Nailed it. And Fred or not, Ime is not good at coaching. He’s a vibe. Players (current and former) like him, probably because he’s a cool hang. But everywhere he’s been before now, he’s been surrounded by guys that were better at coaching basketball than him. And bravo for Bill calling out that he’s been yanking Reed’s chain the whole year.
His strength is supposed to be his defensive chops - more and more we're finding out that's false. With a roster full of defensive forwards, which he will play 5 at a time, they can't stop anyone.
Kennard could always shoot. Kennard could never play D. It has limited his career. If he were a member of a desperately needing outside shooting Rox squad would he ever get off the bench? just asking for a friend
Giannis is older, and I know for a fact that the Bucks have covered for his immaturity..... but at least with him you are going to get defense and lethal ability to finish inside and run the floor. He can't shoot worth a damn on the perimeter, but at least you can play him with Sheppard and you aren't required to have an All NBA level center next to him. The Rockets are like a series of knots, when you untwist one, it makes another one worse -- it is also why I have been so critical of drafting players with the types of flaws that make them very hard to play next to. Green, Sengun, Sheppard and even Eason are hard to play next to. Two-way players that can shoot are valuable for a reason.
It’s because they are analyzing it from an X’s and O’s standpoint. They’re more focused on why he shot 6-19, rather than just shouting “he shot 6-19, he sucks!!” like most people do. Context matters. He’s a big man playing with absolutely no space to operate. He also has no real point guard. That means no consistent PnR opportunities, no pocket passes, no deep post entry passes, no one setting him up for easy baskets. The result? Having to initiate his own post ups from the 3pt line or ISO from the top of the key, while the whole defense just waits on him in the paint. All of this, because his coach is too inept to counter defensive schemes or have any offensive creativity/system. You can view these as excuses if you want, but these are very real factors that impact the exact offensive output you are criticizing. This coaching staff and front office are failing these players, and putting them in an impossible position to succeed.
Yes. Some inside the Rockets organization want to run and replace Sengun with someone like Paolo.... and he specifically still has fans in the Toyota Center.
That has nothing to do with his poor defensive ability - his weakness in the open court and transition.... and that he is a poor perimeter shooter. He has to have an elite defensive center next to him and he has to be surrounded with shooters --- that is an extremely limiting scenario when you are trying to construct a very good team. If he shoot well from the perimeter, then the team would just find an elite 5 to cover for him and deal with the transition issues, or he could be a trailer -- but he can't shoot, has not improved in that area.
What "elite defensive center" has been next to Sengun the last three seasons, when the Rockets have been the the 7th, 4th, and 4th ranked defense in the NBA? And the 3rd best defense in last year's playoffs? Sengun has definite limitations that make him just a very good and not great player, as you say - including the need to play in an offensive structure with modern 4-out spacing principles - but "he needs a center next to him for his team to survive on defense" is not one of them.
I had to double check, but I have the Rockets as 9th, 4th and 6th in defense. He has had Stephen Adams to cover for him and for tough assignments........ but beyond that he has played with guys like FVV, Brooks, Eason, Amen.... all very good defenders. A team can cover for one poor defender, but usually not two. Which is why they don't like playing Sheppard with Sengun. Sengun is a negative as a defender, he is laterally slow and he also is a limited shot blocker. He struggles coming over to contest shots. If you want to build team with 3-4 excellent defenders and 3-4 good shooters next to Sengun, that will work.... but that is a lot to ask.
CTG has Houston as 4th in defensive rating this year, 4th last year, and 7th the year before. https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/summary. This filters out garbage time which is pretty standard. Over those three seasons Sengun has played 6,414 non garbage time minutes total. He has only shared the floor with Steven Adams for 465 minutes. That's 7% of his minutes. Adams + Sengun is immaterial to the Rockets defensive rating during that time. Again, Sengun has his limitations, but he is totally fine as a starting C defensively. You can't be the full time anchor for an elite defense over 6,000 minutes with lots of different teammate combinations and be a negative defender. Defense has basically never been a problem for us in games that mattered during this era. Even on Saturday the Lakers had a pedestrian O rating even with insanely positive shooting variance on awful quality jump shots. Like everything with the Rockets, our problems lie on offense - the lack of skill set synergies, the lack of modern offensive principles, and the lack of top end talent. Sengun plays a serious role in that, and so do Amen and everyone else.
This was going to be my same rebuttal. Top 10 in defense the past 3 years with Sengun as the starting C. And then in his “worst” possible playoff matchup against Golden State, not only did he hold his own defensively, but he was actually a positive on that end by advanced defensive metrics. I’m not even here to argue he’s a good defender. But the actual data and results are not matching up with what the narratives are. I’ll say this as my last point. It’s equally difficult to build around Amen or Reed, as both also require specific players around them to mask their flaws. But the deeper problem is the front office not choosing a path and committing to it. I don’t care if it’s Sengun or Amen + Reed, but FFS pick one and put together a roster that fits best around them.
This. That’s it. That’s my entire hang up. Enough with these geriatric ****s. You only make moves like this is you think it puts you over the top. Rockets aren’t winning a championship with 32 year old Giannis and 38 year old Durant. No thanks.
Paolo has the exact same weaknesses as Sengun. Why would we want that outrageous contract for a mediocre player like Paolo. Newsflash, Paolo can’t shoot either, is not a rim protector, and wants to operate in the same space as Durant. If you are going to trade Sengun at least get players that will fit.
This has been my thinking for a while. We were a great defensive team the last two years and Sengun was our center. That matters. Who deserves a lot of that credit? Brooks? FVV? I also think Sengun has been injured for much of this season and that effects his play. Jabari gets bagged on defensively and I'm not sure that's accurate. The site mind is often wrong and I'm usually agreeing with them. FVV was a bad signing, Brooks was a terrible one. Both of those have been shown to be false. I think the groupthink about Sengun is in a similar place. (The one thing the board isn't wrong about is that Udoka sucks as a coach.)
Those are good points, my response to that would be that he has been surrounded by very good defenders with limited offensive upside.... Adams, Brooks, Eason, Amen, FVV, Okogie, Durant.... even Jabari is good in some match ups. When he has had someone that is a lesser defender, like Sheppard - it hasn't worked all that well. In order to improve the offense, that is likely going to mean down grading defensively at positions, and Sengun has not shown an ability to defend the lane well.
FVV, Jalen, and Dillon gave us very good to great perimeter defense. They were replaced with Durant not quick enough, Okogie a career journeyman who can’t stay on the floor because of his offense, Tari who can’t stay on the floor and Reed who is terrible on the defensive side of the floor. Sengun is not a good defender, but if you have elite perimeter defense and an all world defender that can roam all over the floor, he is fine. Amen has to stay home this year way more than last year. All we really needed to do last off-season was replace Jalen with a legitimate two-way SG and move FVV to the bench. Durant was the wrong move. All we have to do this year is replace Durant with a legitimate two-way SG, move Durant to SF and FVV, Reed, and Tari to the bench and then fire Ime for a decent coach.
Why are you coming at me? There is some duplicity between Sengun and Banchero, but they are definitely not the same player and they play very differently. Banchero wouldn't even really play center for the Rockets most of the time. Banchero can get out in the open court as a ball handler and finisher. Why do the Rockets want him? Probably the same reason they wanted him 3 years ago, they believe that they can make him a very good player if used properly. Banchero has now averaged 28 points a game in 13 playoff games as well. Take that for whatever it is worth. There is a difference in the contracts, but it is basically 10 million a year difference.... so it isn't soul crushing. I don't know what will end up happening, but the front office wants to run more.
Perhaps, but I'd like to see what this team could do with some fundamentally competent offensive strategy and rotations run by someone who knows what they are doing. Right now imo the absolute lack of competent coaching is the team's biggest problem. I'm not sure Udoka could win a playoff series if he was in charge of OKC.
FVV - when he has played has been about what was expected by most people. He can defend, he protects the ball well - but he doesn't really create well for himself or others. He is a middling starting point guard in the NBA. He has missed all of this season, and we don't know about next year... so I don't think it is a clear answer concerning FVV.
