It's time to start thinking about moving Jalen to the BENCH

Should not be surprising, the younger fella is getting better while the soon 22 yr old is not making a dent.

 

It’s not a question of whether he has it or not - clearly he doesn’t. It’s a question of how do you make him productive and maximize your investment in him while he is here because we still have minutes and need for a body at the SG position here.

 

It did feel like that last night’s game was symbolic ending of the ‘Jalen Green as our future’ era in Houston - the night when even the very last fans of his turned on him. I don’t know what’s going on with him - I hope he figures it out but he doesn’t even seem like he wants to play at this point. He isn’t running hard to anything because people far slower than him are beating him all over the court - he really seems like he is just going through the motions. Wish we knew what was going on because I don’t think I have ever seen a player regress this much this quickly - it’s really bizarre. I had to double take the box score to see his minutes because it seemed like he played way less because he was barely involved when he was out there and aside from one corporate sponsored “assist of the game” segment with him catching that oop from Brooks, I only remember low lights from that game.

 

The more Ime continues to start Jalen Green, the less sure I am he’s a top level coach. This is amateur stuff. Jalen is our worst rotation player, he should not be starting or playing high leverage minutes.

 

I'd imagine it's not as simple as you make it out to be. He is probably under pressure from front office to start him so as to not tank his trade value.

Green is pretty much a starter by title only in most of the games. Udoka benches his ass in plenty of 4th quarters in crunch time. Jalen probably wasn't going to play any of the 4th quarter or OT against the Jazz until FVV fouled out.

 

I rewatched the game, there was a sequence early in OT that was more like ballet or high school performance art project than actual basketball.

1. Kessler misses FT, Dill touches the ball but cannot control, and it is going to go OOB. Jalen sees all this and tries to chase the ball, but when ball starts to loose altitude instead of diving for the save, he… jumps high with a pirouette???? WTF???
2. The next possession Markanen shakes lose and goes up for a jumper, Jalen is jumping for a block from behind, and it looks like a legitimate block attempt but… it is a full foot away from the shooter! Like some mime performing an air-block! WTF????

this freaking ballerina act is really getting on my nerves!

 

Starting Jalen should not put him in position to fail. Everything runs through Sengun or FVV, so there should be less pressure. He’s not the first option.

Bringing him off of the bench will hurt his confidence even more imo.

So, you start Cam, who is left coming off of the bench for instant offense? No one. Cam’s time will come soon enough.

I do believe it may be time to try and move JG. I’m not moving him to the bench where it would probably hurt his value even more. Can the Rockets package JG in a deal where they canhet back a solid 2 into the starting lineup? Maybe somehow adding another competent big. Or can they add someone capable of being a spark plug off of the bench while moving Cam into the starting lineup?

For as much as I am ready to move on from Green, you don’t do more to kill any value he may have. I think unless something falls into the Rockets laps I take a patient approach, which the org seems to be doing.

Is Stone big enough to admit that pick may have not worked out? Guess we will see.

 

If they bench Jalen Im not sure Cam is who id insert with the starters. His defensive awareness is still a little suspect and that worries me.

I know the spacing wouldnt be great, but i think id actually go with Amen and let Fred play off ball more. On defense let Amen hold the bigger or better guard.

I dont even think itd hurt the offense much if at all but defense, rebounding and playmaking would get s huge boost. Especially defense.

But the longer they keep Jalen as a starter the more im convinced its a trade value thing and they are open to moving him. I dont think he'll be benched until after the trade deadline if hes still here.

 

Cam's ability to shoot is more important to the starting unit, the spacing it provides allows everyone else to shine.

 

If he had even a fraction of said ability, this thread wouldn't exist.

 

You are so wrong it is ridiculous. To question Ime’s coaching ability is absolutely ludicrous. He’s the third best coach in the NBA only behind Spolstra and Nurse. This is Jalen’s first year with a real coach, so treat him like a rookie.

 

Further, Cam has an advantage over Jalen, because the coaching staff is having to unwind all of the negatives to Green’s game that were part of the Silas regime (i.e, no defense, low bb iq, high turnover rate, selfish “me only” mentality, etc.). Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they’ll eventually get Green straightened out.

 

It's not entirely up to him to start Jalen. Stone still has a lot of influence on that decision for sure.

 

Green’s negatives were there before he was drafted. It’s not like he was some great talent that Silas ruined. The notion that this is year 1 for Jalen’s development is ridiculous. Sengun has improved, and so did Jabari.

But I agree that it’s also ridiculous to criticize Udoka for starting him because the GM and owner probably also has a say.

 

Then that's a sign of Udoka's weakness. That would mean we need to get rid of Stone and that Udoka isn't the coach that we all hoped he'd be.

The only exception would be if there's a trade in the works that he doesn't want to sabotage by benching him just yet.

 

Nothing was Silas fault, this is all on Green.

DD

 

No one seriously questions that Udoka is a significant improvement over Silas. However, especially in the medium term, I have reservations about his ability to cultivate a coherent offense around Sengun and FVV. At times, it feels like he's playing hardball rather than strategically identifying the team's weaknesses with his picks and lineup changes. It's important to remember this is only his second year as head coach, so some mistakes are expected. But as you mentioned, if Stone is exerting a similar amount of influence on him as he did on Silas, that's a concern for me, too.

 

That didn't come from Silas. That came from Jalen Green. Jabari, Sengun and Tari all played under Silas and we don't worry about them do we?

 

Is this "AmenTheSuperstar" account a coach or GM? All I see him do is complain and try to make fun of every serious Rockets coaching decision out there. I have yet to see him contribute anything of a constructive nature to the coaching discussion.

Strange stuff.

 

You can't continue to blame Jalen Green's shortcomings as a player on others. We've had 2 years of that BS already.

It's not KPJ's fault that Green sucks at basketball, it's not Silas' fault that Jalen Green sucks at basketball. It's Jalen Green's fault.

This was the year Jalen was to either rise or fall and the excuses were to stop. Well, thus far he's failing in spectacular fashion playing the worst basketball of his career and here come the excuses.

It's funny how players who aren't scrubs don't need those excuses, only Jalen does.