I never considered Ego being a major playmaker, he could definitely move the ball around and drop a dime or two but he isn't really known for it.
Very well thought out response. Thank you for the time and consideration The Raptors, Magic and Grizz all make good trade partners for EG. Out of those three, I like the Magic the most and wish we could do and EG for AG trade but that is very very unlikely. I feel like Ross is a comparable player to EG, but EG is better. I don’t think Ross is capable of being a major contributor to a playoff victory but I have not seen him play enough to tell you that for certain. Aminu would be a great fit on this team. Having Aminu, PJ, RoCo and House manning the 3, 4 and 5 would give the Rockets a very solid front court rotation. I think that the best rotation in that situation would be to start RoCo at the 3 and bring House in off of the bench. I think that House would have some more freedom on offense if he was coming in off of the bench and I would like to see if he can facilitate the offense more than he currently does. Powell would be another good fit but I just don’t see the two teams making a deal. I just don’t see Morey and Ujiri coming to terms for some reason. They both might be too smart for their own good and try to work the angles too much. I could be wrong but I just don’t see it. A couple of scenarios that I want to throw out there as complete spitball ideas. I don’t want to count out the Knicks. They have a few front court players who would fit the Rockets and they could look to drastically reshape their roster if they do bring Thibs in. I’ve always thought that Bobby Portis would look good in the Rockets system. BP has a team option for 15.9m so an EG for BP trade could work straight up. But, the Rockets would have to either flip BP for another player during the season or come to a reasonable extension. Otherwise they will lose the ability to improve their roster when BP comes off of the books. Another option would be Taj and Bullock for EG. But if the Knicks do bring in Thibs then I doubt he would trade Taj. The other idea would involve the Rockets being buyers more than sellers. I think that the Rockets would still be able to bring back 125% of EG’s salary in a trade. That’s roughly 20m if my math is correct. I’m not sure if this is possible given their salary cap status or who they would target in that 20m range but the current situation could favor the bold and daring. It’s fun to think about these possibilities but I honestly do not see the Rockets trading Gordon this offseason. Given the current uncertainty of everything, I don’t think teams will be willing to take risks or take on additional salary. As you pointed out, it would be very difficult to find a team in position to trade with and the Rockets would be very hard pressed to receive equal compensation. My hope is that the Rockets are able to add one front court player with their MLE. If the Rockets could land Dario Saric or John Henson with the MLE then I think that would help a lot. I know neither are good defensive players but I like their ability to spread the floor. Idk if either player would be willing to accept the MLE, but there won’t be a lot of money out there for free agents this year so they might be able to get good value for the MLE.
count me in if we could get him. however, if we wanted to stay under the LT we would have to add tucker and take back birch. is that worth it for us? could the magic get a better offer? not sure on either count. but if tilman was willing to pay the LT, I'd do ego+picks for AG for sure. he's young, athletic, could rus with rus, could create and distribute, could be a lob threat for a harden PnR.. I like him for sure.i just think we're gonna be forced to stay under the tax and cut salary yet again. I also think AG is worth more than ego and I'm not sure its worth it for the rockets to add either tucker or the remainder of their picks.
the "up the sleeve" move could be canceling tucker's contract since its NG'd, then resigning him for less but longer term so his money is the same or more. that's similar to what they wanted to do with nene. now I never advocated for replacing PJ, just that he needs a solid backup so we don't have to play him so many regular season minutes. we want him fresh for the playoffs. he's no spring chicken anymore! not many guys can defend 1-5, hit the 3, and rebound. roco is one, aminu is close. better at defending 3-5, but also better rebounder and at defending the rim. I'd imagine a 4/5 rotation of: roco (36mpg), PJ (30), aminu (30). then in the playoffs PJ takes 6 more minutes from aminu. you are right that the ball will be handled by harden and rus 99% of the time. rivers was solid defensively this year but had a very low assist % and low shooting numbers. I think either he's going to create for others or he's got to play off the ball and knock down the shots better. there may be better options out there, even for the minimum, but when we think of "fit" he can guard 1-3. he can switch on D. that all depends what morey thinks the rockets need, more shooting and passing or a PG who can switch everything on D?
I agree with all your points here. I don't see powell happening because ujiri and morey could never deal together. also powell is probably the better asset. younger, cheaper, better advanced stats (although ego was playing injured this year). I don't think we'll use the MLE or add salary at all. current projections predict we'd be about $4M over the LT in committed salary. if the tax is just a bit higher we could look to just dump house and keep ego and the rest of the team in tact. however, there is an argument that house is more worth his contract than ego is worth his. I'm pretty sure ego will be the one to go in order to lower the tax. hell, this season they traded capela! albeit for a better player, but in part to move under the tax as well. using the 125% rule to trade ego actually gets us under the tax. bringing back -25% of his is all we need based on current projections. now, maybe they try to pull a nene with PJ this summer. they had nene opt out in order to resign for less annual salary but more years which made him whole. PJ is totally NG'd next season. maybe morey can figure out a way to use that non guarantee, then resign PJ for $4M less, but add an extra year or 2 to make him whole while avoiding the tax. we could keep ego that way too. I don't think tilman will want to buck the trend and pay the tax next year. yes its opportunistic to think since everyone will be selling high priced players to save money, we should look to pounce on the cheap... however almost 2/3 of the league (or more?) are almost assuredly paying the tax next year. since the non paying teams split the pot, and there will be very few non paying teams, each of the few non paying teams are looking at a greater payout than usual. you think tilman passes on the biggest tax payout he'll ever see? me either. but yes its fun to think of combining ego with PJs NG'd deal and offering it for a third all star. that $8M NG is a HUGE trade chip for teams looking to duck/reduce the tax since there are so few teams with cap space. if we wanted to pay the tax I could see ego/PJ for horford, OPJ, Blake? I think the Sixers can get more for horford, OPJ is really overpaid albeit an upgrade for us, and Blake's knees are done but if he were healthy for a playoff run we'd be unstoppable. nothing here is worth liquidating our remaining assets... plus tilman isn't going to pay the tax!
Money is going to be tight ... there's no more than 30 who will get MLE money and very few will get signed into actual cap space , a handful maybe ? So there's going to be a heck of a lot of talent available on the cheap / minimum .... I expect Morey to pull something off out of that pool of players. Someone will be willing to come in and play that 4/5 role since there isn't a financial advantage elsewhere.
Rockets: Aaron Gordon Magic: Eric Gordon, Danuel House, FRP http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ych5l6fk
methinks our only hope for something like that is if AG forced his way to us thru his agent and public statements :X
His defensive stats don’t look too great and I honestly have to seen him play enough to tell you exactly how bad/good he is. However, he is only 25 and hasn’t exactly played for good teams with a chance to make the playoffs. So maybe he would pay more attention on improving his defense enough to stay on the court if he was not playing for a good team. On the Rockets Portis would have the opportunity to either showcase his skills on a good team and set himself up for his next contract, or show enough hard work and improvement to earn an extension from a contending team (the Rockets). Of course the extension from the Rockets would be for a much more reasonable figure than his current 15.9 player option year. I feel like the true value for Portis for the Rockets is somewhere in the 5-10m per season range. It’s hard to narrow down a value due to the current market uncertainty. On offense he has never played with guards anywhere near as good as Westbrook or Harden. He’s steadily improved his 3 point shooting throughout his career and was around 36% on 2.8 attempts for the KNICKS last season. How many of those threes do you think were wide open like he would get in Houston? BP is also 6’10 and athletic, so he he could be an inside/lob threat as well as a 3pt threat.
I do think his true value is between 5-10 M. He still is hot headed and goes to hit a player going to the basket, instead of going after the ball at times. He might be available for these reasons. I would pass up on him. We don't need another Mirotic type of incident.
if the tax line doesn't dip that low next year, it's possible. however current projections say we'll be about $4M over the tax line. tilman won't pay the tax. the only move we're gonna make is to reduce the payroll by about that amount. sadly. I think AG is a great fit, and gordon/house/pick(s) is a fair package but I'm not getting my hopes up about any trade that doesn't cut our committed salary by $4-5M. unfortunately there's not a lot of ways to do it. harden, rus, ego, roco, tucker, house. that's it. everyone else is vet minimum already. house doesn't make enough to get us under the projected tax. won't be harden, rus, or roco. its either move gordon or tucker to take back less money. and I'm almost sure tucker isn't going anywhere either since morey refused to include him in the jimmy trade.
interesting. lets look at the market. rumors say the cap could reduce below 100M. but lets go with that number. here is all the money out there using that cap line: Teams that should have cap space:: ATL, NYK, DET, MIA, CHA other teams could have cap space but are likely to retain their own players. presumably the rest would be able to offer the MLE. but some who are over the tax (rockets) may not be able to. here is who projects over the tax line: PHI, BKN, BOS, IND, HOU, MIL. the following teams may only have room for partial MLE before hitting the tax line: SAS, CLE, UTA. that leaves 14 MLEs out there. 3 partials. first lets look at the projected tax payers to see who they need to move to get under the tax, and if those players would make sense to be absorbed by a cap space team. PHI: projected over the tax by $24M. they're gonna have to reduce that bill. candidates are horford ($27M) and mike Scott ($5M). easiest way to reduce salary is by moving horford for a minimum required to take back. I don't see any cap team taking him and the sixers picks. lets say horford to Dallas for Hardaway and fillers? something like that saves the sixers a ton, gives them a better fit as they needed more shooting and moves Dallas to the partial MLE category. BNK: projected $21M over if they resign Joe Harris (estimated $15M) and keep temple and their draft pick. let them all go and move the pick and they're just barely under. BOS: projected $21M over. Hayward is the wildcard as he holds a player option for $34M. he'd be nuts to turn it down so I assume he opts in and they trade him while taking back as little salary as possible. Boston also as 3 FRP this year to make it work. ainge will find a win win. he will cut salary and end up with a decent player in return. something like kennard, or huerter/Fernando. DET or ATL could benefit from Hayward's presence and the picks BOS sends. either way lets count out 1 cap space team. no max guy will go to DET or ATL anyway so they might as well use their space and one young guy on a solid talent like Hayward and a couple picks. IND: projected $7M over. not resigning holiday and waiving McDonnell's NG deal would do it. HOU: as I said, about $4M over. ego for someone like aminu would work and keep ORL far enough from the ax that they could still use the MLE. MIL: barely over the projected line in committed salary. waive ilyasova's NG deal and they're under with enough to have a partial MLE. the final count by my very rough estimate would be 4 cap space teams probably none with max room. 14 MLEs, 4 partial MLEs. then the rockets vet minimum. so we're starting at about the 23rd best FA, then accounting for guys who will resign with their current teams for more than MLE, and guys signing with other contenders like the lakers, clippers, bucks, nets, etc.. before us). so think somewhere between the 35th-45th best FA depending on fit and need for us. yes slightly better than previous years, but nothing that moves the needle. tomorrow when I have more time I can look into who should might be available around that range for the minimum.
not gonna get involved in this thread but I am gonna say that I totally forgot McLemore was on the roster
Mark my words, he is going for Al Horford and some picks from Elton Brand. When his salary jumps next year, it is very doable. Phila is in desperate need of range shooting and they can’t play Horford and Embiid together.
To reach salary matching you’d have to include House and another minimum. I can see a world where House plays poorly again in the playoffs and they just ship him out. But right now, that trade is two for one, two guys who play starters minutes for one. That’s tricky when the vast majority of your cap is already spent on Russ and Harden
