It's time to start thinking about moving Jalen before the deadline

Lulz. You would hate to give up draft picks when 2 of our last 3 draft picks were used poorly.

 

name the second one?

 

Amen, Cam, Jabari and Tari aren't poor picks. It's far too early to judge Amen and Cam, but Jabari and Tari are both doing well.

 

Adding to the convo, in 2019-20 MEM season, Dillon was listed officially as a SG. The other seasons he was listed as a SF. Later seasons like 2021 and after, when Bane was solidified as (SG), since Desmond is shorter (6'4"), Dillon (6'6") at
SF made sense. Dillon at the 2 isn't uncharted water.

With position-less basketball it's murkier, but backcourt, wings, bigs, Dillon as wing & backcourt is ok. I think part of it, is that his main focus is normally on defense (guarding other team's best player), which exerts lot of energy and risk of fouling, then asking him to do more on scoring is extra responsibilities.
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Personally, I'm still ok with the ceremonial start for Jalen. Allow him the shots (opportunities), if things don't fall, then swap in some of the other guys. We do the same for Sengun and Bari, am ok with this arrangement for now.

FVV and Dillon's defense are solid. It's kinda a shame that Jalen is not taking advantage of this as we are surrounding Jalen with better perimeter defenders (dawgs). Such that on offense, the system was to rely on Jalen's scoring punch, which hasn't really happened.

Back in the draft, the label for Jalen was a 3-tier scorer. Instead of shot charts all over the court, maybe find where his hot spots are. Then once mastered expand to other areas.

 

I very much agree with you. I think Jalen is noticeably getting more comfortable in the system, even if his shots aren’t falling (and FVV is more willing to defer ball handling duties to him in the first few quarters to try and get him going). He’s been disappointing so far this season, but how Udoka is using him is totally fine in my book—if he’s not contributing, then he gets to sit. Simple as that.

 

The Magic got 2 good playmaking bigs (not just 1) and the Rockets got a below average sized scorer with no fundamentals and an oversized skinny shooter who shoots more midrange now.

And then they got 2 of the best defending guards (Suggs and Black) and picked up a good defender in Fultz as well.

I would not call it poor but it was a very questionable start to the rebuild.....

 

The problem with starting Dillon at SG is that we then have no guard that can break down the defense and get to the rack off the dribble. That is Green’s role and he is doing it very poorly. The answer is to send Jalen to the bench to work with Amen. Those two getting better and playing together is important to our future. In order to make that happen and still continue to win, we need to make a trade for a starting SG.

 

the thing is most of the time you can spot bonafide superstar potential from their first games. Sengun was visible right away if you had vision. Same for Cam

 

Ironically....Brooks is 5x better at finishing at the rim or drawing a foul than Jalen Green is

 

Multiple people on this board - myself included - have explained to you that this is wrong.

The options take Green through the end of the 24-25 season.

The deadline for his rookie extension will be in the fall of 2024

If no extension is worked out, he becomes a restricted FA in the summer of 2025 so long as the Rockets make a qualifying offer. If he takes that qualifying offer, he will be an unrestricted FA in 2026. Alternately, he signs a new contract either with the Rockets or with another team (which the Rockets can then match).

Many of us believe that Jalen Green is not going to be worthy of a rookie extension. In addition to the issues with his jump shot and handle, he has shown no ability to process the game at a level that would enable him to produce in a consistent and repeatable manner. He may be able on occasion to make shots that no one else can, but generally, circus shots at the rim are not repeatable. What is repeatable is an ability to get past perimeter defenders and then make a good decision once in the paint. Unfortunately, Jalen can do the former but not the latter. When he drives, he lacks ability to judge whether he can get to the rim before the paint defenders wall him off, he lacks the ability to shift his own trajectory once he commits to a drive, and he lacks the court vision to pass to the open man. All of this is made even more difficult by Jalen’s habit of pulling back (almost like a wind up) when he gets the ball on the perimeter (vs attacking immediately) - that reset allows defenses to shift into positions that neutralize any chance of getting to the rim or making a safe pass to a teammate. The end result of these errors has meant Jalen gets blocked at the rim or he throws up a circus shot.

There’s a lot of talk against trading Jalen while his “value is low,” and that’s fair. But keep this in mind - whatever value he has now is at least 50% due to the fact that all the options for keeping him beyond his rookie contract are still available and there’s also still 3/4 or so of a season to evaluate him. Other teams may be willing to take a chance on him so long as they have the option to extend and enough time to make an informed decision on that extension.

The Rockets should take advantage of this value now in the trade market if internally they are no longer convinced of Jalen being a reliable contributor to winning basketball in the next few years. They should not allow the sunken cost of a #2 pick and 2.25 seasons to ignore trade opportunities that while unexciting, could make this team better overall.

 

You are right and I have apologized for my error several times now. However, we still have Jalen under contract for this year and next, so trading him now for a mediocre player or mediocre draft pick is ludicrous and the Rockets won't do it. I'm on record that if they can bundle him with draft picks to get something of real worth, fine. Otherwise, we should give him through the 24 season and let the market set his contract as a RFA. He can prove it off the bench if we can sign a Brogdon type to start using a future frp and salary filler (like Oladipo and/or Tate, Landale, etc). There are ways to continue to develop Jalen and still have an opportunity for the playoffs.

 

That's not true even if you take away your intentional exaggeration of 5x.

Career at rim percentage: Green .635, Brooks .618
Career FTA per game: Green 4.9, Brooks 2.5

Green is better at finishing and draws more fouls.

I am not defending Green. I just think those who hate Green so much are exaggerating his deficiency and Brooks playing guard full time would not work well. I'd rather start Holiday in place of Green.

 

Forget career numbers, what are they for this year?

 

I’m alright with that, but it is a bit of the chicken/egg scenario. Does he need the minutes to get better at shooting? Does he need less to motivate him? I trust Ime in this process.

 

Green's career is what....2 years and Brooks has been coming from a franchise that does not use him like Udoka does.

Brooks knows how to get to his spots consistently but he has done it erratically in Memphis.

Jalen does not even know or he has not mastered it.

Not a fan of both but cannot evaluate Brooks when he is playing like a mad man and at his pinnacle and Green at his absolute worst.

 

Since @jim1961 asked....

This season:

From 0-3 feet: Green .671 Brooks .769

Free Throw Attempts per Game: Green 4.8 Brooks 2.1

They're both averaging about 31 minutes per game

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/greenja05.html

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/brookdi01.html

EDIT: I initially got the Green FTA/game wrong...corrected

 

at rim percentage: Green .671, Brooks .769
FTA per game: Green 4.8, Brooks 2.1

Green is still drawing more fouls (more than 2x) than Brooks.

Brooks' at rim percentage, just like his 3p%, is unusually high this season. That is very unlikely sustainable.

Look, I am not saying Green is better than Brooks. I was just pointing out the falsehood of saying Brooks is better than Green at finishing at rim and drawing foul. Both of those claims are false.

 

i bet you are associated with franchise. Great post