I think FVV gets too much unfair criticism here. I didn't like him playing so many minutes and taking so many shots. A good team shouldn't have a guy like him doing that. I blame at least partially on Udoka's lack of offensive creativity, and his philosophy of possessions over efficiency. The fact is, we didn't have anyone other than Fred to steadily organize the offense without turning it over. There are other ways to mitigate that weakness. But the coaching chose to fully rely on Fred. With Sengun and Amen growing into their own, and the replacement of Jalen with KD, the teams likely would not have to rely that much on Fred anyway. I think Fred would be able to play the role Reed is playing now--with better defense and lesser shooting. If Reed handles his role well, he will be better than Fred overall by playoffs time. If now this season, hopefully next season.
This is 100% on target. Only thing is last year Jalen and Alpi just did not connect well with each other in crunch time, particularly their utter failure to work a closing two-man game. Just by themselves, (1) higher basketball IQ and (2) more maturity should give the Rockets 3 legit two-man options between KD/Alpi/Amen they can test during the season.
FVV was asked to do too much last season. As the GSW series showed, we had some serious offensive issues. We will have ball handling/play making duties shared primarily by the Amen/Durant/Sengun with Holiday and Reed a level down. I think that does enough for the regular season to be top 4 in the West. But playoffs is a bit TBD as we will see the type of growth from the young core.
He does. It's kind of insane how many basketball fans don't understand the actual intangibles a legitimate PG brings to a team. Nor the fact the team was hamstrung from the get go trying to placate a woeful shooting guard. He was asked to do too much. If he was able to play alongside KD taking the brunt of the offense, alongside Sengun being allowed to initiate a heavy dose of offense like he's capable of, and not needing to accommodate the ball and chain around their ankles that was Jalen Green, he'd be infinitely more valuable in people's eyes.
