What do you consider to be the Rockets' biggest problem (Feb. 2023)?

Silas is the biggest problem but it starts from top down. I'm watching this Chiefs victory parade/rally. A championship organization needs an owner who invests in the team then stays our of the way of the GM. An experienced GM who provides ample talent then stays out of day to operations of the top level coach he/she hired. Rockets have none of the above, the talent issue can be fixed but this is not a championship caliber organization at the top.

 

Players are simply not good enough, coach isn't helping but it's a bunch of mismatched players thrown together in the hope that 1 would be a superstar and then provide some structure - none of them is so far so it's just a bunch of cascading shitshows on the court.

It's not getting any better if the only change is "New coach plus a couple more draft picks" - the team was poorly assembled, and we didn't draft that well/got unlucky.

 

The biggest problem is we may or may not have a true franchise level player on the roster. If we are unable to draft/develop our own then that leaves free agency (not a place where the best players go anymore) and trades so our ability to acquire one narrows.

 

Yeah... this is a big part of it.

The Rockets first two major draft picks under Stone were for players that required specific types of players around them to cover up their flaws. That REALLY hampers the ability to build a team. The Rockets out of the gate needed a tall, strong, playmaking point guard that could guard shooting guards and also be a playmaker because of Green's physical limitations defensively and his inability to be a combo guard. Then with Sengun, they had to have a center and small forward that were long and mobile, could hit threes and switch when Sengun gets burned on the defender.

It is amazing, the Rockets in one draft pigeonholed their team into needing some of the rarest types of players to cover for their top two draft picks.

Mobley and Sengun would have fit well together for example.

Instead, the Rockets drafted in a bubble, oblivious of the long term limitations they caused and oblivious to the limited number of players to fill those gaps.

The Rockets need a point guard...... but if they take Henderson #2, they have to be aware they will have a small backcourt that can be isolated on in the playoffs, and that is a legitimate concern.

I don't even know if Sengun, Green and Henderson could all be on the court together defensively deep in the playoffs. Maybe they try to get Jabari Smith on someone like LeBron or Doncic, but the other teams will be doing everything possible to get the mismatch.

 

That's the one thing you can say about Jabari Smith is that he's at least fittable to different supporting casts - but this requires him to be an actual 3&D player instead of a Not3&D player.

I mean right now Jalen Williams looks like a far superior version of that kind of player. I'm still confused as to how Smith ended up being evaluated so highly, I just don't get it. He doesn't have physical/athletic skills that stand out and he doesn't "seem" like a pure shooter, more like a "work at it and improve" shooter. Like Brook Lopez for example went his first 4 seasons/250 games without even attempting a single 3 point shot, now he's 37% on 5 attempts a game.

 

I think there could have been a case to be made by Sixers fans back in 2016 to say the same thing.

But a few changes here and there led to alot of changes eventually, and when you look back at it, other than Embiid, its an entirely different team with many of those draft prospects like Fultz, Okafor, Stauskas, Saric, Noel, etc. either flaming out of the league or not making their mark until they went to other teams.

So the answer might be more than JUST one thing.

But in the Sixers example, all things aside, it kind of was JUST one thing in the end which was Embiid actually playing basketball with two feet. Imagine where the Sixers would be now if they would have ended up with the #2 pick instead of 3, and taken Jabari Parker? The Sixers might still suck. That's the cautionary tale that the Rockets are currently having nightmares about. That's why putting everything you have in getting the best out of Jalen and Jabari is so important, and trumps all other priorities IMO.

So if you are looking for one thing specifically, I guess you could definitely say putting everything you can into helping your top lotto picks be the best versions of themselves that you can. If that means changing style of play you do it. If that means spending a 2nd round pick or two in order to get a veteran complement to their skillset.... you do it. Because right now the Rockets as an organization are failing in terms of making sure that Jabari and Jalen are more Embiid than Okafor.

 

Zach Lowe or somebody said this yesterday, but how crazy is it that Markelle Fultz is now >>>>> Ben Simmons?

 

Exactly. Now imagine back in 2017 or whenever that was, Sixers fans saying "If we just changed the coach, or one thing" then we could build around Fultz... or build around Simmons, etc.

Like... we are nowhere near where we need to be, and let these examples prove to enlighten everyone that by the time the Rockets are relevant again, your favorite player now on the Rockets PROBABLY won't be a Rocket anymore or will be out of the league. Because the fact is the Sixers would still suck even if they changed the coach to better suit Fulz or even Simmons.

Joel Embiid had to step on the court first. Embiid could have made Stephen Silas look halfway decent. Hell.... How many more seasons of employment did Kevin McHale get out of the Rockets just because of James Harden??

(That being said... yeah... we should definitely still fire Silas)

Just perspective people. The fact is... we probably have screwed up already with Jalen and Jabari, and probably are banking WAAAYYY too much on our 2023 lottery pick to be an Embiid type of game changer. If Stone screws up again this June god help us all.

 

I really needed a 4th selection in that poll.

 

Hard to just pick 3..

We need a veteran PG
Jalen is inconsistent
Silas sucks
Jabari is awful
Hard to build a defense around Sengun
We have Tate, Tari, and KJ that can’t shoot at SF
Team is too young