Another injury signals our destiny: is it realistic to bench Amen ever again?

Jabari off the bench is the obvious choice for multiple reasons.

First, cannot take Amen out. His development is the most important long term and short term goal. Gotta accelerate his learning against opposing starting players and defenses. Gotta find out how to best optimize amen, Jalen and sengun.

Second, we are winning this year and you don’t mess with what is currently happening.

Third, Jabari is an ideal small ball 5. Off the bench, he has the potential to anchor the super switchable, defensive terror lineup that includes Jabari, Tari, Amend/Brooks plus Cam.

Fourth, brooks, for all his limitations, is still a superior defender compared to Jabari, especially against starting caliber players. Amen + Brooks sets defensive tone right off the bat.

Lastly, personalities and egos should not matter, but they do. Jabari won’t complain and is a true team oriented guy. Brooks likely has more ego, is a veteran, has the big contract and almost certainly more mercurial.

 

Think again: Jabari wants to get paid in the off-season and benching him would puncture those hopes. I don't believe he would take it well at all.

 

Too bad if he doesn't take it well. I'd like him to replace Dillon in the starting line-up, but if the only choice is Amen, he needs to come off the bench. I think its pretty obvious that Jabari is more important to our defense than Dillon. Since he went down our defense has been giving up way more points. Dillon also is doing what he did last year, which is reverting to the norm on 3 pt shooting and has begun to tire out on the defensive end. Unfortunately, I think Ime is much more worried about hurting Dillon's feelings than hurting Jabari's. Also we don't have to extend Jabari next year. He doesn't go to RFA until the year after. He won't pout, as it will ruin his leverage.

 

[QUOTE="Rileydog, post: 15553097, member: 4361"
Second, we are winning this year and you don’t mess with what is currently happening.
[/QUOTE]

well we've been winning so far

let's see the where team's record and performance is since he went out until the time he's 100% ready to play again

 

Frankly, I don’t care how Jabari takes it. I don’t want him on the team on a big contract. He’s a poor ball handler and has a low BB IQ. He’s a ball stopper on offense and you don’t want to give him the ball on a fast break. We are going to have to move on from some of our young guys at some point and I would pick Jabari to go.

 

Amen is our best player in 2 years. He should never see the bench.

Think Jabari should start, he won’t because of Dillon vet and contract.

I think Jabari would wreck **** coming off the bench. He would score quick vs other scrubs. 6th man for him and Tari behind.

 

Disagree on letting Jabari go. You need a guy like Jabari to win a championship. Doesn't require high volume shots, plays good defense, a good shooter for a PF, does the dirty work. You can't have all playmakers and scorers in there it doesn't work like that. Getting rid of Jabari would be idiotic lol, but thankfully I think the rockets are aware of that.

 

Excellent post. Agree 100%

 

I think you have to prioritize Jabari's growth and development over Dillon's marginally better defense. We talk about Amen opening things up for Jalen - I think he does the same for Bari. Not to mention, Bari and DB's roles overlap a bit, especially on the offensive end. Both mostly spot up from 3 and you occasionally see them take a 1-2 dribbles for a pull up middies if the offense struggles.

 

Great post.

 

This is a rare example where outside talking heads actually have a clue about the Rockets.

A good listen IMO.

 

Yeah, I’m stupid and rescind what I said about Brooks staying in the starting lineup and Jabari coming off the bench. I’m not sure what is happening with Brooks. His calling card is his on ball defense, and it has turned to crap. He is a foul machine when he isn’t getting beaten off the dribble. He gives us very little on offense and stops the ball too damn much for a limited offensive player, instead of just automatically re-routing to Jalen or Sengun.

If Jabari returns and resumes play at pre-injury level, he should continue to start and command pretty big minutes. Brooks is also well behind Tari as the first wing off the bench.

 

Brooks started last season hot and then got worse. Maybe he just burns himself out a bit?

Today's performance was terrible (he wasn't the only one, but at least the others did something).

 

Man. It's amazing how many people are coming around to what I've been saying all along. Amen should be starting and Dillon should be traded or coming off the bench. Said it before the season and saying it again. Please listen when I tell you that picking up FVV's option or renegotiating his contract would be foolish. Trade his ass right now with a couple of picks for Durant or let him walk.

 

Any updates on when Bari coming back?

 

Yeah I am all in on Brooks going to the bench.

 

Agreed, on defense Brooks is already used as a big, I think Bari would suit that role just as well.