Since 2022-2023 FVV and JG are first and second in the league for...

You are exactly right. In four years, we have only seen a glimpse of what Jalen Green
can do. One month in March last year.

Morey phrased analytics but for years I blasted the fact that analytics showed Dwight
Howard FT's would be a detriment to the team.....but Morey wanted 3 stars.

He gave us two 3-pt shooters in Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson; but Ryan Anderson
couldn't see the rim well at home court and Eric Gordon wasn't happy. But those were
our best years, when two of the best corner shooters (Ariza/Tucker) were here with
and Eric Gordon set up above the break.

Udoka came in at went defense, defense, defense, but I know he recognizes
that the team needs outside shooting. Rockets sent three trainers to Turkey
to work with Sengun and it be known that Houston wanted Sengun to shoot
more 3's. Drafted a guy that shot 54% from 3 in college.

But what happens in Turkey doesn't always translate to the NBA. What happened
in college doesn't always translate to the NBA.
___________

As of 12/16/24 (before games) TEAM
Cavs #1 in 3P% (39.9%)
Bos #12 in 3P% (37.2%)
Mem #15 in 3P% (35.8%)
Thunder #19th in 3P% (35.1%)........[ 1st or 2nd last year ]

But let's break down key players:

Thunder ......3P% (24/25)
Jalen Williams.....40.3%
Wiggins.......39.3%
Dort..............38.5%
Isaiah Joe.....38.0%
AJ Mitchell....41.9%
(Chet..........................37.8%)
*SGA........34.0%
(* your facilitator doesn't need to be above par, if we surround them with shooters)

____________

Memphis....3P% (24/25)
JJJ...........36.4%
Aldama.....37.9%
Jaylen Wells...39.0%
Jake Ravia.....38.6%
Edey...............60.0% ( I had to throw this one in)
Bane.............31.7% (better shooter than this)
Morant.........31.6% (again, like SGA and Jalen Green....facilitator doesn't need
to be the main spacer).

Problem on Clutchfans is, they see Jalen Green as Sengun's little b*tch.....meant to
space the floor for Sengun. Cam was suppose to replace Jalen. Reed Sheppard was
meant to replace Jalen and supply Sengun with space......Booker is to replace Jalen
and meant to space the floor for Sengun. Never, about a center supplying space for
Jalen Green.

_______________

Boston.......3P% (24/25)
Horford.....40.6%
D White.....40.2%
Tatum......35.9%
Hauser.....37.3%
Jrue Holiday...33.3%
Jaylen Brown....34.4%
Pritchard........43.5%

____________

Cavs......3P%
Donovan.....40.9%
Mobley........40.0%
Garland........41.6%
LeVert..........46.5%
Okoro...........48.3%
Ty Jerome....46.5%

Anyone can see why the Cave are so tough. Hard for a defense to cover everyone
on the perimeter. And each facilitator has spacing. Pick your poison scenario
of either sending extra defenders to stop the drive or stay home on 3-pt shooters.

Just an FYI, Rockets are #28th in 3P%
Aaron Holiday.......42,9%
Dillon...............37.4%
Jabari..............35.7% .............(44.3% in last 14 games)
Jalen Green......31.3%
Eason................31.5%
Sengun..............25.6%


Reed Sheppard.......30.4%.........(23.1% in last 10 games)
Cam Whitmore........04.8%.........(40.7% in 11 G-league games)
____________________



Trade Targets of mine: 3P%
Jerami Grant......38.4%............(46.3% in last 8 games)
Cam Johnson.....43.1%...........( 50.6% in last 11 games)
Trey Murphy III....32.8% (usually around 39% from 3....35.6% in last 7 gms)
Jalen Smith (Bulls)....35.0%
John Collins (Utah).....45.3%.....(53.8% in last 9 games)

Surround Jalen Green with 3-point shooters and good things will happen.

 

Jabari is hitting 41% the last 10 games and 36% for the year. Why would these guys open up the court more than him or are you benching/trading Dillon?

 

LOL he thinks JG is SGA/JA

 

With the way Harden plays stylistically now, I actually wouldnt mind having him back if we could somehow move Fred for him.

 

Let's break it down. Got to go to work so, rush job.

Old conventional thinking is
PT/SG/SF/PF/C

Those of us thinking position-less basketball see all different combinations.
Thunder have listed as starters: G/G/G/SF/C (they have used Caruso as Center on
occasions this year much like the Nets used Bruce Brown as PF/Center.

I said how I would guard Houston in preseason of 23/24: box-&-1
Kinda man-to-man zone with one defender close to Jabari, because
Jabari was the only consistent threat from 3 (at the time).

But a crazy thing happened, Cam, Dillon, VanVleet came out hitting near 40%
or greater. If you remember I claimed magnets in the rim. Now these guys
have a hard time duplicating that magic.

This year Jabari came out terrible, so teams used that same defense but applied
it to guarding Reed Sheppard close/within 6 feet.

Now Jabari is hitting, yes 41.5% from 3 in last 10 games.

If you have several 3-point shooters along the perimeter and a facilitator or two,
Reed would actually hit the open 3 consistently and be a contributor.
So a few more shooters would go a long way.

____________

This pre season I said the Rockets are deep, I wanted to see wholesale shift
lines like in hockey. Constant aggression, quick pace, run your hearts out
and then get subbed out.

Some other teams are taking my advice and are ahead of us by the edge of
3-point shooting. Spacing.

Minutes for Thunder
1) SGA 34.4
2) Jalen Williams 32.1
3) Hartenstein 30.1
4) Dort 29.4
5) Cason Wallace 26.7
6) Chet 26.5
7) Isaiah Joe 21.3
8) Caruso 20.0
9) Wiggins 19.9
10) AJ Mitchell 15.7
11) kenrich Williams 13.1

Memphis
1) Morant 28.6
2) Band 28.3
3) JJJ 28.2
4) Aldama 26.6
5) Jaylen Wells 24.6
6) Jake LaRavia 22.9
7) Pippen 22.5
8) M Smart 21.4
9) Edey 20.4
10) Brandon Clarke 18.5
11) Like Kennard 19.7
12) Sam Huff 15.2

Do the same for Warriors they go 12 deep (13 if you add Melton 20.2 )

Cave 1 - 10 from Donovan 32.0 mins to Ty Jerome 18.0 mins.

Houston
1) VV 35.4
2) JG4 32.6
3) Dillon 31.3
4) Sengun 31.1
5) Jabari 30.7
6) Amen 27.1
7) Tari 22.8

then a drop off
Reed 11.8
Landale 11.1
Adams 10.7
Holiday 9.4

So there is room for a multitude of combinations (of position-less basketball).
G/G/G/F/C
G/F/F/F/C
F/F/F/F/C
F/F/F/F/F
G/G/F/F/F and so on and so on.

I have to go to work but I can expand on this later

 

But with our excellent offensive rebounding couldn't those "field-goal attempts" just be considered mis-labeled passes? Where's the stat for that! Huh?

 

Who would you replace them with - making similar money?
and do those people contribute to our team's defense as FVV and Jalen?

Rocket River

 

That is the CATCH 22. If the goal is to increase scoring efficiency from the guard position with a trade to get someone like Booker, is Booker going to take the necessary rests on defensive end to have high efficiency?

I think Ime has a issue overworking high usage offensive players on defense. It's a large part of why we are an elite defensive team. But that is going to effect the legs on the other end of the court.

 

man contrbutors to our defens

Alpi
Amen
Tari
Bari
Dillon

 

If that signature quote is meant to make fun of the quote, you understand that ts% is not a measurement of actual "shooting" efficiency. That would be efg%. Since ts% includes fts, yes it is more accurate to say that ts% is more indicative of efficiency of pts produced per possession. This is indictive of the fact that the formula for ts% includes a coefficient multiplier that estimates the value of a ft possession which is .44 I believe.

Just a warning so you don't embarrass yourself every time you post with that sig.

 

Quite frankly you need to watch Rocket games. A large part of why this team's defense is elite is every player with heavy rotation minutes acts as a chain in the link. These guys communicate really well and switch efficiently and quickly. There really is no weak link in the chain link.

Whoever would hypothetically replace Green or Fred would have to fully invest the energy ouptut to not be the weak link in the chain and that will effect their offensive efficiency.

 

FVV has never been an efficient player on offense, but in the ideal world where his mentorship would cause Jalen Green's growth, he'd still be worth max money because his 3pt% was always high. But the fact that Jalen isn't shooting well and FVV needs to take more shots, he's really out of his comfort zone. This is similar to Dillon Brooks, where the more he needs to play offense, the crappier he becomes. So the goal is to have other good offensive players, which leads to him naturally playing smaller role on offense.

The Rockets are simply hampered by everyone playing a bigger offensive role than they should be. Sengun is not a force feed guy on offense but he has to because there's nobody else. FVV and Jalen both should take fewer shots but the Rockets don't have other volume scorers. Tari and Amen do most of their damage on opportunistic and transition stuff rather than stable half court sets. And Reed/Cam are simply not ready yet.

The obvious solution of course is to get a star offensive player who can also shoot. Yeah, basically not happening so just gonna have to deal with it until that guy is found. Either through internal development or trade.

 

Cont'd from post #46 @Hemingway

Warriors
1) Curry 31.0 mins
2) Wiggins 28.9
3) Draymond 28.6
4) Kuminga 25.2
5) Podziemski 24.5
6) Yield 24.0
7) Waters 18.0
8) T J-D 16.8
9) Looney 16.6
10) Moody 15.6
11) Kyle Anderson 14.2
12) Gary Payton II 13.4

13) Melton 20.2 (season ending injury)

____________

Cavs
1) Donovan 32.0
2) Mobley 30.7
3) Garland 30.4
4) Jarrett Allen 29.9
5) LeVert 24.7
6) Dean Wade 21.9
7) Okoro 21.0
8) Niang 20.7
9) Merrill 20.0
10) Ty Jerome 18.0

So yes some minutes cannibalize other minutes like Chet and Hartenstein, one played while
the other was injured. But when Chet comes back Hartenstein minutes will probably
dip some.
______________

Not sure how the trades will work out? Jerami Grant asking price has gone from
2 first down to one. Kuzma has gone from 2 firsts down to one, accordingly.

I would like to keep the core together to an extent. Cam Whitmore is in the
doghouse. Not sure if it's because of attitude or the Rockets are hiding
him from trade demands/inquiries.

Rockets need to move Tate, Jeff Green, Landale? possibly Holiday? Adams?

I would give away Reed Sheppard in a heart beat. He can nail wide open
3's if left open by 8-10 feet......but I can see he hesitates too much
and doesn't hit the 3 on the move. Easy for the defense to rotate
to the 6'2" player that doesn't get much left on his shot.

Drives 23/24:
Player...............drives......FG%.......pass%......TOV%
VanVleet..........774..........41.2%.....62.5%.......5.4%
J Green.............779..........46.3%.....27.2%.......8.0%
Amen................285..........49.0%.....47.7%.......8.8%
Sengun.............460..........55.6%.....23.2%.......6.8%

Jerami Grant....556..........43.3%......25.2%......6.8%
John Collins.....228..........46.0%......18.7%......7.8%

___________

Drives 24/25:
VanVleet...........233.......50.0%......57.9%.....2.6%
J Green.............242........45.8%.....29.3%.....7.9%
Amen................130........49.2%.....33.8%.....13.1%
Sengun.............191........52.3%.....20.9%.....8.4%

Jerami Grant.....188........42.7%.....32.4%.....6.9%
John Collins......127........52.9%.....26.8%.....7.1%

__________

Play-Types (24/25)

Player............................NBA percentile
PnR (Ball handler)
Jerami Grant.......................56.2
Jalen Green.........................52.4
VanVleet..............................51.0

PnR (Roll man)
John Collins........................83.2

Transitions
John Collins........................78.8
Jalen Green.........................56.1
Jerami Grant.......................46.7
VanVleet..............................37.4

Post UPS
Sengun................................56.9
John Collins........................43.0

Spot Up
John Collins.......................80.9
Jalen Green........................51.7
VanVleet.............................40.8

Hand Offs
Jerami Grant.......................89.4
VanVleet.............................81.3
Jalen Green........................63.1

Cut
John Collins........................36.5

Put Backs
John Collins.......................97.8

Much like Houston, Utah and Portland have little to
no 3-point shooting (spacing). And they have selfish
Young players that are not team oriented. So take their
stats with a grain of salt.

If the Rockets could add two 3-point shooters it would
open up a ton of spacing.

Players like Cam Johnson can shoot well; but add little
more than just 3 & D.......where Grant and Collins add some
scorer/facilitator skills.

 

I think the asking price for Grant makes it more fathomable. I've always liked Collins and he fits Ime's preference as a really physical player. My biggest issue is where they play and whose minutes they take. I have a very strong opinion that Jabari is going to be a key cog for the Rockets going forward and don't want his momentum effected. Would Dillon sit or be part of the trade and Jabari move to SF? Would Collins or Grant come off the bench? Grant's availability also scares me, but at the cost of one our picks it's a more acceptable risk than before.

 

In 4 years we've seen 4 years of what Green can do.

 

Sure but just because he's been terrible for four years doesn't mean you shouldn't keep starting him in the hopes that in ten years he finally learns how to play basketball

 

Change that into: I was forced to watch Green as a starter for 4 years.

 

Stone doubled down on KPj and it blew up in his face. The same thing will happen here. He gave him an extension that will become incredibly difficult to trade if he gets benched so this is what we're gonna get for at least a year and a half.

My guess is they'll restructure FVV, start Amen next year in hopes that he "unlocks" Jalen because this backcourt is a joke, they'll realize that Jalen doesn't work with anyone because he's just Jordan Poole and then they'll be forced to trade him for whatever they can to get rid of it.

My biggest issue with Jalen/FVV is that every shot they put up is a wasted shot that should be going to someone else. Mainly Jabari right now but also Sengun/Amen/Reed.

 

First Round picks are a dime a dozen for the Rockets and Thunder.

Does it bother you that we used a first round picks on:
Josh Christopher
TyTy
Garuba

and then got rid of them for nothing?

Used multiple firsts to get rid of CP3 for WESTBROOK

I think we used first round picks to get rid of Westbrook x Wall.

Wall sat two years making over $40M each year just sitting at home?
________________

Like I said before, I'd trade for Jerami Grant even when it was two first round
picks knowing that he scores well in several Play-Types.

Where teams are using Micro Ball to be successful.....I'm more on multitude of players
6'5" to 6'9" that are interchangeable. Can switch everything defensively.

Amen can be used in positions 1 thru 5.

In the playoffs I don't see Adams or Landale being effective enough.
Adams is not a enough of a threat offensively.
Landale is not good enough at 3's which sets him apart from our other Centers.

This is why I'm not looking to add more guards when we lack bigs. Preferably
mobile bigs that can shoot 3's.

It goes back to position less basketball. Did you ever see Orlando in
the preseason play a lineup of all 7'0"-ers?
Banchero, Mo Bamba, Bol Bol, Wendel Carter, (one more?)

I'm willing to trade VanVleet and/or Dillon Brooks if need be......their
contracts are designed to be salary fillers by Stone......who was taught
by Morey who had Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson contracts set for
trades for a star.

Amen and Jalen Green did tremendous without VanVleet recently.
Rockets have multiple points guards:
Amen/VanVleet/Jalen Green/Reed Sheppard/Holiday.

SGA (34% from 3) and Ja Morant (31% from 3) initiate most sets
for their respective teams.....why not Jalen Green?

I've listed how many times Jalen Green drives last year and this year.
Jalen Green had 779 drives in (23/24) and has driven 242 drives this year.
Grant 188 times and Collins 127 times this year. When I said Jabari is
what we want Jabari to be some day, that's what I meant.

Jabari will never have fluid hips. Like an NFL corner back, one watches
how they make that turn and then try to run stride for stride with the receiver.
Jabari will never be as good a dribbler than Grant. Grant gives you more than
Jabari. In 23/24 Jerami Grant had a TOV% of 6.8 on drives. We are lucky if
Jabari doesn't kick the ball into the stands when driving.

Unfortunately, we. Houston don't have the time for Jabari to develop.
Jalen and Sengun extensions kick in next year. Jabari and Tari will
be eligible next year. We can't pay everyone and there is no room for
more rookies. Unless it's Cooper Flagg or Ace Bailey, the Rockets
have to act on decisions now.

So yes Jabari is shooting 44.3 from 3 in the last 14 games; but Jerami
Grant has been 46.3 in his last 8 games......and can do more.

I want (yes just my preference), 3 main facilitators.....surrounded by 3-pt shooters...
all bought in to defense.

I can see: facilitator/scorers. I don't believe Jokic, Embiid, KAT can win in the
playoffs nowadays. And Sengun doesn't even shoot for range like they do.
So I put Sengun no higher than second option (he has hard setting himself up
and CF's say he needs a point guard to set him up)
1) Jalen Green (or 2nd or 3rd option)
2) Sengun
3) Jerami Grant or John Collins
4) VanVleet (of still around) and Amen
5) Tari

3-pt shooters:
efficiency climbs higher for everyone if you can place two or three
good 3-pt shooters on the floor. If you bring me both Jerami Grant
and John Collins (or say a Cam Johnson in place of one) and lose
VanVleet AND Dillon, then so he it.

Maybe the Suns collapse and send us Tyus Jones and his $3M.

Tyus Jones/ Jalen Green/ Jerami Grant / Jabari / Sengun would be great.
Jalen Green and Sengun efficiency would be elite if Tyus, Grant, and Jabari
are all hitting over 40% from 3.

PG/SG: Amen, VanVleet?, Holiday?, Jalen Green, Reed ?
Wings: Amen, Whitmore?, Dillon?, Jerami Grant?, Collins?, Tari, Jabari?
Centers/Small-Ball centers: Sengun, Jabari?, John Collins?, Jerami Grant?,
Landale?, Adams?

Basketball-reference.com doesn't list Caruso ever playing Center this year but that's false.
Amen would act as our Caruso.

If anyone watched Thunder vs Bucks last night.....they saw Caruso guarding Giannis
and Lopez.


SOF's and JOF's need to leave their egos at the door. I don't care if both Green and Sengun
get their minutes slashed to 28 minutes each. It's about winning.