NBA.com (ROCKETS HAVE WORST STARTING LINEUP IN NBA)

With the exception of last night in crunch time, Sengun’s not good enough defensively to play with Sengun.

 

The problem I’m seeing with Reed right now is A) he needs shot volume to get it going, especially when he’s not hitting shots, and it’s not going to happen with KD AND Sengun on the floor, and B) he’s matchup dependent. The scouting report on him has got to be if you score on him a few times it’ll take him out of his game. Most teams are exploiting that. Miami for instance DIDN’T exploit it.

 

The problem is, I don't trust the front office or the coaching staff in constructing good roster for this team. Stone has done nothing impressive so far since his time here running the show to convince otherwise

 

Unless Giannis is a Rocket, I'm not expecting much. I just don't think the Rockets will give up on the young players just yet. If they did, it would most likely be Sengun and Giannis is the only player available that would be worth more than Sengun.

 

That just leads to more point Durant.

We already know that's a turnover waiting to happen.

This team has two issues, one offensive, one defensive.

Sengun and Amen don't fit offensively.

Sengun and Shepard don't fit defensively.

The easy answer is to replace Sengun with a player who can both defend the rim and shoot from beyond 10 feet.

 

yes,replace sengun with giannis

 

I was told Sengun was a good defender lol

 

It's not the players, it's the coaching

 

Okogie funnily enough the best starter we had out of Reed, Tari and Adams. Clearly it's on coaching.

 

I took that as Ime just looking for something anything to spark some fight. I actually won't be shocked if Ime puts Okogie back in the starting lineup even after he barely has played him. I think he sees him in the same vein as Holiday. He knows what he brings, and what he doesn't. Knowing what he doesn't bring means there are going to be stretches in the season where him and Holiday just flat out don't see the floor.

But with the starting lineup, Okogie is reliable enough to not hurt you and be defensively competent enough to help that unit start games more effectively.

I also thought of the idea that he might actually start Tate just for kicks to see if he can bring some energy, and fight. I think it's more likely to start Okogie for stability, and bring Tate off the bench for a spark though IMO.

 

But he's not playing

 

I believe he should be starting and bring Bari off the bench for more scoring. This would give us two really good defenders in the starting 5 and a guy that can hit an open 3, but doesn't need touches like Smith. To me this is a more balanced starting lineup.

Bringing Smith and Eason off the bench would give us a spark.

 

Well, somebody done lied to you.

 

lol

 

worst starting lineup and 0 bench

recipe for disaster baybeeeeeeeee

 

its because of Alpi defense but also Alpi sets horrible screens, he attempts to slip them too early....JG stats looked the same with Adams on and off ...

 

Tari went from being a solid starter to the worst player in the NBA overnight. Hard to recover from that.

 

Best case scenario is they're trying to reduce his payday after this season so they can get him back. Still, puzzling for a team allegedly in win-now mode.

 

His 3pt % has been ~40% in every month except for a long December (cue Counting Crows)

 

• Sengun is A- interior and D- perimeter defender
• Reed is an F in both
• Okogie is A+ perimeter and C+ perimeter defender. AND he always guards the other team's best player (A+ in matchup difficulty)

We're better when Reed doesn't have to guard starters. That's what 6th men are for (see: Williams, Lou). If that's Reed's ceiling in the league that is OK. The front office is having delusions of Harden going from bench to starting lineup and changing everything.