Z Lowe: “I just scream,with FVV out, we need more of him (reed), put him back in the game"

22:00 ZL: It was not a good night for the Rockets. Another bad crunch time performance by the Rockets. 9 turnovers in the 4th Q. Alright, we got nothing. Sengun iso from the 3pt arc with 8 on the shot clock and dribble 14 times and maybe something good will happen and nothing good ever happened.

BS: I was on 2 different text threads with Celtics fans. All of us getting PTSD for the Ime season the Celtics had when it would go bad, get stagnant and no one moved and there’d be no solutions to a defense figuring out the offense. Legler was on this pod 5-6 weeks ago. He mentioned how frustrated he was by how they used Thompson. Really only use him trying to go downhill, one on one, trying to get to the rim, kick out. He was like “I don’t know why they don’t post him up? He’d be so devastating around the rim. They never do it and I think his skill set, especially when defended by smaller people, I think his skill set lends itself to that.” He had Alvarado or Brunson on him and it was the perfect example. Put him near the block and run the offense through him because the Knicks will have to double. They get stagnant and then just throw it to Durant and cross their fingers. Seems to be their offense. Sengun, same thing.

ZL: I understand why Ime may be hesitant to trust Reed Sheppard as much as he trust his core guys who all have the same skill set (big, rangy defense-first players). I just think there are games Reed has to play more. When your offense is going off the rails like that because you’re not running anything, bring him in for Jabari or Tari and we’re gonna run Reed/KD 2-man game or Reed/Sengun 2-man game, loosen things up and all the sudden, boom, stuff opens up and good things happen. I understand he’ll get picked on a little bit but he can guard Jose Alvarado. I think they’ll have to cross the rubicon at some point of either he’s a huge part of our team or we’re putting that off another year. There are games that scream for with VanVleet out, we need this guy in the game. Last night, as it was happening, that’s all I was thinking. Can you put him back in the game?

BS: I wholeheartedly agree and would one-up you. If they don’t do it, they’re a cross-off team for the playoffs. I don’t see it happening with the way they’re built. They don’t get transition when he’s not in there. They slow down. They don’t get fast breaks anymore. He opens the court for them. And as you mentioned, they can run 2-man stuff. The ceiling of the team, he just makes it higher. If they’re not gonna get this year with him, they’re not gonna get there anyways. It’s not gonna happen with the team they have. I don’t understand it. You’re throwing away fast breaks for the entire 4th Q.

ZL: Reed Sheppard & Amen Thompson are born to play fast. Sheppard should be shooting lots of threes. Amen is a speed demon. The rest of the team doesn’t play like that. They’re a battering ram of offensive rebounds, slow it down, iso basketball.

BS: These older guys, “this is how I play guys”. As you get older, it gets tougher to move into a different thing. Not a great Kevin Durant week.

ZL: It’s not been good.

 

each of those guys gets it

 

I just listened to that podcast and that 2nd Simmons quote really hit home. He and his Celtics friends have PTSD from the offensive shutdowns in their Ime era. Ime is a solid coach but he definitely needs a wake up call because this "defense and effort only" mentality is good for making bad teams respectable but severely lacking for teams with championship aspirations. FVV coming back isn't gonna change anything if he's just dumping to Sengun or KD every time. Run some offense.

 

i mean it's pretty obvious when almost every single broadcast has only positive things to say about Reed and even Melo drafted him ahead of Castle for the rising stars and proceeded to shoot lights out during the competition.

You can't change my mind that Reed couldn't have helped us last year off the bench and he could help us even more this year by providing at least 30 minutes a night just spacing the floor. We've given Okogie more of a runway this season that Reed which is just wild to me.

How can this organization seriously see what's happening on the court this year and be okay with it. Are ticket sales that good? Toyota Center is a ghost town every broadcast. Most Rockets fans have noticed our offense be awful for nearly 3 seasons now and we all have said the same thing "Maybe the FO should look at hiring an offensive guy if they don't want to fire Ime"... but yet we've run it back every single season.

 

At some point the national media has got to be getting into the ears of the front office, the coaching staff, and the players. I just hope Stone and Fertitta have the means to get through to Ime without triggering Ime's ego. Cause I've given up hope that Ime is going to change his thinking about offense at the end of games.

Ugh

 

It’s a clear solution to our 4th quarter woes, but nope. Ime would rather play Dorian Finna-Miss

 

I think they just screwed up big time. Ime became the savior of the franchise in their eyes when really what turned things around for us was mostly FVV, Dillon, Amen, and natural improvement from Sengun, Jabari, and Tari. That squad was going to be a lot better under any head coach, even Silas.

Ime did help instill a defensive culture, but that might have happened to a large degree with Fred and Dillon anyway. They handed him a massive extension, and now cheap Fertitta feels like he's stuck with him, and/or is just too much of a narcissist to admit to himself he got it wrong.

Honestly, the best thing for this team right now might be an ugly first round exit that forces major changes to be made.

 

Anyone who watches can see how Ime is sabotaging the team with his incompetence, will Fertitta eat that absurd contract for the good of the team? Will they force an offensive assistant on him?

Something has to happen because Ime is clueless

 

This highlights one of the big reasons that I say the foundation of the Rockets is not good enough - and why I say that they are poorly constructed.

A.) Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard and Tari Eason are all made to run and get out in transition and play a more frantic pace.

B.) Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith and FVV are not made or good at transition.

The pieces for the Rockets simply do not fit well - and it is why culture and having a style of play, and blueprint is so important for an organization. The Spurs, Thunder and even Dallas all have a style they want and a type of player they want.

At some point group "A" or group "B" is going to carry the day, and the other group of guys will be traded. They won't be dealt for top dollar either, because they will fail first trying to fit into the style of play that the other group runs.

If I had to "bet", the group that wins will be group "B" because of Udoka, and that will result in Thompson and Sheppard and Eason being dealt - likely for more veteran players --- at best it is someone like Giannis, but more likely they will be dealt away for defensive first role playing veterans with limitations but that play how Udoka likes.

Where does that leave the Rockets? With the upside of those JVG Knicks teams? The Grit and Grind Grizz? At best those Thibs Bulls teams?

In any situation - it doesn't have them on par with teams like OKC or SA, and unless they make poor decisions - the Mavericks.

 

This isn't all on Udoka --- and also two things can be true.

Udoka definitely changed the culture with the Rockets. The culture under Silas and Stone was terrible - as was the player development.

However - Udoka was given a team that was very poorly constructed, the pieces do not fit well together.

The fault of Udoka is that he is STUBBORN and he clearly has decided that he will go with the grind it out defense first approach and that alienates half the team.

The GM and HC have blame for the current situation.

 

DFM for the lose.

 

I can buy that Ime played a real role in us establishing our defensive identity, and I agree that the roster is constructed poorly. (Though I do think Jabari would be fine in a transition-based offense, it's mostly Sengun and the veterans who don't fit.) I don't think he's the right coach for us now though, and continuing down this road by giving him a major extension and continuing to cater to his wishes was a mistake. I strongly suspect that he played a role in a lot of the bad decisions we made this past offseason. We decided we were done with the youth movement overnight and stopped building organically and just signed a bunch of guys Ime thought would help him win, and basically every one of those decisions turned out to be incorrect.

 

I agree with Simmons' premise. I don't definitively know if Reed will be able to become a big contributor for a playoff run this year but if he's not then the Rockets are pretty much cooked anyways barring some huge buyout market surprise. He's got to be in more for these situations.

 

Udoka may well not be the right coach for the Rockets going forward -- I was only giving him credit for changing the culture around the organization, and he certainly has done that.

Udoka has a lot of power in the Rockets organization - but I am not giving him the blame for them. The Rockets have a GM, and he is the one that wanted to hire Udoka and he is the one that ultimately builds the roster - and is responsible for a lot of the pieces not fitting.

As for Jabari - he is a role player, and not even a very efficient one. He is still young enough to improve but he has some very clear skill/physical limitations.

 

LMAOOOOOOOO

 

I went to undergrad and grad school in Boston and unfortunately have way too many Masshole friends. Obnoxious. When we hired Ime one of my buddies who’s a big Celtics fan told me to watch out for stagnant offense. I remeber at the time i thought he was just jealous because they lost Ime. But having now watched him for 3 seasons, I think he was right. Ime has the JVG syndrome. He's a bad offensive coach. I don’t think that’s debatable at this point. Is Rick Adleman still alive? Can we bring him back?

 

Jabari can play in any system at any pace. Hes our most versatile player. The problem with him is bball iq and clutch genes.

 

Udoka was given a team whose pieces do not fit well together, I agree. But to be fair to Stone and Witus, it is/was also a team with an abundance of high quality pieces that don't fit well together. That creates a floor of "good" team that is ugly to watch and has no chance to win anything. Basically where we are.

Udoka is an above average coach. Stone/Witus are an above average FO. Both have weaknesses and their visions / incentives are discordant. Ultimately IMO the Rockets org will have to choose to go with the coach who wants to win now, his way with his guys, or the FO who want to continuously play the asset / potential game for years.

The personnel decisions will flow from that, I think.

Personally am not optimistic about the possibility of our franchise being turned into an Ime/KD & friends vehicle.