Fred, who was already showing signs of declining, coming off a major injury is not saving this team this year, next year or any subsequent years after that. The Rockets are losing to the dregs of the league with their "big three" of Amen, KD and Sengun. They have enough talent right now to not be so ass. Fred was terrible last year aside from a few playoff games. When you're losing the way we are with the talent thats available on this team, thats on coaching. We can debate whether a healthy FVV gets this team to upper echelon status, but he is not the difference between going 0-3 vs portland and the Kings. Thats on Ime and if he doesnt recognize that he WILL lose the locker room.
I can understand FVV not being healthy enough to help this year. I don't know how one can watch the games lately and not think a PG would help so much. Takes some serious FVV hate to think a healthy FVV would not help the Rockets win against the dregs of the league.
short, fat, and slow FVV isn’t the answer Rockets need a PG badly, and FVV is one of the worst starting PG’s in the NBA…says a lot about the rest of the roster when he’s a far greater PG than anyone else
FVV's absence created such a glaring hole that the rest of the roster is exhausting themselves trying to plug the gaps. Trade deadline is, what, more than three weeks away? We're kinda sorta f***ed. Oh, well. Back to real life. Disappointing as hell.
This idea of extending FVV is literally insane. 33 coming off ACL surgery? Please don’t do it. Can’t believe it’s even a consideration.
I’m assuming this is just some goodwill PR leak. I’m probably one of the few that is not angered by the prospect of running it back with FVV and seeing how the team works with a legit veteran PG running things. But FVV already had his flaws, and coming off an injury means even more of a mystery. There is no way any GM would extend him without knowing a.)how he has recovered from injury, and b.) how he works with this iteration of the team.
Yeah, I cannot believe they're contemplating this. Ok, I take it back. I can believe it because Ime is completely reliant on Fred to run the offense and he's convinced Stone that apparently no one else in the league is capable of being the Rockets' starting PG. But regardless, this is so stupid. It's on par with the premature Ime extension. There's no reason to do this now. If Fred comes back, stays healthy, has a solid season, and the team makes a respectable playoff run, THEN you talk to him about giving him a couple more years. But what if they extend him now(even if it's at a lower average annual salary) and he comes back looking washed like DFS post-ankle surgery? Or God help us, what if he sustains another season-ending injury? Then we're stuck with dead cap weight sitting on the bench again. Oh, there is one GM(egged on by one particular coach) who'd be dumb enough to do it. And unfortunately he's employed by the Rockets.
Fred is so comfortable he’s out here yapping on podcasts all season and Idk if hitting up Timmy Chans and a buffet a day was part of his rehab, but he looked fat as hell on the bench…those baggy black clothes weren’t hiding it
We'll win a lot of games in the regular season. But, never go anywhere in the playoffs with FVV and Ime. Both need to go asap. Forget the idiotic rumor about an extension. FVV's contract needs to be moved for a younger, non declining player, who isn't susceptible to career injury or falling off a cliff. Let's face it. He's competent. That's it. Limited ceiling, at best...with serious downside risk.
One things for sure, KD is coming back next season due to FVV being out the last. Rockets folded the tent before the season started once the injury happened, already shaping the roster for 2026-27. They'll run it back with a few bench tweaks. KD was always a 2 year plan at least and last year didn't change that as the front office knew they didn't have enough to compete.
I tend to agree. But, remember...we couldn't move him last year if we wanted. A major pivot towards getting younger needs to happen pronto, and I fear the powers that be will do the opposite.
I think Ayo and Podziemski are the archetypes we need to add. They are young enough to replace Fred, and have the size and defensive capability to play alongside Reed. They they can pass and help run the offense, they can shoot 3s well, they are decent scorers who can give some rim pressure, Which begs the question, why didn’t we aggressively pursue Ayo when he came available? Podz might be very difficult to pry from the Warriors. Wolves now have Ayo’s bird rights, he’s elevated himself well beyond a MLE, and he’s exactly what the Wolves need, so he’d also be extremely difficult to a acquire.
I actually disagree about the winning a lot of regular season games prediction. I think this team's ceiling is 55 wins and that's best case scenario. The West is gonna be even tougher next season. All the playoff teams will be right back in the mix and now we've gotta deal with a suddenly loaded Jazz team, a much better Blazers squad(especially if they stay healthy), a healthier Warriors, the Mavs with Kyrie back, and a still somewhat respectable Clippers team that just lucked into the 5th pick. Plus as much as it sucked losing Fred all year and Steven for half the year, the Rockets were actually fortunate on the injury front this past season. They had no freak injuries like Alpi's leg from a couple years ago or Jabari breaking his hand in practice last season. Other than Tari missing his usual month due to his leg flaring up, our entire young core(along with KD) were usually available. Hell, Reed played all 82 games. Unless Stone completely revamps the bench with shooters and ballhandlers and Ime actually utilizes those guys, I have a feeling we're looking at another 52-win type of season followed by a first round exit.
