This team has too many players without clear roles

Ime doesn't look at him as any kind of hub, let's be honest about it. When has Sengun been a real distributor/playmaker under Udoka? That was the Silas years, under Udoka he's a traditional post-play center and roll man, a play finisher not a playmaker.

 

I don’t think Fertita will have infinite patience letting Ime “tread water” waiting for a superstar to suddenly emerge or become available. The talent level and athleticism on this team is very solid and at least 3 have star potential. It is not just on the player to emerge, it is also the team’s coach and FO to put those special players in the position to excel. Right now Ime’s lack of offensive creativity is holding this team back. If we don’t improve from last year, the shine will fade from Ime very quickly.

 

Yeah I agree with this. Especially with how much Fertitta hypes up the roster, I could see Ime being the one to take the fall if this season isn't successful. Stone's getting discounts on our star players, I feel like Fertitta would move the coach before him.

 

Nah, Stone only gets 1 scapegoat. That was Silas. The next man to go should be him if his rebuild plan failed to produce any franchise cornerstones.
But, if we fail to make the playoffs I wouldn’t fire anyone after this season. Stone should have another offseason to attempt to course correct. Mostly everybody was happy with him bringing everyone back this year to give them an opportunity to realize their potential on the Rockets.

 

Who says, you? Are you Fertitta or anybody in power? The world doesn't work like that, fans don't get to set arbitrary limits sadly.

 

You mean, like you just did by saying Udoka would be fired after this season if it's not successful (i.e. playoff appearance). How ridiculous would that be to fire the coach who just got here after only two seasons, but the GM has been here nearly 5 years with no playoff appearances gets to stay. Think logically...Stone's the next head on the chopping block.

 

I havent heard much of anything out of Fertitta. He's honestly been a pretty good owner and allowing his management team to sort out the mess. While Im sure he would want to start winning and packing the TC, Im not sure he has any sort of ultimatum. This thing is right on track when you hear Stone talk.

Players make this league go around. Not coaches. The game has evolved to a point where your superstars are basically coaches as well who determine many situational aspects of the decision making. While a good coach can certainly be a difference maker for a young team we no longer fit that mold. We have vets here who are now enjoying 2nd contracts and who need to go out there and prove they deserve that 'star' label.

I'll be honest if we have a bunch of stat padders who's nuts shrink in critical moments I'll be bummed the F out.

 

Right, a failure this season is more of an indictment on the players we have than who the coach is. Stone acquired those players so ultimately it would be a poor reflection on him. But like I said earlier, it would be too reactionary to fire him or Udoka if they fail this year. Stone should have at least another offseason to make trades to attempt to build a playoff team the following year.

 

Stone is going to pull the trigger on a "superstar" soon. Everything he's done points to that end. I think that makes Fertitta a happy camper because it would spur ticket sales and the fanbase gets a shot of dopamine.

 

I didn't say that though, that's you not reading things properly. I said "I could see Ime being the one to take the fall if this season isn't successful" which in no way does it say "Ime's gonna get fired." Literacy, look into it, it'll make life easier.

 

Adelman's tenure here was riddled with injuries. IIRC, Yao and TMac played together in less than half the number of games. And he needed to rebuild the defense>>>>offense roster he inherited from the JVG days. It took more than a season to do it. But once he got the system going, it was pretty good. If you can get a team of KMart, Scola, Battier, Lowry, and Hayes to be the 4th best offense, you know you are doing something right on the offensive side.

 

Its still about 3-pt shooting or lack there of

Preseason
Team.......3P%.......3PA
Jazz:..........33.3.........39
Thunder....31.0.........42
Pels...........32.4.........37
Spurs........34.9..........43

Regular season
Team.........3P%........3PA
Hornets......30.2..........43


Number 1, 2 and 3rd options are noted (vs Hornets FGM/FGA)
Player........FGM / FGA
Jalen G............9 / 23
Sengun..........10 / 22
FVv..................4 / 18

Next highest attempt is Amen with 11 (5 / 11)

So everyone outside of the top 3 options is a role player......role players need to hit their
3-point attempts. Reed Sheppard can't get his shot off. Ime probably needs to bring in
Jack McVeigh some.

Starters of Dillon Brooks got 2 points and Jabari got 8 points. This is why I promote the
Rockets going after Jerami Grant. Grant can put the ball on the floor and give us four
attacking options.

Jalen Green was good in the 1st and 4th quarters going 3/6 from 3......it was the second
quarter and 3rd where he lost concentration. I believe it's because others weren't making
3's that pressured Green into making bad attempts (that I noted in the second quarter).
Jalen scored 10 points in first qt and 10 points in the 4th qt.

Amen and Sengun made their 3's on the little attempts, but Cam Whitmore, Dillon,
Jabari and VanVleet need to do better. I throw in VanVleet because he can't get to
the rim as well anymore, I need him to be better as the SG slash off ball threat.
If he can't do both, then he is kinda worthless to me.

Just one game though, opening night at that. Steven Adams will be
back setting good screens. Eventually.

 

Not saying that accomplishment isnt impressive, but 2011 kmart, scola, battier and Lowry with Sengun at center would be a very good offense with or without Adleman.

Those 4 were better offensive players than their counterparts are now.

Not to mention there was also Brooks, Dragic, Lee and Brad Miller off the bench. On the flip side that team was pretty awful on defense.

 

Your guess is as good as mine who that superstar would be.

The Rockets so often look like a high-end YMCA pickup team.

"I GOT MINE.....

 

I think it is not as uncomplicated as you make it sound like.

Stone has been here behind Morey and now has been here for more than 20 years.....

I am not even sure how they plan to usher in this new Stoneless Era.......

 

I seriously doubt it. First all these guys were in their kid to late 20s and near fully developed players. Kyle Lowery and Dragic were the young ones at 25. Kevin Martin averaged 17 ppg at age 28 with a ts% barely above league average.

Fred has been as good if not a better shooter and playmaker than Lowry and Dragic when they were Rockets. Green is far more dynamic than anyone on that roster by a wide margin. Amen doesn't space the floor like those guys but also is far more dynamic and explosive.

You can say someone like KM were more consistent shooters but that is pretty much the only advantage and that advantage compared to Green is merely a product of age and experience.

 

It's interesting how the perceptions change though. At the time Martin was consistently considered one of the more efficient players in the league, it's one of the main things announcers used to say about him in fact. It was one of the things they used to point to as to how we would make the playoffs with no stars, where his efficiency worked for him even though he wasn't putting up big numbers.

 

I remember something about "meh stats vs scrubs dont count" or something like that

If sh!tting the bed is going to be a normal thing for this team I hope our guys stat pad so hard that other GMs get stat drunk and avoid looking at end of game moments. I want to know WHO among our core is going to be the guy who shines brightest when the game is on the line.

 

Swapping Hayes with Sengun is such a massive offensive replacement, I’m not sure what, if any, point we can make from that.

I thought the whole point @Easy was making is having Hayes as the starting center, no All-NBA players, and still being 4th ORtg …

and fwiw: Brooks got traded that year. Looking it up, Budinger got the most bench minutes

 

I understand his point. My point was that those 4 players minus hayes were better offensive players than their counterparts on the current Rockets.