That's because the Rockets had a lot more players who could only play guards last year in Cam, Jalen, FVV, and Sheppard. While Tari and Jabari both missed significant time. He played up because the roster required him to, not because he can't defend guards.
FVV got hurt last season, and Reed didn't perform well. Problems occured in the playoffs in which they barely lost to GSW. I don't assume FVV will miss more games than last season. I don't expect Reed to be unplayable as a backup PG. Like last season, the Rockets still can give Amen the ball as a PG as well to patch over when one of those two are out. I don't see much difference in overall value in Green and Holiday. Green was better at driving and doing PG like stuff than Holiday, but Holiday's shooting is more valuable in my opinion next to Amen. The salary cap, aprons, and the owner's wallet have limits for teams other than the Clippers. I see FVV, Reed, and Amen as comparable or more depth than most teams outside OKC at PG even if there are a few PGs better than FVV. At SG, Amen, Okogie, and Holiday appears deep to me relative to other teams. Looking at the roster and people making over the minimum, I don't see a guy that I would rather trade for a 4th string PG in case FVV is hurt, Reed is a mess, and Amen at PG with Holiday playing SG doesn't work. Maybe one could say Capela, but then center would be as thin as PG. One has to assume that Reed is a zero basically and FVV is hurt for the Rockets to need another guard. Even then, a lesser Rockets team survived the 82-game season last year. I'm much more concerned that OKC can still put together a better starting lineup than the Rockets on paper than having a 4th PG behind FVV, Reed, and Amen, considering there is just only so much a team can do with money.
Brooks isn't a guard. He's not fast enough to guard quick backcourt players full time. But we did get rid of Green and Whitmore and replaced them with Durant, DFS, and Capela. DFS should be Brooks's replacement. So they got Durant and Capela to replace Green and Whitmore. The overall level has been raised but the balance is tilted from the guards toward the bigs. When they took Capela to occupy a roster spot and cap space, I didn't like the lack of urgency in getting a guard in the offseason. Getting Okogie helps on defense but not on offense. They kept saying that they were banking on Reed to play a big role. It still didn't address the depth issue if someone got injured.
I actually think that if one doesn't think Brooks can play SG, that makes it even more bewildering that the Rockets offseason ended up the way it ti. Brooks played 36% at SG and 64% at SF last year. DFS and KD both played 90+% at PF/C last year. So replacing Brooks' minutes with players who have mostly played PF/C is definitely not typical. I think Stone and Udoka simply believe don't need true shooting guards, and that their quartet of KD/Jabari/Tari/DFS can defend guards in the Udoka system. In which case one can argue FVV/Reed/Holiday PG depth is reasonable if you truly believe in Reed. I'm not saying they are wrong, just that they better not be wrong because the team is too close to the hard cap for a major pivot.
To be fair, Amen played a lot of SF/PF minutes last season. I'm sure they are going to use him much more in PG/SG positions this year because of Durant's size. So roster-wise, they added more bigs to replace guards. Lineup-position-wise, Amen will replace Jalen. Durant/DFS replace Brooks/Amen. Essentially we have Durant rather than Green, and one of Jabari, Tari, and DFS instead of Brooks, in the starting lineup. That's fine with me. I think they see Reed replacing Whitmore but will play much more minutes. So the backcourt is being banked on two things: (1) Reed stepping up, (2) FVV not missing too many games.
Brooks being the primary defender on Wemby, KAT, AD, Portzingis, JJJ and Bam had nothing at all to do with Green, FVV. Cam or Sheppard. Those guys were never going to guard those bigs. Brooks guarded those bigs because Udoka didn't want Sengun guarding them. I wouldn't be surprised to see DFS in the starting lineup to fill that same role in cross matchups.
Here's the fg% of various players when guarded by DFS last season: Tatum 26% Harden 25% Curry 42% ( 20% 3pt%) Durant 30% KAT 44.4% D. Mitchell 20% Jokic 36.4% Haliburton 42.9% J. Murray 33.3% Booker 33.3% Anthony Edwards 33.3% Levine 33.3% As I said, I wouldn't be surprised to see him as the fifth starter replacing Brooks role.
Please we are not in the era of 1on 1 man defense but we sure are talking like it and loving the talk.
I would be more worried about the durability as Green and Brooks played every game or almost every game. The thing I am not worried about is that even with Green, the Rockets were not guard heavy whether on Defense or Offense....... now they are just huge at wings.......it is their identity. The situation was precisely the same just with Jalen Green, a mediocre overall guard. And they won 52 last year, easily could have gotten to 54. What I am trying to say is that Ime Udoka is a Gimmick Coach, in case you missed it, he just leans towards one Extreme, in times of Donald Trump, people should have learned the meaning of Extremes.....hopes are up it does not Backfire! 1 on 1 would require you to have a great amount of guards but because wings can slide over and pretend to be guards, it might get hidden ......
Obviously, we need to see Reed...But, also keeping flexibility to add...a certain veteran guard. (although I really don't want to commit young/sweet assets to get older)
Fred is only 31. That’s like five years younger than Harden. I think he can handle at least 32+ minutes. Also, word on the street is that Fred has been working on his physique this summer and is looking chiseled.
Sure, he can probably play that amount of minutes .... but what's the contingency plan if he gets hurt, misses time or Shepard doesn't cut the mustard? It's FVV, Shepard and Holiday .... Okogie isn't able to run the point and Amen is already going to play a large number of minutes. Shepard hasn't proven he's capable and Holiday has pretty much proven he can't run the offense.
Amen will play minutes, but when he's with Holiday (or without FVV or Reed), I expect Amen will play like the PG on offense and someone else will play more like a SG. Granted this is sematics as I think PG skills are more scarce on the team, and I think SG is a "wing" position such that most wings can handle for short periods. Reed has played well enough in practice that the Rockets have decided he's capable. Maybe they are wrong, but they are the ones with the most information. If one assumes Reed isn't ready, sure the Rockets need a guard. I don't make this assumption. I think it would/ is difficult to get a PG that is proven capable within the salary constraints of the Rockets (i.e., a better player has to be jettisoned) and is willing to sign as they would know Reed is likely getting developmental minutes even if not ready.
If both FVV and Amen stay healthy we have PG covered. One should be on the court at all times. If FVV gets injured then Reed has to be the answer, which would be concerning to me since he hasn’t proven anything yet. I would have concentrated on getting another PG over Capella, but if Reed pans out this is all moot. If Amen gets hurt our championship aspirations this year are shot. Whether you want to call him the franchise player or not his defense is the only thing that can make us competitive with OKC and SGA.
Reed has proven it to the Rockets. Though if Amen or FVV are out for an extended period of time, the Rockets likely need a PG to really step up. I'd bet on Reed over anyone the Rockets could get in a sign and trade with a SRP for Capela's salary. A depth PG just isn't going to make much of an impact unless the Rockets are hurt bad enough that they likely aren't good contenders even with another depth PG and Reed doesn't step up. Granted, I think Amen and Holiday at the guards is fine whoever of those 2 one wants to call the PG (similar to Amen and Green). I also think that if Okogie plays, he will see time with Reed with Amen off the court. It would not surprise me if Okogie is in the rotation as he's likely the 2nd best POA defender for 1s through 3s. Playoff time, I expect Rockets to run a 3 guard rotation. I think FVV, Amen, and Holiday even if Reed doesn't develop is a better fit than FVV, Amen, and Green (mostly because the commandment that Green shall start caused Amen to play more forward than was warranted). Edit: not that Amen can't play forward. More that Green can't when Amen is on a guard. I doubt Holiday is played with both FVV and Amen.
If Reed steps up, I see no need for Holiday. In another post, i said I think Okogie is going to get a lot more run than people think and was a good signing.
Is everyone forgetting or just dismissing the fact that KD is a SG that happens to be 7 ft? We are fine unless/until we’re not at which point we can make a deal before the deadline but as of now we should be set and ready to roll.
I’m taking a wait and see attitude. Hopefully Reed earns his spot as the backup which would be amazing. From most reports, he has been living in the practice facility this summer, so I intend to be optimistic until he fumbles his opportunity. If that happens we have enough assets to get someone serviceable at the deadline.
Holiday is on the minimum, and there is a thread on this board suggesting the Rockets still need a guard. I see Holiday as more a SG. I'm not sure how much he will play next season, but it is hard to get a bunch of good guys on minimums. I think the Rockets have 3 guys on minimums that could help patch over injuries.
