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

I’m going to get a jersey made with Finna-Miss and his number.

 

I can count the titles those eras had on zero hands.

 

I was thinking about that this morning.

“We’re not a developmental team anymore.”

WTF you mean you’re not a developmental team anymore.

Everyone was 23 and under.
First playoff series for all of them.
You lost in the first round (probably should’ve been sooner than 7 games but whatever)
You weren’t the Wolves coming off b2b WCF
You weren’t a piece away.

**** you mean you’re not a developmental team anymore?

So the shitty coach can bring in older, washed up vets?

37 year old with injury history (but playing at an all-star level)
32 year old center with injury history
31 year old washed center
30 year old point guard (who they see as the best player on a championship team)
32 year old coming off ankle surgery

Was fine getting him for “your price” which I guess they ultimately did but yes with hindsight, should not have made that trade. Should’ve ran it back with the 10th pick.

And definitely should not have extended him.

Amen/Reed
Green/Coward
Brooks/Cam
Jabari/Tari/Tate
Sengun/Landale

 

The issue last year with FVV being the highest paid player is that he believed he should be used as the highest paid player with the most touches...

 

I've disagreed with some of your posts lately (I like both Amen and Sengun, I just don't think they fit together right now and I'm not sure whether either will be a true #1). But I agree with all of this completely. We should have just kept building organically, OKC-style. If you're going to make trades, trade for young guys or draft picks. If you're going to sign more free agents to long term deals, sign young guys with a chance to improve, not injury-riddled veterans.

Also, trading out of the 2026 draft was just a bad decision, I don't care what Brooklyn would have done, we would have been better off having a pick in this draft class.

We tried to skip a "phase" and now we're paying the price.

 

Again. Rockets have point guards. Ime simply chooses to not use them.

 

Love how everyone is worried about Durant’s minutes. I say play him till the brakes come off. Who gives a f*ck about his minutes.

 

I agree with you concerning the current situation that the Rockets are in.

I am not sure where I personally would rank the Rockets front office. Stone and Witus are both smart people and cautious. However, Stone has had the following draft picks over the last 5 drafts..... #2, #3, #3, #4, #10, #16, #17, #20, #23, #24. That is some major draft capital and doesn't include future picks. I don't think that the players yielded from those picks have overall met the expectations of that draft positioning. That is debatable though.

I also do not think that the Rockets are a very modern front office at this point - the structure of their front office and scouting department is one of the most dated in the NBA. I would blame ownership except Stone has publicly stated it is his decision. There is a lack of people that have experience coaching at a high level within the organization and it really shows.

To be clear - it isn't that the Rockets front office or coaching staff are terrible - they aren't, they just could be better IMO.

I also think it is possible that the Rockets franchise could be steered in a direction that isn't good -- but that is in part a reflection of the front office, which really seems to be lacking any detail or focus.

 

You know the problem has gotten out of hand when me and Bill Simmons are on the same page.

 

This ties into why in the past I have been critical of the Rockets GM for lacking any real detail to what his plan was for the rebuild and the Rockets. When you compare what he has said and how the Rockets have maneuvered compared to teams like OKC, SA and a few others --- there is a lack of detail that is present. It feels like the Rockets can just "change" what they are doing at any point in time, and there was a lack of real cohesion as well in the people that they brought on to build the organization from a coaching and management perspective. Looking at some of the players like KPJ and Whitmore and others they added, just demonstrate this point --- almost like Stone drafted a bunch of guys based off the commercial draft prospect rankings, gutted payroll --- and then believed hiring an experienced coach would fix 3 years of poor player development and coaching and culture.

 

There has to be some disconnect between Ime and the FO. The FO is super high on Reed as the PG of the future, but Ime has obviously not bought in yet. His teammates love him, the media and fans really like him, he seemingly says and does the right things. He has work to do, especially defensively, but it doesn't appear to be a lack of commitment or effort. This isn't Harden just not giving any effort, Reed is just small and not strong in his base yet.

At some point, Ime has to realize that (love it or not) Reed is the purest PG on the active roster. The offense isn't perfect with him out there, but he gives them much needed ball handling and floor spacing. They don't run many sets for him - seemingly he has a pick and pop play occasionally with KD, pick and roll with Capela, and that's it. Sometimes pick and roll with Sengun, but they don't run that much (even though it's a good play, to me at least). Otherwise, it's him camped in the corner. To me, that's poor offense from Ime. Too many sets are just Sengun or KD isolating, but when Reed is out there and they let him set things up, it gives the offense another depth. He does make some bad passes and does young player type stuff, but you got to let him learn and grow. To me, most of this is directly on Ime. No creativity.

 

I think an unspoken explanation that I've suspected for a while is that the Rockets, organizationally and particularly Udoka but also maybe Stone personally, deep down just don't want to be in the full spectrum "basketball academy" business. They are a bunch of guys in their late 30s / 40s / early 50s who are personally ambitious and don't want to be servants to a future-oriented organization centered around 19-26 year olds.

That's what OKC and SAS permanently are. Those orgs want to keep drafting and acquiring 21yo's and developing them, and trading for more picks to do it again forever. It is the obviously correct long-term strategy, and they like it.

I don't think we do. I know for sure Ime doesn't.

I am also doubtful ownership has the appetite for that vision of a basketball organization.

 

There’s two guys there who REALLY don’t fit in there (hint: they’re both wearing Wizards uniforms)

 

The front office doesn't really "stand" or "believe" in anything. Every single decision is made separate of a unifying culture or belief system when it comes to constructing the roster or what type of team they want to have. They spent three seasons rebuilding with a coach that was not meant to be a head coach, a coach that the GM handpicked because he wasn't a threat to his power.

They then loaded up with players like KPJ, Wood and Oledipo, and none of them wanted to be on the Rockets and two of them were massive toxic teammates. The GM then wanted KPJ to mentor Jalen Green. They threw a young player (Senguin) into this trying to learn English and learn the US culture.

There was no thought to any of this other than "tank". The GM even wanted to be present and speak at all the practices, it took John Lucas telling Silas to put an end to it, or the players would have ZERO respect for the coaching staff.

The player development staff was terrible.

Then, after getting like 4-5 picks in the prior drafts --- the Rockets under Stone suddenly decided to drop their terrible staff, bring in Udoka and someone everything would magically work with Udoka and a couple veterans. Never mind the prior three seasons with poor player development, or the lack of actual coaching experience within the organizations.

The front office has no connect or disconnect. The front office had a list of bullet points to check off and did that- and now doesn't know why they cannot compete against OKC or SA or DEN when it matters.

So - Reed Sheppard is stuck in limbo.

Udoka is stubborn -- he is going to wait until next year when he has FVV and we will win 55-57 games and lose in the second round as assets are used to replace guys like Sheppard and Eason, because it is easier to trade them for gritty veterans.

 

Yes - you are articulating better what I mean by a lack of "detail" or "singular philosophy". It pre-dates Udoka though. There is no real long term, deep understanding of basketball development or organizational philosophy when it comes to building and running an organization. I think part of it is that the organization has lacked successful basketball people with a history of coaching at the highest levels, in the actual X's and O's, it is why I disagreed with Stone running off candidates to be VP or Executive President of the organization. Guys that are very bright, that have designed and ran successful offenses and defenses that can look at players in the draft, in free agency and in the developmental side and say "this can work" or "this isn't a good fit".

 

Yeah the Rockets are cooked as a contender. Feels like they just got there too lol

 

Ime doesn't have much head coaching experience. Since he blames others instead of taking the hit himself, it's hard for him to actually grow as a coach.

 

The Rockets under Morey didn't exactly build for the future either. They traded majority of their 1st round picks during that time to contend in the present. They were clearly in win-now mode very early in Harden's Rockets and didn't really stop until he stepped down. Yet the Rockets still had a sustained period where they got to two WCFs and would've won a title if they didn't happen to match up with peak KD-Warriors. But the difference is that Morey never went for broke, mostly signing guys in their 20s. Dwight, Gordon, Ryno, Ariza, Asik, etc. Tucker and CP3 were the lone exceptions towards the end of Harden's tenure, and even then they were safer bets than DFS/Adams/FVV at the time of signings. The way Stone/Udoka pivoted from extreme youth to extremely volatile, injured vets is one of those pendulum swings that simply doesn't make sense. Because even if players like DFS or Adams worked out, they are still gone in a couple of years due to age and can't grow along with our core.

 

I’ll even debate the “experienced coach” piece. He was a long time assistant in some good spots, fell into a hella roster after taking over for a great coach who went to the FO, and was surrounded by assistants who were arguably better than him. I mean THAT Celtics team was a well constructed roster. This Rockets team, not so much. I do think they’ve hit on some mid-first rounders (Alpi, Eason) but their picks at the top of the draft have been meh to okay. They are all flawed prospects.