It's time to start thinking about moving Jalen before the deadline

He's not shooting anywhere close to other starting role players asking for that amount. He's taking a ton of shots like he is, but simply not efficient at scoring. He's definitely not worth anywhere near that amount. There are guys making far far less money who are shooting better than Jalen. How could he or anyone else possibly think he's worth 5 to 10 times more than guys who are better shooters?

Eric Gordon signed a 2 year / $6,552,719
FT 45% 3PT 39% TS 58.4%

Aaron Holiday 2.34 Million 1YR
FT 45.5% 3PT 42.9% TS 58.7%

Jalen Green
FT 41.8% 3PT 33.9% TS 53.1%

 

I wish everyone would just look up his contract situation. The options for the next 2 seasons have already been exercised. We do not have to extend him until the 25 off-season or we can just let him go to RFA in 26 and let the market determine his worth. There is absolutely no reason to panic sell Green right now. Let him work it out from the bench if necessary, but to sell low on a 21 year old with his potential is idiotic.

 

The "trade Green NOW" sentiment is just emotional kneejerk.

I've said it earlier. Keeping Green is low risk high reward. Trading him is high risk low reward (unless we get something great in return, which is highly unlikely).

 

Agree! I'd hate to see us give up more draft picks to trade him after already wasting our #2 pick on him to begin with. See if he gets better, and if not, then just let him go when the time comes. I just wish he got less minutes until he gets to a point where he is shooting better than guys on the bench.

 

I agree he shouldn't be traded but let's be honest, keeping him in no way is high-reward at this point lmao.

The reality is it's malpractice to keep starting & closing games with one of our worst players. His minutes & spot in the rotation should be significantly adjusted at this point.

 

It became fairly obvious that Green cannot fit himself into the Udoka 'Everyone defends and still be able to do off ball movement to be in position to score'.......

The next move would be to come off the bench and score like Cole Anthony......you have to be even more efficien at microwave scoring.

 

I don't mind benching Green, but don't see a significantly better replacement unless either Amen or Cam suddenly become readied NBA players. If we were contending this season, I'd agree that we should trade him for a serviceable vet SG. But we are not. There's no need to rush.

I disagree that Green is one of the worst players we have. If that is true, he would not be playing this much. He is definitely better than Bullock and Amen at this point. Cam has not played in the big league yet, so we don't know. As bad as Green is shooting, teams are still concerned about him getting to the hoop with his speed. That in itself is value on the court. And I still have some hope for his breaking out. But if he is still like this toward the end of this season, I'll take the "potential" tag off of him for good.

 

You are again wrong about Green's contract. I showed you this yesterday via his contract details on Spotrac.

Here it is again - Jalen Green Contract, Salary Cap Details & Breakdowns | Spotrac

He is under contract for this season and next.

Next year is his final contract year with the Rockets.

He is RFA in the 2025.

 

I mean...based on what? He's clearly our worst starter. He has been clearly outplayed by by Tari and Jeff Green this year. He's right there with guys like Holiday & Jaesean Tate in terms of effectiveness, yet has a significantly larger role for no reason other than where he was drafted. I was not including guys who don't play like Bullock & the rookies, though I don't think Whitmore would be much worse than Green at this point, if at all.

It's been 3 years now & multiple offseasons. He has added nothing to his game offensively & in some ways has regressed. He is who he is.

 

My apologies I posted a spotrac sometime back that has been updated. This would say we have all of this year and next to decide on an extension.

 

At this point we should move him to the bench to see if he responds to being demoted and temporarily move Dillon to the 2 and Tari to the 3. We could also look for a stopgap SG like Clarkson or Burks while we wait to see what Jalen and Cam both develop into and next year we re-evaluate whether we need to find a better starting caliber SG in free agency or trade. Fred, Dillon, Tari, Jabari, Sengun is a better shooting and even better defensive lineup if Sengun can at least try hard at pick and roll defense. Plus he'd be surrounded by 3 point shooters. Jalen is too bad a shooter for spacing. Bench squad would be Holiday, Jalen, Amen, Tate, Uncle Jeff and hopefully a replacement for Landale lol.

 

Jalen Green's main problem is he misses KPJ. KPJ helped him more than a lot of us saw on the court. He hid a lot of his flaws

 

Brooks as the starting 2 guard will not work. I’m going to be a broken record on this. Stone should trade for Brogdon or Caruso and let Jalen come off the bench. Somebody in each unit has to be able to break down the defense by going into the lane. That is the only reason Jalen is still starting. Obviously, Ime is starting Green, because there is no one on the roster that can do that effectively. Cam is not ready at least in the organization’s mindset.

 

I think Dillon at the 2 could work, but I like your trade ideas too. I think Clarkson and Burks are good targets as well.

 

I'm on the fence. It's very possible that he does need a change of scenery and role and he's never going to figure it out under Ime's system. He just... might not fit in. He might not be an NBA starter at all. He might need to eat the humble pie of being traded and end up coming off the bench for somebody else, and that's where he ultimately finds the most career success. That was ultimately Jordan Clarkson's fate, and he's had a fairly successful career after a not-dissimilar first few years in LA.

It's hard to, for example, promote a rookie (Amen or Cam) above a third-year 2nd overall pick for ego management reasons. You can do it, but does Jalen ultimately set his mind on leaving the organization then anyway? If so, isn't it maybe better to trade him now while he has the most time left on his deal, the most youth and "mystery box" potential?

No, he's not worth much if you sell now, but he could be part of a larger package.

I just don't know. Glad it's not my decision to make, it's a tough one that could come back to bite you whether you choose inaction (stay the course) or to trade him now (if he blows up somewere else and becomes an all-star and you didn't get enough value back).

 

Right, I agree with that. I don't think we're at that point right now though.

Also, if we bench him and cut his opportunities we basically KILL any trade value he might even have. If we are going to trade him, you do it with him still playing the role and still having teams believe that WE believe in him. The moment we bench him and decrease his usage is the the moment we tell every other team "Eh, we're giving up on him and moving on, we'll take whatever we can get."

We still have to put up the front that we believe he's a future all-star player. I mean it sucks because I'd like to sneak into the playoffs and Jalen's play is definitely holding us back right now but at the same time I always expected that this team would miss the playoffs and still think we do unless another team gets a serious injury and falls out which...Suns, Lakers, and Pelicans are likely there.

 

Tari Eason might make that decision a lot easier.

What he's been doing is going to make that Jalen decision a lot easier. If he starts draining the three like he has been, Jalen is as good as gone. We still have Amen and Cam as prospects.

I think Tari's and Bari's improvement has been the one of the best things this season. Tari growing as an offensive player has been fun to see, he kind of reminds me of a Kawhi-Butler type, didn't come into the league with a lot of fanfare, but a dog, gets after it, and once Butler and Kawhi started knocking down long range shots?

Tari seems a lot more like an Ime guy too, fits the mentality of the team better.

Basically, right now, Amen, Tari, or Cam can all replace Jalen so the Rockets do not have to be super patient with him.

I said earlier in this thread, I give him until the trade deadline. I'm giving him January to CONSISTENTLY have good games. If he doesn't, yes I am trading him for future draft picks and a vet that can help now and slotting in Tari at 2 and calling up Cam. That's just how I'd do things though.

 

I agree that Eason, Holiday. and Jeff are more effective players than Jalen. I can't answer the coaching decision why he has a larger role than these guys because I really don't know. Tari and Jeff play a different position so you can't just give Jalen's minutes to them. I'd like to see Holiday in the starting lineup with FVV in the back court just to see how effective that is. I'd also want to see Amen and maybe Cam to take some of Jalen's minutes. They might be worse than Jalen for now but I want to have a better look at their potentials.