It's plain to see, from the Top to the Bottom, there are so many issues with this team. A lot to be hopeful for and a ton that's worrisome to say the least. After the deadline, once I collected myself and concluded that they can still get a deal done. Either at the draft, during the offseason or at the deadline next year. That's when the "What ifs" kicked in and I began to worry. What if they never intended to trade Wood. They some how believe in him and plan on maxing him out? What if they actually see him as a franchise big! MY biggest fear is that they pass on either Jabari, Paolo or Chet for a wing or dare I say another guard, because they plan on keeping him.
Maxing out Wood...and everything it would represent...a portent of things to come if this goes down. I think JG will eventually get there...wherever THERE is...All Star caliber player probably. Not necessarily franchise player though.
Right now its just so hard to predict anything with such an unstable organization. So many are so new to their rolls, its hard to see any form of light at the end of the tunnel. I would personally fire Silas today, let Lucas coach the rest of the year. The idea would be playing though Sengun and letting the young guys get the majority of the playing time. Maybe some old school style basketball playing is what we need to be a bit competitive. We miss so many 3's, its pathetic to keep shooting them like we do. I do not hate Silas, but this is not the job they brought him in for. I am not the biggest fan of Lucas as the HC, but right now we needed an established voice of someone who has been in that role before. So in other words...buckle up MF'ers, this ride will stay bumpy as hell for a while.
I would actually say "Other" which is striking out again in the 2022 Draft. Not that Green, JC, and Sengun are clear misses, but it's pretty clear by now they aren't transformational talents the way Mobley looks with Cleveland. Every year that Stone misses in the draft and takes just an "okay" young player who might must be a starter at best, the rebuild cannot function as it should. This team needs to bottom out until it finds someone we think can be a star, but Stone seems like he doesn't have the guts to do that anymore(evidenced by keeping EG, Schroader, etc.). If we have a team full of "okay" players we'll be maybe good enough in 3 years to be a play-in team, and go nowhere for 5 to 10 years. Add a garbage head coach like Silas and you really are going nowhere. Missing on Mobley is going to haunt this team for years.... UNLESS Stone hits with this years top pick. If he misses then we could be screwed with a mediocre team for years and years.
The three big things that scare me are Green not panning out, we fail in the draft lottery this year, or maxing Wood.
My greatest fear is coddling mid level talent... We spent years of coddling Harden - bc he was upper level talent and you do what you gotta do to keep players of that caliber happy... With his departure, I had hoped we would try to rebuild the org's 'culture'. Push guys to be team focused - and not on personal stats... hold accountable for effort on both ends of the court.... Set the precedent that no one player is more important than the team... Engrain a team mentality - rather than 'cornerstones and roleplayers' or whatever... I wanted JVG to be the guy to set the parameters for the culture reset.... i know his stagnant offense would have been concerning - but i figured he could get an offensive asst - like MDA had Bzdelik as a defensive asst... Anyway... thats what I hoped would happen... But Silas is too nice a guy... A developmental project like KPJ can walk out at halftime - and all he gets is a 1 game suspension? Wood can pull a Pippen and refuse to go into a game... and evidently were still looking at giving him a fat contract - despite the red flags... Our developmental plan sucks... Half the time it seems we got a bunch of youngsters just running around trying to figure it out - rather than following a game plan... Too many minutes spent on vets... idk... we just look more and more like a crappy organization every day... not a team that's building a future... i hope I'm wrong and things start coming to fruition... but i dont like the vibe so far...
For right now, my fear is if Jalen Green is a busy. Being a high draft pick, one would expect for things to plan out but there has been many busts at the 2nd pick. I believe Green will be a good starter next year and eventually be a beast in years 3 and 4. All cards is finding the next star because it doesnt seem likely GM has magic like Morey.
Having a bad coach early on can really **** with some players heads. Like who is the genuis that decided Ben Simmons should be a point guard. Green's lack of touches and plays being called for him in important moments may create a guy who becomes scared of the moment and thinks he's not important to the team. This year should have been more concentrated on his development. The Rockets have no idea where to focus. They are confused and it shows.
That Tilman won't tolerate losing and demands we start winning more games ASAP. Instead of building an actual core that can hope to compete for a title in the future.
Biggest fear. There will be no defensive identity. Sactown and Minny, drafting forever. 10 years only 1 or 2 Playoff apperances, 1st round exits to show for it........ Jalen and Kevin Porter - hollow 24 ppg scorers get fed up and bolt.
Rockets are trying to develop young players, but also need players to be in the right spot for young players to develop. I think Silas and Stone are trying to balance things, but there's a lot of young players and even the vets haven't been in the right spot to help them.
My biggest fear is that with all the revolving players, in then gone, we end keeping the wrong ones and the ones we passed on flourish somewhere else.
They're right on cue with an ownership that's cheap and wants to do the complete opposite of their previous era of basketball
I didn't think that was plausible until last night. Based upon everything I'm seeing I think they are looking at playing one big and four guards. Wood is not a big, he is best used when he has size over his defender. I see him as a Brandon Ingram type. STONE....HE IS NOT A CENTER The Rockets need a center. Wood would be best used as a PF/SF with a mobile big
Expectation: That Green becomes at least an All-Star player, given where he was picked. Reality: Given the odds of landing an eventual All-Star player is hard already, landing 4 All-Stars in one draft is damn near impossible. Houston just needs at least one of the 4 1st rounder to eventually get to that level, doesn't really matter which one. Fear: None of them will get there