I don’t get your point. Kings did not sustain high quality play despite having better supporting players and Fox but declined the past 2 years. Wolves have declined this year. Memphis relatively declined. How are any of these teams sustaining high quality of play? What’s your definition of “high quality of play”?
I wouldn’t say he’s worthless. Just not polished and undisciplined. Has offensive skills and tools and needs to refine his game on both ends. A definite project for any team.
We are ahead of schedule but OKC is so OP it may not even matter. Worst case it'll be a repeat of GSW-Houston where Houston is always the underdog and stepping stone on the way to the Finals for the next decade.
They’re ahead of schedule but I think Green and sengun have peaked offensively. They haven’t taken the leap offensively like I thought they would. Only amen and whitmore have true upside. They have so much more room to grow, but cam is probably getting traded.
We are on schedule because Amen looks like "the guy". Someone finally does. The good thing is that these kids appear interested in locking in defensively which isnt always the case.
On Kings, their peak was never as good as the Rockets currently, with their two best players in their prime with limited ways to improve. The Rockets best two players are the age of the youngest King in their peak. Memphis is a good example of how a young upcoming team can still add some young talent and fall back by letting their veterans go. I think Memphis could still get fixed. They lost a year with injuries/player stupidity. They lost a year as they let the Rockets have two of their veterans.
Agree with 100% but we might not get past the first round - still an unbelievable, successful season. Might lose a heartbreaker in 7 or something but all the young players will get invaluable experience. Hoping for a Jabari or Amen breakout in the playoffs though, can't wait
Yes, I was indeed talking about marginal improvements of a good team vs. a mediocre or a bad team. But there's also the factor that other teams are also trying to get better. As well as injuries and bad contracts (which will happen when our youngsters become more expensive) that can derail what look to be a great setup. I just look at history, and the teams that are consistently in the playoffs year in and year out all have superstars. Curry, Giannis, Jokic, Luka, LeBron, etc. Given how the league salary cap system works, all other forms of team building eventually runs into salary cap hell.
Three teams still have 32 losses. We need to win at least one more game to guarantee at least a 50-32 record and to mathematically lock in a top 6 seed with a tiebreaker over any of them (MEM, MIN, LAC). And we could still drop to 5th. We would need to win at least 3 games to clinch a better record than GSW. They have 31 losses and the tiebreaker. So we would have to go at least 52-30.
I have to disagree with this take. Not in the sense that you're definitely going to be wrong, but in the sense that you're ruling out any untapped potential for guys who are 22 and 23 years old. If you don't think Sengun has untapped potential, compare the following stats: - 19/11/6/1/1 - 19/10/5/1/1 The first is Jokic's stats in his age 22 season. The second is Sengun's. Now Jokic was more efficient and had better advanced numbers, but he didn't even make the All-Star game that year. If you take this season's growth on the defensive side and pair it with last year when he had better touch around the basket and was more efficient offensively, that guy has superstar potential. If he gets better around the rim or even just gets back to the efficiency from the prior two seasons, he could be an All-NBA guy easily putting up 24-26 points a game in a couple of seasons. And Jalen, while he has not taken the meteoric rise we might have hoped for, has made massive strides in terms of efficiency this season. He's finally hitting the 3 ball at an average clip and giving us the average efficiency we've been begging for since he's been in the league. He's seen massive growth this season to the point where I can actually stomach his contract extension and view him as a quality asset. He might be the most expendable of the core guys right now, but let's not pretend he hasn't shown improvement this year or that he has no room to grow. He's still only averaging four FTA per game; what if he was getting 6-8 instead? Gun to my head, Amen is the guy with the largest upside for sure and the guy I would most likely peg as "most likely superstar" of the group, but you're counting out growth potential for guys who have shown real growth this season and are still extremely early in their careers. Most guys don't hit their peaks until ages 25-27. Don't count them out yet.
Love everything about Tari . . . .except his health concerns We have some of the most impatient fans . . . . and unrealistic Rocket River
It's certainly not a linear deal, but we've entered the next phase...with our table set beautifully. There's a fine line at this point between development and W's. Both should be prioritized and let the chips fall where they may. As to Amen, I see him eventually becoming a top 5 player. I, also, believe we'll pick up another star at some point in the near future. Considering how bigs take awhile longer, I'm looking for leaps from Sengun AND Jabari. Jabari IMO is criminally underrated...as to what he'll become. At minimum, our longtime starting four, PERHAPS much more. Alperen, anywhere from perennial All Star to....greater heights. That brings me to Jalen. I've dogged him pretty hard during his tenure here as I want what I perceive to be best for our team. Perhaps early on that was also colored by me wanting Mobley, and his age. That said, the kid's come a long way. JG plays both sides of the ball now, and has more of a well rounded game. (the J is getting cleaned up too) I'm still not sure what happens with him at this point. If he stays...or brings back major value. (For that matter, Alperen could get moved) Trades, injuries, and coaching will naturally play big, and are impossible to predict. But, it seems we have a special situation unfolding.
On the tiebreaker, GSW has the head-to-head tiebreaker, but Rockets would hold multi-team tiebreaker over GSW (division winner) if one of the Lakers or Nuggets finish with 31 wins. If the Rockets win 2 more games, GSW would have to win every game left, and the Lakers and Nuggets would have to win every game they don't play the GSW for the Rockets to finish 5th.
and we play each of them. What a brutal final schedule, but the Rockets control their destiny. A win tonight and one more win against any of the playoff contenders ought to secure home court.
Improvments are much harder at the top. There are a lot more players each year going from bad to good. Few go from good to great. And maybe one or two players can go from great to superstar. If you're expecting any player to become a superstar when their starting point isn't LeBron or Wemby, you are more than likely going to be disappointed. And this is already year 5 of the Rockets rebuild. I don't know why people think this is a short time. The Rockets went from going to the WCFs with Dwight, that team blowing up, subsequent restoration with MDA, Harden's Spurs game 6, and then almost beating the KD Warriors in less than 5 years time. Just because I'm sure most fans tuned out the 3 tanking years, doesn't mean they were a long time to wait for any semblence of decency again.
Normally, I don't listen to these guys BUT I am a sucker for Rocket's talk. So, I decided to click and watch. THIS PUTS EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE! We are extremely young
Shai Gilgeous went from a50/40% at 22, to 45/30% at 23. Then back up. James Harden increased his 2 pt% every year for 5 of 6 next years after age 23. Jokic has been on an epic ascent after 23. Its possible for Sengun & Green to get better
