Just curious what you guys think. Do we have anyone on this team who’s obsessed with the game? All the greats were wired like that—they all have those insane stories about their work ethic and mentality. That’s what separates them. We hear about Amen Thompson being a gym rat—maybe I’m just being impatient—but we haven’t really seen that translate into real, noticeable growth. It’s been small improvements, not that leap. And honestly, the “we’re young, still learning and growing” excuse is getting old. At some point, someone has to separate themselves and take ownership… and right now, it’s hard to say anyone has.
None of our players can beat anyone off dribble in 1:1. Amen should be able to but we don't use him much like that. Sengun cannot dominate his 1:1 matchup especially against good teams. The sad thing is that the young core can't even effectively run pick & roll to generate some advantage. That is on the coaching.
The rockets do not have a 1a player. They do have players that love the game and work hard. It's not an effort thing. They just aren't truly special outlier scorers. The play that highlighted this the most for me was a broken play where Sengun ended up with the ball wide open with space near the FT line and he immediately passed out. It wasn't that he didn't take the shot, he didn't even have confidence that he could score after getting in the paint. In fact, one of the big Lakers adjustments was to simply not overreact to his post moves and play him straight up. When they stopped doubling him he couldn't make them pay. The bully ball he was playing in the previous games is extremely tiring and unsustainable for him at his conditioning and fitness levels. To be quite honest these guys aren't really even 1b or 2nd option guys. Our best players better suited as 3rd option types (or worse) that the team doesn't depend on for consistent buckets but do other things well to stay on the court. I agreed with everything except the last point. There are coaching problems for sure but that's not the reason they can't run a PnR. They can't effectively run a PnR because the players simple don't have the necessary skills. Amen can get downhill but can't shoot so defenders just go under the screen. Reed can't beat the center off the dribble on a hard show so it leaves enough time for the guard to get back in the play. The PnR was significantly better last year with Jalen and FVV but even then Sengun is not a very long center so he has to catch the ball at a lower position and make a move in the post vs a drop in or dunk from a lob.
Whatever, Udoka had Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and got his a$$ handed to him by Steve Kerr's less talented Warriors. He was the 2nd seed last season and again got his a$$ handed to him by Kerr's less talented Warriors. Now he got his a$$ handed to him by Reddick's less talented Lakers. His record in the first round - despite being the more talented team in every single series - is 10 wins and 11 losses. The Finals run is now the fluke in this sample of games and many Celtics fans will tell you they got lucky AF to make the Finals that season. I'm DONE criticizing the players. Completely done. I was harsh on Bari and Sengun especially, but I am done with all that. We can have a championship calibre roster but lose to a less talented team. The only way you'll win a title with Udoka is if you hand him a dynasty-calibre roster and he wins you only one title with that roster. Whatever we give him, he will subtract from it. We got the benefit of his defense and work ethic, it's time to get our Rudy T, our Mazzulla, our Steve Kerr.
Well none of our players can shoot and make shots consistently we are either hot or cold and last night was a coooooold night
We don’t have a way to display what we have. No system. EVERY SINGLE POINT shouldn’t have to be a battle. There is zero flow, none. There is no basic plan in place others than one on one battle ball and some zone defense. Most plays coming out of timeouts look like something drawn up from broken crayons and big chief tablet. There is no platform that helps players play with their teammates and use their talents. Ime’s press conference at the end of games echo this. The smallest coaching staff and front office just enough for the basic functions to be managed at a minimum levels. Everyone working over their personal capacity to provide the overall level of minimum yet expected level of expectations. There is no room for growth beyond what is currently being offered because it takes everything to maintain. Growth is not a goal, it maybe written on the white board and in the mission statement; survival, quitting or hopefully one day retirement is the only goals being worked on. Maybe the whole organization has a systemic issue.
Amen's a "Gym Rat" the same way Jalen Green was a "Gym Rat." Players with very little skill, touch or feel doin useless "drills" that don't develop their game at all when they should be actually playing ball all day every day and learning how to tear defenders apart and hit shots. Amen actually has less skills but he's much bigger and even more athletic so he can carry that to passable defense just by being physically more dominant than his peers (where Jalen was weak and soft, just fast, bouncy and agile.)
He is the only one in this team i feel like that has it. He hasn't shown much, it's all just flashes.
Show me one player who shoots that badly outside of 10 feet who ever made a significant increase to league average? He'll be a defensive specialist 3/4 option at best. Anybody who gives him a big contract will regret it massively.
No, we don't and until we either develop one or find one, that is why you don't EVER trade away young talent like Cam Whitmore - he had a chance to be THE DUDE - unlikely but much more than most of this roster now. DD
Each of Stone's young core has trade-offs, and no one can fulfill that offensive engine type role. The offensive engine was supposed to be Jalen Green until he was flipped for aging, temperamental Kevin Durant.
All really good points!! That's why I think they missed Jalen and/or Cam. They were the only players who could break down opponents
