Start Eason - bench Green

People should ask themselves how Jalen Green would be performing if he were in the G League instead of Whitmore. I think he’d be putting up similar numbers.

 

It’s a projection. You don’t know what any of these guys will do until they get a shot.
Cam has put up points in every situation he’s been put in so people are projecting that he will be a capable scorer against nba starter level comp.

People have no issue projecting rookies who have never played in the nba at all, but we have Cam who has had some nba minutes and people have an issue when folks want to see him get a shot.

THAT is asinine.

 

I am good with Eason for Green.

 

Are you good with Green with the bench unit? Because I’d prefer to have that defensive intensity and energy (Tari’s) with the bench unit. We already have a pretty solid starting lineup. Tari may hit more open shots and play better defense but that move makes our bench much weaker? From a defensive perspective.

it’s not always about starting your best 5. And in theory, Jalen can “go off.” Tari can’t. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tari. He’s become a great shooter, defender and teammate. But he can’t do the things that Jalen does. That’s why Jalen’s frustrating. Because we know he does have something special he just does so many other things wrong and is soooo inconsistent. But we’ve never seen Tari hit 4 step back threes in a row or anything crazy like that.

 

We don't need Jalen to go off to win a game, and we should not. We should rely on our defense to win games. My conspiracy theory is that the Rockets will be aggressively trading Jalen at the trade deadline this year because he'd have no trade value had he demoted to the bench. Numbers don't lie. When Tari is playing with the starting units, we are winning. If Jalen is still with this team after the trade deadline, I guess Ime's mentality is similar to other coaches that he doesn't want to shake up what's working so far. In the past three losing seasons, I watched every Rockets games. I understand it's hard to deny the emotion attachment with Jalen and we hope he'll be our guy, but he's ruining his careers with those fashion craps or wasting time playing behind Reeves in the most important offseason. On the other hand, Tari outplayed Bari last year and proved to us that he's a baller. Even he doesn't attempt that much three this year, his 3P% improves from .34 to .39, while Jalen is still at .32. It's time to give Tari the spot he deserves. If we need a player to hit 4 step back three in a rows or anything crazy to win a game, we have no improvements. You don't see Sengun making as many crazy passes as last year because we don't need that. We don't need homerun plays, we need players to bring in the same intensity night in and night out. Luka made those crazy passes in the Euro league and in the first year in the NBA, but he does it less frequent now. That's growth. Those homerun plays are nice on the highlight wheels, but they also have a high risks ending up in turnovers. Yesterday Jalen ended up 6 turnovers in less than 25 minutes, and most of them were unforced turnovers. We gifted the Pelicans at least 5 additional possessions, and we only won by two points. I don't think we have any more reasons to defend Jalen, and it's time to admit Stone drafted the wrong guy. Time to move on.

 

Let me get this straight.

Jalen is the same as Von.
Jalen is picked #2.
Von was picked in the second round.
Therefore, we should dump Jalen but not Von.

What kind of logic is that?

 

I don’t disagree on the premise of Jalen not being worthy of the 2 pick, but I don’t quite understand the urgency to trade him asap. I get it that you’d trade him if there’s a deal out there you can’t pass up, but right now it feels like we’d be selling low and it’s not like he doesn’t have value as a burst scoring 6th man type. It’s

It’s not like if you keep him you have to max him out and if he’s not that good anyways and ends up walking in 2 years tip your cap at the other GM for making a super risky bet.

I’m on team explore the market a bit before you move him to the bench and then if there’s nothing out there you can’t pass up you just move him to the bench and see what happens.

 

Jalen Green is a good kid that is working his tail off.

He is nothing but supportive on the bench. He is up quick and cheers for his teammates at every opportunity, even after getting benched. He is about the team, not himself.

I expect him to work his way out of this.

I trust in the work ethic of Alperen, Jabari, and JG.

Hold fast. Be patient. Let Udoka teach him how to play basketball. Let Udoka unteach everything Silas taught. Takes time. He can start and play 20-25 minutes for now. No pressure kid… Just play hard like you have been.

 

Try breaking up your dissertations into paragraphs. More people will read them.

 

Good post and Ime agrees with you.

 

Nothing about draft position has anything to do with whether which player should be traded.

I know your logic is this: If Jalen is gone, your boy Cam will get to shine.

 

At the end of the day, it's not about who starts the game, but who ends/finishes the game for us. As long as Jalen keeps a positive attitude when he's not on the court in the 4th, I say keep the lineup as is. Maybe this is the motivation he needs to continue perfecting his craft and become the player we expect him to be. If he gets that KPJ and Christian Woods attitude then bro man has to go!

 

But their salary does. Von was a vet min ?

 

The funny thing with all the people talking about starting Eason is that he's actually not that good of a shooter. His TS% is 7th on this team among players with rotation minutes, ahead of only Jalen and Amen. If you actually want a more productive starting lineup (or finishing lineup), the guy you want to insert is actually Aaron Holiday.