If Howard or Paul don't happen, then yes, I say stand pat. However I would still like to make some noise on draft night, and target a young defensive center to back up Asik. We have T-Jones or Robinson, PHX 2nd rd pick and Greg Smith at our disposal to move up in the draft and get a young promising center.
Experience. Problem with Dwight Howard is that while he brings rebounding and shot-blocking and height - all things we badly need. He has no post-up game and hack-a-howard is far far more effective than hack-a-shaq. Meaning you can't play him in the 4th quarter really with his atrocious foul shooting. Plus he's getting older - he's at his peak now and fighting off nagging injuries - it will only get worse. He's no Hakeem or Duncan. Those guys got better with age because the could play smarter. Howard relies on his athleticism. There's no craftiness to his game. No moves he's developed. He's not going to get better, he will get worse. This team is too inexperienced to really contend. You put Howard on here, and they won't win next year, and the year after, when they are truly a contender, Howard is now entering the NBA playoffs with over two more years of miles on his body than he has now pushing 30. We need to target a big man coming off their rookie contract. Youth is important here. And someone with raw talent/desire to develop their game.
I think doing nothing this Summer, would be better than doing something stupid with the capspace. Look, 2014/15 is when the Rockets are going to seriously have to need to have their core in place since that is when Parsons, Lin, Asik all become unrestricted free agents. At that point, you would like to have another pilar of the franchise locked in to play alongside Harden. So, the Rockets are looking at flexibility this Summer and next Summer to make that very important #2 all star move. There is no reason for them to use the cap space on someone they are signing long term if that player isn't going to push this team over the top. Another alternative I think people should consider is a veteran star player with a year or two left on their deal. Its a clever way of using the cap space they have now on a player that can help the next year or two, be a stabilizing force, retain their flexibility, and hopefully push them over the top as a top 3 or 4 team in the West. Think about "the Camby deal" on steroids. I do think this should be considered, but only after all other trades/free agents have been exhausted FYI. Obviously, if they think Kevin Love, or LMA are going to become available this Summer, or at the trade deadline next year... they are better off standing pat, and taking a chance at waiting for that trade to happen.
i just don't agree re Dwight. if the Rockets are going to wait for Duncan or Hakeem, it will take a few decades. Dwight has his issues and he's still a great player overall when healthy-ish. Put him on a team with Harden and solid role assets (role players, i mean), let Morey do his thing, and you've got a great chance. As for big men coming off rookie contracts, those are restricted free agents. Once in a while you are going to have a Harden situation where a legit max star is let go / traded but that's very rare. Who's that guy in the near future? Generally, 'targeting a big man coming off their rookie contract' means overpaying Roy Hibbert or Nikola Pekovic and hoping their team doesn't match, but that's no sure way to build a contender.
I think if nothing else happens this offseason, the Rockets should at least use their cap space to bring in Gasol. A Center/ Power Forward lineup of Gasol, D-Mo and Asik would be very strong, and would give D-Mo the necessary minutes he needs to develop, without overly depending on a young player.Heck, DMo off the bench may win 6th man of the year next season. Meanwhile, Gasol would give us veteran leadership, championship experience and a great Center when Asik sits. His skill set is also perfectly suited for what this team needs (rebounding, defense, post skills, outside shooting, passing). Also, I think he can be had for relatively cheap, considering the cap situation of both the Rockets and Lakers, as well as Gasol's issues into fitting into D'Antoni rotation this season. I think the Rockets would only have to give up TJones and cap space -- we might even be able to unload White on the Lakers (assuming Morey is ready to give up on him). Plus, and this is the most important thing of all (well, besides the fact that he would make us a contender to come out of the west), at the end of the season Gasol would be off the books, meaning we would still be able to be competitive in bidding for free agents in the summer of 14.
A few years ago we have many good-but-not great players and no cap room, and people kept saying those "assets" were more valuable than cap room in landing a star. Now we see a complete reversal of opinion on this board that views cap room, or flexibility as the most important thing. The hope is, at whichever summer down the road, we fill our cap by FA signing and immediately become a championship contender. As far as I can remember, this approach only worked once before, which is a very special case, the 2010 Miami Heat. My view is, flexibility is overrated here. As Morey has already hinted, we can't be too particular on the choice of the second star. When you have a star player in Harden, a good group of young players and a good amount of cap room, you need to spend the cap room decisively. This way you can actually have a year or two to develop the team chemistry, a summer or two to use the MLE to further shore up the team before you face losing players in FA or face luxury hells. In two years the good deal with Lin, the bargain deal with Asik, the super bargain deal with Parsons are going to expire, and D-mo is going to hit his last year of contract. As to FA pricing, we'd better get used to the inflation level of the modern times, not that of 10 years ago. An average NBA team runs a payroll of $65-70M. Setting aside $10-15M for rookie-scale contracts (hopefully taking one or two starter position) and $10-15M for the rest of bench players, that's some $40-45M for 3-4 starters. The whole NBA can easily pay its top 30 players (not even including those still in rookie scale) $15-20M, and the next 30 best players $10M+. Yes, a player such as Josh Smith is worth $15M on the market, maybe not $20M but $15M easily. As long as he produces at his current level, signing Smith to a contract of 4 year $70M (the most he can get from a team not named the Hawks) does not hamper future improvement of the team in the sense that this is actually a valuable contract to be potentially traded in the future. People kept saying how atrocious Joe Johnson's contract is, how ridiculous Rudy Gay's contract is, how you have to give away valuable assets to give rid of these dead-weight contracts. But look, those "overpaid second-tier" players still have a good market demand, and the old teams were not only able to unload these contracts, but also get valuable picks or players in return. Of course I'm not saying you can put up a $120M+ Rashard Lewis signing, but the 4-year MAX under the new CBA for a worthy second-tier star is just not bad at all. What if we skip players like Smith and keep MAX room into 2014? We will be dreaming of Lebron James instead of Chris Paul or Dwight Howard, we will be debating whether Bosh or Iguodala is max worthy instead of Josh Smith or Andrew Bynum, and then we decide to keep MAX room into 2015? Sure one year of waiting gives young players more playing time, but isn't the experience in a deep playoff run more valuable? At the same time, you will waste a year in testing out the right core, a year in building chemistry with the Mr. Cap Room, a year in strengthening the fan base, and finally getting one year closer to difficult personnel decisions. We have plenty of upside in our current team, use the cap room to lift us into a top-five team status, and trust Morey in making further incremental improvements. When LMA or Love become available, Morey will put up a good trade where cap-room may not be the most important factor. Rome is not built in a day. It takes a lot of luck to win championships anyway, and it would be stupid not even trying and just waiting for a top-5 player becoming available in FA. Sure Harden-Asik-Lin-Parsons are still young. Back in 2005 Yao and T-mac were also young. Don't regret five years later, saying "the help came too little, too late".
i honestly feel that we could see a Paul, Harden, Parsons, Dmo, Howard line up next season. We force sign and trades as the heat did or threaten to trade lin and asik for cap space and sign out right. Honestly if these guys are all about making big 3s and winning championshios...then why wouldnt they do that. Howard wanted to go with Cp3 initially no team can make this happen other then us. What sounds more appealing to you the clippers and griffin or houston with howard and Harden? How about aging kobe and gasol or the best backcourt in the history of the nba. I am going to lay it down right now...dont count us out of getting both.
Staying put would be the wise thing to do long term, but it will be hard to make that case if we miss the playoffs this year. Cuz there would be a good chance we miss it again next year as well. Yes we are young and improving, but so are a few teams behind us (Portland and Minnesota), lakers could still be better than us next year, if Dallas gets a free agent or two, and all the teams ahead of us aren't going to slip to behind us next year except for the jazz.
sounds lilke everyone here believe we are going to have a group of superstars sitting in a waiting room outside of morey's office. guys, be realistic. when howard is available, morey won't have any hestitation to try to make a deal. when cp3 is available, morey will try again. opportunity won't happen everyday. taking a risk is a business.
I am not saying we wait for a Duncan or a Hakeem. But we're better off picking up a big man that is relatively younger and with upside and probably another player to be a back-up point guard than going after Howard. There's tons of guys out there that can be a major upgrade at the 4. Tons. There's no reason we need Howard and howard only. What if Dmo has potential to be an all-star? You might stiffle that growth if you sign a Josh Smith who relegates Dmo back to the bench. I think we're better owe letting this team have some success on it's own - other wise D Howard is going to walk in here and demand we play a different way to accomodate him. If this team makes a run into the playoffs on it's own and establishes itself - then whomever it signs in 2014 is going to want to bend to the team chemistry, not the other way around. And there's no way Chris Paul is coming here.
If I remember Morey said in a itw that signing a max-deal this summer wouldn't necessarily keep us out of the 2014 FA Max sweepstakes.
We have zero chance of getting Chris Paul and unless lakers miss the playoffs which they won't, we have zero chance of getting Howard. Those aren't realistic options.
This team will make the playoffs next year. But they won't be ready to contend because their games are clearly still evolving. All I am saying you have to let this team stabilize and see where it nets out. What are it's weaknesses a year from now when everyone is a lot more comfortable and knows the system. THEN, you can add the right free agent to bring it over the top. I don't think throwing a Howard into the mix will do that. Of course Morey will go for it if he can. But I don't think it will bring us the results and happiness you expect. I see major weaknesses in Howards game that aren't getting resolved as he matures. Smith would be better actually. T-mac wasn't that young in 2005, he came into the league in 1997 remember. Our guys are much much younger. And we are talking about one year here, not five. Howard won't make us a contender next year. We're not ready. Morey will do it I'm sure because it's too tempting not to. But I think we have to look for our first major run into the playoffs in 2015
Doing nothing is stupid. Morey worked hard to build a solid core, and gain the financial flexibility to add more talent in FA. I understand not throwing out $$$ just for the sake of making a move, but there are more options in FA than many of you seem to realize. Even if we can't score a superstar, there are many borderline star players available, and one of which we can surely grab at a bargain, or on a short contract. Houston is now a top destination, and for us to sit pat just because we can't get Dwight/CP3 is accepting another season of mediocrity.
Will Morey simply sign Jsmoove outright and trade excess power forwards for future picks? Will we continue this quixotic quest for Dwight Howard? Doc rocket posts that his sources close to the team say the Rockets have reason to believe DH12 is interested in coming here; but we've seen his weather-vane interest in action, and Kupchak is already laying it on thick with, "Dwight Howard will end up with his own statue in front of the Staples Center." Plus, that 5th year on the contract will look awfully good to someone worried about his future health. Will we acquire a pick for T-rob and use it to help nab Eric Gordon and continue with our McHale (whether he's here or not) small-ball, run-em-out-of-the-gym, no-D, "sure-it-can-win-a-championship" says-Morey with-a-straight-face style? Will we sign Millsap instead of Jsmoove and then watch Daryl Morey do his usual thing and trade the guy with Trob in a year or two so that we wind up with Kevin Love? Thing is, Morey might not even know the answers here. All indications are that he throws his net wide, hauls it in and checks to see if he nabbed anything better than mullets. One thing for sure: Morey knew what he was doing when he traded Patterson and Morris. Sure, he was gonna do it anyway; he always trades players he won't pay so that he can get value for them. It's gonna be tough watching us lose ground in the playoff chase now but if it means getting Dmo some minutes, I'm all for it. Score, rebound, and pass? Me likes.
