I am saying the offensive engine (whether a SG or a forward) would take rim pressure duties from FVV. The things FVV does bad (e.g., rim pressure), he does less with an offensive engine while he does what he's good at more. Jalen on the other hand, would likely lose a lot of value as he provides most of his value with the ball in his hands.
Your poll only asks which we prefer, not which would benefit the team the most. That feels a little misleading to suggest
It doesn’t have to be one or the other. FVV, filler, 1 pick for Durant. Jalen, filler, 2picks for Garland: Amen, Garland, Durant, Jabari, Sengun Reed, Cam, Tari, Dillon, Adam’s, MLE Still have picks and assets to make more trades at the deadline and down the line.
That feels like an extreme technicality. I'm going to assume that the humongous majority of rockets fans would choose what brings more wins. That's a pretty safe bet.
that fits mostly to the role of a veteran pg coming off the bench. I don’t think fvv will settle for that. I am okay with overpaying him a little if he accepts the role but I highly doubt it.
First - duh! This team was draft by a GM that lacked a coherent idea of the type of players and team he wanted to construct. The Rockets were largely reactive and not proactive in that sense. When Udoka joined the Rockets he did bring a culture and philosophy to the Rockets finally, but there was still a roster of misfit pieces. I am sure that this will morph into being Udoka's fault but at this point the issue has little to do with Ime.
I agree with some of this. When you start with nothing you draft what you believe is the BPA regardless of fit. Where it falls apart is when you are not willing to give up any of the BPA’s to adjust to a balanced roster. Frankly, I think Ime is a narcissist that will not adjust his basketball philosophy based on what is best for the team and I think he has more power in the organization than Stone. I hope that I am wrong and Ime turns into a great coach on both sides of the ball. At that point, it is clearly up to Stone to give him the personnel to succeed. He doesn’t have that personnel right now. Whether Stone runs it back or makes meaningful change to the roster will indicate whether he is the problem or not. On the other end of the spectrum. Let’s say Stone does build a more balanced roster. Then the buck stops at Ime and if he can’t adjust his rotations and build a decent offense then he needs to go.
I don't know if you always draft best player available regardless of fit - I think you have to balance it and take it into consideration but if two players are close, I take the better fit with the vision of the roster construction. Ime may well be a narcissist - he would be far from the first successful coach to be a narcissist. I know that there are some former co-workers of Stone that feel that he is a narcissist. It is just part and partial with many successful people. As for the power dynamics in the organization, so far there hasn't been an real power issues - but yes, I have heard Ime has more power - but that can change over time. I fully expect Ime to get an extension soon though. As a coach Ime has changed over time already. Will he continue to change? I don't know. Rick Carlisle didn't change for a long time, and eventually did. If he doesn't change, he will end up eventually being replaced - but that is all pie in the sky at this point. As for the offense - the Rockets offensive pieces overall are not that talented and do not fit well together. If that changes and the offense doesn't improve, then there will be issues.
You know more than me about the inner workings of the Rockets. Narcisstic people can indeed be successful (Donald Trump, Joe Biden). I think some positions of authority are best served by people that can recognize their own weaknesses and listen to the smart people that surround them. Just the word “coach” implies a different mindset than a typical narcissist. If Ime is indeed a narcissist, I don’t think we have a chance in hell of winning a championship. I don’t know the man and can’t with any authority insist that he can’t improve on his weaknesses. My “eye test” that everybody seems to dismiss, tells me he his too stubborn to change his ways. We will see.
Haha ok, damn, how bad is it that I genuinely thought it could be true though? Like my company stopped all US travel because it fails the risk assessment threshold now apparently (annoying for me tbh as it's an easy way to see the family I have out there.) Did he just quit CF or something?
It feels disingenuous to blame this on Stone. He's tasked with drafting best player available over and over again and that's a near-unanimous strategy in the NBA. Inevitably some of those pieces will be good but won't fit. Having said that, out of the core pretty much everyone fits. Amen, Green, Whitmore, Tari, Sheppard, Jabari need to play fast while their skills develop. Passing C's like Sengun tend to be great for high octane offenses when you're not trying to turn them into a pure 20/10 post player - but we don't know, we've never seen it. The real misfits - who are good players that brought excellent values to this team - are FA signings like Brooks and FVV. These two were both historically crap at playing fast (though Brooks just had his only good season in transition in his career). Sengun has been good at playing slow. Jeff Green and Steven Adams are slow pace players. I'd expect the coach figures out who works together and then on the bench will be a couple of players who don't fit. The GM can then trade those players for this we need - I guess players who can shoot, defend and run. So that makes me wonder who's idea it was to lock up two starters who will not just set an identity but who struggle with any other identity. I personally see FVV and Brooks as Udoka signings. Adams is an Udoka guy for sure. The other question is: who do we have to throw together a starting lineup that doesn't take this into consideration? Your first and second unit can have different styles. When Brooks and Jabari were starting and Amen was clearly beating Brooks out and Jabari had been shooting 40% for over a month while rebounding and defending well - Udoka let Brooks keep his starting spot when Jabari returned. That was a coaching mistake, the ensuing starting lineup player horrible the rest of the year. He wouldn't budge from it. That's exactly where Udoka has to take accountability. If what he tells the team is true - that they're a family and coming off the bench is nothing to be ashamed about - why didn't he do it to the guy who can't rebound and is an afterthought in transition? The guy who is good but doesn't fit? We could have had a faster and taller starting lineup that's just as good defensively. Then off the bench we could have hit teams with slowing down the pace if and when needed. That's what the Pacers do, works fine. I think you're absolving Udoka of his responsibility too much here. I don't have any gripes about drafting BPA and then 2 out of 7 picks play a different style. That actually feels like we got lucky that 5 need a similar style. It feels more like: Udoka wants to play slow no matter what players are on his roster.
