The word “superstar” is bandied about a lot, especially on this forum in regard to trades. Here are my lists and thoughts: Current Superstars: Durant Lebron Curry Giannis Embid Jokic Doncic Tatum Fairly soon could make the list: Ant Jaylen Brown SGA Haliburton Former but still somewhat valuable: Harden Kawhi Kyrie Future 2+ years out Wemby Chet Amen I’m probably missing a couple. How this relates to the Rockets: Of the current, only Embid and Giannis could be attainable in the next 2-3 years. Embid is no go for me, because of injury concerns and age. Giannis should be Rockets priority. Harden and Kawhi are out, because of age and decline. Every other will be unattainable. All stars not on this list may become attainable. The question would be whom in our core will be worth giving up 1 or more of the core and draft picks? Who would be worth it for just the Net’s picks?
I would only put doncic, jokic, embiid and Giannis as the current ones. Tatum is not a superstar and the time of the others have passed which should be even more apparent this year. fairly soon list is good.
Sengun has the best chance to be a superstar from our team. Green could also make it if he could harness his max streak energy consistently. Amen could reach that level too if he learns to shoot.
I genuinely don't know how people rank Amen higher than Sengun or Green. As an offensive player, he's basically Clint Capela in terms of where he actually has any impact. Green's ACTUALLY had superstar performances, many of them, he's actually the most proven of all of our players to have superstar potential and it's not remotely close. Sengun's not really had the big superstar performances at the same level, but he's already performing at all star level and should start having more of those big games as time goes on. Amen? He can barely shoot and his handle makes Jalen Green look like Kyrie. Y'all are crazy.
Gotta disagree on Sengun having the best chance to be a superstar. He has the highest floor on the team for sure. I think the highest ceiling still belongs to Jalen but his inconsistency holds him back and we may never see him put it all together due to the mental part of his game. I'd say Amen and Cam have higher ceilings than Sengun as well but are unlikely to reach those unless a lot of things go right for them as well. Sengun to me is a player that is on the Sabonis level that could potentially reach top 25-30 player in the league status if everything goes perfectly for him, but I dont consider anything past top 10 as potentially superstar players. All in all, I think the front office knows as well as most of the fanbase that this team needs a superstar still and that guy is most likely not on the roster as of now, even in an optimistic universe of outcomes for these players.
Some other guys I could see becoming superstars: J-Dub Zion (he will need to really make a dramatic turn-around on his health & maturity though) Cade Banchero Sengun Barnes Green To be clear, most of these guys won't get there--and I'm probably being a homer to even include Jalen in the list. But those are some candidates that pop out at me as potentially being in that next generation.
Sengun was a top 30 player last year at the age 21 and people think that's the level he'll get stuck. This is some goldfish level forgetfulness.
So there are tiers of stars/super stars. S Tier - Consistently 1st team All NBA and proven MVP caliber players: Defini Luka Jokic Giannis A Tier -- likely breaking into S Tier soon or have recently fallen out of S Tier due to age - 1st/2nd team All NBA and will be or were legit MVP caliber players. SGA Lebron Durant Curry Tatum Ant-Man Jalen Brunson (a bit of projection here) B Tier - All NBA or All defense player worthy of max contract, but not going to lead a team to a title right now. If young they can climb, but if at their prime or later they need to be set up as a Robin to a elite guy. Often have a "fatal flaw" or weakness that holds them back. Embiid (would be S Tier if you can guarantee health) Kyrie (benefit of doubt from the season and some playoff performances. Him falling off vs Boston/OKC could argue he may be falling to C Tier soon) Wemby (Needs more winning to jump up) Anthony Davis Damien Lillard Ja Morant (Would be A Tier if guarantee he can get back on the court and off-court stuff is cleared up) Jaylen Brown Donovan Mitchell Booker (I'm not personally sold on him as a consistent B-Tier guy, but I get that is not a widely held view). De'Aaron Fox (needs another healthy year with playoff success to stay here) Tyrese Maxey Gobert Jaren Jackson Jr. Jamal Murray C Tier - Very good player but honestly a luxury if you have S/A/B levels players and will often lose to teams lead by those players. Often way too early to tell player that needs some projection, or past their prime player. Sometimes can fulfil the Robin role, if the rest of the team is deep/talented, or if you have multiple c tiers. Definitely have a fatal flaw/weakness to their game, production, or demeanor. If young, they are probably getting a max contract. If older, depends on health/situation. Haliburton (needs another year with playoff success) Kawhi (would be A Tier if you can guarantee health) Chet (can definitely climb, just young and has more to prove.) J-Dub ( a bit of projection of consistency here) KAT Jimmy Butler (would be A Tier if you can guarantee health) Jrue Holiday Banchero (mostly because of only 1 season of production, he leads his team to playoffs again he climbs to B) Draymond (If you get locked in playoff Draymond with no headcase issues he is B Tier. Not sure we see that guy again though) Harden Gobert (I know he has all the DPOY's. He is just too much of a match up liability in playoffs against too many teams for a max contract guy.) Paul George Klay Thompson Khris Middleton P Siakam Zion Williamson (would be B Tier if you can guarantee health) Brandon Ingram (would be B Tier if you can guarantee health) Adebayo Kristaps Porzingis LaMelo Ball Sabonis Evan Mobley ( I don't see it, but I understand that is not the popular opinion.) D Tier Trae Young Julius Randle Zach LaVine Lauri Markkanen Franz Wagner Malik Monk Mikal Bridges Demar DeRozan
Genuinely though, you're not being a homer. He's shown the superstar potential, actually quite a lot of it in his first 3 years if you look objectively at how many monster games he's had. Nobody else on our roster has shown that ceiling/potential ever in their careers so far, and that includes the guys who've been in the league over a decade (think about that just a second in the context of "anybody can do it.") Sure, he's super inconsistent and may not make it, but on that list you just wrote, how many of them did this in their first 3 seasons? 7 40 pt games ( 5 with FG%>50 and 3p%>40) 30 30 pt games ( 19 with FG%>50 and 3p%>40) Like y'all can pretend that's an easypeasy every day run of the mill occurrence if you want. Does seem a little odd though considering that's a player on the team you root for, no? Echo chambers are mental. The very fact that those games exist is concrete proof of superstar ceiling, and holds more weight than hypotheticals and fantasy stories told about those who never have yet. Seriously.
43 games last season of .286 or worse ..... 35 games in 22/23 32 in his rookie year. 110 games of suck 37 games of really good.
Thunder have 3 soon to be in SGA / J Williams / Chet. I'm not looking forward to Paul George joining them. Rockets could use Paul George, on a two year, just long enough to allow our kids to develop further. Jabari, Tari and Cam could learn a lot from him. Get some spacing in the form of 3-point shooters on this team and watch: Jalen Green, Sengun, Jabari, Tari, Cam Whitmore and Amen become a problem.
Nice thread and Great question. Who are the obvious ones that have just emerged and who are the ones likely to emerge soon? This is key right? To get one or two from these pools because we definitely don't have any. If only one of these demanded a trade. So the next question is - which teams have a likely superstar in the making but they also have stupid owners and stupid gm?
