I love the optimism, but the only Rockets teams to ever win that many games were: 2017-2018: 65-17 1993-1994: 58-14 1996-1997: 57-25 2014-2015: 56-26
He really does struggle to not be selfish with the ball. Every time it hits his hands you can tell he's ready to attack or shoot. I think getting the small spot minutes last night he tried to show Udoka he can pass it and move the ball around and not just jack it up but he still looked pretty bad out there. I feel for the guy but he has to get into the team concept or he's going to be traded and frankly, this is turning into a really good team. I wouldn't want the boot.
He is young and still putting it together. It’s a long season, he will get more opportunities. Why trade him for someone else who won’t get minutes?
I just don't see it for the rest of this year, unless Tari, Green, or Amen gets hurt (which I pray to never happen). He's young and impressionable...sitting in the bench and not really playing can get to a young talent like him.
I hope no one gets hurt too but every player isn’t playing 82. Fred will miss some games and reed will hit a wall or someone will twist an ankle and miss 2 weeks. I’m not hoping for any of that but he will get another chance. I don’t think anybody should get a free pass to minutes if they are playing poorly on this team. There are too many guys.
Caught the second half. The advanced stats for any lineup with Amen and Tari have to be ridiculous. We knew they were going to lock down, but now they're forcing opponents to work on both ends. That stretch in the 3rd where the Spurs were stringing together some baskets, only to be countered by Amen and Tari splashing middy after middy was fun. Still a lot of room to grow, but those two are looking smoother and more controlled with the ball in their hands. Tari with the off the dribble turnaround fade? Beautiful. Jabari had a quiet, decent game. Not sure about benching him and Brooks for Amen and Tari just yet, but I think its a fair discussion and this dude needs to be looking over his shoulder. Not sure how the rotation dynamics would be affected though. Coming off the bench, pushing the pace, blitzing ball handlers with fresh legs, and providing a spark.. I feel like Tari and Amen are better at that sort of thing. But their growth (and Jabari's relative lack of) should be analyzed. Dillon Brooks is Wembanyama father. I still think Dillon's best defensive days are behind him, but when it comes to matchups where he can rely more on strength than quickness, he's still effective. Last years "failed" Spurs experiment was point-Sochan, this year its shooter-Wemby? Results so far have not been great, but given his natural talent and the Spurs org, I'm sure theres a method to the madness. In the meantime I'll enjoy watching those early shot clock, top of the key bricks. FVV finally showed up and finally made a contested layup. I kid, but I think this is the first game this season I've seen where he's made a layup against a set defense. Sengun with a relatively quiet game, but he's looking more and more like himself. Was thinking his rim protection is looking better this season so I checked the stats. So far he's blocking career high shots and fouling less. I don't know if he'll ever shed the "unathletic defender" label, but if he keeps this up he's gonna catch a lot of people by surprise. Jalen still looks engaged defensively and had one his more efficient games. Hit a few 3's to help put the game away. Connected on few passes that didn't directly lead to assists, but raised my eyebrows. Not sure he would have seen those angles in previous seasons. Got stuffed by the rim on that alley-oop though, cmon man. Nice to see Reed get more minutes. Still looks like he gets out-physical'd on both ends, but getting a little more comfortable. His hands on defense help even things out, but he's still susceptible to getting pushed around. Blake Wesley had him on his hip and took him all the way to the hoop. Gets walled up by defenders frequently, but does a good job of maintaining composure and resetting. Incoming breakout game in OKC (please). Nice to see an easy win after a bunch of close contests. Need the extra rest and momentum to carry over to the Thunder.
Amen's teardrop was a thing of beauty, and his mid range jumper is getting better. He's passing quite well, but he needs to survey the court better at times. If his ball handling under pressure gets better, along with his FT percentage and 3 point shooting, then it's watch out for everyone in the league.
Still so early and some of the results are so weird. Rockets are near dead last in TS% and efg%, but because of an unreal offensive rebound rate have managed to have the 7th best offensive rating in the nba thus far. Can that continue? My gut tells me no, they need to get a whole lot better at shooting and scoring efficiently. But who knows maybe they can keep this up.
The sample size is too small however I think Top 15 or Top 12 Offense at the end of the season is realistic. No injuries up to this point either.
...didn't get to watch the game because of blackout rules in Austin(even though there is only one way through a premium directTV package to see Spurs games in the area - blackout rules are dumb)....but from the box score/watching highlights and watching all the recent games - this is EXACTLY what I was talking about with this team when I said we need to lose the "franchise player" idea and embrace the identity of a basic system that doesn't try to force feed any one player and instead we just have a bunch of guys doing the things they do well, embracing a team concept, and playing really hard all game. We are a better team when we have 7 or 8 guys who all involved and score 8-20pts a game and all chip in multiple rebounds, assists, and stocks because that means we are taking it to other teams even in the 2nd units. Few teams have the depth to keep the intensity and effort up for that long - that's our advantage this year as our young guys start to play like starters more consistently.
