ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Hawks 10/16/2025 (Preseason)

that’s a fun fact

 

Obligatory...

Spoiler

 

or a young Ford Van Fleet

 

I never said either of these things. We know because we can go back and look at our comments. What at pathetic dumb little attempt at gaslighting someone lol You look dumber the more you reply on this subject. Maybe quit being stupid at some point. Or not I dont really care. I have enough kids dont need to deal with a childish grown ass man.

 

Count 'You know what I am saying' with another guy.

 

I don't think they are cooked honestly .....the Hawks had problems with the Rockets when they had Dejounte play some of his best basketball.....

• But the Hawks might not have problems with other teams.
• I do think the media overrated them, the East is easy so they still would be around 6-8th place.

 

Six! Don't rob him of that last one on the score sheet

 

OK, having finally gone through the video of all 4 preseason games:

1) Reed has made the case to be a regular part of the rotation. There may be some games where we go double big and don't start him, but he should be playing big minutes.

2) As a Reed believer, I feel entitled to say this: He has to work on his defensive mentality and footwork. He plays way too much with his hands, and it leaves him off balance. We love the steals and deflections, but Reed is like the DB who goes for picks and gives up big plays. And he messes up the whole defense. In particular there were a couple of plays where Adams was behind him, and Reed made gambles that Adams was not prepared for, like overcommitting inside and leaving a baseline drive open. You cannot put your bigs in that position. They are counting on you to play basic perimeter defense. (For textbook defensive footwork, see: Brooks, Dillon)

Say what you will about Fred, he focuses on the basics defensively, holds his ground, and lets the bigs handle the rest. Nothing flashy, nothing crazy. It's the kind of thing that doesn't show up in highlights or box scores, but it wins games.

3) At this point I think we can say the new Jabari is for real. How this happened, I have no idea. But it's beautiful, and I'm happy to eat my past words about him being a congenital beta.

4) A lot of the dysfunction we're seeing in the offense, in terms of disjointed possessions and losing the ball, is just Fred's absence. We b**** about his shortcomings, but you don't really appreciate a guy till you see how the team plays without him. Amen gets discombobulated, KD loses the ball, Alpi when he starts the possession is too far out and struggles to create something. We're sorely missing that floor general. I think Reed can get there, but it's not gonna happen in a season. The most painful part of watching this team is knowing that if our GM could just go out and add a solid PG — a guy like, say, Fred VanVleet — we'd have everything we need to win a title.

5) I hope we're all prepared, after watching a couple of KD's games with this group, to accept the limits of what he's going to contribute at this age. Glad to have him, but he's not our savior. He's just a big shooter we can count on, with occasional flashes of other talents.

6) One reason I'm not missing Jalen Green is that Amen is doing everything Jalen did inside, in terms of slicing to the basket, and he's not wasting possessions by taking the low-percentage shots Jalen took outside. I'm really impressed with how effective Amen has been as a Jalen-to-the-hoop replacement.

7) Okogie has won my confidence, and probably Ime's. He's such a reliable defender, vigorous on the ball and astute in rotations, and he's judicious in the offense. You can put him on the court as one of five guys in crunch time (unlike Sheppard, much as I like him) and be confident in getting the stop. That's huge.

8) For all his highlight plays, I'm still unsold on Davison. Untrustworthy as a ball handler, often scattered and clumsy as a passer, and too easily beaten as a defender. Every minute this guy is on the court is a risk. I don't expect Ime to play him except in garbage time.

Bottom line, I think we have a top 2 or 3 team in the west. To get beyond that, I think we'll need huge progress from Reed defensively, or huge progress from Amen offensively, or Stone somehow acquiring a solid veteran PG, or other teams losing key guys in the playoffs.

 

1) Reed has made the case to be a regular part of the rotation. There may be some games where we go double big and don't start him, but he should be playing big minutes.
Reed will get consistent minutes in both halves regardless if he starts or not, but he'll get the fewest minutes of any starter, maybe even fewer than Tari.

2) As a Reed believer, I feel entitled to say this: He has to work on his defensive mentality and footwork. He plays way too much with his hands, and it leaves him off balance. We love the steals and deflections, but Reed is like the DB who goes for picks and gives up big plays. And he messes up the whole defense. In particular there were a couple of plays where Adams was behind him, and Reed made gambles that Adams was not prepared for, like overcommitting inside and leaving a baseline drive open. You cannot put your bigs in that position. They are counting on you to play basic perimeter defense. (For textbook defensive footwork, see: Brooks, Dillon)

Say what you will about Fred, he focuses on the basics defensively, holds his ground, and lets the bigs handle the rest. Nothing flashy, nothing crazy. It's the kind of thing that doesn't show up in highlights or box scores, but it wins games.
I think Reed's defense will be a work in progress all season. If it hurts the team enough, he'll probably remain a starter but his minutes will be cut.

3) At this point I think we can say the new Jabari is for real. How this happened, I have no idea. But it's beautiful, and I'm happy to eat my past words about him being a congenital beta.
I believe Jabari has probably turned the corner but I'm not certain yet.

4) A lot of the dysfunction we're seeing in the offense, in terms of disjointed possessions and losing the ball, is just Fred's absence. We b**** about his shortcomings, but you don't really appreciate a guy till you see how the team plays without him. Amen gets discombobulated, KD loses the ball, Alpi when he starts the possession is too far out and struggles to create something. We're sorely missing that floor general. I think Reed can get there, but it's not gonna happen in a season. The most painful part of watching this team is knowing that if our GM could just go out and add a solid PG — a guy like, say, Fred VanVleet — we'd have everything we need to win a title.
I said earlier Fred's absence will cost some early wins, but I still believe they won't miss him much by the end of the season. Either they figure things out or another PG will be secured.

5) I hope we're all prepared, after watching a couple of KD's games with this group, to accept the limits of what he's going to contribute at this age. Glad to have him, but he's not our savior. He's just a big shooter we can count on, with occasional flashes of other talents.
100% agreed, but this limited version of KD is a quantum leap better than Jalen at giving this team what it needs.

6) One reason I'm not missing Jalen Green is that Amen is doing everything Jalen did inside, in terms of slicing to the basket, and he's not wasting possessions by taking the low-percentage shots Jalen took outside. I'm really impressed with how effective Amen has been as a Jalen-to-the-hoop replacement.
Amen is strong, relishes contact when he has the ball and he's programmed to play (i.e, shoot) within his ability. Jalen is weak, hates contact, and is extremely undisciplined with his shot selection. He shoots like he's a superstar.

7) Okogie has won my confidence, and probably Ime's. He's such a reliable defender, vigorous on the ball and astute in rotations, and he's judicious in the offense. You can put him on the court as one of five guys in crunch time (unlike Sheppard, much as I like him) and be confident in getting the stop. That's huge.
At a minimum, Okogie could be a huge asset for late-game offense/defense substitutions. At best, he could be their first guard off the bench.

8) For all his highlight plays, I'm still unsold on Davison. Untrustworthy as a ball handler, often scattered and clumsy as a passer, and too easily beaten as a defender. Every minute this guy is on the court is a risk. I don't expect Ime to play him except in garbage time.
100% agreed.

Bottom line, I think we have a top 2 or 3 team in the west. To get beyond that, I think we'll need huge progress from Reed defensively, or huge progress from Amen offensively, or Stone somehow acquiring a solid veteran PG, or other teams losing key guys in the playoffs.
Agreed, but the defensive shortcomings we've seen in the preseason aren't just Reed. I'm concerned their team identity has shifted and the defense won't be as good as last year. I expect Amen to ramp up his shot arsenal during the season. He could be end up being a much bigger part of the offense down the stretch in March, April and beyond. I like his measured approach so far.

 

I think we will be an overall better team, somewhat worse on defense and much better on offense.

Last season, we were 5th on defense and 12th on offense. I expect that we will be top 10 at both ends.

 

I don’t get the worries on offense by some on here. Too many fans focusing on an increase in TO’s. We will more than make up for the increase in TO’s with a more efficient overall offense. Jalen and FVV bricks from 3 were as bad if not worse than a typical turnover. I think our defense will still be top 10, but maybe not quite as good as last year, unless Reed really catches on fast. I think we struggle early on defense, especially if we play too much of Adams and Sengun on the floor at the same time. OKC is going to be a tough matchup for Reed, so we might see a lot more of Okogie than most folks will like. People shouldn’t panic if our offense looks a little rough against one of the league’s best defenses on their home court.

 

Our shooting was at the bottom. It was offensive rebounding that kept our OffRtg around the middle. This year, the shooting will be much better and we still have FIVE elite offensive rebounders in Adams, Sengun, Amen, Tari, and Capela.

 

Absolutely correct. We are better offensively at every position this year. Our offense may take a little bit of time to get in sync, but will be a juggernaut sooner rather than later. Amen, Sengun, Jabari are taking giant steps and then add Durant, Reed, DFS and taking away FVV, Dillon, and Jalen is an extraordinary leap offensively.

 

This is my #2 fantasy of how the season goes (right behind "Reed Sheppard becomes Steve Nash"). If Amen can become that kind of threat, it's easier to envision lineups that don't require a conventional PG.

 

As far as the offense being "discombobulated," I'm reserving judgment. Here's why:

1. As the Atlanta game-of-all-reserves wore on, our guys continued moving as unit on the offensive end for the whole shot clock. It has been a loooong time since we saw more than one action on our offensive possessions. One can only hope the starters are drilling some of the principles in as well.

2. Passing the ball from player to player takes some of the load off 1 PG having to handle the ball 70% of the time. Lots of players on this team can bring it up, the big question is whether the other four guys will stand around in a space-the-floor-only mindset. The early returns from this preseason show that our guys are going to one space, but ready to shift to another. I can live with turnovers if we're moving around on offense because some of those mistakes are guys not knowing each other well enough.

3. Thank the Lord, we may finally have improved our fast break. For years, it has been painful to watch us be the worst professional team on the break. What should have been a great strength has been sort of an Achilles heel. But this preseason, we're finally seeing guys maturing: filing lanes, making layups, and spreading the floor with tempo. The Atlanta game showed our bench knows what to do on the break and how to leverage running opportunities. Breaking down that fairly quick Atlanta team was impressive.

4. Ime has to learn to trust these guys (especially Sheppard, Okogie, and DFS when he's ready) so they can space the floor and run. Turning to our bench doesn't have to be a moment to load up with a double big lineup. That might have been all we could do last year, but there are more options now.

 

Player FGA FG%
JG 17.5 42.3%
FVV 12.7 37.8%
DB 11.9 42.9%
JSJ 9.9 43.8%

it all started from last years playoffs basically he doesn't have to give up shots to players with worse efficiency than him

FVV did a good job last year setting up pirmary scorers like Alpi and JG bur not secondary players like JSJ

 

Still believe this is the season Amen locks himself in as our primary perimeter ballhandler of the future. Senhub is good too when he gets it in the right spots, but he's not bringing the ball up, and him initiating the action above the break only works if the opposing defense respects his 3P shot. Is that also the case for Amen? To some degree, but Amen is a better ballhandler and vastly more athletic, and that allows him to do a better job creating even when the spacing isn't there. I also firmly believe Amen is more likely to be a legit jump shooting threat.

 

I've caught myself watching the highlights of the game more than once. This team is really fun to watch. I don't see anyone beating us

 

Sengun got injured?