Hopefully improved 3pt shooting will happen internally. If KPJ, Wood, KJ and Tate can all develop a reliable 3 then it will go a long way in helping next season. Also need to improve their free throw shooting. Both should be a focus in their offseason workouts.
Just a few thoughts on players you mentioned. Christian Wood - he is not something we can build around. Had the opportunity to go to the game yesterday and he was always complaining to the refs about not getting calls. He complains more than he competes, and he hasn't established himself in the league to get those calls. Just calling yourself a franchise player doesn't get you those treatment with rest of the league. James Johnson gave him so much trouble on both ends. KPJ - I don't know if I saw this kid being engaged at all. He has the skills and can be a really good player in the league, but I am afraid his attitude might get in the way. I know he's young and don't mean to get hard on him, but man he could be one of the players talked about daily around the league if he gets his act straight. I am looking at guys like Olynyk, Brown, KMJ, Tate, DJ.. dudes that simply plays hard and competes but don't have the talent like KPJ. Someone needs to hold him accountable. I can only imagine the pressure he can put on the opposing teams if he simply competes. I am curious to see what direction the team decides goes in the draft. Draft a PG or go for a big man?
The question is, do we have a "star" that can lead this team? There arent many instances of teams that have good general, 'above average', talent that really competes for a championship. We need a star to lead this team. Wood is not that guy. He's a Khris Middleton level player who will be borderline all-star game, barring him taking a major step next season. Is Porter the guy? I don't know yet. I have to say I was a lot more confident of it a few weeks ago than I am now. His game is really immature in some ways. I guess we'll see how it comes along. If we're going to take the next step, frankly, we need to win the lottery, or at least keep our pick as one of the top four. Losing that pick will be more than a gut punch and will put us in position next year to be mediocre (it will be difficult to replicate this seasons ineptitude, tanking performances, injuries, etc.) at which point we're going into next years draft with a pick in the 6-14 range.
Yeah, with a little luck, good drafting, and adding the right free agents, we might squeeze into the playoffs again in a year or two. And who knows, we might actually be title contenders by, oh, '25 or so. Of course, we were already contenders nearly every year until Tilman took over and eventually chased off our key guys.* * Come at me, Tilman apologists. You won't change my mind.
I'm not going to defend Tilman or apologize for him. Rather, I would instead request the addition of Morey's name placed under the same bus. And possibly Harden too. The latter requested his friend come to Houston. The former traded away our future and all development for 14 straight years so he could make win-now trades. Those did happen and those do affect us today.
I think Wood is going to be a solid 2nd/3rd option kind of player, but certainly not the future of this franchise as we continue moving forward. I rather hang on to him at least till the end of next year to continue monitoring his progression, but I am certainly not afraid of selling high on this kid, but for now I definitely want to keep him. I think the biggest factor with KPJ that none of us should forget is that he still needs to resolve his off-court issues. I know the team is working with him on this and hopefully he will be a better person after it's all said and done, which will hopefully translate to the basketball court. He is 20 years old and still need some more time getting adjusted to a new position. I know some posters have been a little uneasy about his body language, but I think some of it's based on the fact that he is being asked to be the floor general. I'm sure it's tough to get a feel for when you are suppose to score and when you are suppose to pass. I think ultimately he is being cautious and it's going to take him a lot more time to get used to playing the position. We really can't expect him to be ready this season. I think it's going to take at least another season, until he is able to put all his tools to use.
The Rockets have Christian Wood, Kevin Porter and Tate and Martin for two years after this. That is it at this point. The most valuable asset is this years draft pick (1-4) assuming we get to keep it. These things take time. The Rockets are only months into a rebuild. The Thunder are flush with draft picks and just now are seeing young players emerge.
Well sure but we aren't in the "spending money" phase. Also we have ~$92 million once we decline Avery Bradley's team option. Obviously the status of keeping our top 4 pick will be important, but we will have a lot options with draft picks and cap space the next two seasons. Maybe John Wall's player option becomes a positive asset or at the very least cost less to move so we can be looking at a very different cap situation.
This. Optimistically we hit on a few guys in the draft and/or sign some underrated FAs so we can be competing for the 7th/8th seed in 3 years. Not keeping this years pick would be a large setback but we got another two consecutive seasons to get high draft picks.
yeh... but they were just 'doin time...' they were a perpetually crappy team who lived in the lottery... look at the number of lottery picks they spent over a couple decades - only to never be nothin... lol
Lets be real DaDa gets this excited every time we get a white guy on the team. Unleash Kelly and let's go Gonzaga! DD
