Who can we realistically get for Sengun?

But remember, firing Ime will solve all of our problems!

 

When you start to get into three team trades, those are always harder to make work, but might be the only way to do something that actually feels somewhat realistic. Getting a couple of young players who can contribute right now and in the future and who fit better than Sengun does is something I could maybe squint and see this front office doing. This one would depend on Miami liking Sengun a lot, obviously, and on Orlando feeling like Anthony Black is their guy over Suggs long term and just generally wanting to shake things up and improve their shooting. I don't know how likely any of that is. Imagine whatever pick compensation getting thrown around that makes you think it's more realistic.

 

you can’t blame them in the 22 draft with Bari who is a solid role player. That draft was stacked with solid role players and the only stars that came out of it were the OKC guys. Rockets unfortunately came up short for the top 2 picks in that draft and the Sheppard draft (which was rigged by the NBA).

Same with 23 draft. Amen was the best player left. George we now know is good but he wasn’t seen as a lottery pick at that time. But there wasn’t much left after Amen. Can’t blame Rockets here.

We can argue that the 21 draft was pivotal and they certainly had better options

 

It would certainly help. Ime's legacy both here and in Boston is how many games he manages to cause his team to lose despite 4th quarter leads.

 

I’m really arguing about sitting out this 2026 draft. It feels like a big mistake.

The jalen bust was bad. I’m sure they had options in the bari draft; they obviously didn’t evaluate him properly because they were too busy jerking off to Paolo. No issues with the Amen draft. They might have gotten it wrong in 2024 as well, we’ll see.

But sitting out the best draft of this decade when we had a golden ticket is pure stupid. I don’t think it’s defensible. This draft has been talked about for 3 yrs now.

 

This thread is kind of a false premise that Sengun is a uniquely challenging player to build around because of spacing. How many good centers in the league can space? Sengun draws more attention than a league average center on the perimeter because he's at least a semi plausible threat to hit a 3 and can create facing up off the dribble.

If we were arguing about needing a better rim protector or something it might be different. If the issue is "who can play with Amen better than Sengun" then it's like KAT, Jokic, Mobley, Naz, and Turner. We obviously aren't getting Jokic or Mobley and with everyone else it's going to be a big loss in offensive creation if KD is out/when he's gone.

 

It might get us a handful of wins but it wouldn’t be a significant as people believe.

Who hired Ime and constructed the team?


Who would hire his replacement?

 

The old and I think kind of tired defense is that Brooklyn wouldn't have intentionally tanked if they didn't get their pick back

I think that's kind of true and their pick wouldn't have been as good, but I still see them as a lottery team even if they hold onto Bridges et al and do their best to win games. A lotto pick in this draft class, even if it's more like #10 or something, is still very valuable.

 

I’ve come up with a bunch of 3 teams trade involving Sengun and/or Durant. The only thing that makes much sense is for draft picks especially in 26, coming back for Sengun. Getting out of Durant’s contract without taking back another albatross contract like KAT looks next to impossible to me. Suggs has reverted back to his poor 3 pt shooting, so his contract is way too expensive for a younger FVV and the Knicks don’t have any picks that move the needle. I like Ware and Herro though. Miami might actually deal with you without the third team, but I’m not sure they will give up Ware, maybe Adebayo though.

 

It would be more than a handful, going full Ime has already cost the Rockets 11 games they were leading in the 4th quarter just this season alone.

On top of that, a coach that understands the basics about offense and understands the value of metrics would drastically improve the overall quality of the team.

Basically we have an AAU coach right now.

 

I’m not the biggest Ime fan but coaches tend to get outsized blame when teams underperform.

The elephant in the room is that our front office is nowhere near good enough. Bringing in a different coach won’t fix this.

 

It's just obvious to see though....and not just here, he was bad in Boston as well. He doesn't have the first clue of how to do anything on offense and he makes his moves randomly based on gut instinct. The issue isn't the FO, though they've certainly made mistakes.

The current roster is good enough if they had competent coaching that could put them in a position to do well. Instead the team is run by a complete moron who has no clue what he is doing.

 

You make an important point. Sengun is in part so valuable as an asset because he *isn't* a challenging player to build around, for most team's goals. Sengun can play the 5 full-time and your team can be a great defensive and rebounding team. That differentiates him from the Paolo/Jalen Johnson/Scottie Barnes types. This has been proven true two years in a row, by age 23. Sengun doesn't abnormally constrain you at the other 4 spots.

As much as I love him, Amen is the uniquely challenging player to build around. I do not think it is possible to build an above average NBA half court offense that includes Amen, unless you have one of the maybe 6 or 7 starter-level stretch 5's in the league, or you have Steph. That is an extremely constrained teambuilding spot to be in.

This FO/coach is not going to trade Amen though (nor am I asking for it, just acknowledging reality).

 

I'd like to see extended minutes with a starting lineup of:

Reed - Tari - Amen - Smith - Sengun before making any deals... which i'm not even sure has played together this season for more than like 2 minutes.

Edit: I actually looked it up. 34 minutes all season for the "young core". ****ing diabolical.

 

Look at the 22 draft. The only obvious upgrade we could have somewhat realistically considered is Jalen Williams who went 12th. Duren went 13th and is a much better player than Bari, but that would not have been realistic. Ymmv on whether you'd rather have a few of the guys drafted a few slots after Bari but none are obvious.

For 2026 it's just whether you want to call the Nets bluff that they'd still field a competitive team without having any incentive to tank. They picked 8th last year after already tearing it down.

 

The issue is definitely in the front office. They’ve lead the team for 7 years and what do they have to show for it?


Our best player is a 37 year old on 1.5 Achilles

Our two best young players are non factors outside of 15 feet.

Our best playmaker has 1 ACL.

We shoot so poorly that they have to repaint the rims after games.


That’s not championship level GM stuff. That’s mediocrity.

 

The thing that makes Sengun hard to build around isn't his lack of shooting, though, it's that he's at best an average defensive center. When we look at the four teams ahead of us on team defensive rating, every single one of them has a good-to-great defensive center. OKC with Hartenstein, Detroit with Duren, San Antonio with Wemby, and Miami with Bam.

Whereas the challenge building around Amen is with finding enough shooting, the challenge with building around Sengun is finding enough defense at non-center positions.

That's why we're kind of in between a rock and a hard place right now. Sengun needs Amen's defense to succeed, and Amen needs a stretch 5 to succeed. If either one of them develops a really legitimate jump shot, this core knot in our roster construction gets untangled. If they don't, we have to choose one, but neither one is that easy to make your roster's centerpiece.

 

I think the best Sengun trade that might be plausible is Sengun for Okongwu and NAW and the 26 NOP Atlanta owns. Many on here would think Sengun to be worth more than that and maybe they’re right. I like the idea of Jabari putting on another 10/15 lbs of muscle and becoming a center. Okongwu hits 3’s pretty well and is young with plenty of upward potential to grow into. NAW is a good two-way player. the NOP pick should be top 4 in a very strong draft. I’m not sure which of Amen or Sengun has the greater trade value. I would presume Sengun since he is a two-time all-star, but Amen’s ceiling might be very enticing for some GM’s. Pretty sure you would have to fire Ime to get rid of Amen and he might jump for joy to get rid of Sengun. Problem is who Ime would force Stone to draft. I’d rather just fire Ime and trade FVV, DFS, Adams, Durant and draft picks and build around Amen, Sengun, Jabari, Tari and Reed and shoot for being true contenders instead of the the pretenders we are now.

 

FVV has never been the best player on any team he's played for at the NBA level.

The Rockets are the 7th best 3 point shooting team in the NBA, they just have a moron of a coach that doesn't prioritize it.

A competent coach absolutely kills with the current team...but we don't have a competent coach, we have 65 IQ Ime.

 

i’m open to trading anyone but first up above all else is canning stone and udoka both these fools must go. there’s no point putting together a roster without competent management and their vision. and if possible even before all this, pressure tilfuk to sell the team