At the beginning of the year, Cade was probably the "worst" player in the league. Dude couldn't hit the broad side of a barn at first. He was like 3/40 from 3. Players struggle, especially rookies who aren't used to the speed of the game. There are worse things you can do other than be a struggling rookie and even then you wont get benched on this team. As we've all learned.
Struggling is normal, but most are underselling just how pathetic Jalen Green was for half the season.... he was a -20 to the team at the halfway point.... if he missed the entire season, the Rockets probably win 5-10 more games. Again though, they were taking, so it's no big deal... but typically teams would cut the playing time of ANY player performing that poorly for an extended period.... so those who suggested that weren't outlandish for doing so. If Smith is that absolutely garbage on both ends of the court this season, he probably won't get that luxury because the team actually wants to win some games now.
It is frankly amazing to read these bumped threads even knowing that we do this on the GARM all the time. People actually expect we can suck and tank without the suck. We are last place for a reason. It is not a mistake or aberration, we earned it. Hiding it on the bench does no one any good. These bad seasons have to be the crucible in which this team is forged. They will get there but not unless you give them the minutes. You are expecting essentially high school players with child bodies to come out and be their adult version. Not happening. I am all in favor, like Popovich, of disciplining a player who is dogging it on the court with D or setting screens, passing etc. ie attitude. KPJ throwing a ***** fit, I would send home. I would bench them then but not if it is your future star that is giving effort. That is called learning and adversity. These guys need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable to find out what they are willing to do to stop this. The NBA won't gift us wins. Everybody loves getting drafted, love it when you are getting the crap kicked out of you for three years. The Rockets will add more talent and maybe even superstars but ultimately it will be the transformation of the players we have now that determines this team's future because they buckled down and became disgusted with the thought of losing. When I look out on the court in the games it is not one player sh1tting the bed, it is the whole team and multiple guys on a single halfcourt set. They have to learn communication, reading/switching, discipline, teamwork. They cannot win as a team if they don't learn from losing as a team first. They have to pound the fundamentals and rely on them to have a solid base before we even begin worrying about the shooting. EGo needs to go so that this new team can get out there and struggle mightily for the first half of the season without that production. Hold each other accountable instead of looking to someone else. D has to be the main focus for the whole damn team. Shooting is going to take a long damn time to improve for several players. To me Tate is a great example of this arc. I like the rest of the package but if he cannot get his 3PT% up this year then we are spinning our wheels with him.
You're incapable of seeing this with context. The kid was 19! and most of his struggles were mostly due to physicality. You can say Jalen Green's body was the least ready for the NBA out of the top 5 draft picks. 19 year old bigs like Mobley have length as an advantage on nights he would struggle, and at least could grab boards and block some shots. JG has shown us a pattern of starting off slow > learning > adapting on every stage of his career so far. It happened in High school, G-League and now the NBA. Through his struggles, he showed enough flashes of high skill (for a 19 year old) in his shooting, footwork and otherworldly athleticism. The Rockets made the right decision for his first year, and I don't think there was any other option at any point in time.
Making excuses for why something happened is effectively just admitting they happened.... so you're not really arguing with me. Personally, I'm glad the Rockets kept playing him big minutes, it's one of the main reasons why they landed another top 3 pick.... so I'm not criticizing what they did, I'm just explaining that any team not actively trying to lose all of their games probably would have cut his minutes after 30 games of him performing like the worst player in the league.... so it's understandable why some Rockets fans might have wanted that. While I was on board with the tank, not every Rockets fan was.
I don't think you are addressing any point anyone is making. Do you think you are coy with your rhetoric? "I agree with you Jalen Green should have kept on playing..... Because of the tank". No, because he's our second pick overall who's 19 and a guard where precedent has shown plenty of elite NBA players at that age have bottom of the barrel advanced stats for a couple of months and then pick it up. Nah dude, you don't need to try to be coy. It isn't as clever as you think it is. Just admit you prematurely ejaculated on your takes on a 19 year old rookie. That's all there is to it man.
Not playing him big minutes would have made him develop slower or not at all. The objective was not to tank, the objective was to develop Jalen. That's what we did and why he deserved minutes and touches over other guys.
Ah Bobby doubling down on his typical stupidity too. I thought Green's ceiling was probably only Vince Carter but with the village idiots weighing in he might be even better than I thought
There is no excuse for mentioning Jalen Green and Corey Brewer in the same sentence after less than half a season. You and others were far too quick to make judgements, it’s just that simple.
They're not excuses when rebuilding an NBA roster... you have to be able to see beyond face value. Player growth is a HUGE part of the sport, and growing pains comes with it.
Players who perform far better than he did for the first half of the season get their minutes cut to give them a chance to go against second units while catching up to the league. Normally you won't just keep running someone that detrimental to your team out there night after night.... but since the team was tanking, they had that luxury. Smith will actually have to perform because the team actually wants to win. He won't get that luxury. I'm not saying it was wrong, hell the team probably doesn't get a top 3 pick without Green playing as much, as poorly as he did. So again, you seem to be arguing just to argue
Arguing with BTG is like throwing ice cubes at the sun because it's hot, an absolute exercise of stupidity and futility. Even if you are Superman and tossing icebergs, simply interacting with BTG is like taking an L.
Booby is just making sht up on how he reacted to green performance. Constantly making snide comments about green Comparing green to the likes of Corey Brewer. Constantly worried that green might end up a bust Belittling folks intelligence and calling folks who support green a cultists Man was legit saying it would take a few years for Green to develop into a decent player right up until all star break. After all star break man been singing a brand new tune. It's well documented in the forum of how negative he was about green. Any idiot that believes booby was happy that green became the way he did at the end of the season must have be unactive during the 1st half of the season. I'm just glad green is doing well, or else it would have been nonstop btching and pining for mobley
Well... yeah, when you come with weak BS that wasn't very well thought out, you're gonna take an L, and rightfully so.
