I’d trade Jalen and Jabari and sleep just fine. Sengun and Tari are the guys to hold onto. But i applaud taking a shot at what the team could look like next season. I’m fine bringing harden back as long as he brings someone with him. Not sure who that would be. I’d also be fine trading the Brooklyn picks for Bridges, Cam and Claxton. Add Harden to that, with depth, and I think that’s a playoff team. But you keep Sengun. Grant Williams is another guy I’d go after.
They hated to trade him but the argument was he doesn’t fit with Harden and they needed a defensive stopper and lob threat in Bridges/Claxton. Honestly I think this team would be in the playoffs but they gave up too much because Sengun’s ceiling is too high.
Yes he has .he's working fine with embiid right now He actually worked well with dmo too Any big that is smart and knows how to follow on the PnR will be set up well .
If we end up with the #3 overall lottery pick, trade it for shooter(s)... Trade #3 overall pick, Clippers 1st round pick, Jabari Smith, & Josh Christopher for Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson(sign&trade). Sign Seth Curry and Georges Niang in free agency. Trade Jalen Green and future protected 1st round pick for Pascal Siakam. Trade JaeSean Tate and Usman Garuba for Kelly Olynyk. Trade KPJ, KJ Martin, and 3 second round picks for Tyus Jones. Sign Ryan Arcidiacono & Yuta Watanabe 2023-24 Rockets (Frank Vogel) (27)Tyus Jones(38% from 3) (27)Mikal Bridges(40% from 3) (27)Cam Johnson(41% from 3) (29)Pascal Siakam(All-star) (21)Alperen Sengun (22)TyTy Washington (33)Seth Curry(42% from 3) (30)Georges Niang(40% from 3) (22)Tari Eason (32)Kelly Olynyk(41% from 3) (29)Ryan Arcidiacono(38% from 3) (29)Yuta Watanabe(40% from 3) Championship coach (defensive-minded). All star in his prime. 8 veteran sharpshooters. Sengun, Tari, and TyTy learn a ton while still getting minutes on a playoff team.
Here is my Simulation Draft: #1 Victor Wembanyama #20 Derek Lively II Pre-Free Agency Fire Stephen Silas as coach Sign Kenny Atkinson as coach Fire Patrick Fertita from the front office Trade Tate into someone's cap or TPE for any pick consideration (+ pick, + cap space) Waive Nix (+ cap space) Free-Agency Sign James Harden to a 4 year 180 million dollar deal Sign Cam Johnson to a 4 year 140 million dollar deal Trades KPJ, Green and Sengun to Miami for Jimmy Butler Harden / TyTy Butler / Christopher Johnson / Eason Smith Jr / Garuba Wemby / Lively Keep the Nets picks for future additions.
Here's what's hopefully going to happen. Jalen Green and Sengun for Julius Randle KMJ and Jabari for Clarkson Trade this year's draft pick because we got 3 for Ayton. Starting line up KPJ Clarkson Tari Randle Ayton I feel like this is a well balanced line up. Good for a first round appearance or so.
Trade: Jabari, KPJ, Garuba, Clippers pick, Brooklyn picks for Bridges, Cam and Claxton. Sign: Harden and Grant Williams Draft: Just don’t blow the pick roster: Sengun/Claxton Grant Williams/Tari Cam/Tate Jalen/Christopher Harden/TyTy +Top 5 pick
I don’t care who fits around Harden… dude is like 34 years old and scoring like 15 points a game less than he did at his peak and no longer super durable. So there is no way I am trading someone like Sengun or Green because they don’t fit with grandpa. If the Rockets pick third and Miller’s version of the gun story checks out, then he should go third to the Rockets if they pick there. I can roll with Jabari and Miller as my forwards going forward, with Eason off the bench… Sengun can see if he is good enough to play center defensively on a winning team. Green is really offensively gifted and can start at SG. If the Rockets can get Harden, I’m sure they will but he is a terrible fit defensively next to Green. Because Green is so limited defensively, the Rockets have to have a good defender next to him with size.
The hate obsession with Green is absurd. I think for the worst type of SOF, Green is a threat to Sengun due to insecurity.
I have less questions about Green going forward than I do Smith or even Sengun. Sengun has a lot of upside and already is pretty damn good, but I have concerns about him being able to anchor a top team defensively as a 5. I don’t have any concerns other than that, but it’s still a big concern. Jabari has had a terrible rookie year and I think he will learn to shoot and be an 18-20 point a game forward with really good defense and rebounding. Green has to get better at being more than just a scorer, but most of what he needs to improve at are a lot of small things. I don’t know if he will be a 25-30 point a game scorer, but I am pretty confident he will be at least a 20 point a game SG with solid efficiency. I don’t know that any of these guys will be bonafide top 10-15 players in the league. I guess Sengun would be one if he shows he can be an above average defender at the 5. Green has a shot if he can get over 26-27 a night.
All Sengun needs is a coaching staff who trust him and don't actively try to demean and demoralize and marginalize him every chance they get. The Silas/Higgins/Batiste/Hollins clique is disgusting. Sengun's PER at age 20 is pretty much on par with that of Hakeem and Yao at age 22, respectively. You guys still don't even understand how good Sengun is. The "defensive deficiencies" are overstated, and are a direct result of the shitty "system" of Silas and his sycophants. This Silas/Higgins "professional sons/nepotism beneficiaries" coaching staff is committing a crime by trying to break this kid. But they will not succeed. He is too good, and they will be gone soon.
Imagine tanking 3 seasons so that you trade your draft picks 1-2 years into their career for people in their mid 30's. Knowing full well most draft picks take 2-3 years to reveal their worth. It would be an extremely rare thing to do because it's so stupid hardly anyone has ever done it. Imagine being the team that gives Harden $45m per year guaranteed for ages 34 to 38. A one sided player who is elite at passing, very good at scoring and does not take care of his body well. Couldn't win a title with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Couldn't win one with Joel Embiid. Couldn't win one with Chris Paul. Now half a decade later you re-sign that guy who is 100% certain he won't win a title with Houston at least in the first season. So you can add a guy in the starting line up who doesn't play good defense and always has to be covered for and surrounded with the right defenders. You MIGHT consider it if we land Wemby and you believe Wemby can have immediate impact as a defensive anchor, but otherwise this is a deal that can go very very wrong. That's how teams f*ck up. Working hard to rebuild then blowing their load at the first person who would talk to them. What a f*cking mess. Stop being so insecure and try to understand we can build ourselves into a playoff team with wise veteran signings and then we will have access to much better players than a 34 year old James Harden for $45m. We can acquire players in trade just as easily as signing them and we have all the way till our first draft class' extensions kick in and eat up a lot of our cap space (i.e. we have 2 seasons to wait). You have to go for a Warriors-like salary situation. Sign a worthy max FA before your core's salary situation gets expensive. Then you can go over the cap to re-sign your own guys without any worries. If that max FA is only worth half his salary, it f*cks everything up for 3 years. Then you have one of those 10 year rebuilds you're always hearing about. I hope that we just acquire some solid vets like Corey Joseph and Mason Plumlee. I think we're otherwise covered as far as potential role players go, a lot of players on our roster who can fill those types of roles. We see who emerges from our core (Sengun, Green, Jabari, 2023 Draft pick) while we keep talking to teams about available stars. Just wait for the right trade target or FA to break loose, and it happens often after the playoffs. If you absolutely MUST spend the god damn money, then maybe we can sign Van Vleet who can bring a floor general, championship experience, hard work, defense and off ball production to the Rockets. Lillard, Kawhi, PG13, Jimmy Butler, JOEL EMBIID (if he's fed up with Sixers), Jaylen Brown >> these are just some players who are a bad playoff series or two away from becoming available (the team will either want to upgrade or rebuild, both of which we can help with). Be patient, we got this.
@groovemachine Why not bench Smith Jr? If you had the means and you obviously do with this roster, you replace Tilman and Stone with better personnel. And then there is Jabari. Get either Bogdanovices..... Seth Curry...Joe Harris.. Klay Thompson Known shooters. Tinker with it, make it small ball lineup.
Harden is a rental at this point, you plan the next 1 or 2 years anyway and you have to retool again.
hate is a strong word. I’m not a SOF. If Green actually takes a step next year I’ll have more confidence in him. It’s okay to have a different opinion without an agenda lol
Sengun is very productive and efficient. He also has improved more this season than anyone else on the Rockets on the offensive end. He isn't even playing 30 minutes a night and is dropping 15/9/4/4/1 and has an adjust fg% of 56%. He is currently the best player on the Rockets and he is only 20 years old. I will be curious to see how his stamina and efficiency holds up when they increase his usage - which they really should be doing. A lot of upside. Having said that, I wouldn't put him in the same class as Olajuwon and Yao; because both of them were dominant defensively. Olajuwon is probably one of the 1-2 best defensive players ever and Yao was a very under-rated defender, when he was on the court, the Rockets had the #1 or #2 defense in the NBA like 4-5 times. Sengun is very unlikely to be that type of defender, and also offense now is out of control. Sengun though, is quietly on pace to have at least a Domatas Sabonis type career and possibly even better.
