Season's Pretty Much Over - Thoughts moving forward?

I just checked the date and OP gave up in February. I know it's practically over now but we were a couple of wins away in April.

This is truly a lesson in something that happens too often on the board: calling the demise of something too early in order to signal that you're the non-homer.

OP be more optimistic about our Rockets. So much has gone better than you expected this season. So little has gone wrong. It's safe to cheer as a fan.

 

I don't think Jalen has regressed. I think the vets are stinking up the joint, especially Dillon. Amen's struggled a bit recently too which was to be expected given he's a rookie. And we're seeing now that we do in fact need Alpi because otherwise teams will simply double and triple team Jalen and force guys like Fred and Dillon to make plays.

Also, the team defense has been terrible this past week. They let Dallas and Golden State do anything they wanted out there. That's partly on Ime. He has to have his guys ready to compete and he needs to make adjustments. It's absurd that he kept single covering Luka the other night after he was banking in threes and hitting scoop shots from 22 feet out.

 

Ime needed 15 timeouts last night lol. He called them so early when we let Klay just have target practice unimpeded out there. He looked furious, and the response was... nothing. Same thing kept happening. There's only so much you can do as a coach when guys aren't following the game plan.

 

Care to share what “concerns” you have?Writing a bunch of buzzwords with no definition like “superstar” doesn’t actually mean anything, and Sengun over his time here has gone from bench player to a few votes out of the literal all-star game.

I’m thinking maybe your concerns have nothing to do with actual basketball if they don’t go away regardless of how much he improves on offense and defense.

 

If it's not under, then it's

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/st...urn-anthony-davis-passing-lakers-cost-rockets

4. A rotation trough that cost the Houston Rockets

Even before losing to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, Houston's dreams of roaring back for the No. 10 seed were likely dead. The Rockets at least made Golden State earn it.

The season is a rousing success for Houston anyway. The team bought into head coach Ime Udoka's defense and tough-love minutes distribution. Alperen Sengun developed into a borderline All-Star. Their late-season push began with Sengun healthy; they missed him once the scheduled stiffened. It took a while, but Jalen Green finally made his Year 3 leap. Cam Whitmore burst out as a marauding bench scorer. Amen Thompson vibrates with intensity and skill.

One rotation wrinkle nagged even during that raucous win streak: Udoka resting VanVleet and Green at the same time, turning the offense over to Whitmore, Thompson and Aaron Holiday. Without Sengun, those lineups had no tentpole identity. They struggled to score all season.

They weren't a heavy-minutes fixture, but they hurt on the margins. In a Houston loss Tuesday, the Minnesota Timberwolves outscored the Rockets by five in one two-minute stint with Green and VanVleet on the bench.

Perhaps Udoka didn't think Green was quite ready to helm every possession VanVleet sat. Maybe he wanted to stretch his other young guys.

Ultimately, it's a nitpick. The Rockets are coming.

 

Not double teaming Luka or making things harder versus Luka was also the crux of that stretch.....

• Ime was thinking, well, Luka can only score 30 and we would live with that, boy was that wrong.
• 
  
• Believing too much in Dillon Brooks when he truly sucked the last 10-12 games.
• 
  
• Not getting anything for this season at the trade deadline was Stone's mistake, Tari and Sengoon's respective injuries bit him in his arse.

 

Trade Jalen Green should be the #1 priority of the offseason. I knew his "hot" streak had more to do with the shitty teams they were playing as opposed to playoff level teams that team has lost 3 straight. He's complete fools gold.

 

that all sounds nice, but how would we get him? i don't think we'd be willing to give up any young talent for maybe two good years left of harden. i think that ship has sailed,

 

Harden was great for the clippers pre all star break. Post all star he’s been pretty bad. He’s not the answer for our situation at all.

 

Amen needs rep at point next season. Let FVV play off ball. I also think Amen needs to start over Brooks

I think Jabari has a breakout year next year and think we are easy 7th seed now that Cam and Amen have a year under them

Excited for Amen, Cam, Tari, and Adams as the second unit next season

 

The "you need to play harder" from the coach only work for a while. Every player knows that after a while, it gets old, and they tune it out.

Players who aren't self-motivated won't play hard just because the coach keeps nagging at them.

Sometimes it's also mental fatigue. The NBA schedule is so intensive. It's really hard to stay locked in for a long time. The guys have been locked in for a whole month and that's pretty impressive. I remember Adelman retorted at people who dismissed the 22-game steak at playing a soft stretch, saying, "If it's that easy, why aren't more teams doing it." The fact is, even against "bad" teams, they are NBA level teams. You have to stay focused to win.

 

He would at least bail green when he's double team, draw double teams or set his teammates with superior playmaking ability. Fvv and brooks is just there collecting paychecks and "mentoring" + culture while putting up bench numbers

 

It would have to come out that he has been playing through an injury post all star and come at a serious discount for me to even consider it.

I think at this point Harden and FVV have similar overall impact with them having different strengths and weaknesses. I could see the argument that we need more of what Hardens strengths are compared to FVV but again price and health are key.

 

Spoiler: They won't.

 

Not as good as a playoff spot, but finishing with a winning record would still be a nice feather in the cap given where we came from last season.