The problem is he is hellbent on players like Samuels, Darius Days, previously Hudgins or Obiesie.... Names I have never heard of ....Nate Will is probably the only guy worth looking at, very low ratio.
Unlike many people here, I don't think getting a back up center is that important at this point. A guy playing behind Sengun and is good enough to help will only eat into Sengun's minutes, which is not what we plan to do. If Sengun's defense is really suspect, then you need to have someone playing alongside with him, not playing backup. I think Jabari is growing into that role gradually. Besides, defense is not our problem. As much as people talk about letting opponents do layup drills, we are still a top 10 defensive team. What we need is better offense, shooters mainly from the guard and wing spots. And we need smarter schemes and players to get the ball to the open man.
There are just a few more holes than just another quality backup can solve...so yeah. I do not think we are top 10 like with consistency..... We are like Top 3 in 10 games and Top 20 in another 10 games on the road. I do not think that is healthy and then think we are Top 10.....it is just schizophrenic thing to do.
Schizophrenia is what you expect from a young team. One way to solve it is to get more vets and reduce the young guys' minutes. I don't think that's what a rebuilding team wants to do. People are just impatient with the growing pain and want to fix everything at once. The top priority at this point is to identify who are the core of our future. When you figure that out, you start to build around these guys. All the veteran role players are temporary pieces. They serve two purposes: (1) set the right culture for the kids; (2) provide stability and structure on the floor. Udoka is in a balancing act of winning games and developing the young players. That said, I'm definitely not saying that Stone sitting on his hands is okay. I want him to bring in players to make the offense less schizophrenic.
I would have put it as a Top 12 or 13 Defense outside looking in with flashes of Top 2 Defense when Dillon, Fred, Amen, Tate, Tari, Alpe, Jeff etc were all on their A-Game. Yes. Probably that, not falling for the Trap Defense when they cannot be consistent for 2 full Seasons. (Fool's Gold) If they are a Top 8 Defense, then they are the Timberwolves Light and they were not this season at least. Shite against the Timber puppies.
Jabari should be moved to SF position and Rockets needs a PF next to Sengun similar to Allen-Mobley-Markkanen type of frontcourt. If they can not get anyone Jabari-Tari-Sengun could be Rockets version. Jabari at SF and Tari at 4.
Other people have made that suggestion. I am not totally opposed to it. But I am skeptical whether Jabari's handles are good enough to play the wing. I am also not sure if Jabari has the foot speed to defend in the perimeter full-time. It's one thing to be able to switch. It's another thing to be a main perimeter defender. Whoever we bring in to fill the PF spot probably won't be much better than jabari in that regard. That said, it might actually unlock Jabari's offensive potential. Who knows.
Jabari is not a finished product. We all know he needs time and proper coaching/mentorship. He won't be the golden boy at 3 at the moment but he isn't at 4 also. He is certainly better shooter than Dillon Brooks, his size will create lots of problems for the opps, he can help a lot for rebounding- together with the other 2 bigs- (actually because of Amen and 3 bigs, Rockets might outrebound any team in NBA). In practice,Rockets played long time without a decent coach and a sophomore Udoka needs some experience. So, moving Jabari might be little bit luxury for the current organization.
