I wouldnt extend anybody before the season(unless they take a below market extension) and keep evaluating until at lest mid season for Sengun and Green(moreso Green)
excerpt: Houston also has a bright future as it builds around third-year guard Jalen Green, second-year forward Jabari Smith Jr. and rookie forwards Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore. reported
I am not sure who Vecenie is supposed to be. He seems to speculate like a fan.......him and Bryce are. I would want more information on Vecenie.......dude should know more than fans.
Some notes. Sengun, Green, Amen, and Jabari are our tier 1 assets; Cam and Eason tier 2 They don't believe Green or Sengun have done enough to show they are a definite #1. They are hesitant to extend Sengun or Green to maximize cap space. They'd only trade Sengun or Green for a true #1. Given our future assets and the possibility of several teams in the Western Conference aging out of contention, they would rather take time to see how things work out. They believe the Rockets will be utilizing an "over the cap" philosophy this offseason. There is a little room to create cap space this summer, though any major moves should be made next season. In short, they don't believe this should be a "fun" offseason. Basically stand pat unless the Rockets are making a big star trade. Anything less doesn't move the needle enough to make a major difference, and will harm our future flexibility. We essentially have our 9 man rotation with the #9 pick as a possible tenth, with guys like Jeff Green, Landale, etc. filling out the rest of the bench. I don't agree with all of their analysis -- for example, I would definitely extend Sengun, and I would be fine with a major, non-star move depending on your definition of that word. However, they do make a lot of interesting points.
Unless someone is trying to move on from a top 15 player, we just need to stay solid. We can shuffle around some role players, but we just need to see what these guys do in their second year under Ime. If Stone wants to package Landale/Tate + Brooklyn pick for that tenth rotational piece, that's cool. We have a solid 9 player rotation, and I like Landale/Tate/Unc as those 10-12 guys who can fill in when guys get hurt. I don't think we contend for a title next season, but we should be in the playoffs. If that current core isn't good enough to do that yet, then it could be time to move on from Jalen and/or Alpi and decide a direction after next season when Fred can come off the books too.
I listen to these guys quite often and Sam is a big fan of what the rockets are doing. I think it’s clear you don’t extend Sengun or Green yet. They talked a little at the end about creating enough space to operate under the cap, but unlikely. The only thing they brought up that really got my attention was potentially going after a guy like Nic Claxton. I really think he could be a great fit in the front court with Sengun and Bari. If we could create enough space to go after him, I’d be keen to do that. He’s super young and switchy rim protectors are so valuable. so you’re not stuck with him if you need to pivot. I realize it’s unlikely we can sign him, but if that’s a possibility without giving up any of the core 6, picks, or Fred, then I would be all over that. And it’s worth mentioning that the rockets were rumored to be high on him a couple years ago.
This is a tough decision. However, I think the Rockets need to do something to strengthen their chances of making the playoffs. I'm not sure what that something is. Keeping everything the same while hoping for internal growth seems risky to me. It won't be good if the Rockets fail to make 10th seed or better next year due to the same consistency issues we saw from players like Green and Smith this year. And the West will get tougher this offseason (e.g. return of Ja Morant to the Grizzlies, Year two of Wemby with the Spurs, etc.).
These are pretty much the same points I have been making here daily - you don't need to wait for Sam's pod to get these takes.
Jalen Green will be trades either this off-season or at trade deadline if the Cavs can't get an extension agreement from Donovan Mitchell.
The most relevant thing is how their agents react to being low balled, even if that would be a slightly lowballed offer.
Who are the players in the league the Rockets would move Sengun for? Not saying players that are on the trading block but in a hypothetical scenario that the Rockets could acquire any player and the price was Sengun and a pick or something, who are those players? I can't think of many to be honest.
I mean the vast majority of NBA analysts think the exact opposite and see internal growth as the most obvious way for the Rockets to make the next leap. It's weird to say that internal growth is risky. Trading away 22 year old or under players because you don't like their painted nails and having inconsistency issues but have extreme highs is even more risky because then you end up in a Brunson situation or Harden situation or SGA situation
Rushing to make a move to "strengthen chances of making the playoffs" seems like a great strategy to make the playoffs but that's not really the ultimate goal is it? If we want a legit shot at being a title contender for many years and one day getting another ring, we have to be both patient AND smart and think towards the end goal - not panicking to meet milestones along the way. All those little tactics along the way have to serve the end goal and the fact is while we have those guys on rookie contracts, we need to be very realistic about what their real ceilings will be and the only way we can do that is with gathering as much data as possible...so you don't rush into things because we want to make the playoffs now - you try to get as much information as possible about these players and be realistic about both their strengths AND their weaknesses. Take Sengun - can be an All Star based on offensive production - but can you play him in a 7 game series against the VERY BEST teams when they will be actively finding ways to run their entire offense through isolating Sengun on their best offensive player - call it the 'Dame Lillard putting 50 on Sengun' scenario? Or if we think Sengun is playable - what about his teammates if a team collapses their defense on him and forces Houston to hit 3s? Nothing is happening in a vacuum. The question isn't just "Is Sengun good enough" or "Is Jalen good enough" - it's does this team fit together well enough? If Sengun is going to be a bad matchup defending wing players on the perimeter, what pieces do you have around him to support that and will those pieces still function well on the offensive end(can they hit an open shot?). This is chess, not checkers so you can't think about the next step, you really have to be thinking about an overall strategy and how it all fits together.
In the video they mentioned Embiid, and we'd have to make a move like that right? It would have to be a Giannis/Jokic/Embiid type situation before we moved Sengun. I am not a fan of trading him. I'm not a SOF or anything, but I definitely believe in his trajectory as an offensive hub.
