ClutchFans Game Thread: Thunder @ Rockets 1/15/2026

History lesson??? I must have dozed off for 10 years and somehow missed all of the NBA Championships MDA's "system" produced. That must be why so many teams have copied it and gone on to win it all. That explains why today whenever there's a head coaching vacancy his name is at the top of the list.

 

maybe or he could have just blossomed and finally took that leap.

 

Speaking of the Spurs they have one player that plays over 10 mins a game that shoots 40% from 3 and he only takes 3 of them a game. It’s not the players. Look how hard we work for shots every time down the floor. It is exhausting watching them.

 

You don't need a history lesson, you need a new brain.

Heres a homework assignment to the question you yourself asked.

What variation of offense do most NBA teams run nowadays and what are key tenants/what is it predicated on? What team took that on steroids and won multiple championships? Did MDA have anything to do with this?

Btw, theres google/AI for this.

 

I think they've had such a kooky road-loaded schedule that they'll start picking up more games as things go on. I mean we'll see if the net rating is fake or not soon enough.

They sure aren't beating OKC as constructed, we know that much any ways. Probably not Denver either so at that point...yeah...something has to change.

To me you're either rebuilding or contending, if you're doing neither then you need to blow things up...

 

There has to be some movement in this offense. We are not an iso team. This team is in the mode of every man for himself and it annoys me. Sengun needs to get his ass in the paint and play big. Chet holmgren locked him up. Double big is not working right now. Yeah we get a lot of offensive boards but it clogs the lane. 17 assists tonight and 14 to's not going to cut it. Beginning of the season we had high number of assists. I hope that it's just a funk like last year, but we can't keep having guys hurt either. Double means someone is open. I' ve never seen iso beat a defense that's set. Alpi has taken a step back on offense and defense. He's complaining about fouls, I wouldn't mind moving him as of right now. There is only one player on this team I would not move. Go get Giannis and a point guard from Milwaukee. Move off of Sengun and Reed. I understand why Shaq was so dominant now. He would have put Alex Caruso in the basket. While Sengun post up at the 3 point line. Im also starting to move off Udoka. He's too stubborn to realize we need offensive plays to be ran with this team not give the ball to KD or Alpi and let them iso. I will watch tomorrow, but im not hoping for the best.

 

I was upset with Stone for being the architect of the phase 1 Rockets. The point was to tank for a superstar but to me, it feels like the best asset acquired during phase 1 may have been Ime Udoka.

In the Rockets mind KD made them capable of winning a championship. Why trade a FRP and tie up nearly $45M in cap space for the next 3 years on a 37 yr old player if you didn't think he could win a championship?

 

Not to burst your bubble but waiting on Green in the Playoffs is like waiting for public restroom spot when that dude has diarrhea.

He is a cool dude, probably like a Trae Young type sans the playmaking.

But yeah probably leads the team to the same result as KD, 2nd Round at best.

 

there’s some truth to the scheduling for sure, but I do think our net rating is a little fake

for awhile, we were a top 2 offense in the league, but nothing about our roster screams top offense: no PG, terrible spacing, not much shooting

and I think our defense is just straight up worse than last year

we look like a 48 win 1st round exit to me right now

 

If I see someone talk about the KD trade one more time I’m going to go insane

I don’t understand how you guys can watch us blow these games, blame the offense and then go and say something like “Man I really miss Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green.”

What the actual **** are Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks going to do. Someone who’s watched 15 games of basketball can tell you exactly what the problem is. We don’t have a point guard, it’s that simple. The offense doesn’t magically get better if you insert Jalen and DB, the only way this offense gets better is if you add a point guard.

Kevin Durant is quite literally one of the best offensive players in the history of the game and even he can’t fix this. We straight up struggle to run plays. That alone is an indicator that our biggest issue is a lack of a floor general.

All we do in this subreddit is beat dead horses. There’s no magical point guard candidate that’s going to appear, there’s no moving Fred Vanvleet. We’re completely gridlocked until this offseason. I’m not saying don’t criticize the team, but genuinely what’s the purpose of getting on here after every loss and complaining about the same issues that we’ve established to be unfixable.

Just bunker down, take these losses on the chin.

I want everyone who hated on Vanvleet last season to do fifty push ups.

 

If I was stone I would put everyone other than KD and Amen this offseason. (Not because Sengun is better than Amen but he is on rookie contract and KD is just too old to get any worthy return)

Sengun: $35 mil (Probably reached his ceiling)
Jabari : $24 mil (He reached his ceiling early this season and already regressing lol)
Tari*: $20 mil (either he accept or let him walk since he is injury prone) mid season by next year
Adam: $13 mil (We’re done with double big gimmick and he seems to regressing)
Capal: :$7 mil (Washed)
Reed: $13 mil (Either keep him or Ime can’t have both)

I honestly don't think we can make championship team within a year so I would rather want us to waive our flag and just capitalize our young core for future picks, change coaching and develop Amen as sole none shooter on a team while taking chance of Reed for another year or two under new coach. With KD we should still be competitive enough to be play-in so trading picks for undervalue players could work out if we can turn that around for more picks

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/rockets/s/99VgBTTaYw

 

we got screwed so badly in the draft

we were 1 pick away from Cade and Chet

there’s a universe where we end up with Cade, Chet, and Amen after tanking

 

I know...you can't help to think that things are rigged when San Antonio and Dallas are gifted #1 picks.

 

Yeah I agree with that, if you look at the net rating and team stats they sure don't match the team we've seen all year long outside of at the start of the season.

I think that extremely hot shooting (even Sengun was draining threes) was the mirage and we've probably come back down to earth.

I think the team needs to make a big move. I'm not sure what it is, but it needs to happen. Even if its...if it's Lamelo Ball who don't play defense and plays like a wacko or something, they need to make some big move because I just don't think these players are working and I'm not sure it's going to work.

They need a perimeter creator in the worst of ways.

 

KD is averaging 38 minutes a night so far in January

we are playing a dangerous game right now

last couple of games: 39, 37, 39, 38, 40, and tonight 37 minutes (would’ve been 40 if the game was competitive and we didn’t waive the white flag)

 

are you ****ing high?

 

MDA won more games vs a better warriors team than Peemay Poopdoka

 

Yes dude. They have a stretch 5. That’s 4 out of 5 guys that can shoot. Only castle is below avg and even he has better chance of making a 3 than Amen. I bet you there’s almost no contending team in the league with 2 out 5 starters who can’t shoot a 3