Rockets-Lakers review starts around minute 38: BILL: "...the Rockets just doing exactly what you would think they would do in this situation. Clogged toilet offense. Just inexplicable. I don't know why they weren't pressuring more. I didn't understand really anything they did." BILL: "Why do they use Sengun like this? Why? Like how? Like just, hey, there's 11 on the shot clock and nothing has happened. Could you just dribble from 20 feet out and maybe something good will happen like that... Why don't they put him near the basket? Why don't they have him posting up, drawing double teams? I don't understand anything with how they use him." ZACH: "can you do that, but also with no shooting around you at all so that there's no passing angle for you to go to? It's just traffic everywhere. Every kick out option is like, I mean, Amen Thompson took 2 corner 3s last night, where it was like, I guess this is just all we got... They're starting Reed Sheppard, which is good... That's their only oxygen on offense other than transition, which the Lakers did an okay job at limiting, and offensive rebounding... sometimes it feels like that's just their offense is just throw it at the rim and we'll get it, and that's all they got, and it's just too many possessions where there's just no concept of shot clock, spacing." BILL: "...they're really tied to Thompson, and I think Thompson's excellent, but I think you could also argue that with the state of the Lakers offense, without all their guys, maybe should have more shooting and try to outscore them, and maybe at least give five minutes of Sengun surrounded by four shooters and just see what it looks like." ZACH: "Do they have four shooters? Is that even a feasible lineup for them? The lack of guard play other than Reed Sheppard on the team is astonishing. And Amen Thompson is not a point guard." BILL: "I just feel like it has to be Sengun this point. But you pointed out earlier, if there aren't shooters around him, you just collapse on him. What is it? Is it just cross your fingers and hope Reed Sheppard turns into the third pick of the 2024 draft. What's the move? ...I thought their biggest mistake the whole year was yanking Sheppard up and down, out of the lineup, in and out. They you never got a feel of, you know... here are the car keys. Let's go. And clearly Udoka didn't love the defense, and then was frustrated with him, but now they're in a situation where they actually need him. So you have the classic basketball move of I know I yelled at you a lot, and I benched you a few times, but hey man, let's get past this." BILL: "Is Sengun-Giannis as the focal points of a trade more or less realistic to you than it was a week ago?" ZACH: "More for sure if they melt down in this series." Just one of many pods out today crushing the Rockets for roster construction, including Dunc'd On and Windhorst's Hoop Collective - I recommend listening to those as well. But the gist is that the Rockets can't hit 3s but they can't score in the paint either because it's clogged, and the paint is clogged because they can't hit 3s - it's a downward spiral. All the hosts repeatedly mention Sengun and Reed drawing the defense into the paint but having no viable options for passing back out. The Rockets have a huge offensive rebounding advantage but they miss so many shots that the advantage is negated. Wings who can't shoot, DFS who can't play, and wasting a spot on Jeff Green. KD has to be near-perfect and definitely has to play.
We've all been saying this. Even Dream wouldn't be able to carry this offense. Exactly why Rudy made sure we had shooters and it carried us to two championships.
“They don’t have any shooting” “yeah I think it’s more likely they trade for Giannis now” Yeah makes sense, triple down on the poor shooting by getting even less shooting
I'm not a huge fan of the Giannis idea, but I will say that if you trade Amen and Sengun for Giannis and Bobby Portis, your shooting will be much better.
It's amazing how in all the convos I have heard about this - Alperen Sengun - seems to escape conversation or mention. Take Simmons above, Sengun is the one who calls for the ball above the break. Not the other way around. He likes to face up & drive - that is his playing style Instead, in terms of singling out players, the focus is on Amen Thompson (a defensive SF miscast as an emergency PG) or Reed Sheppard (2nd year shooting specialist in effectively his first PO game) - rather than the highly paid 2x All Star Center who had: Arguably the weakest defensive front court in the whole playoffs to deal with, that he actually torched last month Complete Freedom to operate in the mid post without Durant looking for his Elbow jumper Instead he completely laid an egg . His 19 points camouflages the fact that half of his offensive output (8 points -3 assists)came with the Rockets down 15 in the 4th and the Lakers on cruise control People want to find a Scapegoat for Game 1? Sengun is the scapegoat - he's supposed to be an all star. He needs to play like it
Ime tried to get players to mask his flaws, mainly lack of offense IQ and schemes. So we focused on rebounding and defense.
Sengun has to be better - full stop. But he is a paint player and the paint is packed due to our inability to shoot. Reed is getting into the paint too, but is having to pass back out to clankers like Amen.
Reed can barely get to the paint and is not a threat to score at the rim and hit or miss on kick out pass or turnover.
Yes we can put 4 reasonable shooters around Sengun for stretches. Sengun Jabari Tari Okogie Holiday or Sheppard Put Sengun in the post. Having him pump fake at the 3PT line for the first 45 minutes of the game doesn’t create space for anybody. He has to actually take the 3’s if you want to create space for Amen. On a semi-related note, every player Udoka develops becomes terrified of rim protectors (Sengun, Jalen, Amen, Reed, Tari, Jabari). They just start taking midrange jumpers if there’s even a hint of a rim protector. This is a stupid pattern and philosophy. It’s not a player issue. Star players are developed to get rim protectors in trouble and role players should not have a green light to take midrange jumpers. They’re not meant to shy away from it this heavily. Udoka discourages people from drives, transition and from 3’s, so you end up with midrange jumpers and second chance points.
It’s still realistic. Sengun, despite his flaws, is likely better than Paolo and has a better contract. You think 1 game changes that? Have you been following the discourse around Paolo this year? It is not good.
yes, Paolo also showed flashes as a 1A type of player his rookie season. I think Paolo is going to lead the Magic to the 2nd round as the 8th seed and all of his stock will return. If Jalen Green didn't choke terribly last season against the Warriors, we would have Jalen/Dillon/Cedric Coward on this roster right now. There is a large emphasis in playoff performance in player valuations and I do believe that Paolo will have a big performance throughout this series. In the game against Charlotte the entire Magic team looked like the team they are supposed to be.
i mean its pretty obvious to everyone except some folks on CF The offense is just setting players up to fail Clogged paint, senguin for whatever reason getting the ball at the 3 pt line, waste 10 seconds on the clock. Try to drive clogged paint Fail Kick out and hope sheppard makes a 3
Except he himself said he doesn’t want to play that way and he doesn’t like getting the ball above the break, and complained about this very same thing Bill and Zach are talking about.
You attempt to post Alpi up and his turnovers will explode, he sucks sealing off his man - you don’t remember all the times FVV and JG would try and give him a entry pass for a smaller man to come around him and steal it and Alpi stand there looking for a foul he’s also horrible finishing when paint is crowded so that’s another negative to posting him up Rumors of KD to Houston started cause Bari and JG were working with him during offseason Lineup should be Reed, JG, KD, Amen, Bari but Ime hates guards and didn’t want to lose his BFF FVV
Actions speak louder than words, Sengun absolutely loves picking up the ball outside the arc & facing up. That is where the whole "SenHub" Point Center BS comes from He does it for Turqia. He does it for Houston. Per NBA.com he logged 611 drives to the basket this year. 583 the previous season. 457 hte year before. Take a look at these highlights for TUR this past summer - does this look like a trasditional back to the basket center? Almost every single one of his halfcourt sequences starts with him beyond or near the 3 point line. Did he actually say he doesn't want to play this way? Because it seems like does.
Not going to happen - but Steve Kerr running the Steph & Klay offense with this crew in Houston next year would probably end up like Phil Jackson (via Derek Fisher) running the Triangle with the Knicks in 2014. Triangle looked a lot better in teh 90's and 00's when it was MJ, Scottie, Shaq & Kobe, not as good when it was Melo & Andrea Bargnani in the pace & space era.
Look, if you put Reed and Sengun on the Lakers, and Kennard and Ayton on the Rockets, then the Rockets lose by 20 instead of 10. Occam's razor - our wings can't shoot.
