[ClutchFans] Podcast: On the KPJ Trade and Future of the Rockets

OOOH boy, thanks for this.....

DD

 

Looking forward to it.

 

We need more KPJ memorabilia stuff.

 

My biggest take away was something Bima touched on regarding development vs wins.

I really think the team needs some portion of emphasis on development, even at the cost of a few wins.
The fans, players and FO I am afraid want wins over all else.
What we are ultimately building towards isnt going to be realized in 2023/24 in any event.

Giving ourselves flexibility in regards to Oladipo's salary and what not is a good thing, but I hope we dont trade away guys with super high ceilings just to get marginally better at center or some other position.

Should a superstar become available at some point this coming season, the best move to make will have to be measured at that time.
Not saying we should not be looking for the right upgrade.

I just dont think this year is the right one to push all our chips in to get that one guy. We are more than one guy away IMO.

 

“Team looked undersized against San Antonio” in a discussion of Sengun at center:



Collins didn’t score a single basket against Sengun in the post. The Rockets switched everything this game (don’t expect that in real games) so he was matched up with Jabari, Brooks and Jeff Green.

How can the Rockets look undersized vs Zach Collins yet look fine and shutdown the much bigger and better post scorer in Valanciunas? Because they didn’t switch and Sengun actually matched up against him.

 

Clutch: This is the 2nd time they’ve acquired Oladipo; I think it’s the first time knowing he was washed.
Bima: I’m already hearing the Rockets are getting offers of multiple first round picks for Oladipo. Are you hearing the same thing?

LOLOLOL

C: “Amen is the best prospect on the team.”

 

Rim protector discussion:

Thats more of a luxury for a team looking to contend. For the Rockets who are still just trying to crawl back to relevance, for some of you not even expecting a play in, emphasizing a rim protector is really putting the cart before the horse. There’s nothing stopping a team from being top 15 defense with Sengun at center imo, that’s more than enough to get to the playoffs eventually, as the goal for “phase 2”. Then in “phase 3”: championship contention, you got enough of a feel for all the prospects to know who you want to build around. If Sengun is the weak link it’s then you think about trading him for a star rim protector to get to the next level. However there’s a world where Sengun proves himself as the core piece to this team, then you may need to trade Jabari (or play him at SF) to acquire a PF rim protector to pair with Sengun. That point always seems to be glossed over whenever we talk about rim protectors, it’s always to supplant Sengun, when the DPOY and leading shot blocker was a PF last season.

 

Switching all is part of the defensive education the team needs(yeah, the tanking was a huge success!!!). I think it might go on in real games though, until it is learned because it is really fundamental and our guys are still getting lost on switches.

 

While I am glad we are trying to win, I think we will still be a bottom team but will show lots of improvement.

There is a 50/50 chance we get a top 4 pick next year and keep our own pick, IMHO.

28 or so wins might put us there.

DD

 

If we were getting abused by Collins like that in the regular season we would have stopped switching in order to win the game. For instance we would not switch on Jokic, Embiid, even Valanciunas ie legit post players, we just did not treat Zach Collins as one of those last game and Udoka said after the game there’s no reason Collins should have been abusing our switches like that, he’s not that kind of player. Jabari needs to be able to handle Collins on a switch or else we have no business talking about Jabari at the 5 lineups unless it’s extremely situational.

 

If we win 28 games then we need to trade all of the “core 6” young players because it would mean none of them improved and most regressed. There’s just no chance of this.

 

Bima said every team in the west got better except Portland.
It could work out as you say.
If it does though, many will view the season as a failure.

 

Always nice to see/hear another episode of CF podcast.

Thanks.

 

28 seems low but man the West is deep.

The Rockets could still end up being the 3rd or 4th worst team in the West despite having a jump in the win count.

Doesn't mean the core players aren't worth building around.

 

If we traded them all, what we would get back in trade wouldnt be worth building around either.

 

We are not going to trade them all, just like we won’t win 28, neither are realistic.

 

It's way past time to update the podcast artwork. The bearded diva is someone else's problem now.

 

Thx for doing this.