I think it's political. My hunch is that if Silas actually benched Green and Smith like he does Sengun, Stone's valued picks, Silas would've been let go back in December due to alignment issues with Stone. Stone's idea of development was to force-feed minutes to Green, KPJ, and Smith which is why the roster only had Gordon as a real veteran up until the trade deadline. Also, the same **** fans are giving Silas about Sengun, he would be getting even more **** for benching Green and Smith because people would be saying they need development too. Pressure builds diamonds. Sengun has emerged as the best player on the team and that's partly because he's had to earn his playtime more so than Green or Smith...same for Tari Eason.
I'm 100% fine with him benching Sengun IF he was benching everyone else when they were making mistakes, but you don't keep them benched the entire time. You send an assistant over there, coach them, send them back in, if they do the same stuff, repeat, but do it to EVERYONE.
If you believe that, it's still convenient for you considering KPj is on year 3(yr 4 ovr) and he never was held accountable before, not even last year after leaving the arena. So why don't you have the same energy for year 2 Jalen and year 1 Jabari that you had for year 1 and 2 KPj? KPj is the "2nd best player" on the worst team ever isn't something to proudly boast about especially when you're seeing him be rewarded for being the only player that can benefit from Sila's system. A coach(the worst of all time) who refuses to adapt to the roster. Silas has done nothing but help this be KPj's team and help KPj succeed and KPj is still not even the best player and majority of the board thinks he's awful, and analysts want him cut. Tells me a lot. Meanwhile Jalen and Jabari thrown out there and have to just find their own way, i guess. Silas has no plays to draw for you, so just iso and whatever... Get a coach in here that can put EVERYONE in their best spots to succeed and hold ANYONE accountable and then we can have a better gauge of who the best players are top to bottom. Who succeeds from equal opportunities, and who fails when tested mentally.
Things just don't add up. Why was the praised lob threat traded? Wouldn't you want your coach to be happy? Did Stone want to take away the option of using the three center rotation from Silas, which is now back on the table? These are questions every conspiracy theorist must ask. Trust no one.
usual folks keep trying to harp at the ridiculous, "well hes the best player/2nd best player on the team" nonsense. That logic is flat out stupidity. who gives af. The rockets have 13 wins total and its about to be march. There's no such thing as best player on this team. If you're the actual best player on this team and proud of it, it makes it even more pathetic. None of these guys have any merit or title to their names. There' no actual hierarchy to this when all you do is lose to this point. They've all accomplished next to nothing outside of a few guys being drafted into the league at premium spots. That's literally it. I mean i guess you could add being named to rookie/soph more games if you're that desperate.
It was good having Alpi on the team. Do not expect him to stay here whatsoever when the time comes and don’t blame him. Hopefully Stone is somewhat smart enough to get value for him when the time comes. Dark times will keep on coming.
Wait what? Are you guys actually defending Alp's defensive play last night? Based on what I've seen, he was absolutely getting abused in the 3rd quarter... and getting beat up in pick-and-roles by Damian doesn't mean Lillard has to score a field goal on the play. He can cause a defensive breakdown that leads to a basket (either off an assist or indirectly), and I'm also not sure whether that stat includes Lillard FTs. He got destroyed in the clips Clutch posted, but only one or two of these plays did Lillard score himself:
I haven't seen too many people defend his defense. The most "defense" of his play I've seen is that no one else played much better on defense, so we lost his offensive spark just to get torched anyways.
Playing Devil's Advocate for a minute. The ONLY thing I can think is Silas saying to Alpi "You played Euro ball. You know how to play D. You just aren't trying. These other kids have never been taught how to play D. I expect more out of you." Sorry that's all I've got.
I dunno. Stone used two first round picks to get Sengun. Stone shouldn't feel like he's off the hook for that investment at all. But I have been a bit of a broken record in saying that Stone was given the gift that very few professional sports GM's ever get in the ability to draft #2 and #1 (counting Jabari at the #1 pick) prospect in the draft in consecutive years. That's basically unheard of so those two players are paramount to the organization. However I have seen no indication that Stone and Tillman are really even treating Jabari and Jalen with the kind of rigor they should. Instead you have Tillman out there saying "Pray for Victor" (which implies a vote of no confidence in Jabari & Jalen), and you have Stone allowing Silas to stay in the role when Jabai and Jalen are clearly REGRESSING on his watch. So I don't think it's fair to imply that the issue is penning one player vs another in a political way. I think the entire roster has been looked off and disregarded by the top leadership of the organization. It's baffling to me that not one of these players really seem to have any faith in them from the front office, and ultimately the coaches & players. They are treating the entire roster the way that the Sixers treated Michael Carter Williams where you know they can tell they suck, but they believe the league doesn't yet know that so they'll just let them play the worst version of basketball that they can play to try and fool the league with empty stats so they can trade them. It's honestly bullsh$t. It's not just a Sengun issue either although from the coaching perspective yes they absolutely don't know how to coach defense so they just blame Sengun's inefficiencies when in reality it's their scheme that sucks. That's less a grand political conspiracy a more of a simple case of an incompetent coach with a CYA agenda trying to shift blame so he can get a job again with the Mavs next year. I'm more pissed off and believe we have a bigger axe to grind with Stone and Tillman. You are wasting some incredible raw talent just because you think you will luck out and draft the next Lebron this Summer. What stupidity, and blatant arrogance.
That's the same thing Alpi does to the other team when the ball moves through him which changed after EG's last game.
i saw no gross mistakes or lack of the effort in the clip, and no places where alp is the only responsible for opponents scoring sometimes good players just score on you even when you did your best or their shots simply fall...
It's not a "belief", it's objective fact. I get that you want to spin things to defend the two worst performing players on what you call the worst team ever and bash KPJ.... but you really should be picking your battles better. You can make every excuse in the world for Jalen and Jabari, but neither of them are even the best player on the Rockets from their draft classes. The other young guys drafted don't need your excuses, why do Jalen and Jabari?
I'm sorry, but when a guy sets the all-time scoring record against your franchise--which has been around for almost 60 years and had bad teams for more than a few of those years--it's not about one player. It's about coaching. One thing that is obvious from those Sengun clips is that this team has no idea how to run a zone, no idea how to close out, no idea how to double team, no idea period. That's coaching. Our coaching sucks. If you run a defensive scheme that asks your players to do the impossible, it's not a viable defense. Look at who you have on your team and build around the skills present. Don't make players fit your ideal image of what should be. Every team makes tradeoffs, be it with offense, defense, height, speed, quickness, shooting, passing, etc. Also, this is not a one-off. Plenty of dudes have had career nights against this team without constantly scoring from the perimeter while Sengun is switched on them. It's systematic. And that goes to coaching. Get a new coach who has experience and give him the authority to build the team.
So, when Green is running all over the court, nowhere near his man, and never gets benched for bad defense?
What scares me most is Sengun's declining confidence offensively. Way too much hesitation for someone with his talent. Silas got into JG and Jabari’s heads, and it feels like he is starting to creep into Sengun’s.
This whole team is dysfunctional from top to bottom. When Stone was sayin we were positioned nicely cap space-wise and asset-wise to make a run at nice free agents, I wondered to myself who the hell would want to come to this clown fiesta.
They had to have told him to let him shoot. Thybulle isn't a 3 point threat. That's not bad defense. Sucks that he hit it. Honestly we should stayed with that. Law of averages says eventually he starts missing. If Thybulle beats us by hitting 11 threes so be it,
That is exactly right. We as Rocket fans won't see the light until the triumvirate of Silas, Stone, and the owner are all gone. And I am not holding my breath for that to happen any time soon.
