Feigen: Free agency might be slow for Rockets (updates on where we stand)

All the damn chicken littles reacting to the Rockets sending out their mouthpiece to lower offseason expectations....

 

I have complete faith in Morey.

But gotta say, seeing the Thunder not give AF about the LT (150M salary + 150M in LT) and spend to sign/resign all these guys (Paul George, Jeremi Grant (3/27), Nerlens Noel, Ray Felton) while the Rockets let Ariza leave...just bad optics, tbh.

I am sure the Rockets will sign someone that is serviceable at SF. Half of me wonders if the team is considering just starting Eric Gordon at SF. The CP/JH/EG line ups were really good.

Whatever the Rockets do though, they are going to have to get someone that can play solid D at SF since they were be paired on the wing with Harden. (in other words, Melo starting at SF with Harden at SG is NOT going to work).

 

chicken littles going full beast mode!

 

Other than DMC (which is a really odd case) I would say the Rockets haven't really MISSED out on any TaxPayer MLE guys. Though OKC getting Noel for 2yr 3.7M is a pretty nice get for OKC.

We HOPED there would be some discounts. KCP, Redick, Evans etc. There were not.

Wayne Ellington is still out there. But he is 6'4" so not as much length as you would like at SF.

Might as well use MLE on Mbah a Moute and Melton (3yr deal). Hope to sign Ennis to a Vet Min deal. Try to make a trade for a SF?

 

lol letting ariza leave make me feel good about rockets, he was really bringing our offense down last several years...his offensive ineptitude was suffocating

 

I pretty much agree with all of this. My frustration is coming from being a realist and looking at our roster. I’m not mad ar Morey for it, but I definitely was expecting SOMEBODY to come on a discount. I’m thinking like you as far as give Moute the MLE and do whatever we can to try for a guy like Bazemore

 

The funny thing is that if the Rockets would have signed Ariza to the same deal he got from the Suns everybody would have knocked them for giving him that much money.

 

And obviously Bazemore isn’t the preferred target but I just think guys like Otto are pipe dreams

 

And additionally, Ellington plays very little defense. He'd be a valuable bench asset but hes not your starting SF.

 

100% true. We could have signed Lebron for the MLE and someone would still complain about it.

 

Agree. Melo's defense is absolutely atrocious. You could possibly hide him a the 4 spot to sandwich him between Capella and Tucker if they had to.

 

In theory, Melo COULD have a place on the Rockets as a bench 6th man going up against 2nd units. BUT, he would have to accept that role and so far he hasn't shown the willingness to do that.

 

Even if you do that, though, you'd need someone to take the EG role for the bench. Doesn't have to be exactly the same skillset or body type, of course, but someone capable of anchoring similar patterns. In theory, that might be a way you could make the Melo experiment work... but of course he'd have to be willing to accept and buy into that.

 

No. Not for 1 year. They could have paid him $30mil for just 1 year for all it matters. Expiring money is good money.

 

I think Melo is a 4, but in a good defensive lineup, he could be a real asset. our rotation of capela, tucker, harden, gordon and paul (hopefully also Luc) can certainly absorb Melo's lack of defensive proficiency for an upgrade in scoring at that position.

 

I think his pride still plays a HUGE role.

But you could let him start games.... 10 minutes or so with the first unit.... then Tucker comes in... Melo gets back in the game when other team puts in their second unit and give Melo the green light... plus Melo understands if we need offense at the end of the game, he is in (if it is defense, then either Tucker or LMBM).

Also, in any blowouts, all the points belong to Melo during garbage time so he can pad his stats.

I have to think he could work with that.

 

That has a domino effect as a whole bc he now becomes the worst defensive player in the lineup. In a switch everything scheme it makes it that much worse. With ariza the worst defensive player was harden. You had 4 guys that made matchups pretty tough. And even harden was able to be hidden bc he's able to hold his own against bigs. The defensive side as a team takes a huge hit with melo

If hou is going to be consistent with what they've had their most success in, based upon this past season and that's be a defensive team, the only role that makes sense for melo on this team is off the bench. And we know what flags that raises already. Otherwise hou basically goes back to being a mediocre defensive team and we know that isn't close to being good enough

 

Totally agree YOLO. Not a fan of Melo at all but "if" Rockets by some chance did acquire him the 4 spot may be the only place you can possibly put him. Would like to see the Rockets get even better defensively this offseason and losing Ariza so far doesn't help but with Morey's track record I do believe he will surprise us all in the end.

 

Yeah if it happens I think that's bc the rockets were just forced in that direction, based on what hou could get to better upgrade this team

The choice of how to replace ariza and who will give us a better idea on what direction they're going. Wish it would happen sooner rather than later but that's easier said than done