I don't really care tbh. Po-ta-toe, Po-ta-to. Whether he is breaking out or in his prime the important thing is he is playing well or not. Lonzo Ball for example started out looking like a bust in his rookie year but "broke out" in his first year in Chicago when he was starting to hit his prime at age 25.
"Your best ability is availability" Murray is a fine player. He has had some signature games. He takes advantage of the attention that goes toward Jokic and the roster construct over there is damn near perfect. My point is that if Sengun is going to be exactly like THAT then just surround him with tough defenders that can hit the 3 pointer consistently with plenty of motion and cutting and the results should be the same. Its ok to copycat things that work. You can almost see a glimpse of that just with the inclusions of Freddy and Dillon.
Think of the term "you are only as strong as your weakest link" - Denver has Jokic as a ceiling raiser but then has a bunch of guys who have relatively high floors - Murray, MPJ, and Gordon could be borderline all stars on a different team but they play a team ball so no one of them has gaudy stat lines. KCP is a quality NBA role player at worst and a competent starter at best....and he is their weakest link. That's why I keep pointing fans here back to the fact that really good teams can be built this way and Houston certainly could as well if we get out of this "head honcho/franchise player" fixation.
Im with it. Im a 3 point cultist! If this team can surround Sengun with near 40% outside shooters who can switch everything on defense it should work. Good 3 point shooting teams that defend are never out of a game. Sadly it seems that Houston currently has too many "weakest links". It would be nice at this point if Jabari would even hit his floor as he could be a guy who feasts in this type of play style. Starts with hitting wide open shots.
KPC is definitely a 14-15 ppg kind of player somewhere else, proven. He has made strides playing Defense.
The person I was responding to said that we can't judge Green until he's 28.... that's why I said that would require giving him at least one of not 2 more contracts before we're allowed to point out that he sucks. If the person I was talking to wants to walk that back and say that we can admit Jalen Green sucks at 22 during his final season under contract, it would have made the conversation more honest and less insane. Maybe try to keep up with the conversation that is being had if you want to comment on it.
This is not entirely correct. My understanding is that the Rockets only have the option to extend his rookie deal through October of next year. After that, Jalen will become a RFA which means we (a) keep him one more year via our qualifying offer; (b) sign him to a new contract or (c) match the contract offer from another team. The risk with (a) is that he will become an unrestricted free agent after year 5 and we could lose him without any return. The risk for (b) and (c) is that the RFA offer from another team is more than we are able or willing to pay. Either scenario is bad asset management - if a team knows they won’t or can’t keep a player, the best thing to do is trade them when they still have value. A 4th year rookie is not nearly as valuable a trade asset as a 3rd year rookie, as the other team we trade with would prefer to have all options (extension, RFA, UFA). I realize this is somewhat of a semantics game, but we should be clear that certain options will be gone by October of next year.
Yeah, I think Jabari in particular would be the greatest beneficiary of that style of play as well. I think he will get there eventually but he clearly isn’t an intuitive player- he has to “process” and that takes time for him but I see real improvements with increased reps. In a lot of ways he is the antithesis of Eason who reacts first and thinks last. I think that is the reason Eason has frankly looked better sooner than Jabari. I think it will be interesting to revisit that point in another few years to see who is the better player when they are up for contract extensions.
The good news about this season is that the wins and losses don’t really matter that much, we are not winning the championship, it’s all about evaluating the team and determining who exactly is the core like the OP attempted with this thread. Except thinking that Jalen was the core is a laughably bad take, at least that’s obvious now, and who the real core is.
I don’t understand +/- I missed the game tonight so I didn’t see Jalen play. The stats don’t look good, but I guess he was the 2nd best +/- on the team, behind Tari. I’m noticing Jalen is not on these core lists. Was he that bad tonight? can we give him until the all star break to write him off? I’m not a huge Jalen guy, but it feels like there’s a lot of folks who are giving up after just 15 games with Ime.
100% an overreaction. JG is coming from AAU and 2 years of Stephen Silas. There is a dog in there somewhere and Udoka is going to find it eventually. At this very moment, we are at the beginning of JG's re-education.
Look, the stat sheet might not scream 'star performer,' but the plus-minus tells a story, right? It's not all about points and flashy plays; if he's contributing to the team's overall vibe and success on the court, that's worth its weight. About him getting the cold shoulder on those core lists, yeah, it's kinda harsh. Feels like some folks are just itching to toss him aside. Was he that bad tonight? Depends on who you ask, but basketball's more than just one game, right? Now, let's talk real. Giving up on Jalen 15 games in? Come on, we're talking about a marathon, not a sprint. Ime's just getting started with the guy, and let's be real, coaching changes can mess with a player's groove. How about we chill a bit, give the man till the All-Star break before we start calling it a bust? Talk about a short leash! To the 'not a huge Jalen guy' crowd: take a breath. This ain't a microwave situation. Let's see how it cooks up a little longer. Who knows? We might be eating our words while Jalen's serving up All-Star level play by midseason. Now wouldn't that be something?
Jalen Green is clearly a better overall basketball player than last season, but offensively he's still the exact same guy. If he doesn't become a reliable impact scorer at some point this season it will be very hard to consider him a guy you build around.
You do realise Jalen isn't 15 games in right? You realise he's in YEAR THREE, right? You realise there is miniscule improvement from his first day on the Rockets to now - his third year in the league, right? You do realise other young players are already showing massive improvement over last year already - except Jalen, right? Also, if someone said Jalen Green had a good game tonight, you really shouldn't ask for their opinion on any basketball related matters ever again, because they clearly are blind.
Whoa, hold up! I get where you're coming from, but let's not sleep on Jalen's game just yet. Sure, he's not a fresh rook anymore, we're on the same page there. And yeah, he's riding into year three with the Rockets. But saying his growth is minuscule? That's harsh. Development ain't always a straight line, especially in the league. It's the small tweaks, the grind, the off-season hustle that add up. And about last night, c'mon, everyone can have an off night or a killer night. Even if Jalen showed out, it's not fair to call fans blind for giving props. Basketball's all about those moments, hot streaks, and sometimes a little bit of that fan love, you know? Let's give it some time and see how he takes off.
