Is Silas really to blame or is our roster simply not that good?

I think most people think Silas makes every player worse. And I don't know why you connect the criticism of Silas to wins-losses or favorite player sucking. It's simply not having any improvement at all and not being able to fix even the simplest things.

To the contrary, I think the team might collapse. Young players are lost, they have lost their motivation and there is no coaching or veteran presence to keep it together. I would be very surprised if the team more games than till now, even though the schedule is easier.

 

It’s like you fools don’t understand what a rebuild is. We aren’t supposed to be winning this year. Maybe not even next year. Circle 2024 on your calendar and relax.

 

I agree that is not your position, but many on this board are disenfranchised because the team is not a playoff team failing only their inflated expectations.

all the same, what would you like to see done differently? Discrete changes to better develop our youth.

 

I don't think I would attribute it to Silas as much as I would attribute it to everybody.

Stone - Has built nearly an entire roster of players under 25. That's not conducive to winning.

Silas - Too soft on the players and permissive of hero ball with KPJ.

Players - Too young and inexperienced in addition to being immature at times with their reactions.

It's a layered cake here.

 

MANY? I havent seen one person say that in this THREAD. Show us if there is many that shouldnt be a problem to show them.

 

He doesn't develop the players as he should.

 

That's a ridiculous mindset if that's what people are thinking. Logic dictates that all our rookies will look worse than expected because at the very start of their NBA career they are playing the most difficult schedule in the NBA. It also dictates that all the sophomores will not look as good as expected.

Despite that, Jalen/Garuba/Sengun have all improved. That's 3 out of 4 sophomores which is an unbelievable rate of return on draft picks in the NBA. No one drafts 4 rookies and 3 become rotation or great players. Someone should get praise for this. You must admit that either it's the coaching staff or that players development can't be stopped by the coaching staff. You can't have it both ways.

The rookies have played less than 20 games, so there's not even a comparison point for improving. Tari is meeting expectations. Tyty hasn't played because he was injured and Nix is on a decent run. Jabari is supposed to be a franchise player so he is in the same program as Jalen was last season: off ball shooting and off ball defense while he sharpens his skills. That will be followed by stepping up the plays and rotation to suit him. In college his entire team was designed around him. In the NBA he just has to hit open shots when nothing is designed for him until he learns the offense and defense fully. The system worked beautifully for Green so it is idiotic to be critical of it right now. Who thought Green would be a decent defender when we drafted him? Who thought Green would be an elite off ball shooter, even while he was missing tons of wide open 3's last season? How do you think these things happened that Jalen is better off ball on both sides of the court than he was projected to be? Magic?

You can't ignore these things and say "but still XYZ should happen". If that's what you think, your expectations were flat out wrong to begin the season and therefore you're creating illogical internal frustration within yourself and now frustrating other people with it. All these players are aware that these are growing pains, these 20 yr olds are more mature about it than the people on this board.

Young players aren't lost in 20 games, this is not a soap opera it's real life. These things don't happen in the NBA. Mistakes don't continue forever. Great prospects don't lose their careers because of one season. These are ultra dramatic ways of thinking, there is no projection more negative than this. How can the most negative projection imaginable be the most likely scenario? Ask yourself. In life and in basketball, how can the worst possible outcome be the likeliest? It's a fringe extremist argument. Even if the outcome is not the best, it will 99.9% of the time fall between the best and the worst. It will rarely ever be the worst.

Everything we want is happening just not at the speed that some people dreamed about. I think it's partially the nature of being a sports fan to not understand that on the other side is real life. These 20 yr olds are in their first jobs, they are learning even about being on time, working hard, how to communicate with each, what mindset to have and that's before skills development.

Can you share an example where someone did better than drafting 4 rookies and 3 of them are developing so well that all analysts and fans of other teams are surprised by their performance? What's your comparison point that brings these expectations into reality? Is it ok with you if these players develop at the same speed that all rookies develop or is Silas responsible for your irrational desires?

 

There is no offensive or defensive system, and no consistent ball movement, although several of the players, like Garuba and Sengun, are skilled and willing passers.

The offense is "my turn, your turn". The rotations are absolute head scratchers. He will let some guys make mistake after mistake and leave them in (KPJ, Jalen) whereas he will yank others quickly, even if they have great momentum (Alpi).

He doesn't seem to call timeouts much to teach players.

 

I am not as negative as you picture me to be. Green's development is very solid. Most of Alpi's and garuba's development comes from getting into nba shape. Jabari, when drafted was behind where alpi was last year, lacking nba body and not having a professional game before. So, I have no expectations on him. Tari was good out of the box, again too little time to evaluate anything there. KPJ's development is an utmost failure in my opinion.

Having 3 out 4 players develop well is a very good scenario. But they are all very strong characters, hard-workers. Sengun and Garuba had prior international and professional experience and Green is an out of the world athlete. KPJ on the other hand, given so much time and resources, is not developing as expected, to put it politely. That hints me the development of the players should be more attributed to the players than the coaches. On top of that there is no improvement as a team. Expectations to win a certain number of games might be unreasonable but seeing improvement in team play is another reasonable expectation, which is also part of player development. Other weak points I see in coaching, which are discussed at length in the forum convinces me that player development is mostly personal success rather than coaches success. And improvement by itself is not proof that the coaches are doing a good job, because we don't know the alternative reality where another coach was developing these players.

As for the I didn't say player x will lose all his career. But the team is losing cohesion and that effects the players. Every game played less motivated is an underused time for development. It is not an ultra dramatic way of thinking. You took it to an extreme.

 

1. Silas is to blame.
2. Roster as constructed is talented but by far not the best fits and somewhat no real chemistry.
3. Dudes stat pad. Play selfishly. No beautiful team ball.
4. Most talented players have skinny bodies.
5. Too young and not just young.

 

It's very very extreme. You're saying:

- "Green's development is solid" is a huge understatement. Green's development has beaten all expectations. The game is half offense and half defense. Were you expecting him to be a better defender or a better scorer at this point in his career? Be real for a second, the expectation for Jalen Green was that he'd be a volume scorer with mediocre efficiency and never be a good defender. That they have Jalen showing defensive potential in his sophomore season deserves huge praise, it's half the game and takes him from being a scorer to being a potential franchise player. Right now, Jalen Green is better than Kobe Bryant as a sophomore and at the same age. He is better at every single thing than Kobe except handling.

- Garuba and Alpi's development is absolutely not just from getting in shape. Garuba is in worse shape right now than his rookie season, and he did not have a strength issue. Alpi is rebounding, drawing fouls and taking care of the ball better which has nothing to do with NBA shape. Your view that no one has anything to do with Alpi's development is INTENSELY negative. Alpi is learning that he is useless when he's not involved in the play and like Jalen, when he corrects this issue his overall game will flourish.

- Having 3 out of 4 players develop (and the 4th is not a lost cause btw) is more than a very good scenario. It's excellent, anyone should receive a promotion if this happens under their staff. That's the NBA. That's why teams tank for multiple top picks rather than just 1 or 2. You are not giving credit where it's due.

- Lack of cohesion is not affecting the development of our players so far, there's no evidence to show that. Your method would not succeed in making 4 out of 4 players exceed expectations, this is unrealistic and extremely skeptical.

If someone offered any NBA GM that 3 out of their 4 rookies will develop well and they can fast forward the season, every single GM takes that. Things are going well. These are kids. Whether in football or basketball or engineering school, a 20 yr old kid is going to make mistakes and there will things their mentors try that will not work.

The big picture is: things are going great for the Rockets young players. If they continue their progression at this pace, we will have 1 franchise player, one all star level player and one super role player in a single draft. That's mind-blowingly successful and if you can't see this then a rational discussion cannot be had with you.

If you're saying that your advice would net us more success, no one can take that seriously.

 

Good. Thought so.

 

Bad coach, subpar draft picks. This team looks to be headed for a long run of losing seasons. Nobody was at the game on a Friday night and they retired Elvin Hayes jersey. Rockets are an absolute joke at the moment.

 

Talent is questionable but Silas's strategy makes them look even worse if the intent is to win.

But it seems obvious that the team wants to tank again so it makes it difficult to analyze anything at this point. If this is really the case then everything will look horrid. It is only the 2nd year of the rebuild so I guess we just need to tolerate some pain.

 

Silas is just a well connected clumsy. He doesn't deserve his position, even as a tank commander. He's hurting this team

 

It’s not an ‘either/or’ question. Both are true,

 

I'll agree on the rotations being questionable but that might just be by design as the tank commander.


The rest of this take is pure nonsense.

You think they don't have an offensive system and that it's just KPJ's alone talent that generates all the open looks for the rest of the team? Poppycock.

They might not be running the advanced version of the offense but there is certainly a plan in place.

You guys took that one statement by Silas and have embellished it to something totally out of context.

If you don't see the offensive concepts, you aren't looking .... if you don't see the growth from individual players, you are blind.

 

No, your post is.

"Offensive concepts"?

Both Calvin Murphy and several other commentators said it - the offense is "my turn, your turn". They literally said it. Who the hell are you to know better than Calvin Murphy?

 

I'm in the minority but I think the coach and the players both suck right now. The players suck because they're all like 20 year olds, and the coach is also inexperienced. We all agree the number one thing is player development and I think it's going OK but definitely not great. It's just tough to develop a team full of college age kids while competing against fully grown professional men

 

I recall many posts making fun of how Garuba cannot move and how he is not in shape. I don't think your statement is accurate. In case of Alpi, how is rebounding not related to getting stronger and having better stamina? He was already an elite foul drawer when he came into the league. He is drawing 20% more this year so far, which can also be explained by getting more consistent minutes, and having better stamina. His defense is better though, which is something I can attribute to coaching. His assist rate is down by half though, which is a direct result of how Silas prefers to use him. For a player who is skilled at passing the ball, I would expect some improvement on that end too, rather than cut in half.

I am not sure what you are saying. Are you suggesting we should extend Silas as head coach?

I like your posts, and I generally strongly agree with you. But in this case, either you are too optimistic and giving too much credit to Silas, or as you've been saying I am too pessimistic and giving very few credit to Silas. I agree that my expectations on development timeline might be too much, maybe I am expecting things to happen too soon. But still

1) I see lack of team development
2) I cannot give credit to Silas as much as you do

And the first phase of player development is easier, since a lot comes from getting into shape, getting acclimated to the nba and you lack many things to begin with. The more you learn, the incremental development will be harder and will be more dependent on coaching. That is why I have worries on whether their progression will continue at this pace.