Tari will have surgery on Monday. Bone graft. Benign growth on lower leg bone. Hits made it flare up. Out for rest of the season. Ime just said it. 4 month timetable.
It’s fine. This year is about progress. Next year with Tari and Adams taking minutes from Jeff Green, Landale, Holiday, Tate, etc (with Tari freeing SF minutes so the better guards can play more), the Rockets will be far deeper and better.
Tari return is very underrated. He's always been a high impact player. If he's healthy, Brooks' job is not safe. Even Jabari should watch out for his minutes. Tari might outshoot and WAY outrebound/outblock Brooks. Could easily be just as good a defender next season if not better. Not sure what Brooks can give us that Tari can't. Year 3 will be big for Tari. Looking forward to it.
Brooks needs to be traded and Amen needs to be our starting SF until he is ready to take over Pg duties. I’m all for giving Jalen another 1/2 season to prove it, but I would like to see us obtain Brogdon, Bridges, or someone that won’t cost us any core pieces for a vet Jalen insurance. I’d prefer Brogdon to Bridges, because I do not want Amen’s minutes cut to under 30 (I don’t care if he starts as long as he is getting 30+ minutes). I’m warming to keeping the pick for Toppin, Sheppard, or Dillingham, but we better hope Jalen comes thru in that scenario, because neither of those 2 rookies will be ready for major minutes this year and Cam can’t break down defenses like Jalen. Tari is perfect off the bench at SF or PF if he can stay healthy. Keeping our core and adding even better vets (than Holiday, Tate, Brooks, Uncle Jeff) is the way to go. The worst thing the FO can do is go name shopping. Mitchell, Trae, Durant or Zion for core pieces and/or picks would be a huge mistake.
Personally I'm not feeling the Amen starting idea. We can't ask Sengun to carry an offense and Jalen to step up while we worsen our spacing that was already bad. We're sabotaging ourselves, shooting has a domino effect. Amen needs to be the lead guard in the second unit, I'm not interested in developing him a lot in this dunkers spot. I want to see him running a fast paced offense with 4 shooters around him. He has to be able to do that full time his 3rd season so he better be good at doing it off the bench this season. Landale Jabari Tari Whitmore Amen Want to see him develop as a floor general somewhere, he barely got the opportunity last season. Wouldn't waste a pick on Brogdon either. I just think it will be a waste because if Green and Whitmore can't outplay Brogdon we're not going anywhere anyway. It means we shouldn't be paying role players $20m when we don't have an elite offensive wing scorer after 9+ first round picks. I think the likelihood of Green and Whitmore both not being good enough to start next season is extremely low. I know we still have PTSD from Silas but those days are over we have good players and a good staff, these guys will improve at least at an average rate.
Idk I think the forward rotation is probably pretty secure. Jabari should continue to improve, Tari is probably on a minutes restriction to start the campaign. Idk how much heavy training he's even getting just yet, it's only been a couple of months since a pretty major surgery. Regarding Brooks, I will say he's got to manage that mentality a bit better. The World Cup Brooks last like a month and a half, was spectacular. For him to nose dive his shooting percentage under 40% after that hot of a start was kinda brutal. I think Ime can manage his minutes a bit better too, feel like he was gassed a lot later in games. He's a big, strong fella who plays defense hard so it makes sense but still, no reason to run him into the ground especially when you have guys like Amen and Tari who can fill the void. That said, he's still a starting quality player so I'd be somewhat surprised if it happened anytime soon. Not that I'm opposed to it or anything, might not yet be time to flip that patty though. Probably need to trade him out after benching him, so gotta be damned sure the stability he (and FVV) brought remains without him.
Ime just needs to manage the rotation where Amen is the backup PG when FVV goes to the bench. There is no reason we have to use a Holiday type at all. Of course, it also depend on what’s happening on the floor at any given time. There is no such thing as the dunker spot. There is no reason at all that Amen can’t take turns setting up and executing as a PG in the half court, even when FVV is in the lineup. Amen needs to continue to develop by playing 30-35 mins a night, regardless of position. He is not going to develop any faster as a Pg by playing that role exclusively, if it means he is back to the 20-25 min nights. Amen kind of created this mythical dunker spot with his basketball acumen coupled with his reluctance to shoot. Call him what you want, but he can facilitate the offense from most any spot on the floor save the low post. Brooks is not nearly as good a defender as he is made out to be. If you want to run fast having a crappy rebounder and ball handler starting at the 3 would screw that idea completely. Amen’s emergence is what made our transition offense great. He has to play monster minutes this year.
I also don’t believe Cam will be worthy as a starting SG this season. He has to develop more one on one skills, become better at team defense and court vision. I am high on Cam, just think he can be dynamite off the bench and needs another season to learn. Jalen is indeed the lynch pen on whether we will be a scary playoff opponent or not. If he fails, we can still make the playoffs and get that experience for the rest of our young players if we get a competent backup combo guard like Brogdon.
I used to agree with idea the Amen should be a PG, but have changed course to accepting his elite efficiency at the dunker spot. Amen belongs as close to the rim as possible, his timing rivals The Worm. I think he is far too efficient to be coming off the bench, even in a lead guard role. I prefer to have an oversized lineup, so I originally thought Amen should be a PG as well, but right now, taking Amen away from the basket minimizes his greatest strengths( rim defense, rebounding) and replaces it with his biggest weakness(lack of a perimeter shot) As of right now, sort of feels like we have a rich man's Rodman, someone who will give 20/10 a night and elite defense.
Amen is a super valuable player, but he shouldn't start until he shoots behind the line at least 25% on 1-2 attempts a game. I believe it's a pretty reachable goal for him for next season. He should be able to showcase at least an ounce of shooting.
I think Amen can turn into a hyper athletic version of prime Draymond Green. Not a primary lead ball handler but someone who can use his quick accurate decision making in opportunities like in the short role off the pnr.
I don't love the comparison, but "to each their own". I think you're right with what you said, but Amen is capable of far more. Also, when Green was in his prime and Warriors were winning 70 games, Green was an above average 3-point shooter, which I really don't expect from Thompson ever. The way Amen is slightly quicker on every rebound reminds me of prime, Rodman, Barkley, Love, etc. His role right now, is a much more efficient Carl Landry. I can't believe we gave Brooks the bag.
Tari was one of my favorite players on this team and then the whole injury thing happened followed by medical complications (medical incompetence?) and so he went unheard from for the entirety of 2024 so far. But, a new season is only a few months away and I fully expect Tari to land strongly on my radar once again. To a outstanding 2024/25 Tari!
Tari Eason I really believed his Star Potential. The Leg Injury was devastating, Rockets didn't want surgery to happen but Tari Eason needed it. Rockets wanted Tari Eason to heal naturally, it didn't happen and eventual surgery. Tari Eason leg makes me nervous for his safety even Cam Whitmore, leg surgery landed wrong High School Injury.
Amen certainly does need to be starting. He's already arguably the second best player on this team...with a decent chance of becoming the best. His game extends way beyond his shot from downtown...it's what makes him special. As is, AT impacts the bottom line in a mammoth way.(sure, we want the J too, patience) And, Cam...,,,he's gonna play major minutes every night..just a manchild. 'Both these guys are probably going to become superstars.
Not surprised about Cam landing wrong. I really fear for his career because he puts a lot weight into his jump stops, and does a lot of jump stops. I fear he is going to be constantly rolling his ankle or worse.
