Hollins: "Point guard Kevin Durant, man"

Man, you really won't let this one go. We have so many other problems on the team (ownership, management, coaching, bad fit between players) that this is the flag you plant.

Who's really saying, "WOW! Glad KD is de facto point guard"? It's pretty much ad hoc out there.

Stone didn't acquire another point guard when FVV went down nor at the trade deadline.
"Oh, let all these forwards share PG duties, it'll be fine. Ime? Sorry, dude, you'll have to play Shepard more this season. Reed Shepard, the lil white boy. Take it easy, take it easy! Okay, I'll go sign another tall forward. This one might be a little broken down, though."
"Perfect!"

 

I wouldn't call Reed, Davison, or Holiday ball protecting players at all. I would say they are players who can often get the ball over half-court to allow of half-court offensive players the ability to get in position earlier in the shock clock so we run a more efficient offense.

That being said, all three of those players are not great when pressured, and when they are pressured as a team we are not good enough handling that ball pressure which is a coaching problem.

IMO, I would have Reed, and JD Davison run the PG position more not because they are great ball handlers, but because WE NEED Sengun, KD, and Amen in their spots earlier in the shot clock, and you need that PG position to be someone who can shoot the ball so you don't have someone like Amen bringing the ball up, and then having to switch with someone in order to get in the dunker spot.

The big question though is how does this team handle ball pressure. As someone who coaches my daughters bball team where at that level its 90% of what you coach because full court press is constant, and nobody can handle the rock at that age, I feel Ime's pain.... BUT.... this is the NBA. These guys are supposed to be able to handle ball pressure, and should have schemes in order to break the press, and not look my 11 year old daughters team out there turning the ball over left and right.

A big part of it is just Reed, etc. being poor ball handlers where Fred was much better.... but in the press one FVV or even a Chris Paul in his prime won't make that much of a difference if your team as a whole is that bad at scheming to break ball pressure, and make team's pay for pressuring the ball like team's do with this Rockets team.

IMO, this team honestly needs to practice a whole hell of alot more if we are being honest. The turnovers are likely a result of bad or no practices.

 

Yeah a big problem is just fit. Stone drafted for talent not fit, but fit can be addressed through trades eventually.

-Amen and Sengun likely cannot fit together long term offensively if one of them does not learn how to shoot the ball
-Sengun and Reed likely cannot fit together long term defensively if one or them does not get stronger, grow, or learn how to defend better given their size & athleticism deficiencies.

Those two me are two much bigger problems to solve on both ends than the turnovers. These guys are supposed to be pros. There are things you can do to break the pressure even without great ball handlers if you are able to work on it in practice and have good coaching. Even if you have 1 great ball handler, if as a team you suck at ball pressure, you can easily scheme to take the ball out of the hands of your ball handler, and make the other players get shaky and create more turnovers.

I'm confident even if FVV was healthy this year, this team would still likely be struggling with turnovers because its a bigger issue than just 1 ball handler can solve. Maybe two good ball handlers would help, but at what cost would that come??

To me this season is just is what it is. I'll try and have fun and enjoy the final stretch, but the bigger question is for the Summer. Sengun to me is the biggest question mark because of the two points I made. Really good player, but super challenging to build around if you also have players with shooting, and defensive deficiencies which we have both.

If you really do believe in Sengun as the cornerstone of your franchise then at that point you need to seriously consider trading Amen for a better fit, and maybe Reed as well. That's a tough thing to do, but if its about winning, and you believe in Sengun, Stone has to consider it. IMO, I'd probably look at dealing Sengun depending on what's out there, or run it back next year with a mandate for Amen and Sengun to shoot 5,000 three pointers a day over the Summer.

 

For sure... however Ron Harper was also a SG who played the PG position as was Derrick Fisher as was Kenny Smith, etc. etc.

From a lineup perspective I definitely think Reed is likely to be listed as the point guard moving forward for his career because of his size, and the need for the team's he plays on to have him trailing the play like a PG would in order to get the half court offensive players in their spots earlier.

But yeah in the sets you'll be seeing him off ball, and not as an on-ball creator facilitator.

IMO though as noted, I think the Amen/Sengun fit is the first question that is more urgent to address. Reed is more of a complementary player like a Kenny Smith, Derrick Fisher type where Amen and Sengun are really talented enough to be pieces you potentially build around. Especially Sengun who is incredibly unique, but looks to be challenging to build around.

I could see Reed or a player like Reed being an incredible complementary piece to either the T-Wolve or Knicks right now. A team built around stars that needs that complementary shooter to play alongside a star shooting guard facilitator. He'd be fantastic now on those type of teams. The Rockets just aren't there yet to really have that identity where they are in a position to look at those complementary pieces.... and to get there IMO its all about figuring out the Sengun/Amen fit long term.

 

Yeah last season for sure Amen especially thrived in that dunker spot role and the lack of shooting wasn't as well exploited.

I think the question though is whether you want Amen in a Shaun Marion type of role long term or if you think he's talented enough where you think he could be a cornerstone type of player. This season having Amen do more, and attack the basket as a scorer in that Jalen Green role, and bringing the ball up has really been a mixed bag because if he's not in the dunker spot, he's causing spacing issues because the defense knows to lag off him, and Sengun, and load up on KD/pressure the ball, and wait for the turnover.

If the Rockets do want to keep Amen, and Sengun long term then great.. I'm totally fine with that as long as you are at least for next season.... keeping Amen in the dunker spot, and playing that Marion roll which he is FANTASTIC at. I think the Rockets in the short term would win more games that way right this second.

The question is really about the future and how you want to build long term. My hope is that this Summer both Sengun and Amen get in the gym, learn how to shoot, and all of our problems just go away next season. I love both players, and trades are always a gamble.

However.... the coach in my brain tells me that what I'm seeing now likely can only be truly resolved long term with a trade, or at the very least those two guys not playing alongside each other for huge stretches which means someone goes to the bench.... which is a situation nobody wants.

As I said though, for the rest of the season, I think the team just needs to ride it out, and just see what happens, but one things for certain.... Ime does need to play Reed and they need to practice a bit more on schemes to deal with ball pressure. That's not going to change, and their playoff run with bill very short lived if they don't fix that and don't have the shooting on the court to keep the offense moving.

 

Reed is a natural PG. Watch him play. His handle needs to improve. He needs more experience to learn how the NBA game works. But he is instinctively a PG, not a shooting guard.