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

Agreed.

But this dead-horse-beating thread has strongly implied that the Rockets have actively made players worse versus developing them.

BTW I am not saying Stone or Ime is perfect.

 

Most players improve from their rookie season. The complaint is that none of our young guys have made a significant leap after that. They are pretty much the same players as their second season selves with only marginal improvements, some of them even regressed in some parts of their game.

Think of the seven guys we drafted since 2021: Green, Sengun, Smith, Eason, Thompson, Whitmore, Sheppard, and compare them to their second season. Which one has turned into a much better player?

 

Great analogy! But I think a large problem with the Rockets is IDENTIFYING TALENT.

I hate to keep picking on the obvious but Reed and Sengun are prime targets of players NOT to draft. People keep saying the 2024 Draft was weak but there were several players I would have taken over Reed;

1) Castle
2) Clingan
3) Buzelis
4) Ware
5) McCain

That's 5 players that I can identify, that I would have taken over Reed! And I said before that draft that I would have took Ware, Castle or Clingan before Reed. My receipts are in the draft threads.

In regards to Sengun, I'll admit, I didn't know anything about him but once they drafted him and I did some research, I immediately compared him to Sabonis. He is not nor will he ever be Jokic. A short center who is not athletic and who can not play defense, will not get you to a championship.

Which brings me back to the REAL PROBLEM....Stone! Until he learns or get someone on his staff that can properly identify talent, this is going to be an ongoing problem.

I'LL DO IT FOR FREE.....THATS HOW BAD I WANT TO SEE THEM WIN A CHIP

 

Green for one, since by the time he got traded he actually played defense.

Tari Eason has become a better 3 point shooter at increased volume, comparing his first season to now.

Jabari Smith has also become a better 3 point shooter at increased volume, comparing his first season to now. Jabari has expanded his O game from just catch and shoot.

None of the three have become an allstar player, or even a borderline allstar player ... which might be your point.

 

Stone's Rockets haven't developed any players on the roster. Sengun became what he is IN SPITE of Stone. If Sengun was drafed by the Spurs, for example, he'd likely be a better player. Would probably be a decent 3pt shooter at least.

 

Unlikely.

 

at the end of the day, Rockets got screwed in the draft and also screwed themselves in the draft

Cade still ends up a superstar if he was drafted by the Rockets because he’s just that good and that level of a prospect…we’re not gonna sit here and act like Detroit had some good development program and was some savant franchise

I don’t think Mobley is any different on the Rockets than he is on the Cavs…I think Scottie Barnes would largely be the same player as well

but it seems like Stone locks in on a prospect early and that’s it…we didn’t even conduct workouts with guys like Mobley, Barnes, and Castle

the Rockets didn’t get to draft franchise changing talents like Wemby and Cade, and the guys they did draft have so many huge flaws

for example, Amen’s jumper was so bad coming into the draft, if I saw a 6th grader shooting like that I’d be like “damn, your trainer is failing you”…I feel like Amen has improved the rest of his game, but that’s a massive flaw that puts a cap on his ceiling…his jumper wasn’t just bad, it was broken

 

Not first season. Second season. They all improved from their first season, just like the vast majority of all rookies. It's just natural acclimation to the NBA game. None of our young guys improved much since their second season. That's my point.

 

It's like a class of kids who have improved in math and reading from a 2nd grade level to a 3rd grade level, but they're in sixth grade now.

 

Who says comparisons are supposed to be fair? That's a weird take.

The Spurs are great at it and the Rockets have sucked at it for most of the last 30 years.

 

My point is to that your post makes it seem like the bad culture started with Fertita when the Rox always had bad culture even when they were winning. Remember the rift between Dwight and Harden and Dwight said Morey was a liar cuz he made all sorts of promises now he is expected to just rebound and defend. There was also that incident of hiding Danuel House just so he would get signed to a cheaper deal etc

 

Its not stones job to develop players its Udoka. Stone doesnt know **** about shooting not sure why you keep blaming him for everything even for what coaches are supposed to do.

Oh wait I know cuz you hate Stone so everything wrong is his fault but everything good can be credited to Ime amirite? lol what a joke

 

Really? Carter Bryant and Stephon Castle disagree.

 

Who said they got worse? Everyone is saying the development has been terrible not that they got worse. Except for shooting, that got arguably worse looking at Jalen, Reed and Jabari pre Rockets to today.

 

Detroit is very interesting to look at because they have players from the same drafts we do and we can easily compare outcomes. They even give us a twin study, the gold standard for biological research lol. Cade became a superstar as was expected from him out of the draft but Duren also became All NBA, despite crashing out in the playoffs. So there are 2 developmental "successes". Ivey was a bust (injuries played a big part but he really didn't get any better), Ausar has improved even less than Amen, Ron Holland is still just as raw as on draft night. Going back further, Killian Hayes and Sekou Doumbouya both flamed out.

Is the conclusion here that both franchises are bad developers? I think these conversations overstate the role of the franchise and understate the role of the players themselves. Some guys just have more room for development than others and the franchises just have to give them the opportunity for it.

 

All I know is dudes who are regarded as shooters come here and throw up bricks.

Every time we add a shooter, they come here and can't shoot. Yall figure that out for me.

 

I agree completely.

 

Or maybe some teams just invest a lot in player development and others dont. This matters more for players who dont have a dedicated development team helping them on their skills. Some guys hire their own dev team at an early age like Lebron or Wemby while most just rely on the coaching staff.