After how horribly I misjudged Amen prior to the draft I'm sitting this one out. I'll do my research but gonna be happy with whoever they pick. He's gonna be an Udoka type player and that's what matters. Love that defense and grit!! That or Udoka will make him that player.
While I see Reed as a true PG (and can play some off ball), I am not sure if the coaching staff see the same. He's not being used as a PG when he plays with the starters earlier in the season. In the last few games, he's more on ball but the starters were not playing. I don't know if it's because they don't trust a rookie to facilitate the offense in real games or if they simply don't think Reed is their future starting PG. When FVV is off the floor, Amen and Jalen are the ones who handle the PG duties. We may not need a traditional PG. But you can see how the offense is chaotic when FVV is not playing. I don't think Jalen will ever be a star level playmaker. He has improved. But his cup of tea is scoring with some playmaking sprinkling in. Amen is not ready to be a full-time initiator either. He is learning fast. So we'll see. Personally, I think Amen should play a purely positionless role--just do whatever is needed on the floor. That's what he is. You put him in a box of tradition role, you limit what he does best. My ideal PG situation for next season is that we keep FVV for another year and have Reed as his backup. If Reed develops into what we hope, he takes over the starting PG job and we either get a solid veteran PG or we resign Fred to a cheaper contract coming off the bench.
Reed is a PG. He plays like a PG and acts like a PG that can play off ball when he needs to. His shooting gravity does a lot of things for the team and it's not an "if" but a "when" he starts. Next year he'll probably come off the bench and depending on how he approaches this summer and next season we will know how many minutes he'll get, or if he splits minutes with whoever the starter is. Teams are not comfortable with him taking any 3s and always bite on the pump fake. His passing and vision and ability to hit literally any shot on the basketball court is a trait that only Jabari Smith possesses on the team. His biggest issue he shares with Jalen. Defense. He can develop into a FVV type because he does have the body for it. He just wants no part of it right now and that to me is the biggest issue. If this doesn't develop then I agree he will be relegated to a bench scoring option. Outside of Amen Thompson existing the next most powerful weapon the Rockets have is probably Reed's overall offensive game which is tailor made for the modern NBA (it's not there yet but it will be). The future team construct is more or less set for now. Reed/Jalen/Amen/Jabari/Sengun *should* be the approach into next year with FVV being the starter and Reed splitting minutes. We also need a real Jalen Green alternative that suits this team better and can move into the starting lineup if Jalen doesn't improve has a shooter next year. A Top 4 pick would be awesome this draft because VJ Edgecomb is literally the perfect SG for this team. If we land Cooper then we literally have to reassess everything.
Agree that Amen and Jalen are likely starters next year but I think there will be consolidation at some point this offseason for a meaningful upgrade somewhere on the roster that’s going to fundamentally change the roster and rotations here. With another lotto pick coming in next year we simply have too many young players at various stages in their development that need time and sitting them on the bench freezes their development and they depreciate as an asset the longer they are stuck to the bench. Cam is an example of an extremely talented player stuck behind a rotation of guys who are just really good at what they do and had a few years of development over Cam…or frankly just have higher ceilings than him. Either way, Stone's job is collecting asset value and maintaining it as long as he can and sell before those players' value decreases. If Cam is still here next year, it's because someone was shipped out/left that opened up minutes for him - if he isn't, it's because he was part of that asset consolidation trade.
Said another way - it's more valuable to tie your future fortunes to a top heavy team in the West than it is to a team in the East because the drop off is just steeper. I mean Durant, Booker, and Beale were available most of the season...and they STILL missed the playoffs with 22 All Star games and 14 All NBA Teams between them. It's a bloodbath in the West! You show up out of sorts for a handful of games and any Western conference team can bury you.
What I would like to see the Rockets get outside of improved 3pt shooting is a 6'9"+ rim rocking big that stuffs the crap out of anyone in the paint and then attacks the rim on the other side with furocity. Like a 6'10" Cam with defense.
Tre Johnson looks like a pure shooter who could potentially replace Jalen. I'm not sure if he'll be there at 9/10 though.
alternative question: What is the single best player or asset we could get for the #9 pick in trade? Could we get a Coby White or Naz Reid type player? Or is there some potentially amazing draft pick in the future out there we could swap this Phx pick for to push the timeline again?
Eh, he's undersized. Really tired of the Rockets being undersized. I want real height and length at every position to create as many size mismatches as possible.
I'm pretty confident that we could get White for pick 9 or 10. The Bulls are in rebuild mode. The problem for us would be that guys like White and Reid are due for extensions after next season. The Rockets can't really afford to hand out big contracts to non all star level players with all the extensions they have coming up for their young guys.
Does sound like an Udoka pick though. Just seems like another Dillon, Tari, Amen which frankly you can't have too many of those I guess but I want an imposing big.
I don’t think it would be enough for Coby or Naz (this would be a sign and trade, because Naz is a FA). Coby will take a bunch. He is a core player for his team. We should just sign Naz as a free agent if we can create the cap space.
Maluach's size and length are very intriguing as well as his ability to shuffle his feet and keep up with guards but not sure he has a real distinct talent that he can exploit at the NBA level. If you're going to have a career you have to have at least one thing you do at an elite level. Maybe he develops something but just seems like you're paying millions for a guy to figure it out and I think the Rockets are officially past that stage.
He weighs 245 which is much bigger than those guys. Height is definitely important but being 245 with a 7'2 wingspan allows you to play much bigger than your height. He's closer to Draymond Green size wise but is better at finishing.
That's a great point, I was looking at Ayton in a vacuum and completely disregarded what you just pointed out. He wouldn't have been happy there and would have played even lazier. I'm just glad this situation worked out great for us!
Not sure how you can be "tired of the Rockets being undersized." Current Rockets the only undersized player relative to position may be FVV. Jalen is not as stout on defense because of his frame, but not his height. During the latter Harden days the Rockets mostly rolled out with Capela/Anderson or Tucker/Ariza/Harden/CP3 or Beverley or Westbrook. And Tucker would be the only player one may consider undersized. I don't think I've complained about the Rockets size since the days of Chuck Hayes and Scola guarding the paint.
Well, I guess you could create a 3 headed monster of Eason, Thompson and Boyles, 7'+ wingspan forwards who are disruptive defensively. That would be cool, I think I'd just like someone who is bigger with the same proportions even if we have to trade the pick to get it.
