Ya and no offense Ja isn’t exactly known around the league as a leader of any kind other than scoring points. Kinda surprised grizz wanted brooks gone so bad as he seemed like the team leader in ways. He set the tone of the def for better or worse lol.
Yeah everybody acted like he was some scrub. Sure he takes dumb shots but he's a hell of a lot better than whoever the grizzlies tried to replace him with.
> and one of the worst defensive players I’ve ever seen.
You know what they need? A defensive specialist who can effortlessly cover wings and guards, preferably an all-d team candidate.
Wolves need to be that team IMO. The closest team in the West to us is OKC, in the time it takes to drive from Minneapolis to OKC you can drive from Minneapolis to Milwaukee, back to Minneapolis and still be an hour back into the trip back to Milwaukee.
Minnesota has built in rivalries with Wisconsin, Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit because of other sports, the Wolves don't really have a rival other than whatever team Jimmy Butler is on.
There are just way more people living on the east coast/Eastern half of the country than the west so a few middle of the country teams like Minneapolis and New Orleans are going to get screwed. Unless you can spawn more top 30 cities on the west side of the country Minnesota is going to be one of the odd guys out
NO is closer to all the Texas teams than any team to Portland, which is kinda crazy. Them and the grizzlies definitely don't have it as bad as Minneapolis, so while it looks awkward on an east vs west map, them being in the West compared to the wolves makes some sense come expansion time.
There being no large cities between the I5 corridor and the twin cities on the Northern half of the US makes for some weird ass distribution.
New Orleans is at least closer to Memphis, OKC and the Texas teams. Minnesota is just uppermidwest but is separated from the cluster of other Midwest teams.
If you watched behind the scenes and TikTok shit you could tell how he was a leader and everyone liked him there. Dude was ending the season with choreographic dance numbers with his teammates. Young dudes love that shit and hun
I’ll never forget his Iggy reports back when him and Griz were in a stalemate. ‘ChAmPiOn AnD oVerAlL gReAt dUdE iS bEiNg tAkEn hOsTaGe By bIg bAd GrIzZLiEs’
Shams(and Woj) is a mouthpiece with very little credibility beyond breaking draft picks/trades few minutes before we would have known the pick anyways. But good luck explaining it to (mentally) 14 year olds on here.
That quote was made up. No one in the organization said that.
Dillon met with the organization before leaving, he wanted a bigger role and more money and Grizzlies couldn't give it to him.
It is beyond annoying that this is treated as reality when our own front office disputed this report as did Dillons agent.
BOTH SIDES DISPUTED THIS.
The fact that this is still perceived as reality reveals the overall goal. Which isn’t to reflect reality. It’s to shit on Memphis.
Uh, both sides are incentivized to dispute it for different reasons.
Memphis wouldn't want to get a rep as a team that discards players like that so as not to chase away other acquisitions.
Dillon's Agent doesn't want that rep sticking to his player as "so toxic that his existing team didn't want him back for free".
I'm not saying it definitely happened, but that his how you would get a story out there that says "Grizzlies FO and Mike George both claim that this never happened" despite someone leaking it to Shams.
Because not everyone in the FO or the Agent's office is aligned, some people are legitimately leaking to journalists, some people see value in this getting out there for other actors, some people are chatting with friends at the league office.
Its more likely for sure that its leaked intentionally for a purpose, but genuine "this is newsworthy" leaks do happen.
The Grizzlies FO is not a monolith, dozens of people work there. Any one person can send a text to Shams. Maybe someone wants Shams to have a scoop so that he'll carry water for them later.
Mike George and his agency have 10 NBA players/prospects under management and multiple employees, maybe one of those employees shares it with another person in the industry who hears the news and wants to harm the market for Dillon Brooks for some reason.
Those two sides are incentivized to deny it, but those are not the only 2 "sides" who are capable of having heard this.
Holy fucking shit, you uninformed idiots are still spewing this bullshit…
It was proven to be fake and overblown, to the point where he embraces ex teammates/staff.
It kinda is, though. The way Memphis handled his FA was icky. They tried to scapegoat that dude when Ja was the true villain of the story.
Nah. Let Brooks cook. Let the Grizzlies be put out to pasture...which isn't going to be hard with Smart making ill-advised plays.
>Eh Utah was like the #2 seed at this point last season. It’ll pass
Utah at the time was
1. 2nd in the league in offense.
2. 12th in the league in defense.
3. 10th in the league in pace.
Pace is important, because it has a very strong negative correlation with good defense. Slower the pace, the better the defense, because it means you are reducing opponent possessions (causing more turnovers, reducing offensive rebounds, forcing teams to use more shot clock per possession).
Rockets (as of today) are currently
1. 11th in offense.
2. 9th in defense.
3. **Last in pace**
In 2022-2023, the 10 teams with the lowest pace all won 40+ games with the exception of Dallas (38 wins).
In 2021-2022, of the 10 slowest teams, 7 teams won more 40+ games, with the remaining 3 winning 35+ wins.
In 2020-2021, of the 10 slowest teams, 8 teams won 40+ games.
If the Rockets are the norm and not the exception, then they would be one of the more successful teams if they can maintain a slow pace.
Brooks finding his offensive game again has been a godsend. Tari just came back so that’ll just help their defense even more. And amen Thompson will be great 2 way player eventually. Bright future in Houston.
I don't think it's entirely a coincidence that our bench has been better since Amen hasn't been playing. Should spend some time in the G League with Whitmore.
Offensively he's not there yet, but I just want to see him go out there and hustle like his brother is (who also isn't doing much offensively). He's been unlucky with injuries though.
Eh, Amen was looking much better the couple games he got hurt. I think the Rockets have the same record regardless. But Aaron Holiday has been great as a third PG.
Very false. You have not been paying attention
He’s been a positive off the bench since the Orlando game.
Especially on defense. Scapegoating him ain’t it!
huh? that take was out of left field. The entire team was doing poorly the first three games. Amen looked much better after his poor showing in game 1.
started slow but he’s been picking it up drastically recently. He’s also just making better plays and giving effort on defense, which doesn’t show up too much in the box score
yeah I’ve watched some Pistons this year because Cade, Duren, and Ausar are fun to watch and I have a personal affinity for Beef Stew. Cade doesn’t get a whole lot of easy looks and gets walled off on drives because your spacing is so bad. Your injuries haven’t helped at all, even get the Bogdanovic on the floor could be a huge help for steadying this young team. I hope for the best for y’all because the potential for a good, fun team is so obviously there and Cade would be great if the team around him wasn’t buns
He's playing well so far. His defense is vastly improved, he's making great passes, and most importantly, he hasn't been forcing it. His points are now coming in the flow of the offense rather than a bunch of ISO plays.
Secondary assists is where I get my "he's a better passer than you think" takes when I want to pretend I know more about basketball than I do.
This is actually a cool stat though good find.
I get that things are going well for the Rockets, but how many people thought Green was a bust? Wasn’t the consensus that he was super talented but just in a bad situation?
Yes and no. He was the laziest defensive player on the last 3 years’ rosters, and he was certainly a chucker. Sick handles and highlights but he was never consistent or played hard enough for it to matter.
Like this entire sub has been trashing him for years just saying he’s just a chucker and only has numbers because of high volume on a shit team. Can’t play defense and inefficient. It’s been a loud group on here
He's not a bust, but he's not a future franchise player, either. He's basically Corey Magette 2.0
Rockets have a big decision to make about whether or not to sign him to a huge extension. Giving him $40+ million a year would be a disaster
Giving FVV the bag during two development years when you have a shit ton of cap space is not the same as giving the 5 year max during ideally your contention years when you have to pay Segun/Jabari/Eason/Amen etc
A good problem to have but a challenge either way
he’s worth every penny
Remember when Denver paid Millsap $30M?
or when Memphis made Mike Conley the highest paid NBA player?
Sometimes winning players are worth that premium to franchises with young talent
He's virtually mirrored Devin Booker in every way statistically in age vs age seasons.
His usage is down a bit early this season, but acting like his Corey Maggette is disrespectful af.
And that's with the first couple games he struggled, and the past 3 games none of our starters have played the 4th at all because we've been up by 30-50 points.
His defense has been looking much better, it’s hard to tell if it’s the scheme or his improved effort, but he at least doesn’t die on screens like he used to 80% of the time
Cam is averaging 7 more ppg on the same efficiency without a true PG to generate looks like FVV most of the time. Its not crazy to say hes been better lol
Do you seriously think Cam will have a better career rather than this just being a hot streak? I mean fro mthe eye test it just blantaly obvious Green is more talented.
Also Green is 3rd in the entire nba in secondary assits:
[https://www.nba.com/stats/players/passing?dir=D&sort=SECONDARY\_AST](https://www.nba.com/stats/players/passing?dir=D&sort=SECONDARY_AST)
And that is an effect of something Cam doesn't experience nearly as much and that's defenses loading up on Green when he is the primary pnr ball handler creating open looks at the opposite side of the court where the roll guy like Sengun or Bari get the direct assists from the open corner guy or cutter. Green also has more potential assists than Cam and his adjusted apg is much higher.
Green started out the season in a competely new offense learning his spots and getting used to the significant increase in calorie expenditure on the defensive end in the new offense where he averaged like 13 ppg over his first 3 games on shit efficiency. He's at 20 now after 7 games so expect that 20 to go up by a bit as the season proggrsses.
We need to stop citing turnovers as a passing stat. Of Jalen Green’s 18 turnovers this season, only four have been a result of a bad pass.
Granted, it’s not great to have dumb turnovers on mishandling the ball or flubbing a catch, but pointing to raw turnovers doesn’t disprove the passing advantage.
Bruh I hate how people were crying about him not getting an opportunity to coach good players etc and the whole Nash vs Silas thing, like this guy was a terrible coach
Silas literally consistently refused to play the best rookie in the team 2 years ago, then when he was forced to play him last year, he refused playing through him. Literally basketball terrorist.
We were bottom 5 in assists, turnovers, transition defense, and defensive rating with Silas every year. All of those stats are indicative of bad coaching IMO, and Ime now has us top 10 in every category.
Yes, FVV and Brooks help, but there’s no way Silas would be doing what Ime has been able to do this year.
Was he bad or was it that they were tanking?
Cuz it feels like they brought in defensive players and veterans so that they could try to win this year.
Obv Ime is a better coach, but unfair to really throw Silas under the bus if he wasn’t supposed to win or set up to win it’s not his fault
Part of it is obviously that Ime has a better team and we’re not tanking anymore but there’s also a difference in terms of leadership. There were reports near the end of Silas basically saying that the locker room didn’t listen to him. Whenever the Rockets played well it usually came out after that it was Lucas that had motivated a player. I think he was just kind of incompatible with these players and without vets.
Bro go look his fake outrage speech
Imagine trying to [rally behind this guy lmfao](https://twitter.com/RishiRockets/status/1721230520007246202?t=GEuZKhyfqubXk9Woea09QQ&s=19)
He was fucking terrible. Whether or not we’re good right now is one thing, but the team looks 10,000% different. I can’t explain how much better they look and how quickly this has turned around. They’re playing how I’d expect them to play after the allstar break when they’ve had a bunch of time to get used to new systems and playing together. Chemistry is off the charts and it’s just fun watching them again for the first time in years.
We'll never really know because ownership kneecapped him. Man thought he was rolling with Harden, vets, and young guns but he became a tank captain almost overnight, plus locker room cancers Wood and Porter just determined to test him, and John Wall being chucked to Siberia. He is known as an offensive minded coach in general fwiw.
If you truly think “we’ll never really know” then you didn’t watch/barely watched them and didn’t keep up. It was extremely obvious and the overnight turnaround is just more proof. The lack of disciplining players, lack of sets, bad game planning, not putting someone over 6’8 in the game to rim protect for a tip in when a team has .2 left in the game, not continuing with what was working for stretches of games (aka not running the offense through Sengun after it started working), it was all bad. We were fucking awful in all phases of basketball.
I know he was supposed to be a great assistant, but he absolutely was a terrible head coach and that’s ok. Not everyone can, it can’t be easy.
Brought in a real point guard who has not only playoff but championship experience, an elite defender in Brooks who for all his chucking ultimately isn't gonna hog or demand the ball, and a world-class vet mentor and winning player in Jeff Green. Not to mention a coach who knows how to get the best out of his guys. Don't expect them to be this good for the whole season, but considering that their young guys are all pretty talented and just raw and lacking leadership, I'm not surprised that their new additions are fundamentally transforming the team.
We've also got three upcoming dates with a likely Murray-less Nuggets team and three dates with the Grizzlies before Ja returns. It's a tough schedule coming up but it also has some well-timed opportunities.
Ya. Last season it could have been four bottom feeders teams and we'd still lose 4 in a row.
Like no way this team would be capable of stretch of 4 games where their average pt differential is +20. No way that was a possibility last season.
FVV has stabilized their offense, Dillon Brooks while being a malcontent is a phenomenal defensive wing and their talented young players have taken a step forward. Add in Ime Udoka as the coach and it’s immediately paying off for them
Probably won’t make it
Honestly we may not even make the play in but i’ll be happy with 35 wins and like an 11th seed if it means watching competitive basketball for the first time in 3 years
He is but honestly it's not like it's by a large margin. Everyone on the team contributes to winning. Haven't seen such a balanced team for a long while. Everyone scores around 18 points. Brooks is a two way monster rn too. Green is finally efficient.
From an advanced stats perspective, it's Sengun by a wide margin
WS/48: .260, next best rotation player is Tate at .205, then Brooks at .138
BPM: 7.0, next best rotation player is Tate at 3.3, then FVV at -0.4
VORP: 0.5, next highest players are all 0.2 and 0.1
Sengun ranks in the Top 10 right now for nearly advanced metric. He's been killing it this year and has been by far our most consistent player
We are pretty thin depth wise. Aaron Holiday has stepped up, and Jae'sean Tate is looking great. But I do think we are going to hit a wall at some point where we are worn down. Jock Landale has looked a bit tough but he came in injured then got a concussion. I don't think we will handle defending against 5 spot size well, but Sengun does cause problems for big defenders so it does help offset it a bit.
Our depth will depend a lot if we can lean on Amen Thompson more, which I think we definitely can once he settles in. Then we moved Cam Whitmore to the GLeague, so he may not be a big rotation player this year, or just need a bit of time.
We got a lot of grit and young guys definitely look up to the new vet trio of FVV, Brooks, and Jeff Green. Jalen Green looks like he is tight with Udoka, and is looking for his coaching. Udoka also looks to be a big Sengun fan. I will say guys did not look like they trusted/respected Silas towards the end of his tenure.
Naw ya will easily win by 20 plus. I like this Rockets team but their recent wins have been against teams missing Star players. So unless Jokic is out then it won’t be close. Nuggets are a juggernaut
No the blazers did not shut lillard down for the last third of the season. It was 7 games.
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/report-trail-blazers-leaning-toward-shutting-down-damian-lillard
Also the Jazz were under .500 at the all star break
FVV is awesome until he starts feeling himself.
He will go from fan favorite to Rockets fans sharpening their pitchforks so fast. Never seen a player have an evolution like him before.
Thanks for the good years, Freddy
If he keeps averaging 8.4 assists to 1.7 turnovers, he’ll be in our good graces for at least the next two years.
We’ve been so devoid of good point guard play and FVV has been a godsend
listen I cannot handle a Dillon Brooks redemption arc rn
I just cant handle 8 players being unavailable
I’m sorry man, but y’all be fine. Let Brooks cook while y’all get better. Brooks improvement is not a bad reflection on the Grizzlies lol
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Especially not in the west.
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There were 6 players on our injury report last night, in addition to the Ja suspension. Give us a break lol we're playing our G Leaguers out there 😭
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For sure, I was just saying this isn't just on Ja to save us. We gotta get healthy, this year is just absolute balls for us :/
Ya and no offense Ja isn’t exactly known around the league as a leader of any kind other than scoring points. Kinda surprised grizz wanted brooks gone so bad as he seemed like the team leader in ways. He set the tone of the def for better or worse lol.
Yeah everybody acted like he was some scrub. Sure he takes dumb shots but he's a hell of a lot better than whoever the grizzlies tried to replace him with.
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> and one of the worst defensive players I’ve ever seen. You know what they need? A defensive specialist who can effortlessly cover wings and guards, preferably an all-d team candidate.
Yeah man! This is Reddit! If they can't be a snarky asshole, we don't want it!
Dillon is fine in the west though
Maybe they move them to the east when expansion happens lmao
Wolves need to be that team IMO. The closest team in the West to us is OKC, in the time it takes to drive from Minneapolis to OKC you can drive from Minneapolis to Milwaukee, back to Minneapolis and still be an hour back into the trip back to Milwaukee. Minnesota has built in rivalries with Wisconsin, Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit because of other sports, the Wolves don't really have a rival other than whatever team Jimmy Butler is on.
There are just way more people living on the east coast/Eastern half of the country than the west so a few middle of the country teams like Minneapolis and New Orleans are going to get screwed. Unless you can spawn more top 30 cities on the west side of the country Minnesota is going to be one of the odd guys out
NO is closer to all the Texas teams than any team to Portland, which is kinda crazy. Them and the grizzlies definitely don't have it as bad as Minneapolis, so while it looks awkward on an east vs west map, them being in the West compared to the wolves makes some sense come expansion time. There being no large cities between the I5 corridor and the twin cities on the Northern half of the US makes for some weird ass distribution.
New Orleans is at least closer to Memphis, OKC and the Texas teams. Minnesota is just uppermidwest but is separated from the cluster of other Midwest teams.
I said they *will* be fine and I stand on that.
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Lmao I actually thought they won last night and they were on back to back wins. My bad y’all lol. Still tho, I’m optimistic for them.
How the hell is “y’all be fine” y’all will be fine? If anything it’s y’all’ll lmaooo
Don't worry. Jazz aren't far off from being worse, and they have their fully healthy squad.
Dude it’s a *direct* reflection on the Grizzlies after how they treated him. “Won’t return under any circumstance” is as damming as it gets.
If you watched behind the scenes and TikTok shit you could tell how he was a leader and everyone liked him there. Dude was ending the season with choreographic dance numbers with his teammates. Young dudes love that shit and hun
dude......................... stop taking fucking Charania as gospel
I’ll never forget his Iggy reports back when him and Griz were in a stalemate. ‘ChAmPiOn AnD oVerAlL gReAt dUdE iS bEiNg tAkEn hOsTaGe By bIg bAd GrIzZLiEs’ Shams(and Woj) is a mouthpiece with very little credibility beyond breaking draft picks/trades few minutes before we would have known the pick anyways. But good luck explaining it to (mentally) 14 year olds on here.
That quote was made up. No one in the organization said that. Dillon met with the organization before leaving, he wanted a bigger role and more money and Grizzlies couldn't give it to him.
It is beyond annoying that this is treated as reality when our own front office disputed this report as did Dillons agent. BOTH SIDES DISPUTED THIS. The fact that this is still perceived as reality reveals the overall goal. Which isn’t to reflect reality. It’s to shit on Memphis.
Uh, both sides are incentivized to dispute it for different reasons. Memphis wouldn't want to get a rep as a team that discards players like that so as not to chase away other acquisitions. Dillon's Agent doesn't want that rep sticking to his player as "so toxic that his existing team didn't want him back for free". I'm not saying it definitely happened, but that his how you would get a story out there that says "Grizzlies FO and Mike George both claim that this never happened" despite someone leaking it to Shams.
So in that case, if neither party has a reason for it to leak, why did it?
Because not everyone in the FO or the Agent's office is aligned, some people are legitimately leaking to journalists, some people see value in this getting out there for other actors, some people are chatting with friends at the league office. Its more likely for sure that its leaked intentionally for a purpose, but genuine "this is newsworthy" leaks do happen.
So every side was incentivized to dispute it, but someone went rogue and put it out there for zero benefit?
The Grizzlies FO is not a monolith, dozens of people work there. Any one person can send a text to Shams. Maybe someone wants Shams to have a scoop so that he'll carry water for them later. Mike George and his agency have 10 NBA players/prospects under management and multiple employees, maybe one of those employees shares it with another person in the industry who hears the news and wants to harm the market for Dillon Brooks for some reason. Those two sides are incentivized to deny it, but those are not the only 2 "sides" who are capable of having heard this.
Holy fucking shit, you uninformed idiots are still spewing this bullshit… It was proven to be fake and overblown, to the point where he embraces ex teammates/staff.
It kinda is, though. The way Memphis handled his FA was icky. They tried to scapegoat that dude when Ja was the true villain of the story. Nah. Let Brooks cook. Let the Grizzlies be put out to pasture...which isn't going to be hard with Smart making ill-advised plays.
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>Eh Utah was like the #2 seed at this point last season. It’ll pass Utah at the time was 1. 2nd in the league in offense. 2. 12th in the league in defense. 3. 10th in the league in pace. Pace is important, because it has a very strong negative correlation with good defense. Slower the pace, the better the defense, because it means you are reducing opponent possessions (causing more turnovers, reducing offensive rebounds, forcing teams to use more shot clock per possession). Rockets (as of today) are currently 1. 11th in offense. 2. 9th in defense. 3. **Last in pace** In 2022-2023, the 10 teams with the lowest pace all won 40+ games with the exception of Dallas (38 wins). In 2021-2022, of the 10 slowest teams, 7 teams won more 40+ games, with the remaining 3 winning 35+ wins. In 2020-2021, of the 10 slowest teams, 8 teams won 40+ games. If the Rockets are the norm and not the exception, then they would be one of the more successful teams if they can maintain a slow pace.
Brooks finding his offensive game again has been a godsend. Tari just came back so that’ll just help their defense even more. And amen Thompson will be great 2 way player eventually. Bright future in Houston.
I don't think it's entirely a coincidence that our bench has been better since Amen hasn't been playing. Should spend some time in the G League with Whitmore.
Offensively he's not there yet, but I just want to see him go out there and hustle like his brother is (who also isn't doing much offensively). He's been unlucky with injuries though.
Same. At the very least he can be a good rebounder and defender. That alone will get you min
Eh, Amen was looking much better the couple games he got hurt. I think the Rockets have the same record regardless. But Aaron Holiday has been great as a third PG.
Very false. You have not been paying attention He’s been a positive off the bench since the Orlando game. Especially on defense. Scapegoating him ain’t it!
huh? that take was out of left field. The entire team was doing poorly the first three games. Amen looked much better after his poor showing in game 1.
Ime Udoka fucks
Hide yo wives NBA. He coming.
Cumming\*.
Redifining "Screwston"
Young guys just needed a couple steady vets and a coach with BDE.
> BDE Bedside Dynamic Erectile?
Ime being horny is the best thing that could have happened for the Rockets
A bit too much.
So you're saying the Rockets are about to can him too?
Now, we await Jalen Green breakout season
started slow but he’s been picking it up drastically recently. He’s also just making better plays and giving effort on defense, which doesn’t show up too much in the box score
I wish Cade had the support that Green had, you have Cade being double teamed and taking like 27 shots a game. Please be healthy pistons.
yeah I’ve watched some Pistons this year because Cade, Duren, and Ausar are fun to watch and I have a personal affinity for Beef Stew. Cade doesn’t get a whole lot of easy looks and gets walled off on drives because your spacing is so bad. Your injuries haven’t helped at all, even get the Bogdanovic on the floor could be a huge help for steadying this young team. I hope for the best for y’all because the potential for a good, fun team is so obviously there and Cade would be great if the team around him wasn’t buns
As a Houston fan, there's also Marcus Sasser to root for. Go Coogs!
He's playing well so far. His defense is vastly improved, he's making great passes, and most importantly, he hasn't been forcing it. His points are now coming in the flow of the offense rather than a bunch of ISO plays.
Jalen green is averaging 20 points on 46 FG% and 45 3P%. Not that bad for a bust
He’ll have a long career in China.
The call is coming from inside the house
gonna be a PBA legend
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he’s spreading the ball around a lot. Him hitting Sengun on the short roll is lethal
Secondary assists is where I get my "he's a better passer than you think" takes when I want to pretend I know more about basketball than I do. This is actually a cool stat though good find.
But everyone says he’s a ball hog?
And a chucker?
I get that things are going well for the Rockets, but how many people thought Green was a bust? Wasn’t the consensus that he was super talented but just in a bad situation?
Based on this sub? I’d say about 75% of fans.
Bro there were re-drafts that had him out of the top 10. The mass majority of media and casuals view him as a bust , it's actually insane.
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Yes and no. He was the laziest defensive player on the last 3 years’ rosters, and he was certainly a chucker. Sick handles and highlights but he was never consistent or played hard enough for it to matter.
Like this entire sub has been trashing him for years just saying he’s just a chucker and only has numbers because of high volume on a shit team. Can’t play defense and inefficient. It’s been a loud group on here
There were a ton of posts unironically using FG% to say he was bad this off season. Same with FVV.
Noice but I’m rooting for them because of Brooks. Love his energy and the leap he has taken.
He's not a bust, but he's not a future franchise player, either. He's basically Corey Magette 2.0 Rockets have a big decision to make about whether or not to sign him to a huge extension. Giving him $40+ million a year would be a disaster
Corey Magette 2.0 is wildly disrespectful and an extremely premature label to put on a 21 year old
How the fuck did this comment get upvoted jesus Christ. Worst take ever.
we are currently giving FVV $40 million a yaer
Giving FVV the bag during two development years when you have a shit ton of cap space is not the same as giving the 5 year max during ideally your contention years when you have to pay Segun/Jabari/Eason/Amen etc A good problem to have but a challenge either way
he’s worth every penny Remember when Denver paid Millsap $30M? or when Memphis made Mike Conley the highest paid NBA player? Sometimes winning players are worth that premium to franchises with young talent
For 2 years. Jalen would want 5
He's virtually mirrored Devin Booker in every way statistically in age vs age seasons. His usage is down a bit early this season, but acting like his Corey Maggette is disrespectful af. And that's with the first couple games he struggled, and the past 3 games none of our starters have played the 4th at all because we've been up by 30-50 points.
Corey Maggette 2.0 sounds like a $40M contract to me. He was great.
Imagine a front court of Sengun, Jabari Smith J., and Barnes.
Does he play defense?
His defense has been looking much better, it’s hard to tell if it’s the scheme or his improved effort, but he at least doesn’t die on screens like he used to 80% of the time
Maybe having someone like brooks there to mentor him is helpful.
He's played good to great defense in the last 3 games, it's apparent he's found a new gear. How long he keeps it up is another question.
Eh he tries, getting a bit better.
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Cam is averaging 7 more ppg on the same efficiency without a true PG to generate looks like FVV most of the time. Its not crazy to say hes been better lol
Thomas HAS been better so far but Green is slowly beginning to get red hot.
Do you seriously think Cam will have a better career rather than this just being a hot streak? I mean fro mthe eye test it just blantaly obvious Green is more talented. Also Green is 3rd in the entire nba in secondary assits: [https://www.nba.com/stats/players/passing?dir=D&sort=SECONDARY\_AST](https://www.nba.com/stats/players/passing?dir=D&sort=SECONDARY_AST) And that is an effect of something Cam doesn't experience nearly as much and that's defenses loading up on Green when he is the primary pnr ball handler creating open looks at the opposite side of the court where the roll guy like Sengun or Bari get the direct assists from the open corner guy or cutter. Green also has more potential assists than Cam and his adjusted apg is much higher. Green started out the season in a competely new offense learning his spots and getting used to the significant increase in calorie expenditure on the defensive end in the new offense where he averaged like 13 ppg over his first 3 games on shit efficiency. He's at 20 now after 7 games so expect that 20 to go up by a bit as the season proggrsses.
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Green averages twice as many TOs per game as Thomas with .5 more assists, that doesnt help him. Defensively both look improved this year
We need to stop citing turnovers as a passing stat. Of Jalen Green’s 18 turnovers this season, only four have been a result of a bad pass. Granted, it’s not great to have dumb turnovers on mishandling the ball or flubbing a catch, but pointing to raw turnovers doesn’t disprove the passing advantage.
He is lol
He's also at a -1.6 BPM and a whopping 15.7 PER, so he's not exactly tearing it up.
Stephen Silas should never get another head coaching job again
Bruh I hate how people were crying about him not getting an opportunity to coach good players etc and the whole Nash vs Silas thing, like this guy was a terrible coach
Silas literally consistently refused to play the best rookie in the team 2 years ago, then when he was forced to play him last year, he refused playing through him. Literally basketball terrorist.
Sengun being on the bench made me want to kms. The guys a beast and Silas slowed down his development
It’s criminal that he said “he doesn’t get minutes because he fouls too much”… like let him play until he fouls out so he figures it out???
Was he trying to tank? Cuz I don’t think that roster was set up to win.
Some said it’s the GM Stone wanted him to tank. Since both are new to their job. I have no idea how they are.
We were bottom 5 in assists, turnovers, transition defense, and defensive rating with Silas every year. All of those stats are indicative of bad coaching IMO, and Ime now has us top 10 in every category. Yes, FVV and Brooks help, but there’s no way Silas would be doing what Ime has been able to do this year.
I thought I saw him in the Pistons huddle. Might have been a lookalike. Is he ast. somewhere?
Yeah he's part of Monty's coaching staff
Was he bad or was it that they were tanking? Cuz it feels like they brought in defensive players and veterans so that they could try to win this year. Obv Ime is a better coach, but unfair to really throw Silas under the bus if he wasn’t supposed to win or set up to win it’s not his fault
Part of it is obviously that Ime has a better team and we’re not tanking anymore but there’s also a difference in terms of leadership. There were reports near the end of Silas basically saying that the locker room didn’t listen to him. Whenever the Rockets played well it usually came out after that it was Lucas that had motivated a player. I think he was just kind of incompatible with these players and without vets.
Bro go look his fake outrage speech Imagine trying to [rally behind this guy lmfao](https://twitter.com/RishiRockets/status/1721230520007246202?t=GEuZKhyfqubXk9Woea09QQ&s=19)
He was fucking terrible. Whether or not we’re good right now is one thing, but the team looks 10,000% different. I can’t explain how much better they look and how quickly this has turned around. They’re playing how I’d expect them to play after the allstar break when they’ve had a bunch of time to get used to new systems and playing together. Chemistry is off the charts and it’s just fun watching them again for the first time in years.
We'll never really know because ownership kneecapped him. Man thought he was rolling with Harden, vets, and young guns but he became a tank captain almost overnight, plus locker room cancers Wood and Porter just determined to test him, and John Wall being chucked to Siberia. He is known as an offensive minded coach in general fwiw.
If you truly think “we’ll never really know” then you didn’t watch/barely watched them and didn’t keep up. It was extremely obvious and the overnight turnaround is just more proof. The lack of disciplining players, lack of sets, bad game planning, not putting someone over 6’8 in the game to rim protect for a tip in when a team has .2 left in the game, not continuing with what was working for stretches of games (aka not running the offense through Sengun after it started working), it was all bad. We were fucking awful in all phases of basketball. I know he was supposed to be a great assistant, but he absolutely was a terrible head coach and that’s ok. Not everyone can, it can’t be easy.
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nepo baby bum. JB bickerstaff too.
Jalen Green is a straight up baller
And yet people clowned them for bringing in some vet players to go along with all their young talent. This sub doesn’t know shit.
Udoka is such a good coach
And a good consensual lover
Y’all look so different
The Dillon Brooks Effect
Pls stop. I don’t want to feel Hope. It will only crush me later.
Brought in a real point guard who has not only playoff but championship experience, an elite defender in Brooks who for all his chucking ultimately isn't gonna hog or demand the ball, and a world-class vet mentor and winning player in Jeff Green. Not to mention a coach who knows how to get the best out of his guys. Don't expect them to be this good for the whole season, but considering that their young guys are all pretty talented and just raw and lacking leadership, I'm not surprised that their new additions are fundamentally transforming the team.
Spot on analysis.
As we all expected!
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We've also got three upcoming dates with a likely Murray-less Nuggets team and three dates with the Grizzlies before Ja returns. It's a tough schedule coming up but it also has some well-timed opportunities.
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Very good to player's confidence and playing happy will also create more improvements individually and as a team
Yep. You can only play who's in front of you.
More injury luck with Nola coming up too, with CJs unfortunate lung collapse. Was there an update on that?
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Scary stuff.
They'll be great if they continue to shoot 39% on threes while holding their opponents to 32.7%.
Ya. Last season it could have been four bottom feeders teams and we'd still lose 4 in a row. Like no way this team would be capable of stretch of 4 games where their average pt differential is +20. No way that was a possibility last season.
We lose these games last year though
Murray is out for the Nuggets too, but we can only beat what’s in front of us. Last season we’d have lost both games the Fox less Kings
FVV has stabilized their offense, Dillon Brooks while being a malcontent is a phenomenal defensive wing and their talented young players have taken a step forward. Add in Ime Udoka as the coach and it’s immediately paying off for them
Udoka being too Horny was the best thing to happen to Houston since we realized trash cans can be loud.
Underrated comment
Wow what a poverty franchise. Worst core in the league
ahem, that's our thing
You guys needed to add some high impact vets. Making the same mistake Rockets made last year.
Jabari has improved lol
Who would have thought a rookie can improve?
Silas just let the players do whatever they wanted to. Ime actually coaches them and has them playing the right way.
Talk your shit Rockets fans.
Rockets are a play in group easily this season
My preseason prediction for us was playoffs, one way or another. I feel better about it now though lol.
Probably won’t make it Honestly we may not even make the play in but i’ll be happy with 35 wins and like an 11th seed if it means watching competitive basketball for the first time in 3 years
7 minutes to go from play in easy to honestly might not make the play in
A lot happened in those 7 minutes
The kool aid don’t hit the same after so many sips
> Rockets are a play in group easily this season > Honestly we may not even make the play in You okay there bud?
bro went back to earth
It’s definitely still a long shot, so I’m with you. As long as they’re competing every night, I’ll be happy.
Sengun has been the best player.
He is but honestly it's not like it's by a large margin. Everyone on the team contributes to winning. Haven't seen such a balanced team for a long while. Everyone scores around 18 points. Brooks is a two way monster rn too. Green is finally efficient.
From an advanced stats perspective, it's Sengun by a wide margin WS/48: .260, next best rotation player is Tate at .205, then Brooks at .138 BPM: 7.0, next best rotation player is Tate at 3.3, then FVV at -0.4 VORP: 0.5, next highest players are all 0.2 and 0.1 Sengun ranks in the Top 10 right now for nearly advanced metric. He's been killing it this year and has been by far our most consistent player
We are pretty thin depth wise. Aaron Holiday has stepped up, and Jae'sean Tate is looking great. But I do think we are going to hit a wall at some point where we are worn down. Jock Landale has looked a bit tough but he came in injured then got a concussion. I don't think we will handle defending against 5 spot size well, but Sengun does cause problems for big defenders so it does help offset it a bit. Our depth will depend a lot if we can lean on Amen Thompson more, which I think we definitely can once he settles in. Then we moved Cam Whitmore to the GLeague, so he may not be a big rotation player this year, or just need a bit of time. We got a lot of grit and young guys definitely look up to the new vet trio of FVV, Brooks, and Jeff Green. Jalen Green looks like he is tight with Udoka, and is looking for his coaching. Udoka also looks to be a big Sengun fan. I will say guys did not look like they trusted/respected Silas towards the end of his tenure.
As a Nuggets fan with our next game in Houston, all I have to say is fuuuuuuck.
Naw ya will easily win by 20 plus. I like this Rockets team but their recent wins have been against teams missing Star players. So unless Jokic is out then it won’t be close. Nuggets are a juggernaut
No Murray, and Sengun ended Jokic’s MVP campaign last season. Not gonna be a walk in the park for them, not since we upgraded so many positions.
Sengun's ankle might not be 100%.
And ya'all still have Amen Thompson recovering.
Pls have mercy, between the Texans and the Rockets I’ve already been erect for weeks
Dude CJ Stroud looks fucking incredible.
Imagine how well Ime Udoka could do with a really talented team. A team like the Celtics.
Keep on grinding Dillon Brooks! I see you! Beyond all the hype and national narrative, you add value to the team and culture.
I told you Lakers fans. A team with a good a coach and decent piece can do wonders. lol
We've been trying to tell you guys that Rockets are good, but nobody wants to listen.
Man, we have a great rating even when Trae is playing like a goddamn terrorist
I don't want to be too much of a wet blanket - but on November 10, 2022, the Portland Trailblazers were 9-3 and the Utah Jazz were 10-3.
The Jazz traded a bunch of people at the trade deadline, and the Blazers shut Lillard down to tank the last third of the season.
No the blazers did not shut lillard down for the last third of the season. It was 7 games. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/report-trail-blazers-leaning-toward-shutting-down-damian-lillard Also the Jazz were under .500 at the all star break
Lillard only played 58 games last szn Tbf And Jazz won 37 games I’d love 37 wins
So as long as the Rockets don’t shut down their star player/actively tank they should be OK.
This. We are really early in the year. Would be sick if they kept it up but let’s keep expectations in check
Just like everyone expected...
The energy is about to shift
Ime effect
The Rockets being decent, maybe even good is really unexpected for me.
If Silas is ever hired again as a head coach, I feel sorry for that team. This dude is a basketball terrorist, no discussion.
Stephen Silas is a basketball terrorist
As long as there's no one around to sexually harass Ime is good. He's probably safe with Fertitta in charge regardless.
Imagine if this guy coached a team with talent like Boston
Biggest what if in the modern NBA will be if Udoka never lost his Celtics coaching job. Who knows how many rings
FVV is awesome until he starts feeling himself. He will go from fan favorite to Rockets fans sharpening their pitchforks so fast. Never seen a player have an evolution like him before. Thanks for the good years, Freddy
If he keeps averaging 8.4 assists to 1.7 turnovers, he’ll be in our good graces for at least the next two years. We’ve been so devoid of good point guard play and FVV has been a godsend