He is looking first for $$$$. Thats why Nuggets are on the list. Probably the Clippers doesnt want to pay him the max. Si he want to have options
He likely goes back to the Clippers for the extra year and max raises. San Antonio would need dump some players to clear cap room and they aren't really wheelers and dealers like Morey. Furthermore San Anotonio ball has a tendency to make marginal players great and marganilze already great players into mediocre ones. I don't see Paul as a very good fit there.
I still don't get Rockets pitch to CP3. It'd be like, hey we made our best player a PG last season and turned him into an MVP caliber player, so if you join our team we'll turn him back into a SG and you guys can fight for the ball...
How are those weak reasons? He's likely going to have to take a pay cut to go to Houston or SA. That would be mitigated by being able to recoup some of that money from endorsement deals.
San Antonio and Houston were consistently the 2 and 3 seeds in the West all year, and they had a 6-game playoff series that was decided basically on a one-possession overtime game in Game 5 in San Antonio. Let’s not act like there’s some enormous gulf between them. Bigger picture, though – even if you want to quibble and focus on the fact that SA was slightly better in 2016-17, that’s not really the point. For starters, when it comes to CP3’s decision, you’d have to compare the Spurs/Rockets after they ditch whatever salaries they have to exile to get anywhere close to max room. More importantly, even after adding Paul, I don’t think anyone would consider EITHER the Spurs or Rockets to be near the level of Golden State. So even if CP3 were to think that the Spurs roster (with him) on November 1, 2017 would be slightly better than the Rockets roster with him, that’s not really the point. That only matters in fan pee-pee contests. To actually win a ring, CP3 and James – or CP3 and Kawhi – would have to continue recruiting and/or working with their GM to keep fortifying the roster. So, who does he trust more to complete that process? To answer that question, you’d have to get into future financial flexibility, trade chips, the relationship Chris and his other close friends around the league have with Harden/Morey vs. Kawhi/Buford… and which front office/ownership he trusts to be more attractive to other star players. Not saying the Rockets are clearly better than the Spurs in this area, but there’s absolutely a case you can make. The thing that gives me hope about CP3 and the Rockets is that he’s been down the road with Houston before. We know in June 2013 that this is where he threatened to go, if LAC didn’t get the deal done for Doc. CP3 is very much into power, and the Rockets have a great reputation for treating stars right. He did his homework back then on Les, Morey, etc. and while he never wanted to leave LA… Houston got closer than anyone else did. Add to that the fact that Chris and James have a relationship from all the Team USA stuff (his history with James is significantly longer than with Kawhi), and it’s at least interesting.
I'm just stating things on Paul in a vacuum, the reason he always disappoints in the playoffs is because technically he is overpaid because he is too short. Height plays a big factor in matchups and since the ball ends up on the guy with most talent you lose out eventually. No team has won a ring in recent history where the max funds are allocated to a pg because a franchise pg is inherently inferior to a franchise sf/sg or big man. I mean why did Clippers collapse against us in the playoffs before? A large part of the reason is cp3 was their only big time perimeter playmaker, and Ariza/Bev were able to shadow and guard him. In terms of talent they aren't close but since he is too short he was neutralized by role players. One reason I am a big fan of Harden at pg is he has a size dominance on matchups, Harden is like 6'5 so if he gets matched up against dudes like Isiah Thomas he is gonna have his way with them. Of course teams will then put their sgs or sf on Harden but that means Thomas is guarding Eric Gordon.
because endorsements and media market are probably gonna be behind basketball reasons and success on his list if he's leaving the Clippers...u can get endorsements even if you're in a small market these days anyways and CP3 already has his State Farm stuff The Rockets would need to come up with more convincing basketball reasons than SA.
You're kidding right?? Quibble about which team is slightly better?? There's no quibbling. It's 100% clear which team was better. The Rockets put a beat down on the Spurs in game 1. It was glorious. I was there in attendance. Caught them off guard. But then the Spurs go on to win 4 of the next 5, while losing their starting PG and starting, top 5 MVP caliber SF. That's not close, lol. And no, it didn't come down to a 1 possession game in overtime in Game 5. There was still a whole another game after that. I f you're argument is that game doesn't matter because the team basically quit at that point... lol, even more reason why the Spurs and Rockets are light years apart.... This is like bizarro world. So CP3 used the Rockets as pawn before and it gives you hope? Ok... Well even if he did sign here, what about the fit?? This isn't a good fit.
Lol, bingo!! He's using the Rockets as another team to just get leverage. Hopefully DM isn't on his doorstep with an ipad at mindight, when he could be chasing more realistic targets.
If there's one team that might be able to compete with the GSW, it'd be the Spurs with CP3. Certainly losing whomever they'd have to lose to get CP3 would hurt, ESPECIALLY if they have to lose Danny Green. But I think people are also sleeping now on LMA. he's clearly not what he once was, but let's also consider the guy was not really healthy down the stretch. He had some heart deal we know very little about... which I'd assume could absolutely play on one's mindset. that might not have changed... or he can be back to being a really solid PF third option. And beyond that, how do you make a case that the Rockets are better than the Spurs organizationally at adding talent around the fringes. Here's the only example you need to make the case for the Spurs and end the discussion. They've had 1 lottery pick in the last two decades, which they traded George Hill (basically a glorified Pat Beverely type at the time) to get, which turned into a Finals MVP and a perennial MVP candidate... all while the Rockets picked right before that pick and chose Marcus Morris... lol.
I do think there's legit interest there, but it's hard to see him actually coming here. He will have major questions about how a pairing with Harden would work. The Rockets would have to convince him that they're a better situation than SA.
The Rockets flipped Jeremy Lamb for James Harden. But we can leave that out of the equation if you'd like to continue propagating that we have an incompetent front office.
He's a good player but I don't think he fits well with Harden. They both need the ball in there hands most of the game.
That's the angry Rockets fan in you. When it comes to which team is better positioned to eventually make a run at Golden State... the one-game emotional response to a gut-punch loss from an exhausted team with a seven-man rotation isn't going to mean much of anything. It's simply about acquiring more talent. Other than Rockets fans and Spurs fans who got emotionally invested, no one around the NBA is going to remember or care about much of anything from that series. Two pretty-good teams who have a lot of work to do to even get close to the Warriors. (And by the way, there's virtually no route to significant space for SA without exiling Mills, Simmons, Green, and more -- tell me, how does that series end up without those three?) Yes. It's a connections league. Just like how Nene, Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, and many others currently on the roster flirted with Houston for years beforehand. Same as how the Chris Bosh process in 2010 greased the wheels for him to decide on Houston in 2014, right up until Miami panicked at the 11th hour and offered a full-max deal. Morey has described it at length... it's the same reason why they meet with so many players (more than nearly anyone else in the league) in the pre-draft process. Relationships matter. A player can only sign with one team at a time, so if your view is that either the player signs with you or doesn't, then every team but one "loses." However, the reality is that the process is a lot more nuanced. I don't give a damn about "fit." The only way the Rockets, or any other team, has even a prayer at winning a ring in the next 5 years (considering GSW) is to try and compile as much A-list talent as possible. Chris Paul is the most available A-list talent this offseason, so I'm interested. Worry about the rest later. And if the pursuit of Paul costs the Rockets more "realistic" options, I'm not particularly worried, because those "realistic" options that I've heard aren't going to move the needle.
you're acting like I said it will be an easy thing for him to do to be giving up a lot of money when I didn't, but if media market and endorsements are the Rockets big advantages over the Spurs then you're not gonna get him
