[OFFICIAL] Jabari Smith is the X-Factor thread

And still is - shame when he’s hot, we don’t feed him and he ends up going long stretches without a shot after starting 4-4 or 5-5 … he can score 5-7 points in a row and not see ball the rest of the game

 

Give MDA Reed and Bari and watch both of them blossom.

Talent being wasted here playing this ugly grind it out basketball.

I'm just done with Ime. I'm not ready to trade ANY of the young guys (except Tari, he's a role player at best) until I see how they look under another coach. Sengun, Reed, Bari, Amen all got talent but its being wasted watching KD ISO and turn the ball over every night. I'm cool with KD too buit its clear he can't initiate the offense, that's clear with anyone with eyes. Ime knows it too, his post game comments show he knows it, he's just a stubborn MFer that doesn't care that much about offense.

 

It's pretty clear that Amen, Reed, and Jabari are the three players that fit best together, but I'm not convinced there aren't ways to utilize Sengun better and make it work. I think you'd want a lot of off-ball movement and especially off-ball screens to try to minimize the spacing loss from Amen's lack of jump shooting. And I think you'd want Sengun to get the ball deeper and, once he does, to play less selfishly as more of a pass-first guy who scores only when he's 1-on-1 in a decent matchup.

There might be ways to get this core to work. Maybe not at a championship level, but at some level that looks better than this, and who knows what will happen as young guys continue to develop and reach their prime years. But it's not happening under Udoka.

 

If you can't make it work on a championship level .... what's the point? A team should always be working towards that goal ....

 

Keep adding on young players and looking for that #1 option on a championship team. I still think there's a real chance Amen or maybe Sengun could become that guy, but if not, you just keep the ball rolling on adding young talent.

 

I do think it might come to a point where the Rockets choose between Amen and Sengun moving forward.

Bari and Reed are pretty playable in any lineup, so they are not the issue...Amen and Sengun do need pieces that work around them and the Rockets might have to come to that decision of which one will grow into a great player.

I will say this, Sengun wasn't this bad defensively last year, obviously all this zone, I'm not sure that's helping him out. He's already a player that loses focus on defense, when he's honed in on a guy he's been alright to good on defense.

Either way, Ime is going to have to have a really good Playoff performance for me to get back on that ship. Either WCF or a 7 game series bad bounce lost against OKC or something where you go "Ah yeah, I can see how missing FVV might have helped us win this series" or something. Otherwise if I'm the owner I'm making the move. I have to see what I have in these young players and I don't know if the current system is benefiting them at all. They just sit there and watch KD do everything.

 

I think you are going to end up very disappointed - At best, they'll lose a 2nd round series (if they get Minny in round 1 without Ant) and have that built in excuse of missing FVV all year and Ime will be back next year without much question at all.
We'll b**** about him here to no avail .... I expect at least two more years of Ime's shenanigans. By that time he'll have ruined Reed and run FVV / Durant into the ground .... and DFS will still be getting big minutes.

 

I think it is clear Amen is playing better than Sengun. I lean more towards Amen going forward than Sengun. That said, I don't think Amen, Reed, and JSJ have fit so far this season.
Amen and Reed have had good minutes together.
Amen and JSJ have had good minutes together.
Reed and JSJ have had good minutes together.
Amen and Tari have had good minutes together.
Reed and Tari have had good minutes together.

When three of the young players are on the court together, things tend to fall apart a lot more often. I've wanted Reed to start much earlier in the season so the Rockets have more time to see what fits as chemistry takes time. Fitting better than Sengun lineups is a very low bar at the moment.

 

I think someone will ask about Malone joining the coaching staff, if it comes to pass is the true question.