Could we go after Ty Jerome? Avg. 20 & 6 on 42% 3pt & 48% FG Would be great backup to Fred and Reeds inconsistency. I really don’t think we have to blow it up. Just small moves like this 26’ Fred / Ty Amen / Reed 27’ Reed / Ty Amen / Nets 27’ Throw in my FVV for Dejounte trade and I’d give you best guard rotation in the league
You missed Sengun being a #2 option at best (maybe even a 3rd). from a championship building perspective, it probably makes the most sense to sell high but don’t expect Tilman to do that. We’re winning games and selling tickets. That’s the main thing for a lot of owners.
It's important to understand that very few teams, even contenders, can field two players who score close to or above 25 points per game under the current CBA. Even OKC only has one. San Antonio has none, Wemby is averaging 24. Boston, Denver, and LA are the only three teams that jump to mind right now. Basically, scoring 20+ points per game and doing it efficiently enough or being an above-average playmaker on top of your scoring makes you a #2 option. I keep seeing people say things like "Amen is a 4th or 5th option" or "Sengun is a 3rd option" and that's just nonsensical to me. Sengun is very clearly playing at the level a #2 option on offense, it's just that his defensive consistency has been a bit of a problem, which makes him harder to fit into a contending team since he's a center. Amen is clearly playing at the level of a #3 option right now on offense, i.e. Aaron Gordon, but could perhaps even be a #2 option in the right situation (run and gun with lots of shooters around him). The problem is that our #1 option is a 37-year-old Kevin Durant, who has never been quite good enough to be the top dog on a contender, but especially not now well past his prime years as a player.
So the problem's the guy playing like a superstar, not the guys playing like crap compared to what they were supposed to be? Make it make sense.
What were they "supposed" to be? Sengun and Amen are 23 years old. How many #1 options are #1 options at that age? Very, very few, I'd argue. SGA didn't get there until he was 24 or 25 years old. In any case, my point wasn't to say "KD is why we suck" or whatever. We don't even suck, we're easily in the top 3rd of NBA teams. My point was that our young players are actually really good and people who don't like this or that guy are instinctively downplaying them because this team is disappointing. But why is it disappointing? It's disappointing because we traded for a 37-year-old former superstar who at this point in his career (and maybe always) is really a #2 option, and expected that to somehow instantly make us contenders. We were never going to be contenders. KD isn't good enough to fix that, and I've been saying that for over a year now. We still have to keep "rebuilding". Either one of the young players we already have will break out and become a #1 option, or else we have to keep finding more young players who have that potential. There's no easy solution. There's no "phase 3". It's just drafting and developing and maybe trading for young players and hoping you find That Guy. KD ain't him. He never has been.
Completely agree - our problem isn’t raw talent. I think completely wasting Silas years was a huge blunder, and Rockets don’t seem to be a good player development team. Add to that a coach after Silas who probably should only coach stacked teams that has the gravitas to ignore him and the maturity to figure things on the fly and it turns into a mess. This is a system issue not a raw talent issue.
Look, there are essentially three dimensions to championship-level rosters in the NBA. Ranked in order of importance: 1. Top end talent. How good is your best player, and your other star(s)? 2. Fit. How well do your player's skillsets create synergies / complement each other? 3. Depth. Do you have a lot of good starter and rotation players, and not just a couple? Most champions have all three, but #1 is the most important and hardest to manufacture - it requires a certain amount of luck, and a certain amount of putting yourself in position to get lucky. We are good on depth. The FO has shown skill in accomplishing that. We also have the assets to build a better fitting roster, if we wanted to use them for that right away. But there's no reason to use assets to do that until we think we've solved #1. We need best players that are on the level of OKC/SAS/LAL/BOS/DEN etc. Yeah we play games every other night, and there are nice highlights, and some guys have nice stats that fans crow about, and then we'll lose a first round series this year blah blah blah. All that stuff is secondary in the project of winning a championship. The real long-term game we are engaged in is finding that best player. That is the great pursuit. Everything else the org is doing is just to meet some minimal viable competitiveness bar to fill the arena, keep fans engaged, and provide a development environment for our young players who are top 10 player lottery tickets. If KD or Sengun can be traded to get us more of those lottery tickets, that's what should happen.
Different era, different rules .... in fact those rules changes have directly led to modern spacing and increased reliance on the 3 point shot. I really don't like player comparisons - especially across era's. I think everything boils down to whether or not you believe Amen is going to improve beyond 35% from 3 - otherwise defenses are not going to change how they defend him in the half court. Really, if he improves to 30-33%, that doesn't change how defenses play him, they are still going to invite him to take those shots rather than let other players beat them. I don't buy it (@J.R.), many of you do ... We're watching year 3 with regression in terms of shooting from everywhere accept the FT stripe. I'm not married to the idea of any of these draft picks becoming the man. At this point, we're expecting miracles in their development. I get it, really - IF Amen does X he becomes a top Y player because he's such a special athlete .... I'd rather cash in now recoup what I can now and pick a new prospect instead of investing more time and cap space in a guy I don't believe is going to suddenly figure out how to shoot - From Anywhere. Next year being the last on his rookie scale deal, what if he doesn't improve dramatically, are some of the "Amen's untouchable" / "Build around Amen" crowd change their minds, or .... I guess it's easy for me, I didn't like him in the draft either, in fact I didn't like that draft at all - It was Wemby and everybody else. I was on board with trading the pick - either back or out completely (after the lottery of course). I wonder if he would have gotten the same opportunities to become what he did in todays league .... Probably not - No. Not a top15 guy in the league shooting so poorly in a league that emphasizes good shooting and efficient play in general.
Not really. He's too awkward. People mistakenly think he'll become Jokic light but he's 50 pounds lighter, smaller frame and not as smart so defensively poor. A trade the Rockets should look at to have any chance against elite teams: Rockets send: Sengun Blazers send: Clingan, 1st round pick 2026 (#11) You can still sell him to the Blazers as a foundational piece who isn't right for the team given our pieces. If they reject, I'd likely do the trade straight up. The team has to add depth, defensive versatility in addition to a perimeter scorer. FVV isn't a fix.
