Our max possible cap space this summer is about $16M? I don't think that's enough to sign Claxton and even if he accepted I assume Brooklyn would match. Getting him would be great because it would also hurt Brooklyn, whose pick next year could be very valuable.
No one is trading for Joel Embiid. Too injury prone and just 7 foot Harden who's game doesnt translate well into the playoffs. I think they themselves used him as an example but both pretty much surmised that he wouldn't be an option. I wouldn't trade any of our young guys for Embiid. I think Sengun has more "it" in his game than Embiid does frankly. There are dude's who galvanize more when pressure mounts and Sengun feels like that guy to me. Did that so many times during the year. Joel shrinks if the refs dont give him what he wants.
I think Joel is still great enough to come close to a championship but I do not see the Rockets being that ready made team..... Their time lines do not match, that is correct......too much hassle to trade for him. Nobody saw Giannis winning a championship that soon with his lack of shooting either and with all their early EC exits....
I think people are underestimating internal growth. We just went 41-41 this season. We could of technically had a few more wins, but we let some slip away. As a team, we are in a good spot. I know it's hard to gauge what Green will become and Sengun can take another step next season, but everything seems to indicate that we are in an upward trajectory. Nothing that happened this season really suggests that we've plateaued. The young players are still growing. We lost Tari for half a season and Sengun for one fourth of the season. The only player I'm conflicted about is Green, however, you cannot make a desperate move (like Mikal Bridges for example) just because you are iffy about him being a future star. His March was incredible. Not only did he perform great, but he also led us to wins. It wasn't just empty stats. I know that's not much to cling on to based on how the rest of the season went, but I would rather let his contract play-out rather than trade him for some guy that doesn't get us over the hump.
Trading Sengun for Embid could destroy the rebuild and collapse the franchise. Embid doesn't fit the timeline and has a massive injury history I don't think Embid has many more superstar level seasons ahead of him. As a talent he's as advertised. As a reliable available player he's been a disaster.
Ya the Rockets have essentially a team last season that already had a playoff record and pt differential. They broke a NBA record for most wins for a 11th seed. This team with zero internal growth already is a fringe playoff team. So to think you need to make major roster moves to become a playoff team seems weird. Edit: also like to add that a lot of the current fringe western conference playoff teams are on their last legs and are close to full on rebuilds like the Warriors, Suns and Clippers. There are a number of teams the Rockets can easily jump over
If before the season started in 2023 if someone said we would go 41-41, how many people at the time would then say "well internal growth to jump to playoff contention would be risky" The over under on this team was 31 wins. And people think internal growth is risky if the goal is playoffs? Lol.
We have future's best center Without Sengun, this team plays for nothing.. What is this fanbase's Sengun hate? Who the **** is Jalen Green, when you have NBA's best young center in Sengun? Dont get me wrong, l like Green ,but as a player in terms of consistency and a player, JG is 3 tier below caliber compared to Sengun. What fool fan wants to trade future's allstar center, high possibility all time NBA player with injury prone players aging like Embiid and others? If Embiid was good, what did he achieve in Sixers? O, null.. He is just an overrated, injuryprone player at the moment.
I agree with the general idea of not making huge moves. Everything this year should be angled at building with the young guys and setting up one last swing at free agency in 2025. I do think Sengun could be a #1 but I don't think that changes anything about the plan for this year. So, just explain to Sengun that waiting a year for his extention could be the difference between mediocrity and contending.
I don’t think they should and you don’t think they should …. But let’s get real.. If Stone and Tillman have the chance they 110% trade for Embiid and Sengun would be an afterthought to them. If it’s already leaked out that they’d pursue Zion then you know that there’s no reason why they wouldn’t pursue Embiid. The star power and the relevancy mean a hell of a lot more to them then us as fans. Still… i wouldn’t worry about it. Embiid is going could have a solid playoff run and I wouldn’t count out Morey to go all out this Summer to make Embiid very happy to stay vs the alternative.
I've always wondered if @Os Trigonum has ever stopped to consider who he's reporting to. The only person who has the power to do anything about disrespecting the franchise player is none other than the guy who is behind all these evil thoughts. It's like complaining about the holocaust to Adolf Hitler.
Claxton can’t shoot and we have our backup center. If you can trade Adams and pick up Claxton that’s fine, but pretty sure he wants to be a starter and he has no chance to be a starter for the rockets. If we sign a backup role player it will be a combo guard like Brogdon.
There’s no way I’m offloading tradeable depth like Green and Landale to maybe sign Claxton. If we do anything major this offseason, it’ll be a trade IMO.
Eh then it shows that Stone is name chasing rather than caring about building a actual sustainably good team.
In my opinion the improvement to 41 wins was mostly due to the vets added during the offseason, particularly FVV. FVV was able to unlock Sengun's game to have a near All-Star year. It's not hard to improve a bad team by adding competent vets. However, improving from 41 to near 50 wins is where things can stall. An interesting thought exercise is how many wins do you think we would have if Udoka had the same roster as the 22-23 Rockets where the deficiencies of Green and Smith this year could not be hidden (e.g. benching Green in the 4th). I was hoping to see Green and Smith establish themselves more this year, but they left a lot to be desired. They could show significant improvement next year - or not. Them playing consistently good basketball next year is not guaranteed. I'm curious as to what Udoka thinks. In the exit interview he said if he went to Phoenix, Milwaukee, or Philly he would be in the playoffs right now. I wouldn't be surprised if behind the scenes he's lobbying to make some roster changes to strengthen their chances at achieving that goal.
And you know this how? No to embid. Stone has done a great job of leaving us flexible to trade or sign a superstar if one comes available. Jokic and Wemby are not going anywhere and they are the only front-court players I would trade Sengun for. If we trade any of the core it will be Jalen or Cam and I wouldn’t want to do that unless Giannis or Booker demand a trade. All the other tier one guys are too old or very unlikely to leave their current situations. A combo guard to backup FVV or Green is the only move I see us making. Amen should start at SF until it is time for him to take FVV’s place.
The big takeaway is that Vecenie doesn't think the Rockets have a #1 option on a championship team right now.
A 20 win impact by a player is Luka, Jokic level. Ironically for a month during a 13-2 stretch the Rockets were a -6 per game in pt differential when Green was resting with being the only rotational player during that stretch where the team was a net negative when a player was resting. Basically during a 13-2 stretch the Rockets were an ass team just from Green resting and one of the best teams in the NBA when Green was on the court.
