As far as I can tell, the only point you are making is that you are personally disappointed with the team’s direction and future prospects. Please tell us what you think we should have done this off-season and what we should do going forward. TIA
Nah, just disappointed. I'm not a guru stating I know the course or what has to be done. Just an observation as a fan that would have liked to see a bit more action (possibly for personal reasons). Granted the choices were limited in Free Agents and many notable trade options that were floated would not have fit well in my opinion. This team is far from a ring chaser, we all can pretty much agree that deep playoff success is not imminent. I'm also one that likes Jabari's attitude toward the game and feel he can become a great asset for years to come. Reed was a great pickup and see some good things, but personally I'm missing that breakout player and unsure at this point that we have that on our team. Again time will tell.
You gotta hunch. Btw no one is saying the Rockets are winning a ring his year. The Rockets maybe in title contention when some of our core pieces hit the ripe old age of 25 or something. Once these guys get into their prime years is when people are hoping we are title contenders. Do you understand the basics of a rebuild?
Hmmmm, hard to say now after the fact but 30+ would've been easily obtainable and with the additions I'd say close to .500 would've been a reasonable guess. Although I figured the entire season that it wasn't a play-in team (Even when they had a winning record for a while). This team is young and may turn the corner getting 50 wins this year and I'd be happy if they did. Just not excited as much as last year personally.
The Vegas line was 30.5. You were very optimistic. How often do you follow total rebuilds where more than half the roster is NCAA age?
I'll give it a shot though. Jabari is a guy I feel we can set up better (play an inside/outside game with). He can easily be a 18 pg/ 11 rg player with 1 to 2 blocks a game but the key is to be effective as a team while doing so. He's one guy I could see the team benefiting from. Sengun has exceeded expectations but would not want to expand his role. Let him be that lying in the weeds guy that plays opposite of Jabari down low. Spread the floor, set screens and be ready for the put back. Labeling him a #1 option would be a mistake as him being a facilitator for easy shots would be more benefical. Brooks is what he is "a bruiser" Let him be. I don't like almost 11 shots a game from him though and he should only start shooting if he's in the grove so to speak. Defense, under the skin of defenders, crashing the boards. I want to see more of that and less 3s unless wide open. FVV is solid and love his game in the 4th quarter. He has that quiet nature about him that makes you feel like he hasn't taken a shot yet at times but then suddenly scores 4 in a row. Using him as the set up to the offense is actually a major plus in why this team got to 41 wins last year. I'm happy with his shots per game and ball control. Jalen is the enigma. Not sure what you may get from him on a nightly basis. Somedays he looks like baby Kobe and others like Markelle Foltz (just getting lost in the flow). This is where I feel his game would greatly improve with Jabari being the facilitator down low. Jalen is trying to make a name for himself but Jabari has the stronger mentality right now. Play Jalen off the ball but keep him moving and with a purpose. He has to buy into being part of the flow and not feel like the savior. The bench is deep enough to hold the fort. Addition of Reed will definitely spread the floor and see him getting some crunch time minutes in close games. He could be the difference maker of 3-6 extra wins this year (my guess). Tari, Aquaman, Cam, Holiday are also guys that you can plug-n-play so happy to have that band still together. Overall, we have the talent to do well, but will the Rockets be able to make the above adjustments to benefit team play or will all of the young guys continue to try and prove themselves individually? When young players have established vets to play around or behind they can find their role easier and buy into it. Harder for 2nd or 3rd year players to buy into a role that they prefer not to be in when they feel they can be the guy. That's what I'm unsure of. Time will tell.
First person to say to let Jabari, someone with little one ball ability to create. That has never been his strength. When he tries to do more than two dribble moves he losses the ball. Good luck convincing the coaching staff on this. There is no "Jalen trying to be the savior". The coaching staff is telling him to do what he does. They are asking him to create of the dribble because he's the best guard on the team to do it at all three levels.
No one’s buying it. Here’s you trying to bait people on Wednesday too: So you can put the “I was just expressing a casual opinion” thing to rest.
It's true. None of the players are max contract type players. The #14-#17 pick was a play on how we were in the late 2000s where we got the 14th pick seemingly every year. This also goes perfectly with my assessment that I was hoping for a trade of a sort or another FA because we don't have that guy that is a max type player and would hate for the Rockets to throw max money just to do it. Thanks for allowing me to reiterate my post. It was most effective. btw, many of my posts are intended for humor (especially throwback humor) and rarely you'll find the more serious type of posts that I've done today. Take it or leave it, hate it or not, I'll be here all week regardless and happy to respond when the mood is right and the approach is fair.
I'll just say consistency (FO, coach, players) and experience together are typically underappreciated contributors to winning teams. This is especially true if you don't have a supernova/Top 50 in history type player. Related, stars are created by winning teams. So have patience. Stop all this talk about franchise players and stars and Top 10. Just let the kids play ball and see where we are. If we win enough over the next couple of years, Houston will have a star or two. I promise. If not, then you can start to tear it down.
Hope no one on here is thinking a Ring or bust for this coming year. Let’s get into the playoffs first. We are heading in the right direction. Just the return of Tari, the influx of Adams (50 +/- games), a healthy Jock for a full season and the addition of Reed. Expectations should be high this year. With just incremental improvement from our core, this coaching staff showed the Rockets future looks bright. When I say expectations should be high, I’m talking about making the playoffs.
None of those difference maker guys were available in FA or trade this off season. Part of the Rockets strategy of having all these promising young players and pushing picks out to get more is so they can be in position to make that trade in a year or 2. Part of the Rockets strategy of not offering extensions to Sengun/Jalen right now is just as much to have the ability to sign a max level guy in 2025 FA if one of those guys is available and interested. I would say a large portion of the board would agree that the definite max-level A or S-Tier star is not on the roster right now. The disagreements mostly stem from who posters are projecting to become that player in a few seasons if they ever do so. Basically the Rockets are not at that stage yet, and I think the FO has been smart not trying to microwave this into something too early.
We are still TBD on a lot of our players which isn't to say we don't have many promising players. Feels like one of Green or Sengun will be gone mid season as we need to start making some decisions. We have too many players and not enough playing time. A good problem in our context, but things will be changing sooner than later.
Stars need time and space to break out, if you have 5 players that can be stars but they do not get their touches, chances are only 1 or 2 break out.
Stop it with your logical and patient approach here... WE ARE ALL about proving OUR guy is HIM and he will be HIM right now! If he is not "OUR GUY" then we will crap on him by comparing him to former and current Rockets players to either take his place or perhaps he could even just die and make life easier for them all. You're being extremely nonsensical here rim. How dare you?
