Summer Thread 2026: What young player have the Rockets "DEVELOPED"?

Not sure if you understand players change and circumstances develop over time. Taking posts made years ago and bringing them back as if it applies today is dumb AF. For example when I made that Cade and Jalen post Cade hasn't made the leap yet and just missed an entire season due to a leg injury, obviously he wasnt the All NBA and All Star Cade yet. Chet dominated Wemby in their U19 matchup, is that the same situation now? Obv Chet back then was different to Chet now, only a nimrod would expect the same analysis to be unchanged and still hold true after years.

I'm sure if I looked up all your posts I would also be able to get your own hot takes over the years so gimme a break dude.

 

Castle would be Tate if he was on the Rockets ladies and gentlemen…brought to you by the dude who would take Amen over Wemby as stated multiple times, wouldn’t trade Sengun for Wemby, and loudly proclaimed Cade and Jalen were in the same tier

 

Isiah Hartenstein

 

And this is brought to you by the guy who still thinks Harden is the Rocket's answer....

 

RGV Hassan Whiteside, Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic, Rockets Training Camp Jeremy Lin to the Knicks

 

The REAL problems with the Rockets aren't the players. It is the ones who chose them and can't seem to develop them.

 

The difference is clear to me when watching these organizations. We watched Castle just have 32 TOs, 28 fouls in the Thunder series and shot 23% from deep and 46% from two...but what is the conversations around the association and around even this board? That we "missed" on Castle with Reed...that Castle is a significantly better shooter than Amen, etc. People notice what these players can do, rather than what they can't.

The difference between the Rockets and the Thunder or Spurs is they play to win and we play to not lose. That's why management is saying "maybe it's not our year" just because Fred and Steve are out - both were a walking risk mitigation token and this team is really eager to mitigate risk. Stevo was insurance for bad shooting, Fred for TOs. The problem with this team is we are sacrificing our young guys development or better team play to not turn the ball over or to get more offensive rebounds. Those guys need to be specialists on this team you bring in when needed - NOT the guys gobbling up minutes. If Stone or Udoka had those guys as significant part of our team makeup this year - then it shows where their head is at.

....plus you ask ANY ex-Spur since the Pops era and the statement is always the same - this team focuses on what players can do, not what they CAN'T do. Houston focuses on what our young guys can't do - "Reed can't possibly guard X", so we need to sub Okogie in, we need to bring in Tate, etc. Tate and Okogie are fine role players but neither player should be getting big minutes - but low and behold Okogie was getting starter minutes for large parts of the season when he wouldn't be a starter for any other team in the league. Think about that.

....and not to undersell the one biggest point - guys like Wemby and SGA create a FAR larger margin of error for your team so if Castle had just finished the series playing for Houston instead, we probably still would have lost but because Wemby is sooo good, they were able to overcome it so there is a luxury there when you have guys like Wemby, SGA, or even Tim Duncan. THAT is the advantage of having a true superstar....and we do not have that player and while Amen or Alpi may improve significantly, players of that caliber are rarely grown, they either are or they aren't.

 

He wasn't traded. He was waived. We got nothing in return.

 

He wasn't traded, he was flat out CUT !

Sort of like Cam - or close to it.

DD

 

What young player have the Rockets "DEVELOPED"?

What was the Rockets record before Ime took over?
What was the Rockets record after Ime took over?

Explain the big swing in wins while maintaining that somehow the players were not getting better.

Case in point, JG4 became a better defensive player due to Ime.

 

Bruh weren't talking about how Stone ****ed up by not trading for Harden before? LOL it's crazy you throw stones when you live in a glass house

 

We got vets FVV, Dillon Brooks and Steven Adams. The Rockets were purposely tanking and playing John Wall, Cousins and Daishen Nix heavy mins so we lose games. Wall said as much, that Stone was forcing Silas to use him and Nix as tank commanders so they lose games. So in short the Rockets were never really that bad and bringing in good vets helped the team win. Of course Rockets rookies were baseline good players as well a lot of them were taken in the top lotto.

It's not that the young players aren't getting better they are rookies obviously they will get better. However their improvement has been marginal for example Jabari Smith as a rookie shot 30% and now aftyer 4 yrs he is only shooting 36% which is still below the league average of 37%. More importantly he was a sniper in college shooting 41% so instead of building on his strengths he seem to have regressed and only starting to come around slowly. Reed Sheppard who was also another sharpshooter and considered the best shooter in his class shot only 33% in the NBA after shooting 50% in college and now barely above average at 39%. If you wanna talk Jalen Green sure, he improved defensively. But what about the offense side? If you look at his percentages and efficiency it barely changed after 6 seasons, he always in the 54-57% TS and 34-36% 3 pt.

Meanwhile Stephon Castle who started out shooting 28% his rookie year now shot 33% in only his 2nd year and is currently shooting 36% in the playoffs. And he was a non shooter in college unlike Jabari. Carter Bryant who also couldn't shoot in college ended his rookie year shooting 33% from 3 and now shooting 38% in the playoffs.

Spurs rookies tend get better on an upward trajectory while the Rockets players havent even reached their level when they were in college. Sengun seems to be the exception but being the star of the Turkish team he has his own group and also gets coaching from the Turkish coach who is also in the Euroleague.

 

I’d for sure rather have Harden than FVV who is worse and didn’t even play this year

you on the other hand would say no if Spurs offered Wemby for Amen and was loudly telling us Jalen was better than Cade

let me know when the Rockets aren’t going down 3-0 to ancient Lebron in the 1st round

all that, yet at the same time the Rockets are so bad, Stephon Castle would be no better than Tate if he was on the team according to you…incredible logic

 

The difference in a nutshell:

Spurs: Everyone believes in the organization from the top to the bottom. Spurs Culture makes Heat Culture look like the Kings.

Rockets: Owner puts his inexperienced kid in charge of things. Nobody really believes in the culture. Maybe the young guys did when they got here all wide-eyed, but after a few years with Patritta/Stone/Ime they wisened up. Then Getoffmydickerson arrived to put the nail in the coffin.

 

Harden would want a long term contract thats why he demanded a trade from the Clippers. Also FVV played better in the playoffs unlike Harden who is the opposite. Commit long term contract to Harden who just wilted in the playoffs for Xth time? LMAO

So what? The books aren't closed in either of these players unlike Harden who is already near retirement. Things can still change unlike Harden. Weren't you also saying Orlando stole Banchero from us and Jabari was a bust? Now just this year you calling Banchero overpaid and overrated. Crazy how your opinions change, huh?

At least Stone didn't make both Spurs and OKC better. The WCF was sponsored by Daryl Morey did you even know that? Champenny to the Spurs, Mccain and Isiah Joe all gifts of Morey.

Stone is just the GM, the player development is the job of Ime Udoka. You are the one with zero logic as expected of the Harden fanboy

 

Spurs earned their culture with the TD/Popovich dynasty and PopovichBuford still being a central figure in the organization.

Rockets in the Daryl Morey era had negative culture, they were seen as constant flippers, liars and treated players like assets. Harden himself was seen as the strip club king rather than someone who will establish a positive culture. In fact the stories about Harden even WB was appalled at the excessive treatment he got and how unprofessional he was like drinking and partying before games and always being late to team meetings and flights.

So its unfair to compare the two since Spurs are the Culture King while the Rockets coming from a negative culture standpoint.

 

Lmao, Fred had 3 good games in the playoffs in the 1st round and didn’t even play these playoffs or the entire season. The other playoff games? 4-19, 2-8, 5-14, and 11 points in game 7 until making some meaningless baskets with under a minute left and the Rockets down 15 at home. Harden averaged 19, 5, and 9 last playoffs vs a much better team than GS in Denver. The year before that he averaged 21, 5, and 8 on 62% TS vs the Finals bound Mavs with Kawhi barely playing. This year, Harden made the conference finals.

yes, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Amen is so good you wouldn’t trade him for Wemby from day 1 and Jalen reaches Cade level…keep going

please bring up the post where I said Orlando stole Paolo from us…I have never been high on Paolo…these are literally my thoughts pre-draft

and right after…

https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/...mith-jr-f-auburn.316196/page-47#post-14151324

you’re literally just yapping irrelevant nonsense with Morey…Stone has built the foundation for a decade plus contender according to you. Where? In what world? Stone’s rebuild has been remarkable according to you. Lol, ok

Lmao, player development is the work of an entire organization, not just the coach. You’re so clueless it’s hilarious. And if Ime isn’t doing his part to develop players, then who is the one who hired him? Oh right, it’s Stone. But it’s not only Ime’s job to ensure that players get developed. That’s dumb.

 

SGA was only in LA for his rookie year tho, and he looked really good and very promising…it’s not like he was there for 5 years then got traded to OKC and blew up

but he was already looking like a future star in just that 1 year in LA, and Presti identified that



LA looked like a situation where he’s good, but just low in the pecking order