Of course he doesnt have "it".. I thought we already knew this though? Was anyone actually still thinking he was a top two guy on a championship team type of guy? I was just hoping he could just be "good"...Which im still hopeful for. He just can't be awful and completely useless...my only hope was that he had grown out of that...but here we are...
This. Jalen and FVV just need to play not horrible for us to beat this GSW team. They are done after this series. They had to have the refs to beat a total sh*t Memphis team that OKC obliterated. Ime really sucked this game as well.
He will have 30 this next game. I think the rockets need to make a trade for a pure shooter who can counter his inconsistent gameplay if they ever get a chance, hes just not there mentally as a player yet.
A primary option that can't beat Steph Curry in iso...and the Warriors knew it. He commands no primary option respect, just kind of shade one help defender so he doesn't have a clean straight drive to the basket and his offense is toast. He will occasionally get hot on his contested jumpers, but that's just unsustainable randomness. His only true NBA high level skill is that he's athletic enough to create space for his inconsistent jumper. For the 4th straight season his TS% remains exactly at 54%, he is who he is.
The Defense is there but the overall Offense is pretty terrible and Udoka is leaning on 1 leg Aquaman to save rebounds? I like Steven Adams a lot but he is a few years from being retired or going to Europe.
4th straight season... yet he's still just 18. Are we being too hard on him? Can we wait a bit longer before judging his ability to pass while driving into a packed paint, instead of getting blocked or missing shots badly?
Ime is our best bet, if he cannot coach up those guys the Rox are toast anyways. Come up with some gimmicky plan for Defense and Offense.
Yeah and important to note that's not a knock on him. I don't think people realize what a gift it is to have what the truly elite guys have in crunch time to truly control the game in that high level situation. I guess some refer to it as the "clutch gene" or whatever in some cases, but it is pretty rare so I don't think we should look at it like Jalen is garbage. We are just in a situation as a team where that "clutch gene" guy who can put the team on his back in a playoff game... isn't yet here. Even though it'll likely come with scrutiny after this postseason.... I totally understand Stone, and the Fertittas wanting to give this group of guys a chance to see if someone can do that here before they do anything drastic (even though before this season they were willing to do that per Iko, and many other Rockets sources that reported they were gunning for a star). .... The reality also is that there is no guarantee that one of these guys will be available next year... and we could be looking back, and say to ourselves that it could have been the Rockets who traded for Jimmy Butler, or even KD this last trade deadline instead of the Warriors, or Suns keeping KD. If this postseason goes the way I think it's looking like it will go, I can see alot of Rockets fans being critical that Stone shouldn't have waited, and should have struck while the iron was hot... and when he knew guys with the "clutch gene" were available. Hindsight is always 2020, but there's no doubt that it stings that these guys always seem to find their way to teams we despise like the Warriors and Lakers for next to nothing, and the Rockets are a team that continues to do all the right things, and deals with the hard road to success every time. The reality here is.... the Rockets need a big big big offseason from their guys, and maybe next time a Jimmy Butler or KD is available, you take that call a bit more seriously.
I mean it's very very blindingly obvious at this point Jalen will never be a #1 option. I gave up on that awhile ago. The hope is still that, with more consistency as a jump shooter, he can be a good #2. The three options for the Rockets at this point are: Amen Thompson develops his jump shot, improves his ball skills and passing, becomes a legit go-to option in the half-court/at the end of games. Same as above, except for Sengun. (Both of these guys have the potential to finish in traffic at a rate Jalen never will.) We acquire a top 10, elite offensive player to play that role for us (i.e. Ant Edwards).
True, but that’s not on Green, at least not entirely. That’s a combination of lack of pure shooters in our roster, Ime’s focus on defensive end and giving Fred too many minutes in order to lower turnovers. If Reed and Cam could get some playing time perhaps our defense was weaker, and we might had more turnovers, but in the long run our offense could really benefit from it. In this current rotation, we are dependent on whether Jalen and Fred hit those 3s or not..
Yeah I think people need to compartmentalize Jalen as THE foundational star vs Jalen as a core rotation player, and 3rd banana. As a third option, I think this is a player alot of teams would love to have playing NEXT TO another star or two. As you mentioned the question in the short term is probably more about Sengun, and Amen at this point unless Jalen has an insane offseason of development, and really taps into isolation scoring skills we all know he currently does not have, and few players just develop out of nowhere.
I don't think Jalen ever had or will ever have "IT" at the NBA level. His mentality is weak. He should take being consistently benched when he is ineffective personal but he's still not anywhere close to what this team needs from him. I'm now concerned if the team will have to package too much with him in a possible trade to get what we need in an alpha perimeter player.
Sorry bro, that's ban worthy. You have to immediately give up on every young player the first chance you get. Then if they turn it around or... god forbid... develop more as a player, you have to pretend you never quit on them or that you were just offering constructive criticism.
