I do not think Sheppard will get a chance to crack the rotation for a bit. I hated the Holiday signing and don’t really get all the love the guy gets, but he is a veteran and Ime is going to Ime. Vets will get deference until it is absolutely obvious they shouldn’t. Reference Brooks vs. Amen. Amen is way better at virtually everything but 3 pters, something Brooks isn’t great at, but he will be the starter unless he is traded to start the season.
I'm not sure Amen isn't starting next season regardless if Brooks is traded or not. On Holiday, if Sheppard can't beat out Holiday for on ball reps, that is more on Sheppard. I don't think Holiday gets much love from fans. Rockets played very well with him when they had FVV on ball. You just can't put him with the Jeff Greens and Cam Whitmores and expect a normal NBA offense. Udoka didn't have much choice at times, but to run his best 5 and then scrounge a few minutes with jacked up lineups. It isn't Udoka's fault he had one on ball guy last year that could run a consistent offense for most of the year (March Green being a notable exception). I really don't think Holiday plays much except maybe the first 10-15 games and if there are injuries.
What's to hate about the Holiday signing? He's a vet that knows his place and has his head screwed on tight. The first two games last season, he was one of only 4 guys on the team that had a clue what to do on offense. He Ds up the best he can and doesn't complain despite being an afterthought. The Rockets are trying to win this year. Early on when Reed is getting his legs and figuring things out, Holiday can play 10-15 mins/game until Reed is ready to be transitioned in. If Reed is ready early, Holiday will start sitting early and be gone before the deadline. Agree with you on Brooks. He will never come off the bench while playing for the Rockets. If both Tari and Amen take bigs steps this season, Stone/Udoka will have a decision to make.
I could see the floor in summer league. You know what I meant. During the actual season is when it counts.
I'm with everyone on how well he is performing this far. I was talking about him getting PT during the season.
Yes I know what you meant. If you insist on that, fine. But isn’t this backtracking? That doesn’t sound “never”.
I suspect Reed will end up following in Cam's footsteps in terms of playing time. Maybe he'll get a little bit of run early on, in garbage time or when Fred is in early foul trouble, things like that, and not have to go to the G-League like Cam did. But if he is as good as he appears to be, he'll end up forcing his way into some regular playing time just like Cam did last season.
Holiday reminds me of a lesser Beverly who was always overrated on defense. Holiday was hunted consistently while on the court. Guys that hustle are fan favorites whether they are actually good or not. Holiday doesn’t play any meaningful minutes on a playoff contending team, which I hope we are this year. He brings nothing to the table, other than being a vet, that Sheppard won’t be better at. I hated it and keeping Brooks, because Ime is going to feel obligated to give vets minutes over Amen and Sheppard and I believe that is a mistake. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m guessing Amen comes off the bench for less than 25 mins a game for at least a quarter of the season if Brooks is on the team.
I'm sure it happened, but hating Holiday for being hunted while praising Reed seems weird. I just don't rememeber it being more of a problem than Green being hunted. Generally, the Rockets defense was great while Holiday was in. Stats suggests he wasn't hunted much based on low isolation attempts, and when he was in isolation, it wasn't good for the other team. Almost as bad for the other team as going against Amen. PnR numbers were a little worse than isolation (similar to Amen except I think the Rockets tried to get Amen in those situations), but Holiday played a lot with Jeff Green. I just don't recall Holiday being a problem on defense (I don't consider small ball lineups as that is basically Udoka choosing to hang out his guards to dry). On playoff teams...a lot of them aren't deep much less close to as deep as the Rockets. If Holiday can get minutes on the Rockets, he probably can get minutes on a few other teams. Unless you are limiting contending teams to about 4-5 teams, there are playoff teams Holiday would get some minutes for. If the Rockets are healthy, they are probably one of the best 3-15 teams.
Just listening to a Kelly Iko athletic podcast after the Hou-Was summer league game and he and another guy picked Alex Sarr as his ROY favorite due to playing time...?!?
This is very possible since ROY is mostly based on mindless stat accumulation. I don't think WAS has anybody on PF so Sarr can get all the stats given enough PT. Sarr, Edey, Risacher, Knecht I think these guys have the chance to win ROY cuz their teams will feature them and they have no competition at their spot.
While he will get minutes, Sarr is a darkhorse at best - the things he does well aren't going to show up on stat line as easily and he is playing with a whole roster of knuckleheads so it will be Sarr attempting to defend while his teammates aren't calling out screen and switches. I think Sarr is a good player - not a great player but it's going to look like a **** show throwing a versatile defensive gem in an aimless team without defensive discipline and with a roster that will have to play defensive kryptonite(Kuzma and Poole) just to be able to score.
I think there will be a fairly large shake up via trade before the season is out. I wouldn't be shocked if Stone makes some big swings using some of our young guys, multiple picks, and or some of the contract placeholders. There is just too many dudes getting paid combined with too many young guys not getting paid as much but who need minutes, and defintely some positional redundancy - there will be some kind of consolidation before the year is out and who and what is probably going to depend on things like : - did Jalen/Alpi turn a corner or not - is someone willing to give us something of real value for any of our young guys - of our other young guys, has anyone taken a leap that changes our direction(did we find a batman or a robin) - is there a chance to move a vet for some future picks, etc
Got to give Alpi (played at all-star level), Eason (who helped win many games with this defense), and Amen more time to develop before the shake-up. I was thrilled with Rockets 41-41 improvement last year and see them only improve. No reason to break up this young core just yet. Seeing how well Reed and Cam played only adds to the excitement for the coming season. Add a mix of veterans of Brooks, FVV. Adams and Green keep this young team more balanced in terms of closing out games. Cannot wait for the season to begin.
Can you provide any evidence of teams doing this or is a 100% vibes based theory? I mean, I know teams made Sengun guard up high, but I'll be damned if I can remember this ever happening once - but according to you it happened "consistently," Strange because I believe he is considered defensively solid and his defensive metrics are slightly above average. It's why he has a job Fwiw here's a clip from last year - in none of these plays does your claim really appear to be true. But, I'll turn it over to you. Shatter our illusions!
I can see why they say this guy becomes invisible on the court. He asks for the ball in post position but has no post moves so he just passes back out. I'm not sure wtf this guy is supposed to do on a basketball court. And this is against Summer League level players.
Holiday is fine. He won't complain about playing time. If Amen or Reed not ready to play PG, you still have someone.
