ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Wizards 3/2/2026

And as a follow-up to this, "fit" is especially important for the Rockets because they didn't get a Wemby/Cade "transcendent" guy in the lottery. So for the Rockets to actually win a title in this era, they can't be a "sum is less than the individual parts" type of team. They just don't have the margin of error that an MVP candidate provides you. So, fit matters a lot, even if it occasionally means keeping a really good player on the sideline.

With that said, I do want to see more of Reed/Sengun defensively in high-leverage spots, I really do. I've said it a few times. I'm just not going to crush Ime for it yet because of Reed's extremely young age, the fact that it is trending in the right direction, and there is still a decent chunk of the season still to go.

 

I agree with a lot of what you are saying here.

My biggest pushback would be this:

You talk about Ime easing into the Reed/Sengun paring and not having a lot of data. It reminds me of when Sengun said after one of these recent Reed-fueled wins (of which there are now several, both against bad and good competition) "Reed and I just need to get to know each other" or something to that effect.

What an indictment of the coaching staff that is. The fact that we are getting this close to the playoffs and they still need to "get to know each other". We are well past the time to ease Reed in, if the goal is giving this team the best chance to win. Sengun and Reed should have spent this entire year developing chemistry. This is a "win now" team with a 37 year old Kevin Durant giving us a monster year. I genuinely believe that Ime's stubbornness which can be disguised as patience is costing this team in tangible ways. Reed Sheppard should be getting every rep he possibly can with the starters bringing it up the court. If you want to stagger him and KD some, fine. Way too many times already this year, Reed comes in only after Ime panics and he literally saves the game. So lets nip that problem in the bud.

You know its a problem. You don't want to crush Ime for it??

No. You should crush him, early and often. get off the fence and start throwing some punches.

Please see my post responding to Dave for more detail on why the Amen point guard experiment needs to be over ASAP.

 

Nothing personal, but I don't owe you an apology.

If you don't want to engage in the meat of my response to you, thats fine.

 

I think Ben and Dave are sincere in believing some of the company line, not shills. It's silly and disrespectful to drag them. They are fully informed about everything to do with the Rockets and very CLOSE. Connotation if you see what they see everyday and have that access why wouldn't you draw the same conclusions. I've never interviewed players, coaches, been to practice, or gone to many games. Their assessments are not stupid or baseless. They trust Ime. We all wanted to after Silas. I don't anymore.

I think it all goes back to original sin, FVV. We are slamming Sengun right now, rightfully so, because he has turned into a turnstile that thinks he is Magic. A center taking the rock up the court instead of being the versatile PnR finisher/post up wizard he should be is stupid. SenHUB should be a feature, not the system. No wonder he had 8 TOs. KD thinking he's a PG back in high school doesn't work for a pick and pop legend. At the beginning of the year, we were all so happy because the offense didn't look like it has for the past 1.5 years (I'll come to it quickly). Without FVV, the offense looked vibrant, unpredictable and open. Slashing and finishing and everything worked...and then everyone figured it out. No plays, no system, no continuity makes it easy to collapse with two non-shooters.

I think Ime's value is that he was smart enough to see that the Silas Rockets were a disaster and his FORMULA could hide it. Overrebounding and controlled pace (last in NBA) limited defensive possessions and maximized opportunities of a team that couldn't shoot. Turn up the defensive effort and reduce TOs and you have a recipe for limited success. HE ADMITTED IT in the press conference after the playoffs. The Rockets record since the 2024 ASB is the SAME year over year over year. NO IMPROVEMENT. For that offense to work you need a "governor" to set the pace. Just like a school bus, we have one in FVV. He is Ime and now Stone's guy but he shouldn't be on this team. Reed makes him obsolete and yes I believe this is why he has been slow walked. FVV is NOT a starting caliber NBA PG. Not even close. He cannot penetrate the D and without the POA ability you cannot dissect a D. We should have traded him. I loved Dillon and hated letting him go but we NEEDED KD and we NEED shooters.

I'll admit, I wanted Harden originally and even recently but I STILL wanted Reed to start. Harden can work in any situation running his own system. Reed is BEST when he is the starter running the show because it is his highest and best use. He could have had 15 assists last night. Sengun and Durant over the course of this season have acquired very bad habits and you can't really blame them. They have had to do too much. Let Amen be Amen. I believe he is like Kawhi but that shot is going to take time. We are the lowest 3PT shooting team out there because our spacing is HORRIBLE. Reed fixes that and will continue to get better.

I wanted to follow a strategy of win now and win later without depleting our assets. That never meant stunting the future by keeping a #3 pick on the bench when he has shown this much promise. Good teams DON'T DO THAT. This team BADLY needs an offensive coach that is even another head coach to fix this mess. Ime only knows one way to coach and that lack of awareness and humility is getting exposed on a regular basis.

 

Interesting. Thank you for clarifying your current perspective on the Rockets. I’ll take you at your word, as the impression I’ve gotten over the years from articles and forum discussions has sometimes suggested otherwise. While I disagree with several of your takes on the Rockets, and I understand you find mine legitimately weird, you’ve done an excellent job building a basketball website and fostering a strong community.

Once again, thank you for creating this platform and for continuing to support it.

 

Those eye wrinkles suggest otherwise. He looks like he is in his 40s and definitely doesn't play like a guy in his physical prime years.

 

This is the crust of the problem. If the team really want to develop Reed as their future PG, then he should play with the starters. "Starting is not as important as closing" sounds good but in reality, you want your starting unit to gel as much as you can before the playoffs. If you are too scared to play Sengun and Reed together because of the fear of defensive disaster before you even try it and observe it for a large sample size, then you might as well just trade one of them.

I know I am probably exaggerating a bit. Some of the lineups Ime put in, especially when we are in the lead, make me feel that he has an irrational fear that if he put more than one weak defenders on the floor, we are going to lose. Ironically the effect is often the opposite. We lose leads because the lineups can't score.

 

You realize we would be stuck with JG missing half the season and running it back with JG playing like a scrub and FVV, Adams and Brooks all injured?

I am done tanking man and we would give our pick to OKC.

 

I want Reed to start simply because Sengun and KD need shooters around them not Ben Simmons who is bad at playmaking.

I loved Amen last year but this year he hasnt taken the leap I expected people keep he should be an offball dunker but how much is an athletic defensive forward who cant shoot worth nowadays? We can see the market rate of Ausar and Ron Holland they arent projected to make a lot in the open market.

 

Appreciate that. Also, keep in mind that there's a balance when it comes to disseminating information. We can and do share our opinions at times, but if all we do is relentlessly agenda push, it hurts our ability to get credible info in the first place. If you want to get real info, you need to be able to present it in such a way that presents multiple sides and allows listeners to draw their own conclusions. Otherwise, the actual sources are going to search for others who will, that's just how life works.

In today's age, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of Rockets podcasts and shows offering strong reactions and opinions on everything under the sun. If we solely do that, we're just one of a limitless sum. We do some of that, but there is a balance, especially if we want to be able to weave in privileged info. Personally, I think that's a big part of our unique value proposition. If all you want is the strongest opinions, there is no shortage of options that already exist.

I actually think this board is potentially a really good conduit, in that it offers an opportunity for follow-ups for folks who want to know more about what I or Dave personally think about something. I want to be open and transparent

 

A good example is a few weeks ago, I presented some background info on FVV and the KD pursuit last summer, and I had a few folks kinda arguing with me (as if by presenting the logic from the team, I must be fully endorsing it myself). In reality, as I explained here, that wasn't entirely the case.

Blending news and opinion is tricky, and a lot of folks are so used to "hot take" culture that they expect everything to be all-out strong opinions, all the time, and messengers get shot. In reality, there's a balancing act to it

 

No Reed?

I hate Ime.

 

Ime Is disgusting on coaching

 

It is, and I even tried to help him with that old game rewatch setup, but it never went beyond one game. He has his inner circle and rarely goes outside of it anymore.