Now that we have our future All Star back court...

Cam and Amen are your future starters and Jalen is the backup at both guard spots as the offensive spark off the bench (aka Jordan Clarkson, Jamal Crawford, etc).

 

I have a feeling Jabari probably has a good 4-5 years in him......but then you have to Otis Thorpe trade him or bench him as there should be another guy incoming.

There is no telling what Tari can do because all Udoka and Silas gave him were below 30 minutes per game.....I am not comfy with these type of minutes.

 

Its obvious, Fred and Dillon will be moved in a consolidation move or for capspace and picks. Green will be the sixth man by next year, driving his next contract price down. We will keep all five of our studs. If someone is dealt, i feel that it'll be eason if we can't fit him in the cap. As much as we love him, he can be replaced in the draft or free agency. We simply won't sell low on jalen green.

And to be honest, with the emergence of cam whitmore who might be the best player on our team one day, it wouldn't shock me if sengun is eventually traded. But for the next several years, we will hold onto our big five and hopefully eason.

 

We can't keep all these guys, but that doesn't start being a problem until at least the offseason after next. We can afford to be patient for now and wait for an opportunity to acquire a star who fits our timeline. Although I won't complain if we run out and get Lauri at the deadline. (No Bridges though please.)

I see Cam as our starting small forward or 6MOY swingman, by the way. Not because of Jalen, just because I don't think shooting guard is actually his position.

 

Cam better learn how to play defense and pass the ball before he’s crowned anything.

Amen cannot be a 17% shooter from 3 and be a “star”.

Great young talents who still have a ton of work to put in.

 

IMO, Cam is a better defender at the 2 than the 3 at this point in his career. He's also infinitely better than Jalen Green on that side of the court.

Jalen seems eager but easily faked out and surprisingly slow on D. The league knows exactly how to push Jalen around, and he usually obliges- dutifully waving his hands and trailing as his guy scores yet again.

Offensive players are actually concerned that Cam might embarrass them with a steal, dunk, or block their shot into the stands on a closeout.

I could live with Jalen's inconsistent but sometimes explosive offensive game if he weren't such a project on D. Watching that reminds me too much of the Silas era. If there's a good/respectable offer to move on, I'd take it.

 

Cam Whitmore I think should be the Starting Small Forward. Trade Dillon Brooks for Cap Space along with Fred VanVleet next year.

 

I continue to believe that we inevitably will trade Jalen:

1). Recoup value and restock our coffers or finally add a star player
2). Open more playing time for Amen and Cam
3). Avoid having to commit to paying him big money

 

Right now, I could see D.Brooks to the bench and Cam at SF. Thompson at G and Tari PF off the bench for a spark.

Green will not be happy with a bench role and would request a trade if that happened. I wouldn't mind seeing Green and Cam starting a game to see what they can do together.

 

PG Amen Thompson
SG Jalen Green
SF Jabari Smith, Cam Whitmore, Tari Eason
PF Alperen Sengun
C Steven Adams

The Draft will be Huge with the Nets Picks.
Hopefully the Rockets keep those.

 

Rockets need to consolidate after this year and sell high on some prospect. There is no reasonable way this team can keep 6 prospects aged 20-22 on the same schedule. The salary cap literally isn't going to work out in 2-3 years.

Here is my ranking of players to keep.

Must keep:
Sengun

Keep:
Jabari

Might keep:
Green
Whitmore
Amen
Eason

The team is missing an:
2 guard - Green, Whitmore, Eason can all become.
point guard - Amen will not become if he cannot shoot.
banger PF/C combo - need to draft or trade. Adams is here on an one year rental. He doesn't fit in the window unless Sengun becomes MVP next year and takes us top 3 seed.

 

Lol. Jalen's a franchise player

 

Maybe.

DD

 

No reason to even think about trading Amen or Cam at this point--they have three cost-controlled years left on their rookie contracts. Except of course if a true superstar becomes available, in which case literally everybody is on the table except maybe Sengun.

 

Cleverly disguised Jalen Green: Chapter 9 thread.

 

I agree with the last paragraph here. Cam is a SF. He doesn't really have the playmaking ability you want from a guard. Maybe he develops that down the road but he's a long ways away. His best case comp would be a Kawhi Leonard type, more of a play finisher than a setup guy.

I disagree with the first paragraph. We'll be able to keep all of the young guys if they fit and pan out. I suspect the thunder will keep the key guys of their young core (learning from past mistakes). The better players will start to separate themselves (like Sengun) and some guys will settle into being role players.

But, I will say the recent play of Cam/Amen has me thinking we should just abandon any plans of acquiring a veteran guard or forward role player this season. We don't want to eat into the minutes of these young guys unless we are trading for a star player (in which case, minutes will open up because some of them would be involved in the trade).

 

Maybe, maybe no.

18 months ago…

https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/...our-starting-lineup-for-years-to-come.316515/

Odds we found our starting lineup for years to come:
KPjr
Jalen
Tari
Jabari
Sengun

“Jalen is a shoe-in…”
“Barring injury or something else, Jalen is a lock…”
“Confident in Jalen being here…”

KPJ is gone (and replaced by high-priced free agent)
Jalen may or may not be shopped/traded
Tari is injured (and replaced by high-priced free agent)
Jabari…
Sengun…

 

I think Cam's going to be a star, and Amen's going to be a hell of a 2-way asset (not unlike Ben Simmons), but with their shortcomings, I think we need a steady third Guard who can help offset Cam's single-mindedness and Amen's shooting woes.

Reed Sheppard out of UK could be that guy. Not a great athlete and only 6'3", but a knockdown shooter, ball-mover, pest on defense/ball-hawk, and a guy who can run the offense for stretches. You could run any combination of the three and each would give you a different look.

Then if we could move Green for a big who can protect the rim but still play with Sengun (which means he can shoot/move on the perimeter defensively), we'd have an excellent core 7.

Sengun
(Unicorn Big)
Jabari
Tari
Cam
Sheppard*
Amen

 

One example I'll point out as to why I doubt we can keep everybody is the contract Devin Vassell just got. Coming off an 18, 4, and 3 season on good-not-great efficiency, as an okay-ish defensive player, he got paid $146 million over 5 years. Kind of sets the benchmark for Jalen should we extend him this offseason, for example. Jaden McDaniels is another reference point for guys like Jabari and Tari--$136 million over 5 years for a guy who is essentially an excellent 3-and-D roleplayer.

Long term, I think we can probably keep about 4 guys from our current young core. Similar to Denver with Jokic, Murray, MPJ, and Gordon.

But again, this is not a now problem, it's a 2 years from now problem, so I'm not going to stress about it too much just yet.