If no Wembanyama in the draft, who do you guys want?

that's either me or @PeterKingX

 

It’s way too early for this, we need to watch these guys play.

 

Have you watched these guys play - it's hard to recommend.

I think I've watched every minute this year and i consider myself worse off for having done so

 

There are guys that can turn a franchise around within 1-2 seasons of being drafted, Luka and Ja both did this and provided 10+ win total improvements almost instantly, Luka took a ~24 win team to 33 his first year, and then 43 wins his second, we just have not seen these types of players in the last two drafts is what I believe. Zion has been injured, but when he plays he is definitely a franchise type guy that is on another level from anyone we have, and he was like that immediately. Either way, if the Rockets messed up drafting I do not know yet, but if they did they have not missed out on a franchise altering player yet. From what is seems, we have some average NBA players that we drafted, no one that will be getting a statue outside of the arena.

 

They are hard to watch .... but damn, what did we expect?

I think they are right where I expected them to be for the most part.


Jabari looks solid defensively even if his shot hasn't been falling. The NBA 3 is longer than the NCAA & close outs happen faster, I expect him to have his struggles early on. We knew he wasn't a great finisher around the rim.

I thought KPJ has actually played fairly well. If he could make more of those mid range bunnies, he'd be killing it right now. He can get that 6-8 footer anytime he wants. Ref's really don't give him many calls at the rim for some reason. That tech he got against PHX was a total joke. He and Mathews both got techs and Lee got FT's when Lee should have gotten the first tech and Mathews a second for checkin that hoe.

Sengun has been a walking double double in limited minutes ..... I won't mention his defense. SOF's will get their panties in a wad.

Tate has shot 40% from 3 on a small sample size .... but struggled overall coming back from injury.

Tari is looking great. Shooting .462 from 3 while eating up the rebounds. Steal of the draft.

KMJ hasn't shot well. I think he's being highlighted for a trade.

If anyone looks to have regressed, it's Green - a little behind expectations but that could just be a slump. He had a rough patch early last year and got better as the season wore on.


Aside from Tate & EG the rotation is all 1st and 2nd year players .... this is exactly what I expected to see.

It'll get better .... and if it doesn't they'll package some of these dudes for a star in the offseason.

 

scoot or one of the Thompson twins

 

There's only a few guys in the league like that .... Luka, Jokic, Giannis, Ja & Zion when healthy, Maybe Harden? And only one of those guys has an O'Brien trophy.

Lebron can't do it alone anymore. KD isn't KD anymore.

D Mitchell couldn't do it in Utah because he was terribad defensively. Did that change in Cleveland?

Dame couldn't do it alone.

Curry never was that guy to carry a team on his shoulders but has had a great team around him.

KAT couldn't get a team out of the first round.

I can't think of there ever being more than a handful of those dudes in the league at any one time and every team wants one so that leaves most teams looking for one.
There seems to be several every year that we think, or at least the media hypes up that might be one of those guys who never gets there for whatever reason .....

 

There are very few who can likely you win you a ring on their own, very few have done it, but there are a good amount of star players who can create a 10+ game difference in wins by playing most of the season. If you remove these guys you don't win. That includes guys like Curry, Giannis, Lebron, Tatum, KD, Butler, Embiid, Jokic, Luka, Booker, PG, Trae, Ja, Zion, Ant, etc. etc. These are pretty much all-star level players, so far I do not think there is a guaranteed all-star player in the last two drafts, there are some very good players, but not an all-star. In their rookie years you could see that both Ant and LaMelo were going to be guys that added wins, and they did it, they just carried instant swagger, i dont se that in the last 2 drafts. Cade is making strides, maybe by the end of the season he is on that level, but it doesnt seem like it so far and he is actually older than both Ant and Lamelo.

 

To be honest, I question whether we have an alpha / allstar or not too .... but I think we have to give both Green and Jabari some time and I've said it on multiple occasions that Tari might develop into a real star too. He just impacts the game like few others.

 

Edwards is a few weeks older than Cade.

 

Not for our top pick, but he looks interesting as a floor general for us in the later 1st round:



Excellent vision and passing, would certainly help us more than Nix or Ty.

 

Correct, I forgot that Cade is a few weeks younger than both Ant and LaMelo,

 

Scoot is better than Jalen

 

Scoot of course

 

if we have the worst record again we'll be guaranteed a top 5 pick and this is my current top 5. no hot takes here.

wemby
scoot
amen
smith
whitehead

 

Do you remember who was picked 2nd or are you too young?
You're right. No guarantees.

 

Nope he will be standing in the corner watching KPJ dribble. Scoot might be the only thing that saves us.

 

KPJ and Sengun both have regressed significantly in the assist/36MIN category. I was expecting the Rockets to be weak at facilitating, but not this bad. Green has been very bad. It is still very early, but I expected Green to make things closer even with all the other things wrong similar to the way George just got buckets last nigth despite the Clippers offense not being great other than him and Zubac gettting close looks. Instead, Green and Jabari are killing the Rockets.

 

Houston Really Needs a Big Man.

Houston Fans miss Hakeem, Ralph, Moses, Yao. The Shot Blocking and Scoring in the Paint.

Alperen, Jabari are Great, but its like the Rockets are missing a Extra Tall Center that help out the Team Defensively and Offensively.

 

Wemby or bust!