Reset the timeline around Amen, Reed and Bari

Fair view of it!
I think a team can rebuild prior to tanking though - the flipping of players for assets began early for them. You can be competitive and still churn while looking for "the guy" - it was more possible in the days prior to the current CBA

 

I’m telling yall Sengun + FVV + pick for Curry and build around Amen, Reed, Bari, Nets27’ after him & KD retire in a year or two

 

GSW isn't trading him unless he asks for one though

 

They should not trade him, that would actually make the NBA a cruel place again.....

Send him off with a farewell tour like Dirk Nowitzki as a Mav Legend.

If he really wants to go somewhere else, I would still give him a farewell tour.

 

the question to ask is can we win with both amen and sengun on the court? i think it's quite obvious it's not possible. So the question becomes who do we keep? it's most likely we keep amen and trade Sengun.

 

Biggest problem with this suggestion is that trading Sengun, KD or whoever you think is the problem for step back rebuild can literally counter reactive, meaning those players or draft picks could be worse than what you already have. Let's be patient, see how they do this year.

Next year they will run it back with what there main source of the problem lies. FVV, he was a critical part for this team to contend this year, as well as a healthy ADams. Rockets could trade for a nice shooter off the bench, who could fit in nicely with this group.

The core is still young still much time to add or subtract, and really few more playoff runs with Sengun and Amen to evaluate what you have and what you need along side Durant.

 

It’s just a pipe dream. Don’t know how many teams can take his contract + contend at the same time he’d actually agree to. I just think of the spacing for Amen if we had shooters like Steph, Reed, KD, and Jabari around him

 

Cam’s idgaf vibes are all over the team this year even though he’s no longer here.

 

I only see two realistic options based on who the owner is, who the GM is, and who the coach is.

Option one is that Stone and Udoka are arrogant enough to believe that FVV and Adams is the difference - and they run this whole group back with FVV and Adams and actually believe they are a 60 win title contender. This is very possible because neither Stone, nor Udoka are likely to accept they screwed up.

Option two is that ownership and/or Udoka gets restless and blames the interior defense and doubles down on a star. In this scenario Sengun, draft picks and possibly Jabari or Sheppard are sent out in a deal for a star player.

The logical thing to do would have been to establish continue to accumulate assets and focus on player development - but that won’t happen because it hasn’t happened. Stone’s entire plan could be written on a cocktail napkin. Shortcuts were taken and that isn’t going to change now. Ownership has made their money cutting corners - that won’t change.

 

If we’re going to reset, let’s do a full reset. I honestly don’t see any one worth building around, that is, a true franchise player on the current team.

Bari? LOL.

 

Problem is we are out of options for a succesful rebuild either way.

The main issue is we don't have a true star player, and for that I don't blame the FO, we just didn't hit on Wemby or Cade and there's nothing you can do about that.

Also, we can all agree Ime has to go, but he's being paid till the 2031 season so I don't see how Fertitta will let him go.

Besides that, we have a big issue regarding fit, and I don't see an easy way to solve this:

1) Trade Amen, keep Sengun and Reed - I was big on this one if you check my post history, but recently I've been losing more and more faith on the Alpi/Reed duo. In theory, this is the easiest core to build around, at least offensively. Alpi can't shoot and probably never will, but it's easier to find shooters for the 2, 3 and 4 positions and I actually feel like Alpi could perform well when surrounded by shooters and a good coach. Problem is, there's no hiding how bad we would be defensively with Alpi/Reed being attacked in the pick and roll every game, even if we somehow found a unicorn 4 who can block shots and spread the floor.

2) Trade Alpi, keep Amen and Reed - While it may seem like a good idea, IMO Amen is more like a role player than a star even if he improves a little bit. He will never be a shooter, maybe there's a small chance he can be close to a Lu Dort in that regard, but even then it's barely passable. And then comes the big issue: we would have to find a strech 5 who can cover for reed defensively and hit the 3 and somehow find an alpha dog star caliber 2 or 3 through trade. I don't see how that's even a possibility.

3) Trade them all and rebuild again - Probably the only realistic option since we still have very good picks and could get even more via said trades + the tanking. Question is: is anyone truly ready for 5+ more years of bottom 5 nba basketball? I know I'm not.

 

Yes, we do it is Reed.

DD

 

I'm sorry DD, I love him as well, but hell no.

 

I haven't read this entire thread because the premise of it is so bizarre, so apologies if this has already been discussed.

Why does Jabari get to be built around? Everyone lining up to ship Sengun out because he set the expectations so high WITH HIS STELLAR PLAY and not his draft position, but Jabari is getting a pass despite being a #3 pick that can't dribble, can't score on smaller guards, doesn't facilitate, rebounds inconsistently, shoots well once in every 3 games, and occasionaly gets a weak side block.

This dude is just as disappointing as Jalen Green was. Maybe even more so. Had all the potential, all the expectations to become a star and hasn't got close to fulfilling his promise. Yet people want to keep him on the team over Sengun? Yes, Sengun is having a rough patch, the slump of all slumps, but does that erase his accomplishments as a 23 year old who battled against not one, but two coaches that don't really believe in him?

 

I have been pretty much in the blow it up camp for a while - we don't have a #1 and we have to find one and none of these pieces seem to fit with each other.
First thing I think that you need to do is see where the league goes with the anti-tanking rules.
You have to position yourself to exploit / take advantage of those new rules if at all possible.

I wouldn't stop at Sengun, trade Amen, Tari, FVV, Adams, DFS and KD the only players I'd keep is Reed and Jabari, not because Jabari is a star but because he just fits anywhere and is cost controlled.

I know the idea of trading Amen is kinda taboo around here, but I don't believe he ever figures out how to shoot.

Hell, even if he does shoot 30% from the corners, teams are going to invite him to take those shots just like they do now. There are probably a dozen instances in the past week of Amen being in the corner and his defender literally being in the paint. 30% aint gonna change that. He just destroys any spacing by the offense - unless he's playing in the paint and I really don't see him being so special that we make concessions in building the team to suit him. He's good, he aint that good.

Tari is an injury waiting to happen, is going to be a mess to deal with on his next contract and he wants to start - I don't want any of those problems.

KD has been all you could ask for this year, but he just doesn't fit the new timeline, may as well send him somewhere he can compete for a championship and get some assets in return, they use those same assets to gather more draft picks at the deadline. I'm certain there are a handful of teams that he could help elevate ....

Fred - similar to KD, he just doesn't fit the timeline but you might have to wait for the deadline to deal him giving him time to prove he's healthy and useful.

I like @xtruroyaltyx's idea of extracting Kel'el Ware from Miami to replace Sengun in the middle but I don't know what it might take to get that done.

I if you are planning on starting Reed, you are gonna need a bigger 2 guard .... Shooting, rim pressure and defense.

I don't know what the hell you do with Ime, his contract might prohibit getting rid of him but maybe he decides he doesn't want to coach a lottery / play in team and lands another gig.

As for Stone, I'm not out on him yet, I think he had a pretty decent plan going into the season, but everything blew up before it started and fixing it with duct tape and bailing wire wasn't in the cards.

It would be nice if you could get into the coming draft - even if it's not an early pick there's some guys around 20ish that I think will be good NBA players in Christian Anderson & Cameron Carr.
Maybe you can sneak into the 2nd round and get a guy like Meleek Thomas (Arkansas), Paul McNeil Jr. (NC State) or Richie Saunders (BYU).

 

I have to think that the Warriors would ask for Reed in any trade for Steph. I'd pass

 

I have a few thoughts on this regarding different paths the Rockets could take...

First, it's possible a player in house might develop or you find the next James Harden who blossoms on your team when given the opportunity...Or you could find Kawhi Leonard outside of the lottery...

...Also, lets say the T-Wolves flame out in the play-offs...I wouldn't put it past Antman to request out and I wouldn't rule the Rockets out in a pursuit of him. Depending on what you would have to give up for him, you could be talking about an instant contender. BTW, what do you think a realistic trade for him would be that would also leave us with enough to contend? And given what the Twolves would want, would you do it?

The path forward I would personally take which doesn't preclude the first two from happening (and also the one the Rockets are LEAST likely to do) is seeing if a different coach could get more out of the current young nucleus. I know people look at the rosters and don't really take into account how much coaching matters...But it does matter a lot. We've seen coaches come in and take largely the same rosters as their predecessors and turn teams into championship caliber teams. I.E., Kerr when he arrived in GS. Nobody though of Steph, Draymond and Klay as the players they would become until Kerr got a hold of them. Even teams with the high end talent already in place sometimes need their Phil Jackson to come in and make it work. Also, we've seen teams that didn't seem like they should match up with the other team on paper beat the opposing team or come close to doing it...Last finals there were maybe like .01% of people who gave the Pacers a chance at winning the finals. If Haliburton doesn't get hurt in Game 7, they may have pulled it off.

Another possibility is maybe Ime could get this current group good enough to seriously compete either with changes in his approach (growth as a coach) or with some roster tweaks in the off-season. I appreciate what Sengun has done here, but I don't think he is the right center for this team. I really wonder how much this team would improve with 30+ minutes from a starting center with legit NBA rim protection.