We've watched the double big lineup for 2 games now and I'd argue that it made since to start against OKC because of their big guys, but I'm not convinced it should be our "go to" option for every game. It should be situationally dependent and help ensure we don't burn down Adams early in the season. With that as a backdrop, then I'd suggest we start Sheppard instead of Adams. Reed gives us another shooter and connector that would complement the current starting 5. Furthermore he can help stabilize how we're trying to execute the offense. We have different guys initiating the offense and while that hasn't been terrible, it has been confusing at times. When the other team tries to take advantage of Reed on defense, we should have enough talent to scheme help. Our current rotations look to be defensive juggernauts, but we still couldn't shutdown Cade, Ausar, Duncan and for God's sake Paul Reed. Offensively 37 year old KD played 37 mins and scored 37 points after playing 47 mins in Game 1. If we continue using him this much, we're just asking for him to breakdown. Durrant and Reed were 6 of 7 from 3pt range last night and everyone else was 4 of 15, we need more consistent outside shooting. Reed's 2pt shooting wasn't good last night 0-7 or Tues 1-4 (1-11 9%), but in 2 games for 3pt range he's 5/11 (45%). We need more of the latter and while his assist totals don't show it he moves the ball around. He still makes some bad passes, but who doesn't? Early in the season is the time to work out the kinks and see what we have burning out our starters is not going to lead to more victories. I know some of you will support this and many of you won't. That's ok, I appreciate everyone's perspective and understand I should be flamed for starting another RS thread alone, much less the topic. I love the Rockets and with the disappointment Houston sports has been this year, I'm hoping the Rockets save us. It's early and we're still finding our sea legs, so let's turn in around and blowout the Nets on Monday!
You are right that Adams should not be starting. He is starting, because Reed has sucked and Ime can’t hide him in the zone defense. Okogie should start next to amen. That would move Sengun and Jabari back to their normal positions defensively. Amen has been getting to the rim whenever he wants, but his decision making and shooting has been poor to start the season. He will turn it around as will this team as long as Ime makes the right decisions. Okogie is not the long term answer unless he shoots the 3-ball like he did last year, but he can keep us competitive until they trade for the answer. We miss Jalen on defense as much as FVV. Our offense will be better than last year, but so far our defense has regressed. That is supposed to be in Ime’s wheelhouse so it is up to him.
Yeah, he probably should start most of the time, the starting unit desperately needs better spacing, and given that the big lineup couldn't even provide rebounding or interior defense last night, there was no upside to it. Swap out Adams for Reed and you get much better spacing and an additional ball handler, which is what they need. Of course, what they REALLY need is some chemistry. Far too often last night players decided to force up BS instead of making the pass to the open man or just stood around for too long not knowing what they wanted to do. Add a 45% 3 point shooter to the mix and you have a lot more space for guys like Sengun and Durant to operate....assuming they start making the right pass when they get double or triple teamed.
Reed is a better option than Adams for sure. I’ve said since last off-season, that his two bigs lineup is stupid in today’s NBA. Most teams now have very good 3 pt shooters. Zones with two slow footed big men will not work. Unfortunately, Reed is being hunted relentlessly and his offense while improving is not to a point that it makes up for his defense. They should start Okogie and bring Reed along slowly until he improves his defense. They intended him to come off the bench this year which was the correct progression for him. FVV getting hurt did not suddenly make him starting calibre. Yes, Okogie will not give us the spacing we need on offense, but Durant and Sengun’s improved shooting should still make us a better offense than last year. We need to get back to being great at defense and transition. We will have the opportunity to improve the offense more around the deadline if necessary.
Okogie does nothing for the offense, which has been the problem....but it does sound like an Ime solution, just double down on defense and completely ignore the offense. A bigger problem is how bad Amen has been, now that he's trying to pretend he's a guard, he's getting cooked on both ends of the court. We took a strength and turned it into yet another weakness.
Offense hasn’t been our problem, especially last night. Zone defense has been our problem. I’m not going to argue with you about Amen. He is going to make you look even sillier than Reed already has.
The Rockets offensive efficiency is 20th in the league, almost nothing is coming easily for them right now....though I do think a lot of that is just terrible chemistry, far too often the players look like they just met last week and have no clue what they want to even attempt to do on the court together. Of course you aren't going to argue about Amen with me, there's no argument to be had. He's played VERY poorly thus far on both ends of the court. You might think that's okay, because you want him to continue pretending to be a guard no matter what the results, but I'd rather he play to his strengths and be an all star caliber player.
If Reed can hold his own defensively and not TO the ball every time he tries to get it to Kd than he would be a good person to have starting. He can/should spread the defense and he showed his handles are pretty decent. His finishing at the rim has been terrible but he’s broken down defenses and found the open man before.
When is Dorian Finney-Smith due to return? This team needs shooters. Durant alone can’t carry the team as the only 3-point shooter. Reed is playing well to start the season but we need more production from Jabari. While he isn’t completely absent he just seems to lack that dog mentality needed to fill his role as a 3rd scoring option. it’s way too early to panic but if by mid season the Rockets aren’t getting better, I think they should package J Smith to bring in another shooting guard and sign Tari to an extension
LOL, I wouldn't go that far. He hasn't played well, he's definitely struggled, but IMO a lot of that is to be expected for a young player with VERY few NBA minutes. His 3 point shooting has been good, but his defense has been a roller coaster ride. I'm for letting him work out the kinks, because if he can take that extra step, he's exactly what the team needs....and he showed progress from game one to game two.....but I definitely wouldn't say he's played well. In fact, according to most metrics (super tiny sample size) the worst of the 9 guys the Rockets have played are Tari, Sheppard, and Amen...in that order with Tari being by far the worst. I'm not ready to give up on any of the 3, but changes need to be made to fix the situation IMO.
Somehow, Reed does much better with the third-stringers-even against the opponent's starters. It tells me that if you give him the rein on offense, he can be a good PG. It's when he thinks he needs to defer to the better teammates on the floor he doesn't know what to do. I suspect that the reason why the FO and coaching staff bank on him to be successful because of what he does in practice, which kind of simulates the third-stringer scenarios. On defense, zone is not the only way to hide your weak defender. I'm pretty sure Udoka knows this.
I think whether Reed plays well or not Ime-Stone are going to give him like 20 games because they want to up his trade value in case we do need to make a in-season trade for a better point guard. The last thing we want is another Cam situation where we get pennies for him.
I left for the gym after I wrote this and realized I've probably manifested the start Josh Okogie thread, so thanks for confirming that notion @Hemingway. Actually it's a legit counter because Josh has exceeded expectations, but I'd suggest we have a pretty good sense for Josh's ceiling (this is his 8th season), we don't know Reed's top line growth. Amen is still a work in progress as well. I think he's going to be a star, but I'm not convinced it's as a PG. We just started and I'm sure losing FVV crushed Ime's vision for how this season would unfold, so I understand as a team we're still adjusting. I just think it's time to give the kid a chance and see what we've got early versus the kabuki dance we did with him last year (REF when FVV was out not giving him more PT then was clearest example).
