Its been mention about the rockets in the playoffs...

Need some boys that can stroke it @Jontro

 

The Rockets are basically built like Nuggets light but Nuggets can better turn it up in the Playoffs vs Regular Season whereas the Rox turn it up in the Regular Season......

Also the Nuggets have way more urgency, they just fired their Chip head coach and their GM.

 

Check on the price for Trey Murphy; he is better than Jabari on both percentage and volume without sacrificing defense. That would be the minimum level of player I'd Jabari for, otherwise you run it back with him and hope he continues to improve.

There are a lot of free agent guards this offseason. Gillespie, White, Dosunmu, Grimes, Kennard, Hyland, McCollum, Powell, Sexton, Simons. If we can't add a guard who can shoot with the taxpayer MLE or via sign-and-trade, what are we even doing?

A stretch 5 would still be huge for this team, but not many out there that can play defense. I would love to find a way to get a guy like Ware or Okongwu without giving up too much, but would settle for trading for Myles Turner post-Giannis getting dealt, or even seeking a reunion with Jock Landale.

 

That is why it is a dysfunctional Nuggets light without the same accuracy and the same compositional strengths.

3 All Star talents but really not much chemistry.

 

Any team with Sengun and Amen will struggle with shooting. It's hard to play two non shooters in the modern NBA. There is no "fix" for this other than one (or both) of them learns how to shoot, or you get rid of one. Otherwise it's just a deficiency that is baked into our team.

 

It’s been the same since Stone took over: we need shooters. We say it every year. Every yr it’s been a problem. We need to add legit shooters:

tari - below league average
DFS - decidedly below league average
Amen & Sengun - lack of shooting well documented
Bari - only slightly above league average.

Reed & KD is really all we got. Not good enough.

 

Of your list White has already been extended and Dosunmu, Grimes, Hyland, and Gillespie are all controlled by team options(so unlikely FAs). That leaves McCollum, Simons, Sexton, Powell, and Kennard. The problem is from our cap position we can only sign one person and are just jockeying for MLE candidates along with everyone else which is fine except at that cost you are getting one skill set, not multiple and you are competing for the small group of guys available. All the guys left on your list are either scorers with defensive issues, aging vets, or 3p specialists meaning you would only bring them on board if you have good team defense(ummm - that's a no right now) or a guy at the rim to help.

It seems to me that if Sengun isn't a shooter and is below average as a defender both at defending the rim AND playing at the point of attack, then you are just trading problem sets. Right now we have great perimeter defenders at the expense of shooting making it hard to play with Alpi and if we had let's say Simmons, we would have a 3 level scorer with poor perimeter defense...making it once again hard to play with Sengun because you now need to play another shot blocking big next to Sengun to make it work which brings...likely another non shooter on the court. THIS is the issue with sticking to Sengun long term. He has to at least be defensively solid if he can't shoot AND he has to be like Jokic/Giannis level elite at a few other areas to even make it worth all the effort and while I see the talent...the numbers suggest he isn't really unstoppable anywhere near the level of those guys. In year 5 we have to KNOW he is going to be Jokic or Giannis to start the investment of a long term team restructuring to make it work around him....and frankly I don't think we have seen enough to know that.

I have been calling for Trey Murphy as well but I think NO wants A LOT for him. I also like your Okongwu idea - been similarly asking for Houston to trade for him as well....and same about Landale - it was a mistake letting him go. The issue with Sengun is it really forces you into getting specific types of players to make it all work and the competition and cost for those players is higher. Stretch bigs who can defend the rim? They come at a premium. Brook Lopez made A LOT of money out of it because the Bucks needed him to make Giannis work and eventually the team became too thin depth wise to make it all work handing money out to very specific skill sets to make it work around Giannis.

I'm on the same page with you about targets in the current scenario - I just think we have to get real about whether Sengun is actually worth all the trouble. I see him as a part of our troubles and also our most promising trade chip. While I think Amen could fetch a mint as well - it still creates problems replacing Amen as a point of attack defender because now guys like SGA and Brunson are putting more pressure on the paint Sengun isn't necessarily doing a high level job of defending today with better perimeter defenders helping keep people out of it.

 

Can't shock the world if you can't get on the court. Ime would have to shock the world first by giving Reed ample time.

 

I doubt we'd be able to pry McCollum from ATL.

 

Its Ime's fault...he's demanding all these damn wings who can't shoot. Stone is relying on Ime because Stone had zero experience in basketball operations other than struggling legal language in player contracts...
My wishlist: bring back Rudy T as an advisor for our basketball operations team! Let's bring back Clutch City!!!

 

First and foremost, they will bid on Giannis if he puts the Rockets on his list.

But if they don't get Giannis, then they will not add anyone significant in the off-season. Their approach will be:

We made the second round. Progress!
We're already getting Fred and Steven back!
DFS will be fully recovered!
Reed, Amen, Tari, Bari, and Sengun will improve even further!
We'll hoard our picks/swaps from the Harden deal just in case an all-star demands a trade!

 

I know that this is a popular refrain - but I’m not buying it… since neither really clogs the lane. sengun frequently gets the ball around ft line and does senhub or his whirling dervish to the rim… so he’s not like adams who camps out - the baseline can b open… which is where amen thrives - cutting and finishing at the rim…. He’s not gonna pull out the coverage, but if the d wants to just let him roam, that’s a putback waiting to happen in my opinion…
I don’t like Amen at pg or sg - but ideal for sf…

 

thats such a short sided approach as opposed to finding and developing the players we need to compete for the long term. Star chasing doesn’t work. It’s why all of the teams that have won chips since the Miami era have drafted and developed their players, maybe bringing in a star after they had franchise players like GS did with KD. We still need to find our franchise guys, and our player development hasn’t been great.

 

Yeah I'm with you on this, I actually think the defensive issues with Reed/Sengun/Durant are worse than the offensive issues. All we need to fix the offense is a real PG and Amen moving to the wing and operating as a cutter/backdoor threat and Durant and Bari (plus real PG) should be enough to space the floor, other teams do it with 2 non shooters, I don't see why we couldn't.

 

I mean, KD is a sg in a 7’ body… and as he ages - just let him work the perimeter with the occasional drive if he gets an opening… let FVV and Reed split pg duties and give reed additional minutes backing KD…
Let amen roam at sf…

 

I genuinely still think we do need an upgrade for FVV. As steady as Freddy is, I don't think you can truly compete without a top-flight PG and I don't think he's been that for us on offense as much as defense. A good PG maximises the rest of the talent on the floor, I think Reed could be that one day but he's not there yet, I'd love for us to get a steady hand vet to start for him to learn from tbh.

 

I assume that’s the move after next year…. Fred has 1 year left and the right to refuse a trade…. So I’m figuring we got next year for him and Reed to split time… we see if Reed is the pg going forward or if that’s what we go shopping for…

 

Joshua Primo is available