Approaching this from a different angle: What does the Sengun/Amen combo need to make it work?

Do you all realize if we won most of the close games we should have won, we’d have the best record in the league.

 

Amen has to commit to being a Swiss Army knife on offense. Get to the dunker spot, screens, pick and roll to the basket. Anytime he’s standing around the three point line is a defensive win for the opposing team

 

Sixers surrounded Ben Simmons with shooters but at the end it still didn't work out.
Amen has to become a somewhat average shooter. There is no viable work around.

 

Trade Sengun is an answer ! Thompson is a much better attacker & finisher than Simmons

Simmons was afraid of dunks - Thompson leads the league in them!

 

I’ve said it many times, but I’d like to see those two surrounded by 3 elite shooters, including a true lead guard initiator. And Amen needs to be in the dunker or the 3 spot. If we could see what that looks like for an extended period of time, that’s our best chance to see if Amen/Sengun can work. Then you hope they both really improve their mid-range games, which I honestly believe can happen.

If that doesn’t work, nothing will work.

 

I am a fan of both Alpi and Amen, so I definitely want things to work out long term - and I am looking out for the next 8-10 years. I do think the Rocket's window is "Open" and would look each off season to build a contender without giving away too many long term draft assets. I am not in favor of trading Alpi or Amen for the next 2-3 years unless the other side overpays with both a good young player + net draft assets.

• Either one developing even a reliable mid range shot/move would solve the "problem."
• Others have mentioned staggering minutes - I think that is a good idea as well in the shorter term until they can change personnel.
• Others have mentioned having more movement shooters - we probably need 1 or 2 more besides Reed Sheppard if Amen and Alpi are our 2 alphas long term. I think these types of players are available for the mid range exception.
• I would look to move Tari or Bari for a Combo forward who could both shoot the 3 and put the ball on the floor and create. As an example, I would spend assets to get Trey Murphy III from New Orleans if they make him available. Otherwise, I would look to draft jumbo wings/combo 3/4's in the '27, '28, and '29 drafts.
• After Van Fleet's deal is done, bring in another (backup) pure point guard that can run the pick and roll. I thought Ty Jerome could have been a nice option, but the Rockets didn't look that direction. Maybe the Rockets can use assets to get Ty Jerome this offseason.

Hopefully we get a combination of these options over the next 1-2 offseasons.

 

My honest answer is I don't believe it can be done but if I had to give it my best shot:

Sengun
Durant
Tari
Amen
Sheppard

Bench: Capela, Jabari, Okogie, Holiday

1) By far the most important thing I'd do is have Sengun take a higher volume of 3's, efficiency be damned. The most important variable here is that this is not sustainable and we need to dig ourselves out of this situation. My instinct tells me at 3 attempts per game, Sengun would have a better rhythm and could potentially hit over 32%. That's equivalent to 48% from the field. WAY better than his middie (like 38% IIRC). Let's just get him improving as fast as possible.

2) The other 3 players have to be elite shooters (around 40% and above) with very good volume. None of them can be below average defenders. Personally I'd go with Durant, Tari and Sheppard. I think shooting is the problem of our homegrown duo and that's what we should surround them with as a priority. This also makes it easier to swallow Sengun shooting 32-33% from 3.

3) I would push up the pace to a maximum and accept some turnovers. You don't build a team around Durant. He likes to score the way he likes to score and those possessions should be iso. The Warriors ran a parallel system with him over there. Essentially when playing through Curry, they had their full motion offense zipping around. When playing through Durant, they went into his preferred iso mode with very little motion. It worked great. We need to develop a system for Amen/Sengun and that should be a high pace run and gun team. They puts less pressure on everyone's handle and playmaking ability. Playing in the open court is far more comfortable for our young athletes than navigating a muddy crowded paint that usually requires an ultra polished handle. Maximize transition points with the energy of Amen/Tari/Reed. When we play through Durant, play iso. Really simple.

4) In the real life scenario if Ime is the coach, now you have the exact perfect coach for this team. They need a coach who helps you overachieve defensively. Who is an expert defensive coach and motivator. It's a perfect fit.

I'd give that a shot from the beginning of the season and spend the season tightening that unit. Even if it doesn't fully succeed, I've invested in them being WAY readier for next season so that they can start taking the reins of the team. Or you can look at it as: if it fails with shooters of the calibre you can be absolutely certain it's just impossible to make work.

 

When have they made it work before???? These issues are magnified in the playoffs, we should be talking about PLAYOFF BASKETBALL. Forget the regular season, they "made it work" because teams don't game plan nearly as much for a meaningless tuesday night game and it was their first full season as starters.

Oh, and by the way, some smarter coaches are beggining to exploit our weaknesses even in regular season games, since they figured out there's not even much game plan needed. Just ignore Amen on offense, like SA did and it's over. Can you imagine how bad it's going to be in the playoffs?

The only chance for this duo to work is for one of them to develop a shot, preferably Amen. It just seems highly unlikely to ever happen.

 

I think a better coach or at least bringing an offensive specialist on staff would help more than any player we could realistically add while keeping both Amen and Sengun.

Not discounting personnel helping but I don’t think just adding shooters is the answer. They’ve had Tari, Jabari and KD who can all shoot.

I also think we have to stop trying to make Amen the pg. He needs to to go back to being a super utility knife. Lock back in to being the best defender on earth. He was on a trajectory to become a really special player in the role he played last year.

One reason why I think the Rockets can still have a good offense with Sengun and Amen is that Sengun is actually not that far from being a decent 3pt shooter. He’s been around a 30% shooter for his career. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility he could become a 35% shooter which would be good enough to at least give defenders pause about ignoring him on the perimeter.

Of course Amen could become a better shooter as well, he just has so far to go that Id put Alpi’s odds higher.

There’s multiple paths to making the pairing work though. Attacking it from multiple angles is what I’d do. Bring in coaching help whether Ime is replaced or someone added to staff. Bring in better personnel….mainly I think we need a big to play behind Sengun that can shoot and defend….Jabari could be that guy playing the 5…

And lastly, Sengun and Amen need to perform a blood ritual to become better shooters.


But for right now the best thing they can do is to just play Reed more


What I’d do right now is start

Sengun
Bari
KD
Amen
Reed

First sub would be Tari for Sengun

Bari
Tari
KD
Amen
Reed

From there I’d work in Okogie, Clint….and either Davison or Holiday for short stints to fill in ball handling gaps.

We could still use double big…just not with Amen on the floor. No more than 2 non shooters at a time and only for short stints.

 

Amen just need to attack the paint with a purpose. Be decisive and intentional and not passive. Anthony black had the same issues and limitations as Amrn and look how he lays. He’s not out there shooting a lot of shots from the perimeter or midrange but he stays agressive and takes his shots when the drives are there. Amen needs to attack the rim with purpose and seek the contact and stop trying to avoid it with the side steps and contortions.

 

Trade Şengün for whom actually? Trading him doesn't change the fact that Amen needs to become an average shooter.

 

Dude, did you watch the Spurs game? The Spurs came back because they switched Wemby onto Amen. That only worked because Amen was operating at the perimeter, allowing Wemby to shade off him and roam. That wouldn't work with Amen in the dunker's spot, which is the whole point. If someone shades off of Amen when he's in the dunker's spot, they are leaving him wide open for an easy bucket. When Amen is in the dunker's spot, I rarely if ever see his defender fade off him. He's just too deadly from there.

I remember there was a play last night when Durant drove, Sengun faded down from the elbow, and Amen was in the dunker's spot. Neither Amen nor Sengun's defender moved to help with Durant, because they knew that Durant would simply dish it for an easy bucket.

 

please talk to Ime about this

 

Amen on the dunker spot is still an easy to defend offense. Wemby would cover ground for both a rolling Sengun and Amen. The spacing would still be terrible.

How many teams have had success in the playoffs playing 2 non shooters the past 10 years?

 

They already had it last year with FVV

FVV - Amen - Dillon - JSJ - Sengun was our death lineup. 30+ NetRtg

 

The most frustrating part about Amen is that I think he is an excellent and extremely valuable player.

BUT

he is being played out of position and being asked to do things he isn’t suited for.

He needs to be a dunker spot guy and be allowed to focus all of his energy on playing free safety and hitting home runs on defense. At those things, he is ELITE.

I am not giving up on his development, and I don’t want to trade him, but his role needs to change.

He was given the on ball opportunity and I’m glad. It was the right thing to do, and I was strongly in favor of it at the beginning of the season.

The big question at the beginning of the season was, can Reed or Amen flourish as the PG with Fred out?

We have our answer now. We are getting a monster year from KD, it’s time to focus on making a run. No more ****ing around.

 

Only 11 minutes with that lineup this season is unfortunate, would like to see too

 

When did the Rockets surround Sengun and Amen with movement shooters and cutters?

 

Well, we're obviously speaking conceptually. Though I'm not sure where the idea came from that we somehow don't have anyone who can shoot. From a percentage standpoint, we're a top 5 3 point shooting team. Bari, Sheppard, KD, Eason, and Okogie all have really good 3 pt shooting averages this season.