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

It's hard for me to envision them benching or trading Brooks in the middle of a season like this, given he's played well this year overall and is one of our few actual floor-spacers. Plus, Jabari doesn't even get back until around March I bet, well after the trade deadline.

I honestly wonder if we're not approaching a situation where Jabari and Tari are fighting for minutes. If we didn't also have Tari healthy now, I don't think it would be any problem getting Jabari 28mpg or so, between backing up the forward positions and maybe a little bit of small ball 5. But with both of them clearly deserving significant bench minutes (at a bare minimum) it becomes a bit of a crunch.

I do think we should probably trade one of Dillon, Jabari, or Tari during the offseason. I would favor trading Brooks in a vacuum, but of course it depends on the specific trade and I could see scenarios where trading one of the other two might make sense (for example, instead of giving up future FRPs in a larger trade).

 

Sure I get what you're saying but this comes at a time were we just beat Grizz x1, Cavs 2x, and Celtics all without Jabari. Brooks last night hit 10 threes.

If Jabari plays amazing off the bench yes then you can make your argument. But right now the meritocracy leans towards Brooks until he slumps otherwise.

 

Jalen is not top 50 in defensive rating or win shares. Jabari is ranked #15 in the NBA. Our defensive ratings and rebounds have dropped since we lost Jabari to injury and thats with Amen starting in his place. I agree with the points creating and transition ability part. Losing that would be a huge deficit.

But there is an argument to be made that this team would be better defensively and the spacing would be better. Jalen's percentages rose significantly after his hot streak but before that the dude was shooting 31% and was below 30% on wide open threes. This is year 4 for Jalen and I know he is 22 but one cold streak in the playoffs and its over.

 

What a great problem to have.

 

Comes down to who Udoka thinks is the best PF. I'm not close to 100% certain, but if the decision is Brooks vs. JSJ, I think Udoka picks Brooks.

I don't think the decision is solely Brooks vs. JSJ. I'd guess odds are decent the Rockets add someone at the deadline.

 

Jabari at the 5 is going to be out "death lineup" longterm... book it.

I think Jabari comes off the bench moving forward, but often closes out games at the 5 since Sengun just continues to show us how vulnerable he is on defense. To finish out the season I continue to start Sengun, but when Jabari comes back I like him finishing games on the defensive end especially.

Brooks longterm... we'll see. I would probably prefer to keep and extend out Jabari, Tari, and of course Amen but if it's a choice a year or so down the line... sorry Dillon... I think I'll trade him as long as Tari is healthy... which is also a question mark long term with his leg situation. The Brooks thing though.... that's a question for next season. Right now he's an important piece.

Being able to trade Sengun though is only an option if Jabari really bulks up at some point, and we develop more playmaking. Sengun is really important to our halfcourt offense as a passer, creator, scorer. He's probably untradeable this Summer too unless we develop our guys more, or trade for a superstar who can create.

Long story short... I think we try like hell to keep everyone and in the short we bring Jabari off the bench, but he still plays a huge role as a small ball 5 with Adams likely getting less minutes this season, and maybe letting him walk in free agency this Summer if he won't come back on an Vet discount deal.

 

Im not cherry picking stats go to the NBA website and look at net defensive win shares. Jabari is number 15 on that list close to guys like Lu Dort. We are 4th in defense over the entire season but the last 10 games our rating has dropped and our rebounding has as well. Even Ime acknowledged this during his interviews which I also watch with the games. You talking like Jalen consistently plays well the entire season which is just factually inaccurate. More than half of this forum wanted him traded last year before he decided to play like an all-star in March.

I don't think Ime is going to prioritize Jalen Green's offense over defense plain and simple. Jalen and Sengun are the first players to get pulled in most games and sit on the bench for extended periods when they are playing poorly. Ime was subbing Green out for Tari Eason to close the Boston game because the dude is getting cooked by Jaylen Brown and Pritchard. (Even before his eye injury)

 

Net Rating of each player's last 20 games prior to JSJ's injury cherry picked to make JSJ look good.
JSJ 6.0
Brooks 9.8

Brooks has a large sample showing he's better than JSJ. Even cheryypicking a hot streak for JSJ doesn't show the Rockets playing better with JSJ.

JSJ may end up a better fit than Brooks with the rockets starting lineup and will likely be better than Brooks one day. At this point, JSJ has only been better in small streaks.

 

I think Jalen will start. Im just saying there is an argument to be made because of how Ime coaches. Brooks and FVV are rated number 21/22 in defensive win shares as well. Also if you watched last nights game Brooks was handing it to Jaylen Brown on the defensive end.

I think you are right though on the transition and the offensive load. I think Brooks might just be too slow for Amen, Jabari and Green.

 

Brooks/Tari/Cam/Adams off the bench would be nice. I hope you are right OP. Green did play well against the Cavs.

 

I'm honestly expecting that Jabari will start out coming off the bench at this point and given that he seems to be very rhythm/confidence based as a shooter, I think there's a decent likelihood that he will shoot poorly at first. If we assume he comes back in say the second week of March... not a lot of season left at that point for him to "get right" so to speak.

My thinking is that, barring other injuries or a bad losing streak (God, I hope not), whatever the rotation is going into April will be the playoff rotation.

 

You cherry picked when JSJ had a hot streak. Not know Net Rating numbers don't matter. You picked a time period that was JSJ's best.

Of course you think the Rockets playing better with Brooks than JSJ is a flawed way to determine who has helped the Rockets more.

On the Sengun/Jabari/Amen/Green/FVV vs Sengun/Brooks/Amen/Green/FVV, that's 200 minutes versus 74 minutes. That's about 6 games assuming about 30 mpg vs 2. Both sucked. There is 600 minutes with FVV/Green/Amen/Sengun and it just has not been pretty whoever the 5th man is. I don't think Brooks vs. JSJ fixes it. If the Rockets stay with FVV/Green/Amen/Sengun, someone out of those 4 needs to rotate better and help more on the defensive boards.