A backup point guard/combo guard is the team's biggest trade deadline need

I can settle for Brogdon if he is a good upgrade from Holiday. We do need 15-20 minutes a night from him though. If that doesn't work, experiment with Tate and Holiday as backup PG's. Run the offense at times with Sengun as well. Amen's presence as the starting SF is helping Jalen and Fred as well. Ime is showing some flexibililty, but he needs to do a better job.

 

All they are going to do is bring the ball up the court.

WTF do we need that?

Amen.....Jalen Green....Holiday....Cam Whitmore......can bring the ball up the court just fine.

The plays we run are weave, hand off, Pick-n-Roll, Horn play......said new point guard is going
to hand the ball over to Sengun and Jalen Green and VanVleet.
_______


Look it's not that hard.

1) Facilitator = scorer, draw multiple defenders, kick out of lob pass.

2) 3-point shooters, space the floor, make the opponent choose between
defending the rim (2-pointer)....of the 3 (ball skips around the perimeter).
Make the defense rotate.

3) player receives the ball shoots (of open) or hockey pass it along to
the open man.....which is the way the play is designed.

Everyone is the point guard, everyone contributes to rebounds, everyone
contributes to deflections/steals, everyone scores, everyone gets assists.

It's the new era of basketball. The most effi isn't teams are doing this and
are at the top of the conferences. We got some old school types that can't
let go of the:Old School Ways. Every Player has a Position and Every Player
STAYS IN THEIR LANE.....EVERY PLAYER DOES A SPECIFIC ROLE.

NOPE, every player nowadays does a little bit of everything.

Not saying a point guard wouldn't help......as long as that player can shoot
3's and learn to spot shoot along the perimeter often. Most point
guards want the ball in their hands the whole game.

I've been saying for weeks, teams are going to take away transition points
and force us to play half court offense in the playoffs.

Pistons exposed us and against the Cavs we scored 61 points by halftime.
Cavs then played some zone defense and we stalled. You have to have 3-point
shooters or there is no room for dribble penetration. Placing Sengun at the FT
line and distributing only works so long. In a seven game series the Cavs bust
that up. Especially with no shooters.



SPACING!!!!!!!!!!!! something all the top teams have. Multiple 3-point shooters.
Good ones....not pretenders like Dillon.

 

Says the guy who wanted to trade Jalen Green and 2 nets picks for Anthony Black about a year ago

 

the problem isn’t the assist it’s the shot making

Bari coming back will help

but if Ime is going to continue putting

Thompson
Tate
Tari
Adams
Whitmore

And played that lineup for like 6-7 minutes it’s offensive suicide

Thompson - Cam - Tari are black holes
Tate can handle the ball but is not a creator or shooter and everyone knows he’s spinning left to finish
Adams will grab all the boards but if he’s collecting fouls (great we get in bonus early) but he can’t shoot FTs so other team actually cut into lead by sending him to line

Holiday at least can break the zone he’s good at catch and shoot 3s

Adams is good at breaking zone but you have to have JG and Brooks or FVV and JG on court to take advantage of the spaces in zone with him

 

One for Black and the other to move a then broken player that was a defensive liability and inconsistent on offense. He was dry humping his teammates on social media. Yes, things have changed but at the time more than made sense. Don’t act like you thought Green would ever play defense.

 

How far are they really? They are the only team to beat OKC and Cleveland. They got spanked by Boston, but since that game Boston has looked really beatable, going back to back is not easy to do. When PHX was imploding a few weeks ago, the idea of KD being traded to Houston was floated. Adding someone like that would give them a very good chance to win it all this year. I personally do not think we should keep pushing things off into the future if the right player comes along to push us over the top.

Looking back at the 2012 OKC team, that core big 3 was 22-23 years old and OKC never made it back to the finals again. Two things happen as you go into the future, injury luck becomes an issue (having everyone healthy at the same time becomes increasingly difficult ), and the salary cap becomes an issue. It is inevitable we let someone go that ends up being missed.

Most people had a specific timeline for this team, but when the team out performs (no one had us 2nd in West at this stage) i dont think you necessarily get a guaranteed extended timeline, the timeline essentially shifts closer to present because you have a lot of good players that either will be poached or express unhappiness w playing time. We also may be undervaluing guys like Fred and Dillon, which we assume our younger guys are just going to easily replace their production. It may be we lose Fred and his production is missed and we could burn a season or two trying to find that production at PG.

We can easily have a Parsons situation where some team just throws something crazy at Tari, Jabari, Cam or other guys and we lose them. There are a lot of teams that end up over paying ppl, and teams are paying attention to our roster now. There is no prime Warriors team in the league that just seems unbeatable, if OKC gets lucky w the 76ers pick or find another super star or two with all of their picks we may be facing a juggernaut for a decade, imo you take a calculated risk this year to win it all.

 

I could see a PG or a 5 with a specific skillset getting minutes ..... but the 2-3-4 spots are already locked up.


FVV is the only playable point on the roster (Holiday is more of a 2 and Reed isn't ready).

Sengun can't play 40 minutes a night and Adams is not always available & Landale is not someone I want to depend on in the postseason, could use a backup there either a stretch 5 or a strong defender / rim protector type.

What I wouldn't do is spend any significant draft assets on either spot, No #1 picks.

 

For the first time in nearly 7 years this team does not need any trades made. The roster is more or less perfectly balanced. Sure, we could package our vets and some second rounders for an upgraded backup. But really we don't have enough minutes to go around for the people who need them and we're already an excellent team. It's too early to consolidate talent. There won't be any major trades. Good luck everybody.

 

We need a dead eye shooter with the 2nd unit.

Or durant.

 

Dang, just realized you only posted over 9000x. ++++

 

Totally agree with you. I'm not so worried about it because I think there are other paths to winning championships, but I think we will wish we acquired Durant at this deadline by around Game 3 in the second round of the playoffs. Durant is the perfect person to add to this roster for 2.5 seasons as long as we can get him for 3 or less first round picks. IMO that's 2.5 shots at a title. That gives you Durant, FVV and Jeff Green as champions, Udoka as a finalist. Nothing is missing at all and you have not taken a minute away from the kids (as long as Brooks goes out in the trade). You're getting something incredibly valuable and we have the depth to manage his minutes.

That's why I prefer swapping of one our existing vets for a major upgrade. Consolidate some of our picks and get one great piece that doesn't hamper the youth movement and HELPS it.

Doubt we get our way though. Stability is safer and we're progressing well so I can understand that too.

 

"At the time it made sense"

No it didn't and it certainly didnt make sense to add an additional 2 FRPs for Black either. You gave up on him way too early but somehow for Reed it's "growth comes with pains." You're just as bad as Bobby, downtownsniper and DD

 

I think the Rockets are hoping that one of Amen, Jalen, and Reed will eventually takeover the starting PG spot. Reed is obviously not ready but he is still in the hopeful future at least as a backup. If FVV's minutes are cut, they are most likely given to Amen and Jalen. (And some of those Jalen's minutes will go to Cam.)

So if you get someone who is an upgrade over Holiday, you are going to give that guy actually rotation rather than spot minutes. In other words, you are replacing a rotation guy for a non-rotation guy. And those rotation minutes will likely be from Jalen and Amen at the PG position if FVV's are to be reduced.

Upgrading a roster that consists of a large number of young and promising players is very tricky. You have to balance developing for the future and winning for the present.

 

I doubt it is Jalen because he has problems finding consistency as a shooter and scorer ..... adding consistent playmaking is an extra taller order.

The starter spot is a revolving door which is fine with me right now.

Could the Rocket get an up and coming PG like Dylan Harper or Noah Traore....that is a better question.

 

They could use an upgrade at that position. I think Ball is out of the question due to contracts we have to ship out. We would likely have to ship out 3 contracts and he certainly isn’t worth a draft pick in my opinion being UFA in the summer. Alvarado seems a good fit for our style of play. I like him. But I can’t see Pels moving him since they have him for cheap till 27,

 

Sure but then you absorb 5.8 mil. But also how much does Ball have left? He doesn’t look like the same player to me. To me Tate is invaluable as we see him step into that backup 3 spot with our injuries and making winning plays as he usually does. Also remember Uncle Jeff is there to consistently mentor, guide, and provide team morale. I don’t like this trade. But your Alvarado proposal makes sense. Usually you don’t want to give up too much for a bench half season rental

 

Amen is an "up and coming" player who's role is still not clearly defined. Adding another up and coming guy will further complicate the development prospects. You either get a star (Booker/Fox) to replace Fred or you groom a young one you already have. Again, that's the tricky part of having a load of promising young players.

Jalen has been given more ball handling duty. When he is on, Fred simply let him bring the ball up as the de facto PG. His court vision is still suspect. But they seem to think that he has improved to a point where they can trust him more.

 

Yep, I agree to some degree but you better get a good 'temporary stand in guy' because dude is not going to be a wing and a PG at the same time, organization has to pick n choose in a few years.