Per @TheCat Ben DuBose: Rockets wouldn’t have made KD trade if they knew FVV would be out for year

---
double post

 

If a team has a role player as its single point of failure then there's no way it's a championship ship quality team. There's something not right.

Last year when FVV was out Sheppard hardly played. That was the perfect time for him to gain game experience. Some rationalized we couldn't afford to give him minutes because of where we were in the standings, but I think that's pure BS.

Now its not our year because FVV is out? Sports has always been about next man up, yet we haven't really given the guy with the best chance to fill his shoes a chance to prove his worth. Not putting Reed in the lineup for the last play this week was malpractice.

Something is not right.

We have a talented team. Some nights it feels a bit like we're on the island of misfit toys, but to me that's on the coaches and the GM.

We should be able to make this work. The other night it was obvious when Reed was in the game he stabilized the team.

I've said this before, but I'd start this lineup...

Alpi - C
KD - F
Amen - F
Okgie - G
Reed - G

That lineup provides offense/defense and gives us the ability to bring Bari and Tari off the bench to spark us.

I'd also give JD minutes as back-up to Reed and reduce Amen's ballhandling to fastbreaks, and drastically reduce Alpi's and KD's bringing the ball up the court and excess ball handling in general.

We have to reduce the turnovers and I think this approach would do that.

Sorry for the long post, but I had to get that off my chest. Goodnight brothers and sisters!

 

Adams is back?!?

 

That's the LEAST of our worries.

The most worrisome Ben said: they believe FVV was the best and most valuable player last season.

The 6 ft defensive guard who shot 39/32/80 and dished out 5 assists.

 

That’s sad. So Jalen and Dillon were always the real franchise players this entire time?

 

If it took you 5 years to build a team and it hinges on Fred Van Vleet then you f*cked up.

That's why he doesn't openly say it. That's why we have to hear about it this way. Because he doesn't believe in the players and he's hiding it.

Most GM's in the NBA voted Amen the most likely breakout star of the year. Imagine how good you have to be to win that, look at the 5 years who won it before him. Imagine our GM and Coach have the lowest opinions of our young guys out of most people you've ever heard of.

No wonder they make them play like role players.

 

So. Again. Knowing that, how do you not do anything to try to remedy the PG debacle? You don’t make a trade like that and then just quit when things get tough. Fred is extremely important, but he’s not absolutely irreplaceable.

 

Wonder what KD thinks about this

 

It's literally the opposite of a leak, it was me reminding people of something I reported (and others said similar things) literally before the KD trade even happened. And now, because it happened this way, you lost Dillon/Jalen in addition to Fred.

Just clarifying because while the quote is accurate, I wasn't really presenting it as "news." Just a reminder of what we already knew. And some people will undoubtedly act like they're overvaluing FVV, and to each their own, but the view is definitely genuine.

 

Correct, this is the root of the issue. There is a massive disconnect between how the Rockets view Fred and how a lot of fans do. If KD had gone out with a season ending injury in September, I don't think you'd have fans urging the team to go out and acquire a warm body at any cost at shooting guard/small forward, simply for the sake of having one. There would be more of an understanding that the overall landscape had changed.

That's not to say that Fred is KD, but the thought process has some similarities. Basically, is the PG they're hypothetically bringing in -- which would cost them key parts of future teams (due to matching salary rules) and perhaps reduce minutes for Reed Sheppard -- actually going to move the needle and get them back to anything close to where the team was, pre-injury? If not, then why make future teams worse? That's the conundrum here, IMO.

 

When the Rockets win the championship this year, KD can say this to the nonbelievers (Stone):

 

Also, to be clear, the Rockets love KD. He's been great this season, live-ball turnovers excluded. Even better off the court, as far as mentorship for the young guys and those sorts of things. I don't think they "regret" the trade by any means, it just probably wouldn't have been worth it to give up younger pieces if you felt that 2025-26 was off the table (which they would have if you had told them what was coming with FVV).

The conversation (you can watch the whole thing here, it's a chat with me, Dave, and Paulo Alves) was about the trade deadline and the online narratives that the team's approach in acquiring KD wasn't in alignment with its inactivity at the deadline. I was simply pointing out that the surrounding roster construct had changed a lot.

Couple more things, I do think (at least on social media) that Ringz Culture is affecting the perceptions here. There are quite a few middle-ground paths between all-out "win now, future be damned" and being a "developmental team." I do think the Rockets explored potential upgrades for this season, it's just none made sense when you factor in who they'd have to send out in matching salaries (i.e. taking away key pieces for next year's team) and potentially limiting the minutes of Reed Sheppard. It was only worth that if the guy you were bringing in legit gave you a shot to make real noise this year, and I just don't think most of the guys who got moved at this deadline were in that category.

Finally, with DFS specifically: I've said before and will say it again, if you want to criticize the Rockets, that's the angle (IMO) to hone in on. Because it's not just about him, it's also about the first-apron hard cap, which prevented you from using the FVV disabled player exception. If he turns out to be washed, then yeah, that's a significant whiff when you consider the context. But there is value in mitigating the damage, and this summer (when there won't be a hard cap) he'll basically be an expiring $13M contract for trades. That's very useful. And because he's expiring, his worst-case value should be neutral. If you had traded him at the deadline for a pending UFA, you lose that salary slot for offseason trades, and he'd probably have been a negative asset due to having multiple years left -- and perhaps require a future FRP as sweetener for someone to take on that deal. So, the pending UFA had better be worth it, i.e. move the needle a lot. Not sure the 2026 deadline guys were.

 

I don't think Ben is wrong but yeah if you had perfect foresight of injuries you'd do different things!

 

Trading Jalen Green isn’t “betting the farm” lulz. You can be right about backup plan, just a wee bit too much hyperbole for may taste (I actually don’t believe in pg “backup plan” beyond betting on Reed)

I hope that doesn’t sound dismissive. I mainly wanted to add that FVV was our best player in the playoffs last year.

FVV is for culture, but also proven playoff performing
he was ridiculous in the last 5 games,

22.6 ppg
57% from 3 on 5 makes a game
2 to 1 ast/to ratio.
​

He definitely was the FVV as advertised for playoff performance.

 

Rockets won a championship with Kenny Smith.

The truth is you look at all the other teams, you dont have that super star you need
to beat the others. Look at the top 6 teams in contention mode from both divisions.

They didn't spend there money wisely, brought in defensive Forwards, and Centers. They
made the mistake.

Lakers who could be potentially Houston first round opponent have that dude you need, but
the lakers have yet to build around him, waiting on Lebron to retire to use that money and retool
around luka. Lakers might even have what it takes to get past houston this year.

Wolves have Edwards will probably sneak in every year and contend.

There basicly saying is if Amen and/or Sengun do not turn into that dude, with aging Durant, they
need a vet leading pg, to run a team like this for them to have any chance.

Yet in all Honesty they dont belive they drafted a championship Squad , with Fred Van Vleet? He like 32 and
regressing, not even the same player he was in Toronto. Its the excuse they need to say well they really didnt
draft a Super Star in the draft.

Teams with SuperStars who can contend now.

Thunder ,Spurs, Nuggets Wolves, Suns Lakers

Teams not there yet, or dont have that 1 guy yet developed :

, Rockets, Blazers

 

Gotcha, weird how you brought it up now though, but I guess that is what helps drive traffic.

DD

 

Understood. One bit of clarification, this was actually in our postgame show from one week ago (i.e. first game post-deadline), it just got aggregated Friday and sorta went viral. Not sure why the lag, but that's beyond my control.

I just brought it up because right after the deadline, a lot of people on social media were saying some variation of "why trade for KD if you're not going to go all-in on his window"? When in reality, that narrative is missing some important context.

 

I don’t think the front office overvalues Fred. I think they view him as a competent veteran PG, which I think he is. The problem for this season is that the Rockets banked on Amen and Reed to step in for Fred if needed. Neither player so far has provided what we need at the PG position. Maybe someday one of them will fill that role, but not this season.

 

Never doubted what you were saying etc, just seemed like now was a weird time to say it, but yeah, thanks for the clarity, it is appreciated.

DD