The Rockets lost big on Monday night in Philadelphia with Christian Wood and Kevin Porter Jr. both serving a one-game suspension, but coach Stephen Silas said the game with the Sixers wasn’t a consideration in deciding how to discipline two of his starters, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Both players were suspended for their actions on Saturday, with Wood being late for a COVID-19 test and refusing to enter the game in the second half and Porter leaving the arena at halftime after a confrontation with assistant coach John Lucas.
Silas, the son of former NBA player and coach Paul Silas, said he turned to his father’s advice of “follow your gut” in deciding how to handle the situation. Especially with a young team, he believes it’s more important to set boundaries about proper behavior than to worry about the results of one game.
“There isn’t a balance (between winning and disciplining) to me,” Silas said. “There’s doing what’s right and doing what’s best for this organization. That’s how you build culture. You do it through a lot of different things. Accountability is huge, making sure everybody knows what is acceptable and is not acceptable and learning from that. That’s the big part, learning from those moments and learning from those experiences so we can improve and we can be better.”
There’s more on the Rockets:
- Garrison Mathews tied his season high with 23 points Monday shortly after clearing the league’s health and safety protocols, Feigen adds in the same story. Mathews described his time off as “boring” and was happy to be back on the court. “From the jump, I felt good,” he said. “Having six, seven days off, it’s hard to take that many days off and come back and get right to it. My body felt fresh. It wasn’t sore like it was before. It was good to have a few days off, but when you take seven days off, your conditioning starts to wear down at the end.”
- In the wake of Saturday’s incident, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated believes the Rockets should get rid of Porter and Wood as soon as possible, even if that means waiving Porter, whose contract is guaranteed for $3.2MM next season. Mannix also criticizes general manager Rafael Stone for assembling the current roster, which Mannix claims is becoming a distraction for talented young players such as Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun and Jae’Sean Tate, and for having Silas deal with the media whenever there’s a personnel issue.
- Fans have been calling for Sengun to get more playing time, but the rookie center told a Turkish magazine that the Rockets are bringing him along slowly so he can adjust to the NBA, relays Matt Young of The Houston Chronicle. “(The Rockets) played nine games in 15 days, we used to play nine games in nine weeks in Turkey, we did it in two weeks here,” Sengun said. “It’s hard to get used to it right away.”
Back in the day, those Rockets may have gotten a spanking rather than just being put into a timeout. Hopefully they learned their lesson by the period where they have story time before being sent home.
Trade KPJ to the Jazz and get Butler
Wood fits the Hornets or Nets
Why? The Jazz have Mitchell, Conley, Clarkson and Ingles at the guard spots. All productive players that play their role. Butler is under team control and perhaps someone they can develop to replace Conley or Ingles when the time arrives and is $500,000 cheaper than Porter.
Jazz needs a 6th man wing cause Claxton is playing so/so … for KPJr it’s maybe a good place too
Can somebody explain to me the difference between sengun and jahlil okafor? Both of them are low post scorers who don’t play any defense and NEED the ball to make an impact. Idk maybe I am wrong but I just don’t see why rockets fans have a fetish over the kid?
I can tell you the difference. Okafor played solid post defense and could get a few buckets in the low post. Sengun is a good passer for a big, can score a bit and may be able to shoot .308 isn’t impressive but he’s only taken 39 3’s so far.
Okafor could not run an offense through him. He was not a playmaker. Senguin has a little Jokic in his gm & at age 19 looks to be an elite passer already similar to jokic. He can play both high post at the elbow & low post. He has been really impressive considering he is still learning english language. Defensively he needs to improve but all Rookies are bad Defensively unless their Defensive Unicorns like Evan Mobley & Scottie Barnes.
Senguin is elite in the low post w his post moves but for me his passing & play making is elite.
I dont care about his 3pt shot as a Rook. I care if he can make FTs at a good clip.
He will get better at 3pt shot over time.
As for comparison to Oahkafor i think its not a good one. Jahlil was a low post scorer on the block. That was it to his gm. He also was awful on Defense & never improved.
Senguin despote short arms knows how to use his lower body & bang w bigs. I believe senguin can have Hou offense run thru him.
Damn so basically Sengun isn’t competitive enough to want to play and push through it anyways. He actually wants to be benched a lot and eased in? That’s what his statements sounded like to me. I’d understand it more if he was like a 32 year old rookie or something. But I’m shocked to hear this from such a young man. Plus he knew he’d be drafted. He didn’t prepare his body for all the extra basketball? I’m not a rockets or Sengun fan, but this is not what I’d want to hear if I was.
This is essentially the same thing other sports do for young players adjusting to a new league or style of play. For example, baseball teams won’t let young starters throw as many pitches/innings early on because they aren’t used to the wear and tear of a full MLB season. I think you’re looking too far into it. The team wants to ease him in as a 19 y/o kid that moved across the planet to play basketball in the best league there is. He gets that.
He’s just saying than euro BB is not as physical as the NBA and he just have to improve to compete
Rockets can make a huge statement and simply release Porter.
Nobody in HOU’s FO, or on it’s coaching staff, can talk culture or accountability with any credibility. They’ve established, and effectively boasted of, a culture of entitlement, where there is no accountability.
KPJ appears to have issues beyond those that a professional sports team can, or should care to, address. Still, maybe if he actually had to earn minutes, he wouldn’t get apoplectic when being coached.
It’s easy to criticize KPJ after the outburst he had. The guys has a bad reputation for being a hot head. At this point, Rockets wouldn’t get much for KPJ, maybe a 3rd round pick at best. His issues are concerning and not sure if Pat Riley himself can help this kid. Pat got James, Bosh, and Wade to play together. James had a fit in both times in Cleveland. His heartbreak sob as he signed with Heat was something within itself. But he wanted more from Cleveland and wasn’t getting his way. You saw it on James during the final game he played with (the first time around) the Cavs. Cleveland treated James like a king and that wasn’t good enough. KPJ is nearly similar in attitude but doesn’t have the talent James has. If KPJ was putting up 32 points per game with 8 assist and rebounds, the media would down play his attitude. Look what Harden, Durant, and others have done, and the media down plays it because of their production and star status.
Wood has been great for the Rockets, but it’s time to part ways. Unlike KPJ, there is value with Wood. Maybe a first rounder and a player. Wood with the Lakers or Bucks, would do a lot for him. 76ers and Heat would be other options for Wood too. All four of those teams could use him.