I think we fans take player developments for granted and I think there are scenarios when Jokic would not even become a superstar. That is when he never landed in Denver and never played for Malone, good chance he only becomes a 'good player' with good vision. The jump from a Top 30 to a Top 10 or Top 5 Player is really that difficult and everything has to click...... Alperen has the Alpha mentailty, we just wait and see how he develops that shot.
This is wildly premature. Smith is still 20 and just put up an excellent 112 defensive rating. He literally thinks he grew an inch last offseason.
I think Jabari could make an all-defense team or two in the future. Depends on how he develops under Ime. Would probably be more like 2nd or 3rd team all-defense though, kinda fringey--he doesn't have elite physical traits you need to contend for DPOY. I mean, Dillon made 2nd team all-defense. That's kind of the path for Bari--has to be a junkyard dog with a reputation and build up his physical strength.
CF won't give Amen his flowers because of the lack of 3 point shooting. Meanwhile they're assuming Jabari will gain Amen's innate athleticism.
The Rockets had Chuck Hayes and Shane Battier play excellent defense with bottom tier athletic ability. Athletic ability only matters so much defensively. More about instincts and understanding player tendencies aka your brain than pure athletic ability
Chuck Hayes was immovable with his strong core and great rebounding instincts. Shane was very athletic but just played unathletic offense.
Shane was not a great athlete. He had length and good instincts. Something Jabari can acquire in time as he has the natural part down.
With Amen, We’re likely talking about a generational defender. Size, length, explosion, insane burst and short area quickness. Not to mention savant level defensive awareness. Jabari lacks the explosion but has size,length and pretty ok awareness for a 2nd year guy. I don’t think he is going to be a defensive playmaker but he will be a very impactful defender if that makes sense.
As others have stated, defensive players can be uber athletic or high BBIQ. Ideally you'd like both. But the overlooked factor is Want To. You can see it in Brooks, FVV, and Thompson's play. A guy like Harden had off the chart BBIQ, but little to none 'want to' (desire) for defense. For next season, the addition of Adams and the return of Eason will only make the Rockets a better defensive team. If the team is healthy, Udoka should be able to hold players more accountable for defense. He will have more options to rotate players in, to stop opponents offensive runs. Or sit a guy who Udoka feels isn't giving effort defensively. Don't think he will expect every player needs to be be 1st team All Defense, but he'll insist on 'want to'.
To be fair, Trey is without a doubt a starter in this league. Just happens to be playing behind 2 better starters and I'm not sure Herb will always be better than Trey.
The issue with Murphy is that he will be due an extension at the same time as Sengun and Jalen. He also plays the same position as Tari, Bari, Amen, Cam and Dillon. He is a good player but he is somewhat redundant for the Rockets.
Y'all are making this too hard. The guy is Donovan Mitchell. He's what you hope that Green would turn into. Green will never be that good. Hopefully, Mitchell forces their hands and will sign a long-term deal with us.
This- Since when is the goal a first or second round flame out? The Rockets have blown for years and the goal wasn’t to be the worst team in the NBA so one day the Rockets could top out at 45 wins. Mitchell… Bridges… Markannen? They aren’t winning you ****. Great teams trade for them to get over the top of bad teams over pay them. Run it back - draft a high ceiling prospect and see what Coach Bye Felicia can do. The Green nonsense will straighten itself out.
Well since he will be on the roster and since he will be a starter, what are you going to do, become a Spurs fan?
Sometimes, it's just less damage to let one player walk. Some of the trades that get proposed are FAR more damaging than one of our 6 prospects leaving in RFA. A player walking outright is BAD but there are certainly trades that are more potentially damaging than that. If what you gain by being patient is that 1 guy walks but you're 100% certain about the potential of 5 other players - that's not worse than having traded the whole treasure chest for players with a hard ceiling, a high price tag and players who are regularly plotting to leave their teams. That leaves 5 players with ceilings between elite role player and stars. Even if we get 2 all stars and 2 elite role players out of those 5, we are SET. Who has 2 all stars and 2 elite role players and isn't a serious contender? That doesn't even include Nets picks and our picks. Some people act like it's possible that any of our 6 prospects will be as good as Donovan Mitchell just because they aren't as good as him right now. Thankfully the team is high on the core and we seem to have an excellent development staff. We're still at least 3-4 years away from these players being 25 years old. Take the one that gets maligned the most: if Jalen Green improves his 3PT% at 1% per year and adds 4lbs of muscle per year under Udoka's defensive/selflessness tutelage, do you understand what we will have when he's 26 years old? lol That's a max-worthy NBA player. What if Jabari adds 1% per year and adds 4lbs of muscle per year - what's he going to be in 3-4 years? What about Tari? Think about what we have. We are in the driver's seat. We can be bullies in trade negotiations. We don't need to be desperately hoping to rehabilitate or rejuvenate or overpay for someone.
Running it back to start the season makes a lot of sense. But I don’t agree with the causal attitude about losing one of our prospects in RFA for nothing. To me that would really suck; another costly lesson in poor asset MGMT. We need to avoid that. It’s like giving up a 1st round pick because you couldn’t properly evaluate your own players. I think we need to know what we want to do with Jalen and Al-P by next year’s trade deadline. Four years should be enough time to evaluate your players.
