Summer Thread 2026: What young player have the Rockets "DEVELOPED"?

I mean, not everyone is meant to be a superstar

Jabari never had that sort of potential…I don’t think any organization is turning him into that

Sengun is not athletic and can’t shoot

Amen came into the league with a broken jumper that needed a miracle to become respectable…look at his OTE film, that jumper was Andre Roberson level bad

Reed Sheppard: small, not athletic, not that skilled, not a PG, and was a top pick in an insanely weak draft…dude is 6’2 with a 6’3 wingspan lol…borderline NBA midget

you know a draft is pure sh*t if someone like Reed Sheppard is even in the conversation of going 3rd overall

these are who the Rockets drafted

Flagg would look like a future superstar if he was here…Dylan Harper would look like the man in Houston as well, he came into the league with a level of skill and body control you can’t teach

 

Even if you think none of the Rockets players have superstar potential none of the Rockets have managed to expand their game since the start. I think that shows the failure of Rox dev team they seem to be really inept.

Sengun came into the league with good post and playmaking skills but cant shoot. Defense comes and goes.

Jabari regressed from his college days. Was at least a shot maker and sniper shooting 41% from 3 now he barely hit 36%. Lacked ball handling day 1 still cant handle the ball. Had no post skills still cant back down people to this day.

Amen cant shoot as a rookie still cant shoot lol.

Tari has low bball IQ as a rookie still dumb AF.

Reed improved from a bust to starter level. But he also hasnt really expanded from what he already had in college.

OTH Spurs and OKC have guys that actually improved. For example Castle couldnt shoot as a rookie similar to Amen but now shot 36%+ in the playoffs. AJ Mitchell was an older rookie and taken 28th but he developed into a semi star in OKC.

 

Castle couldn't shoot well, but not similar to Amen. He shot like 27% from 3 in his year at college. We wish Amen would shoot 27%. Amen shot 14% in his first season. Hell, if Amen got up to being able to average 27% on a decent amount of attempts, I'd be downright excited at this point.

 

Amen shot 27% from three in OTE in regular season + their playoffs combined (granted, it's a lower level of competition). This year was the biggest disappointment. He showed some signs of real improvement last season but took a step back again this season. It definitely dims the hopes that he will be a jump shooter any time soon, but I still think he will figure it out eventually.

 

Amen can't even defend now. Kennard and Smart were blowing past him. I don't want to hear this bull that he exerts too much energy as a pg. Congratulations Ime, Ausar is now better defensively, you did it.

 

Flagg would be on a Jabari trajectory here

there is no semblance to an offense and the players would learn how to Jalen green

at some point the 10/10 trend for us and the spurs going opposite direction is on the failure of player development

 

Which player(s) have left the Rockets organization and gotten better?

 

no he wouldn’t, stop

some guys have it, others don’t…Flagg has it

 

I completely agree, but you have to subtract potential when people come here

it’s like sending very smart kids to the elementary schools Derrick Rose went to in Chicago.

I read an article where Wemby petitioned hard to goto the spurs and dreaded coming here because he would be misutilized

Flagg would probably still be a great player, but he would pick up our stupidity and brain deadness

 

I dont really care about the percentages I care about the lack of improvement. One of the biggest draws of Udoka should have been Ben Sullivan who was supposed to be the guy who developed Celtics players like Tatum and Brown.

Instead what I have seen is players immediately regress upon joining the team and their shooting becomes markedly worse. Over time they start improving but still isnt up to where they were pre NBA. The massive red flag is DFS, DFS joined the team shooting 38% the last 5 yrs. He had an ankle injury so really the only thing he could practice is his shooting kinda like Cade in his 2nd season. Instead of improving he wrecked his shot and became Ben Simmons without the passing, height and athleticism. You can argue that maybe Stone just kept drafting frauds thats why college sharpshooters like Jabari and Reed forgot how to shoot in the NBA. But DFS is a multi year vet already and showed consistent shot on diff teams. The fact that even he forgot how to shoot tells me something is wrong with what the Rox are teaching.

At this point I think Sullivan is just a fraud who doesnt know what he is doing. He is just like his name full of BS. Rockets need to bring in a real guard whisperer, someone who can teach these guys to hit open shots consistently. BS is just not cutting it, its a joke Rox had one of the worst shooting % while having freaking KD as the first option.

 

I agree. Thats why I dont even mind we missed on Castle cuz he would be JSean Tate on this team. Meanwhile Reed would prob be Curry JR and everyone would still be roasting the Rox we got another dude who cant shoot meanwhile the best shooter in the class was "right there".

 

We'll see how Flagg will be........the thing about deep Playoff pushes, it would give you (almost razor accurate) data points on what you can set out to work on during the Offseason......

• That is exactly what will make the young guys on the Spurs, Thunder so much more dangerous.....data points to develop on/with.
• Essentially knowing what aspects to address to make another deep push barring injuries of course.
• Another reason why OKC should not trade for Giannis/Kawhi/etc....

 

alright, this seriously needs to stop…saying Castle would be Tate on this team is insanely dumb

but you always say stuff like this which is why you shouldn’t be taken seriously

 

Our ownership has hired a front office and coaching staff are incapable of finding ways to develop players it seems. We have a problem that needs fixing.

 

The last time the Rockets had James Harden was also the first time the Rockets had James Harden

Maybe the problem is your definition - almost no teams in the NBA have players fitting it. The Thunder acquired SGA and then he became a superstar; Lawri Markannen played on 2 teams before making all star - otherwise that's it as far as I can tell.

 

last young players we developed were James Harden, Chandler Parsons, and Clint Capela.

Sengun has gotten better but not that much from his rookie year, same with Amen. Their roles expanded but I wouldn't bang on the table saying they are dramatically better players since entering the league.

 

Nah.....OKC 85% developed Harden from 0 points to 16 to Sixth Man.
Harden then turned himself into a Superstar player but you could argue he was a Borderline All Star in OKC as well just did not have the minutes.

Development for me is the jump from a scrub to being a productive-good player......I think the elevation to being the star player is the hunger to be great.

Sengün was an already developed pro from Türkiye, averaging like 15 ppg in his 1st season I believe. Then it was easy just get him acclimated to the US environment, teaching him English, Culture.....

 

Terry Teagle and Craig Ehlo both improved after leaving the Rockets.