The Rockets going forward from now until next October

I don't see that will be interesting to revisit after the season.

 

Its the only indicident that people keep harping on and in the grand scheme of NBA 'incidents" it's small potatoes.

If he had not immediateley realized he had done wrong or pulled a Kyrie and blamed everybody else I would be more worried, but from the accounts he very quickly came to his senses.

 

It's not the only red flag, but it's the thing that everybody keeps talking about.

Interesting.

 

*Long post alert*

For the sake of the rest of the team, the Rockets need to the get the ball out of KPJ's hands, regardless of his reaction. It's one thing to invest in a redeem project, but it's a totally different thing to do so at the detriment of developing other guys, who they drafted higher, are paying more(as of right now), and are expecting to contribute.

I want to believe the Rockets know what they are doing, and since We are obviously going for strike nr.3 at the 1st pick, I would like to see their strategy like this:

- Dig a big enough hole to once again secure a top 5 worst record, and roll the dice on getting Wemby/Scoot

- Move EG at the deadline for a competent PG. We will have cap space next summer regardless of EG's contract, with no clear cut superstar to spend it. Move EG for a vet PG and call it a day. Nix isn't the answer, and Ty Ty has yet to show what he's made of.

- Move KPJ to the 3, or the bench, or for god sake get the ball out of his hands. Use him as a spot up 3 shooter who can attack close-outs. He simply is too inconsistent and in his own head to be a lead guard, and as long as he is, We will be stuck in the mud.

- Continue nurturing the JG/Alpi combo. No need to elaborate, they are playing well off each other and should get as much reps as possible.

- Get Jabari going. He needs to gain confidence, and he will never gain it by getting 5 shots per game and rushing them out of rhytm.

There are a lot more things I, and probably most of you, would like to be done differently than now, but the most important ones are dealing EG and removing the PG duties from KPJ. We have an immense amount of young talent, and We need to use it right. It serves us nothing to have KJ, Garuba, Tari, 'Bari, and the rest of the guys if they stand around on offense and get crumbs. JG should have the ball the most, with Alpi following him closely.

Both guys are unselfish and process the game faster than Kevin. I think he would also benefit with having less of a load and pressure to be something that he is not.

He has 80+ million reasons to behave, and if he doesn't, its on him. But I would hate to lose some guys, and watch them be better somewhere else because of our poor strategy.

 

This team just isn’t playing winning basketball yet. The best evidence of that is how they react after awesome dunks while down 15.

That’s a maturity issue and a problem that can’t be solved with a guy with a great personality who literally cannot play and the one vet who can play just sits in the wings waiting to chunk threes from deep and whines at the refs anytime he does drive.

The question I have going into next offseason or even at the trade deadline is if we can be opportunistic like OKC was with CP3 when nobody wanted his contract. Whoever it is, this team will benefit greatly from moving EG and having a much more effective and vocal veteran presence. And it can’t be a bench vet. It’s gotta be someone
who will bark at KPJ or Jalen on the court and get them in line.

 

1). Trade for Tyus Jones (offer a package of guys like EG, KJ Martin, Josh Christopher, and/or protected picks). We have the ammo to get this done without giving up next year’s pick or our Brooklyn picks. It’s time to get serious about the point guard position. Tyus is a good starting point guard in this league; free him.

the other guy I wanted to kick the tires on this offseason was Mike Conley, but no way Utah trades him for a reasonable offer now that he’s played so well. I blame our GM and coach for doubling down on the KPJ point guard experiment instead of looking for alternatives. A Conley Green backcourt might have changed the entire trajectory of our team (closest thing to the OKC CP3 scenario).

2). Move KPJ to shooting guard; his natural position. I dont care about what that does to the starting rotation. The reason why we are in this mess is because we’d rather start KPJ out of position than find a way to get him minutes and develop him at his natural position. It’s been obvious for 2 yrs that KPJ is a really talented shooting guard, but not the guy you want running the floor. How did our front office miss this?

put KPJ in a position to succeed; we’re not helping him by trying to force him to become something he’s not. He has other really good strengths; let’s play to them.

3). Hire a new head coach this offseason. We have plenty of time to prepare and get this right. Someone who is going to set high standards, command respect, and hold players accountable. Maybe someone with an offensive system. I’m okay giving Silas the season to turn things around, but if things still look terrible by allstar break we should start preparing for a new regime.

It really could help change the culture and give us a clean slate as we add our last top draft pick and start to pivot towards winning.

4). Aggressively go after a top tier 2way free agent. Miles Turner, Gary Trent Jr, Fred VanVleet, etc…

overpay, use the new coaching staff as a recruitment tool, take compromising photos and resort to extortion, I don’t care. We can’t come out of 2023 free agency losers.

If we do these things, and focus on developing our best young prospects, we have a chance to develop into a winning franchise over the next couple seasons. You’ve got to start winning before contending…and we are a long way from that.

 

Tank Schedule

In terms of number of years in the tank we're tied with Magic and Thunder; two full bad years from once a decent record.

• This season Magic seems to be our peer, whereas Thunder is respectable so far because of Shai.

• Pistons has been in the tank one year longer, an example of a team, who seems to have problems climbing back out. We don't want to turn into them.

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Thunder (two years removed from a .500) record. This season W6-L8 (.429)
Magic (two years removed from a .452) record. This season W4-L10 (.286)
Pistons (three years removed from a .500) record. This season W3-L12 (.200)

Rockets (two years removed from a .611) record. This season W2-L12 (.143)
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Other

Pacers (one year removed from a .472) record. This season W6-L6 (.500) Carlisle
Spurs (zero year removed from a .425) record. This season W6-L9 (.400) Pop
Kings (one year removed from a .431) record. This season W7-L6 (.538) Mike Brown
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Cavs climbed out after three years. (2018, 2019 and 2020)

# Are we going to climb out next year?