They complain about his injury destroying their season - but they fail to consider that KD was likely to not be healthy anyway. Injuries happen in the NBA. They had bad luck with FVV but they have had good luck with KD.
Sengun's hot "start" was really just one good night of 3 point shooting v OKC (5-8). His 2 point shooting was mediocre for a C as has been the case for 2.5 years now. I don't think it's the case of a breakdown. Maybe you can argue that his lack of effort on D is related to fatigue, but also it's the lack of a support system with no FVV or Dillon.
lol I think we were all hoping to just get at least 50 games out of both of them. I do not understand how they did not plan for one or both to be out for extended time
Sengun's numbers have steadily dropped each month this season. I'll go with fatigue and lack of a support system. I might add Khol Drogo to FVV and/or Dillon. Drogo took a lot of heat off Sengun. You could also say "no coach." McHale had the clap clap clap "play harder!" school of coaching. Silas did the internalized overbite hands-folded-over-chest method of coaching. Udoka has the weight-room laissez faire blame-it-on-everybody-else glower method.
Well let's see - this is how you fix all of what you just said, if you were IME. Then you put Sengun where he is EFFICIENT which is on the low block, and on defense you need to roll in someone to help clog the middle, probably Jabari or Tari, or Amen - to assist him on the low block. You lean into what he IS good at and stop giving him the ball at the top where he is an inefficient midrange shooter, put him on the low block. Yet, he is over 50% FG for his career - agreed he is a bad jump shooter, stop asking him to CREATE as a PG, he is bad at it, put him in the dunker spot and let him be a tertiary creator AGAIN lean into what he is good at. You have to develop Reed - and you have to cover for him when he is in a mismatch - his shot creates space for others, and every single player on our team is wildly inconsistent outside of KD - the only thing you do with Reed is put the ball in his hand from the jump, and lean into him, we have no other options there. Adams is toast - he is no longer a starting center in the league, he is very good at standing his ground on D, and rebounding, but at this point he is a backup, you don't have to win defensively - you can outscore the opponent when your players are inclined that direction. I disagree that Thompson can't play with Sengun, he plays great on the baseline - again, we lean into what they are good at and not at what they are bad at....let them work on that on their own. You can, if you design your defense around helping each other, not switching, that won't work with this group, but double teaming will.....in fact it is the only way we should be playing unless we play all switchers.... It is LITERALLY HIS JOB to get the best out of his players, YES, the roster doesn't fit for the way he wants to play, but he doesn't try anything OTHER than what he wants to play, and THAT is 100% on him.....he needs to try other stuff, when his players don't fit. We have now seen what doesn't work - but he never adjusts.....and that is 100% on him....we are not getting the most out of this roster....at all....even as flawed as it is. DD
BTW - Kevin Durant is HORRIBLE at defense, while he occasionally plays 1v1 ok, he never helps off his player, and he never steps to stop the ball and he rarely gets back on D, he has mastered how to make his metrics look good but his overall D is bad. DD
Then don't sign Durant or lean into others while they develop don't take the ball away so an old man can chase meaningless career scoring stats. DD
He isn't awful at defense. He doesn't tolerate fools. When he sees the same 3-4 players making the same mistakes over and over again, he eventually just worries about his man. Ideally, he would be gung-ho and always for the stupidity of other players... but he is 37 and it isn't going to happen. KD is pretty straight forward. He is by and large do what he is supposed to do - and he will hit shots, but he isn't covering someone else's ass.
IN the land of HAKEEM - you have the nerve to say that. He literally NEVER helps off his man to stop the ball, he doesn't slide over when someone is beaten, he turns it over and doesn't get back on D, KD is a turnstile on TEAM D, oh he can guard his guy when he feels like it....but that is it, when his guy gets by him, he expects teammates to help when he doesn't ever do that. KD is the biggest FRAUD of a basketball player in the NBA right now, he can score the ball, and nothing else. DD
The Rockets would be in the lottery without Durant. For all of his flaws, he is by FAR the best player on the Rockets.
Ha...HA...and BS..they would have a better record if they stood pat than adding KD. You don't add a KD unless you have a plan, and IME is not that attention to detail PLANNING guy. He is a roll the ball out guy.... Kevin Durant is an aging scoring, he is a more efficient Eddie Johnson, but we aren't using him as an old scorer and he can't do what he used to be able to do, he can do 1 thing well and that is score the ball, but not when he is double teamed then he is a liability. This team is maybe the STUPIDIST Rockets team off all time their basketball sucks....they have talent, they have NO COURSE they follow. We would be vying for the 2nd seed in the West if KD were simply not even on the team. Everyone would be touching the ball, Sengun would be the hub...and the team would have an identity. We have none. DD PS. He is NOT the best player, he is the best SCORER, and nothing else is he best at.
This is not nearly as simple as you make it sound - he can't just catch the ball 3 feet from the rim on every possession because even the worst NBA defenses will not concede that pass, it's not the 1990s. It's also not difficult to double him on the baseline when he does get the ball, usually with Amens man (and Amen is the only thing holding the defense together to account for Sengun weakness) If it were that simple Rudy Gobert would score 80 points because he is one of the best in-close finishers. Sengun actually is good at driving from the mid post as a C it's just his finishing that lets us down
Remember when our lead dog played no defense - like nada.... like a turnstile... videos were made of his epic defensive indifference.... and "those that mattered didnt mind and those that minded didnt matter..." when there was a half court play that he wasnt a part of - he would just wander off around mid-court.... and the word throughout CF was that it was perfectly acceptable because he "had to carry such a load on offense." yeh... good times... lol
