So he's essentially saying that we lost the series because we didn't have a point guard and that everything else was fine. Was everything really fine? No. While they played good in the third game we know that Jabari is extremely limited and frankly dumb. Reed looked unplayable on defense, and Amen cannot shoot the ball. This lineup will likely **** the bed in the second round.
Someone posted that Tillman was in the game last night. I hope he was so that he could see the many empty seats during a playoff game. There were more cheers when Bronny made a three than for the rest of the Rockets' players. If he cared about this multi-billion dollar investment, he would have seen the writing on the wall in last night's attendance.
I agree completely on who to keep and who to shop and the type of player to target. I’d add guys like Cade Cunningham and Jalen Williams. But I don’t think it’s star or bust we need to take the base hits and remake 70% of our role player roster with the same 6’4-6’6 ish fast coordinated athlete that can do a bit of everything approach. VJ Edgecombe, Stephon Castle, Marcus Smart, Donte Divencenzo, Julian Champanie, Cedrick Coward, Josh Giddey, Andrew Wiggins, Jrue Holiday, Devin Vassel, Cason Wallace, Derick White, etc. Draft for that, pick up minimum contracts that may turn into that.
Lol this is against a team missing 2 legitimate starting players one of those being a superstar. Yes this core sucks.
Again... point guards take longer to develop than other positions. See Nash, Drazen, Kevin Johnson. All of which did not hit stride until years 3-4. All at an older age. Heck, John Starks became an all-star in year 5 at age 28.
Exactly. Only trade him for an upgrade. And that will be hard unless we’re throwing in picks. But Bari will keep improving, he’s already playing better in playoffs than most of the team. He’s a pretty good support role player, but we need our actual stars to be better.
The fit is obviously not ideal, but it’s also not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Together, they still have a positive net rating over the last two seasons combined. I think the most important thing is getting an offensive minded coach and surrounding those two with high IQ players who can defend and shoot. Second on the list is creating a healthy/fun team environment again. I’d give Sengun and Amen one more season together under a different coaching staff, then reevaluate before the 2027 draft, where we’re projected to have two possible lottery picks.
I don’t think so man. Amen severely hampers this offense due to how we play. No coach can fix this team if Sengun (another non shooter) is a main hub. It’s that simple.
that’s the thing. We have no other star power except for Durant and our other players are simply low iq players or just not good enough (Sheppard, Amen, Sengun).
If your takeaway from this series is that the young core is really good and fit well together, you should not be trusted to effectively evaluate basketball on any level ever in life.
I think the core is pretty solid, and nothing has really changed in that regard since last year. I realize that Sengun and Tari have regressed. I just think KD got in their heads... whether it be the files, or just his subtle constant presence of judgement (I don't know, just a suspicion)... I just wouldn't be surprised if they bounce back after KD gets shipped out.
I think there is a lot of on-paper fit between a 5 of Reed-Amen-Tari-Jabari-Alperen. Defensively, Amen-Tari-Jabari should provide a rather decent perimeter and Alpe has shown he's at least capable of backing up a team defense. You can hide Reed on the weakside. Idk if y'all saw the awful coaching guy rip the Rockets/Ime a new one but the fundamentals, the effort flatly isn't there. Ime is a defensive coach? These guys are on an island defensively too. Dillon really held the key for teamwork? Mind-boggling you would trade someone that intrinsically valuable, if so. Offensively, I think a lot of our issue is system. We've seen them all pop off individually but their game seems to be dump it off on one guy and hope they make a shot. They run precious little plays, pick and rolls, pick and pops, flare screens, down screens, spain jfc run something. And then when it gets down to the crunch, you give your hot hand some ISO to close it out. Like if you just wanted some blunt force trauma ass offense why did you trade Cam Whitmore? Quit pretending like this is early 2000s ball and shoot more three pointers. Run an offense demanding more attempts, **THAT ALONE** will improve spacing - aside from the fact that you have at least 3 guys who have shown in spurts that they can be threats. Maybe 4 if Alpe stops pump faking his own confidence into the ground. I simply do not believe that the only man capable of a pocket pass is Fred. I simply do not believe that Reed and Jabari would not smoke a defense if you set them up with clean looks. **I SIMPLY DO NOT BELIEVE** that these 5 guys "just don't fit". This coaching staff has to go. Ime is at best the "bad cop" defensive staff. Hiring this brow beater as the top guy, with no offensive assistant to speak of, no "good cop" or even a GOOD COACH to balance the scales is ridiculous. Giving him that extension off a playoff whooping was ridiculous. 5 first round picks, three top 3 picks. Being unable to cobble together a cohesive attack after 85 games is an absolute indictment of the coaching staff. "ALL FIRE" crazy line for the season because they should all be fired. Ime's defense sucks. Sullivan's shooting tips are a zero. Royal Ivey can't even interact with a sideline reporter. Tiago was the only one worth keeping. I'm not asking you to find Ted Lasso, although BELIEVE. Doesn't have to be some goodvibesonlyboi. You can still get you a grumpyboi that actually knows how to set players up for success- without absolutely roasting their ability to try again if something didn't work right. FIRE IME.
Each of the young core players is a good piece. I am pretty sure other teams would love to have one of them (maybe with the exception of Tari given his health issues and recent garbage performance). It's just that (1) we don't have a superstar franchise guy, and (2) they either don't fit well together or we don't have someone who knows how to fit them together.
Here is the problem with STATS, they NEVER consider matchups. Maybe Sengun and Reed SUCK against most matchups, but perhaps in this Laker series, they don't. This is why Bradeaux may have a point, a group that doesn't necessarily fit most nights my be the winning combo in this series. Got to try everything and see what works. DD
We should give them time and let them gain experience. If you break up the young core and trade for players who might get you through one or two playoff rounds, you won’t be able to build a solid, compatible roster for the future. IME definitely can’t pull this off.
The young core either doesn’t fit well or they are not that good. I honestly think it’s both. But either way it’s Stone fault and you have to make some changes.
