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2025-26 Houston Rockets Thread - Back to Contention?

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If you predicted turnovers would be a problem for this team, raise your hand. 🙋‍♂️ 

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  • Went to first game of season last night. Good times. Reed Sheppard seems kinda dumb. Holiday needs more minutes still. KD "off" night and still drilled 2 of the biggest shots As we all know..

  • TonyTexas
    TonyTexas

    Lulz  

  • Went tonight. Good to pull that one out...tough win.

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Wow. 

Working on a hell of a comeback here.

1 minute ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Have yourself a game Reed!

 

he's stepping up, finding his groove 

What a weird game. Giannis looks unstoppable anywhere near the basket and then the Bucks don’t pass to him for the final 5 minutes.

Reed closed a game. Holy shit.

Great win. 

If Stone can’t pull off the Derrick White pipe dream, you could probably talk me into staying pat. 

Can’t ask KD to do what he did today over the course of one series yet alone multiple. Need to relieve some of that pressure of getting the ball up the court and also creating for himself & others. Thats a lot on those old legs!

So many positives from this game…we’ve got a great roster boys, just have to fit the pieces together during each game. Love the mentality of this team, and that starts with Ime…

While I love Reed’s progress, and agree we needed him desperately against the Bucks, he’s still playing off ball.

He’s gotta at least help with some of the ball handling, taking it up the court, and imitating the offense. Their opponents are double/trapping Durant in the backcourt on many possessions. As pointed out upthread, that’s not going to work on 37 year old legs over a 100+ game season. 

4 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

He’s gotta at least help with some of the ball handling, taking it up the court,

Did you see that Sengun special posted from Michael Shapiro’s tweet?  He’s our new PG.  

27 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

Did you see that Sengun special posted from Michael Shapiro’s tweet?  He’s our new PG.  

Great, but it’s not sustainable long term. 

Edited by billfromlaketravis

I am on the side of the fence where we make no moves to get a PG unless something happens to our core group. This idea that we need a designated dribbler for 45' just to pass the ball to Sengun, Thompson, or Durant to initiate the half court offense seems kinda dumb. Sheppard is only going to get better every game, as his rookie season was a throw away in terms of real NBA development. He has a lot of Vinnie Johnson game to him. We just need to stop with the HR type plays that we see from Thompson and Sengun. If he cut down on those stupid TOs, this team will be fine by the playoffs.

27 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Great, but it’s not sustainable long term. 

What are you, Greek?  Deny the Turk at your peril.  Positionless basketball!

I also don’t know why you think Thompson can’t initiate.  Sheppard is basically a 2 guard next to Thompson on offense.  

Does the thread think Amen has the skill set to be the primary ball handler? His best games have been playing off ball and cutting to the basket. 

Asking Segun to take the inbounds pass, dribble 80 feet, post up, and then whip it to Amen on a back door cut 30 times a game is heavy lift. Alpie is also the primary rim protector when Adams or Clint aren’t on the court. 
 

So Reed and Amen need to play off ball. That means KD or Alpie initiate the offense. Any half ass defensive team understands this and they’ve run 2 people at them in the back court to wear them out. 

Edited by billfromlaketravis

3 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Does the thread think Amen has the skill set to be the primary ball handler? His best games have been playing off ball and cutting to the basket. 

Asking Segun to take the inbounds pass, dribble 80 feet, post up, and then whip it to Amen on a back door cut 30 times a game is heavy lift. Alpie is also the primary rim protector when Adams or Clint aren’t on the court. 
 

So Reed and Amen need to play off ball. That means KD or Alpie initiate the offense. Any half ass defensive team understands this and they’ve run 2 people at them in the back court to wear them out. 

Amen should be the primary bring the ball up the court dude.

if it’s a half court set, once he crosses the line give it to KD or Alpi from there.

if it’s a break? Shit man let whatever is gonna happen but I have full faith in amen as the primary on a break…

I think it's gonna be an issue all year vs. good pressure defenses. Amen't handle isn't great.

Hopefully Ime can come up with some adjustments to minimize the impact. 

 

Derrick White is one of the few names that makes sense. 
 

I wouldn’t make a move unless it’s a significant upgrade over Holiday with potential to completely replace FVV by 2026 or 2027. 
 

Names like Isaiah Collier or Tyrese Martin probably aren’t good enough. 

H-Town gear dropped today....get those orders in to pay for KD.

I did my part unfortunately. 

Derrick White is one of the few names that makes sense. 
 
I wouldn’t make a move unless it’s a significant upgrade over Holiday with potential to completely replace FVV by 2026 or 2027. 
 
Names like Isaiah Collier or Tyrese Martin probably aren’t good enough. 

Derrick White has exactly 1 game this year where he shot greater than 44% (50% once). He is shooting 32%/25% overall.

Derrick White is the trifecta of players you don't want; expensive (still owed over $100M), lousy (career low effeciency), and old (over 30).

1 hour ago, Fastbreak said:


Derrick White has exactly 1 game this year where he shot greater than 44% (50% once). He is shooting 32%/25% overall.

He’s not a great shooter. No arguments there. 
 

I don’t know how to define his value statistically. Maybe the more statistically inclined could help me out and pull his career on/off stats.  He’s a leader, a really good defender, he’s long for a PG, a winning player, a champion, and Olympic Gold Medalist. If he’s good enough to be on the US Olympic Team, I think the Rockets can squeeze him in. 

Edited by billfromlaketravis

I wouldn’t even be surprised if they made a smaller move sometime soon for like a tyus jones. He is just sitting at the end of Orlando’s bench. But at least he’s a true pg that can help us in the mean time. Don’t need an all-Star imo, just a competent ball handler!

1 hour ago, billfromlaketravis said:

He’s not a great shooter. No arguments there. 
 

I don’t know how to define his value statistically. Maybe the more statistically inclined could help me out and pull his career on/off stats.  He’s a leader, a really good defender, he’s long for a PG, a winning player, a champion, and Olympic Gold Medalist. If he’s good enough to be on the US Olympic Team, I think the Rockets can squeeze him in. 

He's currently -6.9 On/Off this season. I don't give two shits about his career, because time always wins.

I am down to just keep the same team on the floor, but one trade that sounded intriguing was Coby White given it's unclear where he fits on the Bulls when he comes back. Maybe not a good enough defender, but relatively cheap on an expiring if he doesn't work out.

we have guys that can pass it into kd or sengun. maybe they pass it back for a pass back, if you're open you have to make buckets. 

If Dejonte Murray would ever get healthy, I bet the Pelicans would give us a 1st round pick to take him.

19 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

If Dejonte Murray would ever get healthy, I bet the Pelicans would give us a 1st round pick to take him.

Loving the discussion, but Murray tore his ACL in January 2025. I think it’s a 2 year recovery to fully return. To 100%. That said, Murray at 80-90% is intriguing. 

58 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Loving the discussion, but Murray tore his ACL in January 2025. I think it’s a 2 year recovery to fully return. To 100%. That said, Murray at 80-90% is intriguing. 

Yeah, him at 100% would be awesome, but you're right, he won't be back until Spring of 2026. He also has 2+1 years left on his deal, and he's not going to decline that player option of 30m.  Too expensive for the risk, unless NOLA throws in some picks, which they might actually be willing to do. 

Another guy that costs about the same and may be gettable is Jrue Holiday. The problem is he also has a 2+1 deal with a PO and it's 32/34/37m over those 3 years. Likely too expensive for Houston, but wow would be be a great fit here. 

Other guys that are cheaper and more realistic are Schroeder, Sexton, Pritchard, Jamal Shead and Quickley.  Sexton is an interesting option with an 18m expiring deal, and being on the Hornets. They don't value anyone it seems, so he may be cheap to acquire. 

16 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

Yeah, him at 100% would be awesome, but you're right, he won't be back until Spring of 2026. He also has 2+1 years left on his deal, and he's not going to decline that player option of 30m.  Too expensive for the risk, unless NOLA throws in some picks, which they might actually be willing to do. 

Another guy that costs about the same and may be gettable is Jrue Holiday. The problem is he also has a 2+1 deal with a PO and it's 32/34/37m over those 3 years. Likely too expensive for Houston, but wow would be be a great fit here. 

Other guys that are cheaper and more realistic are Schroeder, Sexton, Pritchard, Jamal Shead and Quickley.  Sexton is an interesting option with an 18m expiring deal, and being on the Hornets. They don't value anyone it seems, so he may be cheap to acquire. 

Sexton would be nice. 

9 hours ago, Scraps said:

H-Town gear dropped today....get those orders in to pay for KD.

I did my part unfortunately. 

image.thumb.png.9e9e91e74d4f6d61c403f8bd28c00d83.png

What’s a bargain McCollum trade look like? 
 

My apologies. I assume he’s gotten healthy. His quicks and handles look fine, and he’s always been a been good shooter. 

tre johnson should have came back for a 2nd year 

washington = career over 

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