Sources: Butler will be Moreys main target this summer, and he feels fairly confident it will happen

As long as Morey finds a competent replacement for Capela with the taxpayer MLE, it’s easily better. Butler, by himself, is a better player than Gordon and Capela combined, and there are plenty of serviceable free-agent center options available.

That said, the best option for the Rockets would be for Butler to opt in to his 2019-2020 player option, by far.

 

yup. agreed. agreed. agreed.

 

...

 

Slightly disagree here, Butler alone cannot reproduce Capela’s 12 boards a game or his rim protection when Capela isn’t feeling ill or soft.

 

if all we're worried about is rebounds then we should have no problem resigning faried and playing him with butler.

 

Mid level these days can only get you mediocre players, Faried not a C. We’ll see.

We dun solve our Forward issues with Butler, we need players above 6’8 or 6’9.

Raptors had Ibaka, Gasol, Siakam......and anunoby who did not play.

Extreme small ball can only get you so far.

 

aaaaagreed. fingers crossed for brook lopez

 

That’s true, nor is he as good of a three-point shooter as Eric Gordon. But, if the Rockets pull this off, I suspect there will be plenty of interest in the Rockets’ center position among free agents.

The biggest problem with Capela is that he’s a liability against small-ball lineups, and those lineups are becoming more prevalent in today’s NBA.

 

He more than held his own in the switching scheme we played against Golden State in 2018. He's a capable defender on the perimeter.

And even if he isn't that good, who will replicate his defense if we are hard capped at the apron? We will have Nene starting at Center for us. Our defense will completely fall apart without Clint.

 

The Raps just won a ship with a normal sized/big line up though.

Let’s see if we get Butler on our terms or not and go from there.

Butler would want to slash to the hoop and clog the lane for Harden and Paul a bit.

 

You are right that Capela is more comfortable than most centers at guarding perimeter players. However, he’s still at a disadvantage in those matchups, and he always will be.

Second, in a Butler S&T scenario, though the Rockets would be capped at about $138 million, they would still have the $5.7 million taxpayer MLE to use. That should be enough to lure someone like DeAndre Jordan or Kevon Looney for their starting center spot.

Finally, as a perimeter defender, Jimmy Butler is a massive upgrade over what the Rockets had at the small forward position last season. That will help soften the defensive blow from losing Capela.

 

Yes, they did, as the Warriors’ injuries throughout the series forced Kerr to play a traditional center most of the time. Therefore, Gasol became a major weapon for the Raptors.

Those injuries are also why the Rockets should only trade Capela if it makes them clearly better. Getting Jimmy Butler qualifies, in my opinion.

 

Well, playing Tucker at 4 is still somewhat desperate......sure he improves spacing.

I always thought PJ would go back to playing 3 after we get that legit 4......

 

Klay was healthy for the majority of games. Gasol was good when Klay played.

Durant is a big in my opinion so he rather makes them a bigger lineup.

Neither Butler, Harden or Chris Paul is a natural shooter......one has to step out, spot up.

I can imagine one of them not willing to do it.

 

Without Durant, the Warriors couldn’t use their small-ball lineup and force Gasol to guard Draymond on the perimeter. That made it much easier for Nurse to stick with him as a starter.

 

Definitely but nobody in the NBA has a Durant outside one ballclub. Unicorn really.

 

Good Job my man. This one was spot on. With Hardens recruiting prowess and Morey doing work it’s looking good

 

"More stars means selling more tickets. More tickets means more people in the Toyota Center. More people means more concession sales! Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money. I task thee to get.....me......Butler."

 

@cyberx any updates?

 

We could "use" the full MLE theoretically, but not in practice. In order to fill out the roster we could sign one player for about $6 million and the rest would need to be minimum guys.