Rockets are banking on this summer. "Ability to sign two max contracts" = Jones will not be resigned. Ty's option will not be picked up. Looking for three 'stars' Dwight may or may not come back depending on who else is coming and how much he wants in terms of dollars and years The real question is... Who do they think is coming? And if we get them, is that a championship caliber core?
i'm comfortable going into an offseason with harden, ariza, howard, capela, and maybe beverly on the roster, with enough cap space to fill out the rest. just need to stop trying to sign only guys to catch and shoot from harden, but guys who can create their own offense as well as create for others.
Morey did the right thing today. Howard can be retained by using the 5th year and we can sign an impact player.
Durant is the pipe dream, whether you like it or not! I don't see it happening though. Financially, it makes sense to sign a one year deal. Then next year, he gets his big(ger) max free agent deal as a 10-year veteran. Other "big name" free agents Al Horford Joe Johnson Nicolas Batum Al Jefferson Pau Gasol Joakim Noah LeBron James Dirk Nowitzki(PO) Chandler Parsons(PO) Deron Williams(PO) Andre Drummond(R) Harrison Barnes(R) Festus Ezeli(R) Dwight Howard(PO) Mike Conley Dwyane Wade Hassan Whiteside Ryan Anderson Eric Gordon Kevin Durant Evan Fournier Rajon Rondo Tim Duncan (PO) Manu Ginobili (PO) David West (PO) Terrence Ross DeMar DeRozan (ETO) Bradley Beal(R) Nene Hilario FULL LIST
Pipe dream: get a GM with a completely different mindset than Morey, hire a real head coach, change the culture of a star chasing, asset acquiring organization, and build a real team with the cap we have and the 2 lottery picks.
Midnight: Rockets meet with Mike Conley. He is very interested in signing. Later that day: Meet with Al Horford. He commits if Durant will commit. A week later: Conley signs somewhere else. Finally meet with Durant after like 4 other teams. Amick reports that Rockets felt good. Rest of media reports it's down to Thunder and someone other than the Rockets. Clutchfans bash rest of media. 3-4 days go by: Rockets not mentioned as in the running. Clutchfans trash all the media. Next day: Durant re-signs in OKC, Horford re-signs in Atlanta. Maori trades a first round pick and Patrick Beverly for cap space, Dwight Howard signs in Dallas and the Rockets Al Jefferson to a "value" contract.
Obviously Durant is the biggest target. The biggest reasons for him to come are if he and Harden are still best buddies, Rox ownership sells on being willing to pay the luxury tax, and it provides him the best opportunity to win a championship as the lead man. We are able to learn a lot from his OKC experience. First off, if they win a championship, then there is no way he leaves. If they don't there are a few things we can extrapolate. That core, whether injuries or bad luck, wan't able to get things done. Ideally you want to pair Durant with a pass first PG. This is because Durant is arguably the best and most versatile scorer in the last two decades. Harden also happens to be a devastatingly effecient scorer so the PG has to be comfortable setting people up and able to play defense/shoot spot ups. Conley comes to mind. Also, with Durant and Harden at your wings, you don't have a defensive stopper. You need an elite defensive front court to hide for their shortcomings. The only positive defenders I can think of being available in the summer are Ezeli, Horford, Marvin Williams. A interesting experiment would be to make Harden the defacto PG and put out a lineup of: Harden Ariza Durant Williams Horford Where you basically have 6'5"-6'10" guys that can all shoot/pass/switch Then you have the important task of finding the right coach as I don't think Durant is coming to a JB led team. We need a championship pedigree coach and there's not many of them around. So in essence, cap flexibility is nice and max contract ability is great but I don't really see a clear path.
The goal will be ultimately to pair Durant with Harden and one of the players listed above. Its basically that or bust. Plan B(ust) would be to sign one of DeRozan Barnes Batum Parsons If Durant can't be had. Along with one or two, of the players listed above, to pair with Harden. Highly doubt we get Durant, Rockets better be on top of their plan B. Then of course to sign a brand new defensive minded coaching staff (JVG, Thibs) hopefully.
