Steph was in his 6th year when they won their first title and that was Kerr's first year as coach. Draymond was in his 3rd. Klay on his 4th. The young guys need more time. Dynasties arent built in a day. Even the Spurs are probably overperforming right now and theyll likely regress next year kinda like we did this year. Progress is never linear.
The roster has 2 problems: 1. Fit: Sengun as a center requires both good shooting around him and good defense to be successful. He needs his Aaron Gordon, someone that can space the floor and take his defensive assignments. Having Amen on the court just clogs the lane for him. 2. We don’t have anyone even close to a Steph Curry level player. Steph is not just a shooter, early on he exhibited elite handles and can get to the rim at will in 1on1 situations. The few players the rockets have that can shoot struggle to get to the paint even with a solid screen set for them. The one player that has the athleticism to attack the paint regularly doesn't need to be guarded outside the paint anyway. I could agree with the anology if Amen shows ability to defend the 4/5, Sengun becomes an average 3pt shooter, KD sustains his current play for 5+ years, and Reed becomes an elite ball handler/finisher.
Your points are not unreasonable, but bear with me: construction error: no experienced back-up 1. Cohesion lost when Adams was lost. TheGoodGuys NEED an O system to maximize what they have; minimize what they don’t. OR is the sole mask, indeed a good one. However, incomplete in the big picture. There are nights they play lights-off like Saturday. Think Hornets 1. Then Hornets 2 started like Hornets 1 but wow the lights were lighted as TheGoodGuys ran off 19 in a row. That light is not a constant not a coincidence to disheartening Ls like Lakes 1. I still expect Rox, with or without our all-time scoring stud, to advance to the Thunder(‘s dismantling of our guys).
TBH i want to see this young core with a coach that doesn’t do reed sheppard isos like a low IQ buffoon (ime)
The point was that we have enough pieces and nearly all them are being used incorrectly. We are reaching enough NBA experience time to be building, but I don't feel we are building anything, we are floating along and hoping players develop on their own, but not cohesively. If we ran a subset of the GS offense with Reed as Steph, Durant as Thompson. Amen as Draymond...etc..we would be so much better NOW ! DD
Other than Curry, they really didn't....... I am not saying they are 1 to 1, but there are parallells and if we had a SYSTEM to fall back on that helped our guys - we would be a lot better, and maybe have an actual direction and heirarchy. And @J.R. was it disguised? I am doing it wrong...lol. DD
1 > 0 And they Iggy and the legend that was Steve Blake. We don't have ANYONE. With Fred out, Reed has proven capable, but it was iffy for a while. Downhill, Amen is very effective. In the half court, we don't have anyone who's naturally comfortable attacking and creating off the dribble. KD is wayyyy too loose with the ball especially when he's isolating from the top of the key. Any pressure and he basically gives up -- at least that's how he's played this entire regular season. Usually players will halfass jog back. KD? Nope. It's like in pickup when someone gets a steal and fast break layup and you're just like "bring it back, check up top." No reason for anyone to expend energy running back on that one...but I digress. They had more ball handlers. It's not like I'm asking for the best ball handlers. I just want FVV's level of ball handling and control. Guarantee you FVV wouldn't have let Sengun take that 3....
As a shot maker - yes. It is really hard to get casuals to understand deep conversations, but it is never hard to have them show they are casuals. DD
My view is different from most. Yes GSW are a great example. Here is were I go rogue, I want to be the Rockets. We need to make what we have work cohesively. I personally don’t know what that would look like but the right coach would. I’d like to see someone without preconceived ideas and experience.
Only u thing I agree with is Reed playing a semi- Curry kinda role... BUT Reed doesn't have that " wiggle" that Curry has.. That ability to stop on a dime and fire from anywhere on the court... People forget Curry's handles during that MVP stretch was elite.. Maybe only people that were better was Kyrie and JCrawford.. But please stop with the GS comparison. Kerr definitely had some impact with how they played, but Steph made it historically top tier.. Sorry but that ain't Reed bruh
Durant can't dribble much either, and he is great on a catch and shoot, he is 100% being used wrong.....he should be taking 20 3pters a game. DD
I swear, if the organization tries to "fix the problem" by trading away young talent and keeping Ime, then we have no hope.
Disagree. Counting Fred and Steven, you have under contract: 2 PGs 0 wings 4 PFs 3 Cs Your 4 PFs are: (i) Amen, who is undersized and can't shoot; (ii) KD, who can only defend in short bursts; (iii) Bari, who is meh; and (iv) DFS, who can't do anything at all. You also have matching rights on a fifth (!) PF, that being Tari, who is the basketball equivalent of a scratch-off ticket. The pieces don't fit together. You need to clear the glut at PF and bring back wings in return.
Not really. Sengun is closer to Jalen Green than he is to Nikola Jokic. He can often be guarded one on one and *if* he's actually on then he can command a double. Kinda like Jalen last year. He isnt the offensive wizard people think he is (also like Jalen) and there is a reason why so many of his touches need to start at the 3 pt line instead of in a pre established post position. He isnt big enough or strong enough to establish (and hold) his post position and thats why entry passes to him feel almost nonexistent. Bro tries but ultimately fails at establishing his position (kinda like another player on this team with a penchant for Twitter). The "build around Sengun" ship has likely sailed. We can give this another go next year but if dude hasnt improved his 3 ball to 35% or more than I'm not even sure what his trade value will be next trade deadline or 2027 offseason.
Trading Sengun should be based solely on return. He still has great potential at only 23. No way we should trade him for a long in the tooth veteran even straight up much less adding assets to do so. Before the lottery, I would really try to get Atlanta to bite on an Okongwu, NAW, NOP frp for Sengun and the 27 Phoenix pick. I might even be amenable to adding another pick of our own. I’m holding on to the Nets 27 pick no matter what. Then I would try to trade Durant for an expiring or two. A starting lineup of Amen, NAW, 26 frp, Jabari, Okongwu with a bench of FVV, Reed, Tari, Adams, DFS would be pretty salty with plenty of flexibility for the future. Of course, I’m just dream casting. The Rockets will either trade Sengun and all our future for Giannis or run it back with FVV.
