including putting real shooting around them. Right now there's just too many non shooting young players that take priority over these other guys that can shoot.
See, I disagree, taking one defender off - and inserting a 3pt shooter, makes us much more efficient...... DD
The hard truth that the Stone believers are apologising is that he mostly stood pat 2 years in a row while the team was suffering injuries and losing streaks......I can understand it one year but both? It sends a questionable message.
Stone isn't a good gm. He didn't do what we needed. The guys listed are brch scrubs. Nobody being realistic would suggest otherwise. It's a terrible thread
Jack Mcveigh is this generation's wing version of David Anderson...but perhaps he'll be way better if he gets a chance to play! Let's see if it happens this season. (And by David Anderson I mean a player who is a good shooter in theory but has yet to prove it on an NBA level)
I have no problems with giving McVeigh or Williams a shot. The Rockets used to run Bullard out there to fire up some threes, why not these guys? Why even have McVeigh and Williams on the team if you have no plans to play them?
