Half of the league does not play Playoff style Intensity in the Regular Season therefore Udoka will win 52-55 Wins again. What actually does that accomplish? Year after year they are going to hang their hats on Consolation Prizes. The Coach stays the King of Throwing folks under the Bus.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...ip-void-why-houston-rockets-season-ended-thud Despite the loss, multiple high-level team sources still believe their young core can contend for the next decade. Those same sources said Udoka will remain an essential part of the team's future. Durant too. HOUSTON WELCOMED THE weight of expectations when it traded for Durant, adding a polarizing future Hall of Famer to the roster of a team that finished second in the West before fizzling out in the first round last season. But Rockets management refuses to view the franchise purely through the prism of the 37-year-old star, who agreed to a two-year extension beyond this season that includes a $46 million player option in 2027-28. The Durant deal, which was agreed to the morning that his original franchise clinched an NBA championship with a Game 7 win in Oklahoma City in 2025, was not an act of desperation or really even aggression by the Rockets. Houston patiently waited until the price dropped low enough to not impact the franchise's long-term outlook, in the eyes of management, which gave up Jalen Green (and his contract, which the Rockets had concerns about), defensive menace Dillon Brooks and the draft's No. 10 pick in the trade. The hope was to contend in the next few years without sacrificing the future. It didn't happen this season. It remains to be seen whether it ever will -- in the near term with Durant or thereafter. "A lot of guys had a ton of improvement, no doubt," Udoka said, "but our expectations were much higher than 52 [wins]." How will the Rockets take the next large steps in a conference that features juggernauts with potential staying power in Oklahoma City and San Antonio? Those are "interesting conversations" -- as Udoka put it -- to be had within the walls of the team's new practice facility in the weeks to come. Udoka stressed that the Rockets can't just base all their hopes on the returns of VanVleet and Adams, a couple of 32-year-olds who will be coming back from major injuries. The team believes, for better or worse, that the Rockets' young core will continue developing, but Udoka said Houston still has to address some needs, specifically shooting. Houston ranked 24th in 3-point makes and 28th in 3-point attempts this season. The Rockets also must negotiate with restricted free agent forward Tari Eason, who is considered part of the Rockets' young core but turned down a contract extension in the $100 million range before the season. For the second straight summer, rival front offices are speculating about how aggressive the Rockets might be in a trade market that could potentially include such stars as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard and Donovan Mitchell. Houston has the combination of young talent and a treasure chest of first-round draft picks -- including rights to the Suns' 2027 and 2029 picks and the Dallas Mavericks' 2029 pick as well as swap rights with the Nets in 2027 -- to be competitive in any bidding war. But a high-ranking Rockets source stressed that while the franchise would be "opportunistic," the hope remains that Houston can build a sustainable contender without making a costly blockbuster deal, similar to how Oklahoma City constructed a championship team. "We aren't thinking, 'We've got to win now because we're in KD's window,'" the source said. "We are hyperfocused on our young core. Our five guys have a chance to win a lot of games together for a long time. We don't want to make the mistake other teams have of giving up on guys too soon. "We want a 10-year run."
If one of the young guys was a clear franchise level talent, I would agree with the plan. But that's not the case. The damning thing is that after 5 years of the rebuilding process, we still have no clear indication of who we should build around. And I don't want stars players at the tail end of their prime. No Giannis and Kawhi please. Mitchell is an intriguing one. He's not good enough to be the 1A on a contending team. But can be a good 1B. I am kind of neutral on Durant. We need his shooting. We don't need his attitude and his propensity of doing his own thing and not a team player. And he's occupying too much of the cap room. I don't like Udoka. But I guess he's okay if he is given enough offensive talent. He's just not good at making an imperfect roster work. I just wish that we could demote him to the assistant rank and get some young visionary coach to take the helm. Stone is not going to be fired as long as he can impressed Fertitta's amateur view of basketball business, unless he makes a huge and unforgivable mistake. But the dude is risk averse. So it's hard to envision him doing that.
I think we should make some big changes but I feel we'll make some minor upgrades. I think running it back next season with some minor upgrades (assuming we can reasonably extend Amen) is a prudent move, but that 2027 BKN pick does pose a time limit.
If we are keeping Durant, we need to trade Sengun. Between KD, Sengun, Smith, Amen and FVV there are way too many players that need to operate in the mid range area to be successful. if we keep KD, for an example it’s a little bit easier because we know we can push him out to the three-point line more often and he will be fine. Although he will still want to take the mid range shot and frankly we want him to do that. Sengun needs to completely eliminate it from his shot selection. FVV takes it, but only because he cannot get all the way to the rim. Thompson improved, but it was still inconsistent. I like it for Smith as far as mixing it into his shot diet. Trade Sengun for a ball handling wing that can create for himself and others. Wagner maybe?
Let's not get impatient. I think we need one more year since this year was an asterisk. But we need to upgrade this roster.
They ought to clean up their finances, they value VanVleet and Adams way too much, two contracts that can be discarded. I expect them to first move on from Adams, he is just too one dimensional, admittedly elite at the One Dimension. I expect it when Adams gets injured the next time......Hats off, Aquaman.
I don't think this season was an asterisk at all. I think it showed very clearly that none of these guys are franchise level players. They are all fatally flawed in some way or another. Sengun can't shoot and can't defend. Reed can't defend. Amen can't shoot. Jabari can't dribble. Tari is a one handed loose cannon that's streaky. Trade them for lottery balls.
I do not see how KD returns, which is good because I know a lot of us don't want him back. I would hold onto Reed, Amen, Jabari and try to get what we can for KD and Sengun. Let's let another team find out when KD really hits his decline and I don't see Sengun as a guy that will improve beyond his current level.
If we blow it up can we get new branding. I hate the current logo so much. Bring back blue and white scheme.
Amen has shown real potential in the mid-range, but his three-point shot still needs work. I think Reed, Amen, Tari, and Bari are all guys you can realistically develop. With Reed specifically, he doesn’t need to become a great defender—if he can just be serviceable on that end while shooting 40%+ from three, that’s more than enough to make him valuable. With Sengun, I’m not sure if it was just inconsistency or if his body started wearing down over the course of the season—especially coming off EuroBasket. That could’ve played a bigger role than people think. As for Stone, I think he deserves more blame than he’s getting. Signing DFS despite concerns about his ankle—especially when the Lakers reportedly had reservations—raises questions. Did the front office not know surgery was a real possibility? It felt like the ankle situation caught everyone off guard after the signing. Then there’s the Clint move, which put the team into a hard cap situation and limited flexibility. When you stack that on top of other decisions, it’s fair to say Stone made a number of mistakes this year and tried to explain them away. People give him a lot of credit for the Kevin Durant move, but even before that, you can go back to decisions like giving the Nets their pick back—something that wasn’t even necessary to land KD in the first place. At the end of the day, if you’re trying to build a championship team, you have to be close to perfect with your decisions—and this year, that just wasn’t the case. I think our only player in this team that can hit stardom is only Amen because of his tools.
The starting four of 22/23 year olds did very well for themselves. unfortunately, they couldn't handle bringing up the ball. All that with zero bench help in 5 out of the 6 games played. You let them play together another year and rebuild the bench and add a solid starter with the Durant trade. Sengun Smith Amen Jaquez FVV (I'd put Reed in there but IME would just mean mug me all day) ------- Reed Kasparas Pelle Larsson Adams 13th Pick
