I'd say it isn't just one person. I'd say the Rockets front office has given the Rockets a chance this coming season, and are well positioned in the future to have more chances. Maybe the team implodes, and Stone wastes the draft picks he's accumulated for the future, but I'm happy with the current position of the Rockets.
Yeah I said most. There are some eternal pessimists on this board that hate our young core. DD is just butt hurt over Cam. Maybe Tari can stay on the court and DD can trumpet that he was the only one that realized his potential.
Depends on what kind of improvements we get from the young players. If little to no improvement, then yeah, it could be a struggle. If a moderate amount of improvement all around, I think we'll be average-ish offensively without KD on the floor. If one of the guys (my money's on Amen) takes a major leap to superstar/near-superstar...
Same but the challenge for them will be that because they lack range, they can't shoot themselves out of deficits as easy as teams with better 3pt shooters so it will be interesting to see how Houston generates offense this year when KD isn't on the court. Same comment as above - I don't know if you can really be a superstar guy without a 3pt shot. You gotta be hyper efficient on 2s on volume to get into that conversation and really Giannis is the only one in recent memory who was efficient enough on 2pt volume to lead a team despite a lack of outside shooting. My money would be on Amen's freak athleticism if anyone and I think this is one of the structural problems of Alpi's game that will keep him as a 'Robin' at best until he is able to shoot 3s reliably.
Just as a point of reference, the Rockets offense was above average in the regular season and playoffs* last year. Points off of offensive rebounds and scored because the PG doesn't pass it to the other team count. *Teams that played OKC, got hurt, or are crappy Eastern Conference teams kind of skew the offensive numbers in the playoffs.
