Sengun/FVV-centric offense won't survive long term

All you MF like to do is b****. Enjoy the wins, jackass.

 

My guess, this is the skeleton and as the team gets comfortable they expand the offense. The off ball cutting overall has been horrible, lack of consistent shooting has hurt. You can run this as the main offense and expand the options. That much is clear.

 

I don't want to pile on, but I expected Jalen to be more efficient offensively this season with the offense moving away from KPJ to FVV and Sengun. When Jalen is good, the Sengun/FVV centric offense looks great. When he's bad, FVV and Sengun are the only things keeping the offense afloat except the rare times when Jabari or Brooks have a great game. I agree that the FVV/Sengun offense can work (at least while FVV is a Rocket) if they get better offensive play around them.

 

FVV only does this because Jalen is a terrible ball handler when he takes dribbles in traffic. Jalen runs the same play as FVV with Sengun but he can't really keep his dribble alive as well. They are both terrible finishers around the rim in the PnR, but there's currently no other solutions.

 

I respect FVV and what he's done for this team. However, he's maxed out on talent. The irony is that the offense wasn't supposed to revolve around him. Fred wasn't expected to be our sole floor general and playmaker. The whole point of signing him over Harden was so that others, Jalen was named specifically, could make the leap.

Rockets’ Ime Udoka Explains Signing Fred VanVleet Over Pursuing James Harden - Sports Illustrated

Believe me, Ime is open to the youngsters taking the ball out of Fred's hands. That was the plan from day one.

 

It’s not FVV fault that Green has not materialized as the shooter he was supposed to be.

Fred does what Udoka asks him to do and that is be aggressive. Same as Sengun and Brooks. You can’t be fearless on the court.

 

Jalen's passes (when they even come) are also often ever so slightly "off", which then requires gathering the ball. Can often not be converted immediately. FVV and Sengun are much better passers.

 

Within the confines of an offense that works and when that offense isn't being used. Jalen gets plenty of opportunity. Amen and Cam have a long way to go. I think Cam would work well around Sengun and FVV. Long term something will need to be done about replacing FVV, but I see no reason to stop using him as much now as that would hurt Sengun's development.

 

Long post when you could have just said Jalen has been disappointing. Or to put another way, "it was supposed to be Jalen!"

That said, Jalen and the Rox still have time. He's shown the potential to be that guy but so far it's inefficient and inconsistent.

 

The only changes we need this year are for Jalen to become more consistent, Brooks to stay healthy, a better back up big or a better performance from Landale and more time for Whtimore and Thompson to develop. After the 2024 season we will replace FVV with Maxey. The end.

 

I think your initial diagnosis is wrong! Our (sengun-fvv centric) offense does not suck, at all. Just look at 5 man line-ups. Our starting line-up stands at +7.3. The only teams with better net rating are teams with a number of established stars. It is amazing that we are in that group with no established star, while the other teams have two or three of them, contender type team. I know net rating is not just offensive rating. If you look at offensive rating, our starting 5 is in the middle of the pack, ranks 17th out of the 40 5s that played 100 minutes or more. I don't think you can call it an offense that sucks.

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced

Yet, the offense can certainly improve in some areas

1) Green improving as a player. And he is improving. We are seeing more of green/sengun game, he has better looks but he cannot make shots and he is not good at getting to the rim. Our offense looks much better at times he does these.
2) Off ball movement. Both as cutters and outside shooters moving when sengun/fvv game is played

I am ready to give Ime a lot of time for improvements. I don't get the impression that he is not trusting youth, at least just yet, but I see that he takes his time and is not in a hurry.

For the offensive talent this team has, I think they are doing quite well and progress will come as time goes on mostly through player development naturally. There are certain limits to FVV's game and with a not very good shooting team with 3 players under 21 and considering that I think we are generally okay.

 

Yea I'm not buying your objectiveness here. We could have had Harden but Ime and the team said "no" we like the growth potential of young guards in KPJ/Jalen. That hasn't worked out and it's because we don't have KPJ and Jalen has performed below expectations. Period.

I would add, Fred, Dillon, and the rest of the young players have performed ABOVE expectations. Maybe add Landale as a disappointment but that was an emergency signing after failing to land Lopez.

 

The Rockets should try things here.There are plenty of opportunity to develop guys without using FVV/Sengun less. For the most part, FVV is going to be replaced and every other Rocket that isn't his replacement is going to need to be developed to work around Sengun and FVV's replacement. There is no one close to replacing FVV at the moment.