It's a lot of money. It's not our money but obviously it affects our roster flexibility so we can't act like it doesn't matter at all. He's really going to have to thrive to be worth it. There's definitely more pressure on him now and it's warranted. He can meet the expectations though, all he has to change is his offensive efficiency. I think being in a better offense and having less tired legs (fewer minutes) can make that happen. The good news is we went from roughly the worst starting PG in the league (not entirely KPJ's fault) to a top 10-15 PG who has proven you can win a championship with him at PG. A guy who denies options at the point of attack making defense easier on the wings and for the rim protector. Vocal defender too, makes sure everyone is alert at all times. A guy who's ultra steady with the ball, elite asst/to rate. For five seasons before last season he was a very good shooter so I'm sure he will burn teams that leave him open without needing to dribble the ball. If salary didn't matter, he's a great addition. He had some issues jacking up shots in TOR but that's because of some favoritism from Nurse and also being close friends with the other playmaker on the team (Siakam). The front office and coaching staff have signaled that the young core comes first. I don't think Udoka is going to allow FVV to take as many shots (over 16 per game) here. I'm so excited to have a good floor general and a low/high post passer at the same time. Few teams in history haven't exceeded expectations with that combo. It's very hard for defenses to guard double the number of angles of a normal team. Plus the coach seems serious about mandating frequent off ball movement. The scorers are going to feel like they're in heaven compared to last two seasons. Sengun with more experience. Amen a potential generational passer. Excited to finally find out what our core is made of.
people here squealed at me 4 months ago when i said i wanted him (granted i didn't necessarily want him at the MAX) Is the upcoming offseason the most "boom or bust" in Rockets history? but even at the MAX still better than bringing harden back imo
I can't believe people really wanted harden. This does look like an overpay, but I think having fvv will be way more valuable in leading this team and improving the culture. Look what good culture can do for a franchise like the heat. And look what trash culture can do to sixers. Harden would be literally the worst role model for our developing young talent. I don't care if he's a better player right now. He's only good in the regular season anyways
Real talk, why is this guy championship caliber if he was a bench guy when Toronto won their championship? Why is he a good leader when he had problems with Scottie Barnes? Why is he our new franchise player? Make it make sense please.
Van Fleet put in the work. Undrafted-g league-All Star-Championship. That's what we want our kids to do. He's the road map. But even more important to me is that as the kids graduate over the next 4 years, they don't feel it's hopeless here and leave. Fred makes the team just a little stickier and less hopeless.
If he is paid $45M/year, how much Rox will pay to JGreen&Alp when they want to extend? 100 a year, 200 a year? John Wall, Version 2.0
I didn’t follow the Raptors closely at that time - but he averaged over 30 minutes in the finals. And leaders can have conflicts with players - it’s actually their job if there is a problem.
it is when guys like Harden, Desmond Bane and Kyrie Irving are making less. I don’t get the deal. This guy is a good player, but he is not great and never will be. He is too short, too fat and too slow to become a superstar. Contrary to what some people think, not every light skinned short and soft toned Black dude is going to be the next Jalen Brunson. Most of the time they end up like Jabari Parker and the other Duke player, Okafor. This reminds me of when we signed Trevor Ariza in 2009 to be our number 1 and realized that was not his role. I can only assume that Ime wanted this guy. Maybe he will be trade bait to get Jalen Brown? Fingers crossed.
it is when guys like Harden, Desmond Bane and Kyrie Irving are making less. I don’t get the deal. This guy is a good player, but he is not great and never will be. He is too short, too fat and too slow to become a superstar. Contrary to what some people think, not every light skinned short and soft toned Black dude is going to be the next Jalen Brunson. Most of the time they end up like Jabari Parker and the other Duke player, Okafor. This reminds me of when we signed Trevor Ariza in 2009 to be our number 1 and realized that was not his role. I can only assume that Ime wanted this guy. Maybe he will be trade bait to get Jalen Brown? Fingers crossed.
…and the return has been really low and the players available in FA are relatively weak….and yes, I have been out of the loop - been on 9 flights and 4 countries ending in North Africa with poor internet the last few weeks but name some names if you think there are salary dumps we should have got in on. Hating on the FVV deal is understandable but you need someone who can help the team along(I think Fred can) AND you need that person to make a lot of money because you still need minutes for your young guys to develop. Signing several smaller deals with better cap value to meet the salary floor doesn’t necessarily help the team because then you are crunching minutes of some of your stronger upside guys like Tari and the goal in FA is not to start building the contender today - it’s to provide mentorship and training for the young guys. We will get better as a result but not because the front office thinks these FA signings are part of our long term plans - they are training wheels for toddlers. Really this is what we should have done at least a year ago if not two years ago…
He is a 19-20 ppg scorer and some dimes but you already got them in Green, Senguen and possibly others.
Who gives a f*ck about bitter Raptors fans? Raptors/Masai offered him $130m over 4 years. That's $32.5m per season. That's roughly the average salary of the 15th best starting PG in the NBA. He's easily the 15th best PG in the NBA. In fact the majority of advanced stats put him in the top 10-15. We offered him $43m per season. Essentially we're paying him like he's a top 10 PG. He has championship experience, which a lot of top 10 PG's don't have and is especially valuable to a young core. I'd call it a risky but acceptable overpay. If he stays healthy, he'll earn 90% of what we've paid him on every year of his contract.
The Rockets went away from undrafted guys when they went 3 years hunting for the Top 3 pick.....now the Heat are the team that sells undrafted players at an all time high.
Kyle Lowry Mike Conley Buddy Hield Marcus Morris CJ McCollum Tobias Harris Markelle Fultz Gordon Hayward Already missed out on: Joe Harris Joe Ingles Victor Oladipo
We signed Ariza to be a high end role player and struck out on every other playmaker in FA at the time and then HAD to make him a number 1 out of necessity. Probably some of the darkest days to be a Rocket fan - watching Ariza dribble the ball off his feet every other play was very painful. I believe on basketball this deal was not worth it but we needed to spend A LOT to make the salary cap floor and oh by the way the new CBA actually has real punishments to teams who don’t meet the salary floor. We have waaaayyyy too many young guys we hope to develop(who need minutes -this is the key) so the idea here is overpay the guys you want teaching the young guys how to be pros because we are so far under the cap you have to sign multiple players to meet the floor and we want to sing the minimum number of players because we want minutes available to our young guys. I also believe KPJ is gone with this deal if he can’t accept a bench role but we will see. I think Whitmore probably spends a lot of time in the G league this year as a result.
That's not correct. His PIE last year was 11.3. KPJ was 11.2. Point Guards above him: Westbrook Dinwiddie Russell Anthony D. Murray J. Murray Giddey Paul Brogdon Holiday Fox Brunson Young Irving Haliburton Harden Curry Lillard Morant So he was 20th.... below average.. Fultz, Kpj, and Tre Jones were roughly the same... how are they paid?
It is not hard to get to the floor. Teams will pay you to take contracts for picks. There were other free agents too.
