u/Shoddy_Ad7511

In Game 2 SGA was on the ground over 20 times. Do the refs really think SGA got hit that many times that he had to fall on the ground?

20 times. That is disgusting.

20 times and not a single flopping technical.

The NBA defines a flop as "a physical act that reasonably appears to be intended to cause the officials to call a foul on another player." 

20 times. The refs let SGA flop 20 times. This has to end.

NEW YORK, July 11, 2023 – The NBA Board of Governors today approved an in-game flopping penalty and expanded use of the Coach’s Challenge.  Both rule changes will be implemented beginning with the 2023-24 NBA season.

In-Game Flopping Penalty
Under the new rule, when a game official calls a flop – or a physical act that reasonably appears to be intended to cause the officials to call a foul on another player – the offending player will be charged with a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul and the opposing team will be awarded one free throw attempt, which could be attempted by any player who is in the game when the technical foul is assessed.

Why isn’t this getting enforced in this EXTREME EXAMPLE. SGA is literally flopping 20x a game and nothing is called.

I understand flopping is part of the game. But when a guy like SGA uses it to such an EXTREME manner something has to be done.

Flopping is also a dangerous play. SGA is falling to the floor and could easily take out someone knee. I haven’t seen SGA injure anyone yet but there are many incidents when a flopper falls into another players knee and injures him. This is especially dangerous when players flop backwards into a players knee or ankle. KD alone had multiple knee injuries from this type of flop while on the Nets.

If left unchecked we will have multiple players falling to the ground on every possession. Not everyone is as coordinated as SGA and we will see many more injuries.

Flopping makes the refs job 10x more difficult. It is distracting and makes it difficult for the refs to actually focus on what actually happened.

Refs don’t like it.

Fans don’t like it.

Most players don’t like it.

Lets be real. The sequel trilogy is the least loved trilogy in Star Wars. The OT and PT are loved by a huge fanbase. The sequels are not.

Disney is making basically zero money on the sequels now. No toys for years, no comics, books, tv shows. Even Galaxy Edge theme park transitioned to OT and PT. Toys for PT and OT characters are made every year. Nothing for the ST.

General consensus is the sequels had a bad story and boring characters. It even destroyed so many fan favorites from the OT.

Warning: spoilers from Rebels, Clone Wars and Mandalorian season 1-3

But Disney can transition to a new sequel in Ahsoka season 2. The ground work is already in place. It began in Rebels when Ezra saved Ahsoka on Malacore.

When Ezra entered the WBW he had a choice. Either save Ahsoka from Vader or let her die. He wasn’t predestined to save Ahsoka. So there were 2 possible timelines created right there in the world between worlds.

Choice One: Ezra lets Ahsoka die. Vader kills Ahsoka on Malacore. Later Grogu is captured because Luke wasn’t able to save him. Using Grogu the Empire clones Palpatine. Rey is created and we have the original sequel trilogy. This is why we hear Ahsoka as a force ghost in episode 9.

Choice Two: Ezra saves Ahsoka. Din finds Ahsoka. Ahsoka tells Din how to reach out to Jedi. Luke rescues Grogu. Empire never captures Grogu so they can’t clone Palpatine. There is no Rey. This is the new sequel trilogy.

The crazy thing is we have been watching multiple timelines for years and we didn’t even know it!

Rebels and Mandalorian are actually the new sequel timeline not the original sequel timeline!

So how can Ahsoka season 2 explain this? Eventually Ahsoka and Sabine need to enter the World Between Worlds to return to the Star Wars galaxy.

While in the WBW Ahsoka can explain the difference portals in the WBW. That some portals show alternate timelines. They will show a glimpse of Rey in one of these portals. Then Ahsoka can explain that her timeline probably changed when Ezra saved her from Vader in Malacore.

Ezra Bridger. The Bridge between timelines.

Ahsoka is the FULCRUM.

A fulcrum is the fixed point or pivot on which a lever rests, pivots, or turns to move a load. She is the center where the two timelines pivot around.

Ahsoka didn’t do this on her own. She became the fulcrum when The Daughter (The light side of the Force), mortally wounded, decided to sacrifice the remainder of her life force to save Ahsoka. Ahsoka became the physical embodiment of the light side of the Force.

What grade would you give Stone for the season?

KD trade: excellent move. Getting a top 10-15 player for Green (bad contract), Brooks and a not so valuable #10 pick was a great trade. Bonus is signing KD to a very reasonably priced extension.

DFS trade: absolute disaster. Trading for damaged goods and giving him big money guaranteed for 2 years. Was basically unplayable in the regular season and playoffs.

FVV extension: giving him 2 years $50 million. Not a terrible price for a starting point guard but giving him a player option was idiotic. That made FVV untradeable because it is an implied no trade clause. A terrible move that hamstrung the Rockets. Rockets were already overpaying him. There was no reason to give him a player option.

Capela trade: another terrible trade. Giving him a 3 year $21 million contract is bananas. He is worth a minimum contract. And to make the trade truly terrible is it hard capped the Rockets making it very difficult to make any subsequent moves.

Signed Aaron Holiday, Tate and Okogie: not terrible players but couldn’t Stone do better? None of these guys are legit point guards. Why not sign at least one guy with a higher ceiling?

FVV injury: yes Stone has no control over this but he didn’t have a backup plan. FVV was the only legit point guard on the team. Instead of getting a quality backup point guard he spend big money on luxuries. Rockets were already loaded with wings. Yet he spends big money on DFS. We already had 2 good centers and he gave Capela $21 million. At least get a decent point guard with the minimum contracts? Absolutely not. He didn’t sign any point guards.

Yes it wasn’t Stone’s fault FVV got injured but it is his fault for making an FVV injury impossible to recover from.

Decided Amen and Reed could be point guards this year. Terrible decision. Amen’s inability to shoot makes him being a PG untenable. Relying on Reed who never played point guard is crazy.

Trade deadline: made absolutely zero moves to address several Houston weakness. No point guards and lack of shooting. Did absolutely nothing and basically said he gave up on the season after the Adams injury. Again this was a self inflicted wound by hard capping the team because of the terrible DFS and Capela contracts.

Stone started strong with the KD trade and extension but then totally screwed up on almost every single move after that. His moves were so terrible that he basically locked in the team before the first game of the season.

The amount of errors he made was truly mind blowing:

Giving FVV a no trade clause

Not signing a back up point guard

Giving an injured DFS a massive contract

Giving Capela $21 million

Hard capping the team

Screwed the team cap so much he couldn’t even make a trade deadline deal to fix an obvious weak point

I’m sorry but the only grade he deserves this year is an F.

An absolute failure of a year.

Stone isn’t a failure but his performance this year was. And the cherry on the top is him gas lighting fans saying he never said he gave up on the season when he obviously did.

After watching the playoffs the Rockets cannot trade Sengun. For the next 3-5 years the team to beat will be the Spurs not the Thunder. In the next couple years the Thunder will begin losing depth because of luxury tax. Plus Spurs will just be better soon.

I think Sengun is the type of center you need to give Wemby problems defensively. You need a guy that can physically bully Wemby in the paint. When Wemby is preoccupied guarding Sengun in the low post he can’t lock down the paint. Wemby is most dangerous when he can’t lock roam the paint.

In the first 2 games Sengun averaged 23/11/9 against Wemby. Wemby was a negative 9 in those 2 games. The Houston offense was running well. 50% FG and 45% 3FG. With Wemby occupied guys like Amen were able to finish at the rim and KD could hit his short jumpers.

Now imagine if the Rockets had a point guard and more shooting.

In isolation Sengun’s offensive profile may seem inefficient. But his ability to score in the low post helps the entire Houston offense. Wemby has to guard him and fight for position the entire possession. This allows Sengun’s teammates to attack the paint without Wemby contesting their shots.

Ime and Stoned trying to convince the fans the Rockets would be contenders this year if FVV and Adams were healthy.

After watching OKC/Spurs the Rockets are light years away from contending.

OKC has the best defense in the NBA. Ime puts all his emphasis on defense. That is where his bread is buttered. Yet even so OKC was playing 5 out on offense. That is right. OKC was playing with 5 three point shooters on the court. That is how far Houston is.

The Rockets defense is 2 tiers below OKC. And on offense they play with 2 non shooters.

This is hopeless

After looking at the Spurs/OKC in the playoffs it is obvious the Rockets need an overhaul.

Trade KD for Duren (S&T $25M a year), Duncan Robinson and Sasser

Trade Sengun for Okongwu and NAW

Rockets starters: FVV, Amen, Bari, Duren and Okongwu

Rockets bench: Tari, Reed, Adams, NAW, Robinson and Sasser

Rockets do start 2 non-shooters. But can change that up with NAW or Robinson starting.

Alternate starters: FVV, Amen, NAW, Bari and Okongwu

5 out lineup: FVV, NAW, Bari, Robinson, Okongwu

Team is super deep with solid scoring off the bench with NAW, Reed, Robinson. Very good big man rotation of Duren, Okongwu and Adams. Enough ball handling with FVV, Sasser, NAW and Amen. Enough shooting with Bari, Robinson, NAW, Reed and Sasser.

This basically fixes all of the Rockets major problems:

Bench depth

Shooting

Ball handling

Rim protection

Looking at the Spurs and Thunder. They are so damn good already and so young.

Wemby 22

Castle 21

Harper 19

Vassell 25

Johnson 26

Champaigne 24

How the hell is our young core going to compete with that? In their first playoff appearance they made it to the WCF.

It feels so hopeless. Sure Sengun, Reed, Amen and Smith will get better. But they are so behind the Spurs and OKC it doesn’t even seem to matter. Besides the young guys with the Spurs/Thunder will also get better and they have a MUCH higher ceiling.

Plus all the Spurs/OKC young stars are 2 way players. They can play offense and defense. Reed and Sengun can’t play defense. Amen can’t shoot. Smith is solid but his ceiling is low.

OKC will be dominant for another 2-3 years. After that they will run into luxury tax problems and will have to shed big time salary.

But the Spurs will be dominant for another decade with Wemby, Harper and Castle being only 19-22 years old.

Would you blow it up this Summer?

Watching the playoffs it is really obvious the Houston young core can’t compete with Minnesota, Detroit, Spurs and OKC. Guys like Ant, Cade, Wemby and SGA are miles ahead of Sengun and Amen. Even their secondary guys look better: Castle, Duren, McDaniels ,Jdub, Adaj, Harper and Chet. Heck SGA, Jdub and Ajay are all better than Sengun/Amen.

It seems pointless to try to build around this young core.

I would choose to blow up the team.

Trade KD for a 1st round pick and filler

Trade Sengun for multiple 1st

Trade Amen for multiple 1st

Trade Adams to Lakers for a 1st

Trade FVV for multiple 2nds

Trade Smith if a 1st is available

I won’t trade Reed because his value is so low. He could be a depth piece 5 years from now.

I would actually keep Tari. Could be a valuable trade piece at the trade deadline

Hold Capela. Has no value

Hold DFS. Could get a 2nd round pick at the trade deadline as an expiring contract

If everything works out they should be able to get 7 additional first round picks for the next 4 years.

A possible scenario:

2026 - receive 1st round picks in trade

2027 - Suns pick, Nets Swap, received 2 picks in trade.

2028 - own pick, receive 2 picks in trade

2029 - best 2 out of Rockets, Suns and Mavs. 2 additional picks from trade.

That is 12 first round picks in the next 4 years. This will be the beginning of a new young core.

I like both of them. But the Rockets have so little depth I don’t think they can afford to rely so heavily on them.

Adams is 33 years old coming off 3 bad injuries. In the last 4 years he is averaging 33 games a year. This year he didn’t play back to backs and he still got hurt.

Fred is 30 years old 6’0” point guard coming off of an ACL. If he lost a step it is going to be real bad.

If we could trade at least one of them for a younger replacement. Now throw in KD who is also old.

I just don’t see KD, FVV and Adams all being healthy next year.

The Knicks offense is night and day from last year. They fired Tibbs and hired Mike Brown. Last year the Knicks were the #9 offense. Tibbs is a defensive coach and doesn’t know much about modern offense. Now that Brown took over the Knicks were #3 in offense.

Ime is very similar to Tibbs. Defense focused and stubborn.

This year Houston was ranked #9 offensively. With an elite offensive coach the Rockets could be a top 3 offense like the Knicks.

In the playoffs Knicks are #2 in offense.

Knicks with Tibbs: #9 offense regular season, #7 playoffs

Knicks with Brown: #3 offense regular season, #2 playoffs

Rockets with Ime: #9 offense regular season, #13 in playoffs

I’m sorry but our young core can’t compete.

Wemby is ridiculous. Edwards is amazing. SGA is unreal. And the other young players are good 2 way players. Castle, Vassel, Harper, Champagnie, JDub, Chet, McDaniels, Dosunmu…

Our youngs guys just can’t compare.

Sengun? Defense is bad and efficiency is bad. Just got outplayed by Ayton in a series.

Amen? Great defender but his total lack of shooting is a massive weakness.

Reed? Bad defender. Too streaky shooter.

Tari and Bari are solid role players.

Rockets need a serious infusion of talent to even compete next year. Growth from the young players won’t cut it.

We need another All NBA guy to compete. Giannis, Kawhi or someone else.

When Harden was doing ridiculous things to draw fouls the refs adjusted in the playoffs to stop the madness. Why haven’t they adjusted for SGA?

I am a Rocket fan with no reason to favor LA or OKC. But at this point it is getting ridiculous.

On defense OKC is allowed to maul their opponents. And maybe 1 out of 5 actually fouls are called. But on offense OKC gets the softest fouls I’ve ever seen. And it isn’t just SGA. The entire team flops like a fish out of water.

Chet’s flop was extremely disturbing. He didn’t even get hit in the face and he was acting like he took a massive shot in the chin. Yes the refs called a foul on Chet. But why wasn’t it a technical foul for flopping?

It is so extreme that the enjoyment of the game is plummeting.

Lakers used the same hard doubles on Shai tonight. Shai like KD struggled.

Shai: 18 points, 53% FG and 7 turnovers

Very similar to what KD did in game 2:

KD: 23 points, 58% FG and 9 turnovers

The fact is if you hard double a player the entire game you will generate turnovers. But the problem is you will also give up a TON of wide open 3 pointers.

And THAT is the problem with the Rockets. KD got doubled and created wide open shots…and his teammates bricked it. While Shai’s teammates hit those shots.

Shai’s teammates hit 13 threes on 45% 3FG

KD’s teammates hit 6 threes on 24% 3FG

If you can’t punish wide open shots generated by hard double teams you are absolutely SCREWED.

KD and Shai basically performed the same against the same Lakers strategy. Rockets lost by 7 while Thunder won by 18.

Difference is OKC made 6 more threes with the same amount of attempts as the Rockets. That is a 18 point swing. Literally if OKC shot the same 24% 3FG as the Rockets it would have been a tie game tonight.

Holiday, Sheperd, Tate, Sengun, Amen and Okogie combined 1/12 from 3.

McCain, Holmgren, Dort, JWill and Wallace combined 9/17 from 3.

I’m not saying the best players. I’m saying the most important or most irreplaceable. I think so.

KD because our offense is severely lacking shooting and shot creation. Plus he brings some weak side rim protection.

FVV because we literally started the season without another experienced rotation level point guard. Holiday isn’t a rotation level point guard. Reed and Amen made strides but they are not seasoned enough yet. Rockets literally win game 3 if FVV literally just plays the last 30 seconds of the game.

Adams. Guy was the fuel for the Rockets being a top 5 offense. Guy was grabbing so many offensive rebounds it was nuts. He basically stopped teams from running against us because they had to gang rebound against him. He also is the best defensive anchor the team has. He would have absolutely obliterated Ayton and Hayes.

So in the Lakers series the Rockets got a grand total of 1 game from the top 3. Lakers got 8 games from their top 3 (6 Lebron, 2 Reeves).

This isn’t saying FVV/Adams is better than Sengun and Amen. But there are reasonable replacements for Sengun and Amen. If Sengun was hurt Adams, Capela and Bari could fill the Sengun role. If Amen was hurt then FVV, Tari and Reed could fill his role.

They are not firing Stone. Ime just got a huge contract extension last year. He isn’t going anywhere.

Rockets will bring back the entire rotation: FVV, Amen, Bari, Reed, KD, Sengun and Adams. If Tari doesn’t get a massive offer from another team he will be back also.

There will only be small moves. Maybe trade DFS or Capela.

The Rockets are in the middle. They are not bad enough that they need a full rebuild. And they are not good enough that one big all in trade will make them a top contender.

They finished 2 games behind the 3rd seed with FVV and Adams injured. Next year they can easily get as high as the 3 seed with injury luck. The goal should be reaching the 2nd round next year.

Basically just run it back and test how good this young core is. If they make a big jump they might be good enough to make a big all in trade next summer. If they disappoint massively then it might be time to blow it up.

This is a bad sign. Sengun was getting guarded 1 vs 1 by the Lakers tonight. He wasn’t able to dominate Ayton or Hayes one on one in the post.

I predicted a 3-0 comeback when most of this subreddit was giving up or even wishing for the season just to end.

https://www.reddit.com/r/rockets/s/zJocc58E6P

My main argument is the 3 point variance would eventually correct itself.

In the first 3 games:

Lakers shot 44% from 3

Rockets shot 28% from 3

Since then:

Lakers shot 24% from 3

Rockets shot 37%

Rockets shot 36% in the regular season so this isn’t an anomaly. Lakers probably will shoot better than 24% for the rest of the series but I doubt they shoot 44% like game 1-3.

Big reason is Houston has clamped down on Kennard and Smart.

Houston’s overall defense is back where it has been during the season. The cream rises. I was wrong that KD would help in Game 5. Can’t be right about everything. Was right that Sengun and Amen would put it together.

Lebron looks dead ass tired. He will be playing 3 games in 5 days if this goes to 7. You can tell his jumper is struggling because of tired legs. He is 0/9 from 3 in the last 2 games.

Lebron tired

Reeves - Houston has a history of stopping. He struggles against long athletic defenders.

Kennard - toast. Scored 1 point in game 5

Smart - his luck has run out. He ain’t a 50% 3FG shooter that he was in the first 2 games

Rui - a good player to hide Reed on

Ayton - playing well. But I gladly give him opportunities to try to outscore us. I rather see if Ayton can beat us than give the Lakers open threes.

LaRavia, Bronny, Hayes, Vanderbilt - have all been crap lately

Lets go make HISTORY

I’m sorry but his defense is SO BAD he simply cannot be considered a top 20 player ever.

No other top 20 center is this bad defensively. Guys like KAJ, Wilt, Russell, Dream and Shaq were all very good to spectacular defensively. You simply cannot be this BAD defensively as a center. Your entire defense collapses if you center is a traffic cone (can’t move laterally) AND provide zero rim protection.

In the regular season teams won’t build game plans to mercilessly attack Jokic. But in the post season he gets exposed.

Offensively he is great but still has limitations. Jokic simply isn’t a dominant isolation scorer. He simply isn’t a top tier iso guy like Jordan, KD, Kobe and Lebron. He doesn’t dominate the low post like Shaq, Dream and Wilt. When everything breaks down Jokic simply can’t take over the offense in isolation.

Regular season stats can only take you so far. Only making the Finals once and winning once simply isn’t enough to be top 20.

IMO Jokic is very similar to a guy like Steve Nash. An amazing offensive engine. But his defensive limitations stop him from being top 20. And the isolation offense simply isn’t top tier.

So many people have a problem with the possibility of punishment the 3 worst teams in a 16 team draft lottery. I have absolutely no problem with it.

I’m tired of teams tanking for years. I’m tired of all the excuses. If you do bad at your job, don’t expect a promotion.

Look at the Suns. They looked dead in the water at the end of last season. But they hired a good GM. They hired a good coach. They made smart trades and developed young players. You can get better.

The entire league should be trying to get better not worse.

If you are constantly a bottom 3 team you are the problem. Fire the GM. Fire the coach. Be better. Still suck? Then sell the team. Sick of rewarding franchises that are incompetent.

Whatever our differences were in the past. It is time to come together.

We are trying to do the impossible. We need EVERYONE. We need Ime to build a solid game plan. We need Sengun and Amen. We will need KD at some point. We need Tari and Bari. We need the bench. We need Reed. And at the end we might even need Tate.

As fans we need to be UNITED. No more player stans bashing teammates. No more agendas.

No more falling for propaganda by the west coast media.

Think positive. Let the positive energy flow.