Although I highly dislike the player, and it wouldn't be for long term, I think getting Bogut gives us the best chance to sure up our bigs and go for a championship this year. Cuban has nothing left to offer Bogut but an opportunity to play for a championship again this year hopefully by trading him to the Rockets for salary filler and a 2nd round pick. Brewer and KJ plus a second round pick would be a deal I think could work. Then, that puts someone out of our rotation at center since Bogut would get minutes no matter what. I don't think Harrell's shot is ready to play PF in our offense, but unfortunately Nene's contract has more money on it....so while it would be highly unfortunate and disliked by many, Morey would probably have to move Nene as well in another deal. With Brewer and KJ and a second gone, I could see us moving Nene plus Ennis and a first or another 2nd for a backup combo guard, or a combo SF/PF...but with only being able to bring in about 7 to 9 million by adding additional salary fillers, it really starts to limit who we could get. But going after guys like N. Young/L.Williams on the Lakers, Holiday/Evan on the Pelicans, Barton on the Nuggets or Barbosa from the Suns, we would have a deep enough roster to truly compete from the CHIP this year, and still have some flexibility to make moves this off season if it didn't all end with a TROPHY. This may be the hardest trade deadline in Morey's career to make moves. Go all in to win it this year, or save for hopefully building a stronger team next year? Even if you build a stronger team next year, you never know what other teams will do, what injuries you could have, etc., etc., etc. So I say when you are close, go all in this year and let the chips fall where they may!
Appreciate it. Hopefully they get better. One of the challenges in this one -- I didn't get to all the questions I wanted to (i.e. nothing on Llull), because a couple of my early ?s were a bit too wordy and took up too much time. It's a thin line to walk. I wanted the questions to have specific context to avoid standard canned responses... but I don't want to say TOO much, either, for logistics reasons. My hope is that assuming I'm able to get Daryl to keep coming on, it'll get into more of a natural rhythm.
You'll get more comfortable with your questions as you do more interviews, but just the content itself was better. It's so obvious you are genuinely interested in what you are asking about and not just reading from someone else's show prep notes. As a diehard fan I really enjoy your podcast. I just got into podcasts but have flagged yours for daily listening.
I feel like I have the same mindset as Morey as the trading deadline approaches. per your podcast. Going after depth. 3rd string or perhaps 2nd string possible upgrade(s). Maybe it's just smoke & mirrors; but his points are good reasons to stand pat. I don't value 2nd round pick(s) as much as Morey; but then again all GM's treat draft picks like squirrels stashing nuts away for the winter. Sounds like the new CBA is going to put even more value on picks. Thanks Cat
I feel the same way about it. Want to point out though that this is how he always approaches the deadline. If he can steal a star for his price he'll do it, otherwise he dumpster dives.
I believe it takes NBA players about 3 yrs to develop. Parsons did well his rookie yr. Harrell/Capela/Dekker show a lot of promise after receiving their 1st true playing time. All GM's think they have the next Larry Bird or Michael Jordan soon to be. They hate to see them traded and then they destroy the league while playing elsewhere. They also hate to admit they offered a bad contract. See Brewer. I also fear the draft pick....they tend to develop just as their rookie deal ends. Like Parsons, on the job training; trained for others to benefit.
Because of the versatility of their roster, I would target a big. Plus, the back court players are all locked in beyond this year. Nene is gone after this year and they need to solidify that spot. I don't think they need to do anything drastic, but I'd like to see them protect against an injury at any position post-deadline.
Excellent answer. You're one smart Dude. We are going to have to change your name to Smart Dude. ClutchFans Love ya man!
It was interesting that Morey values a rotation 9-10 deep because Rockets are actually using a 7-8 man rotation recently and have struggled with 2 straight losses in past 3 games.
How about Jrue Holiday for Brew and KJ? Holiday is an expiring deal. Rockets need a rim protector, but if they aren't going that route then maybe Holiday.
I would like to see us go for one of Thabo/Lou will and one of Bogut/Koufus. Adding even more scoring/shooting to our bench, and stocking up on big men, which a lot of contending teams have been struggling with.
The thing is Jrue is playing fantastic basketball. Hell yeah I'd like that deal but I don't think the Pelicans are parting with him unless they get something fantastic in return which KJ and Brewer are simply not. Might be able to sign him in the off-season but I don't think he's the type of PG we are looking for. But who the hell knows what Morey is doing anyways
I'm surprised Gary Neal has never been brought up. Just saw ATL is close to signing him. Would be a decent 4th guard wouldn't he?
His +/- numbers from last year are hysterically bad, but in theory he could be a decent cheap addition.
