So trade jones and picks for a knock down three point shooter that can handle the ball and initiate the offense. Go get it done DM!
Howard/Capela Dmo Ariza Harden Beverly I think all of them MUST be on the roster I would then keep one of Smith or Jones, I would think Smith only because Jones could be packaged with the 1st round pick and other stuff for a possible PG or move up in the draft for a PG. Ty Lawson would be ideal They need a PG but they also need to keep Beverly, whether it be off the bench or as a starter, but they need a pure offensive PG too. I think Brewer is pretty important to keep as well. I like KPap, but his contract hurts, I would bring him back if possible. My dream roster would be Howard/Capela/draft pick Dmo/Smith/draft pick Ariza/Brewer/Pap Harden/find a PURE shooter/KJ Beverly/Lawson or any other good new PG/Johnson
1) Must Keep aka DO NOT TOUCH: Harden - He is our franchise for the next 8-10 years. He is still young and has proven that he will get better from season to season. At this point, the only player I would consider trading Harden for is Davis. Howard - Healthy and athletic decline are starting to get worrisome but he is still the most impactful center in the NBA when healthy. He has to be on Duncan-treatment from now on. We have to keep him till his contract is up and hope he will take less due to his declining level of play. Ariza - He is our anchor on defense, along with Howard. Shooting was worrisome at times but his defense was amazing this year. There are upgrades available but not at the price of Ariza. Love the toughness he brings to this team. DMo - This team needs to commit to Dmo as the starting power forward. He was amazing this season. He did struggle the last month or so but most of that had to be him burning out due to him playing so much. Must work on his rebounding though. Capela - You have to keep Capela. Lock him in the weight and film room for the whole offseason, he needs it if we are going to count on him to back up Howard full time. I'm very excited for his potential. Keep, but at the right price: McDaniels - Since we practically gave up our "would-be" starting point guard in Canaan right now for KJ, we have to keep him. I love his potential as well but I would not over pay to keep him. He really needs to work on that jump shot and his offensive game, as a whole. But I really like his defense. He can be the Brewer-replacement. Beverley - He was disappointing this season but I still believe in him. Last season, he was the heart of the team. Ideally, he is a back up point guard so I would not overpay to keep him though, and would only start him if we have a strong back up point guard aka Jarrett Jack type. Brewer - I like Brewer but he cannot be our best perimeter guy coming off the bench. He is far too inconsistent in all facets of his game since his only strength is in transition. Gambles way too much on defense and his shot can be horrible on a team that needs player in his position to shoot a lot and shoot well. Ideally, he is a spark plug on the team, in that he only gets big minutes if he is going strong. Smith - I would keep Smith for the right price aka no more than the MLE. He adds an x-factor to this team that we are going to need some night. He is just so very frustrating but when he is on, he is so very good. McHale/Harden needs to do a better job at harnessing him when mistakes pile up though. Keep with a mind to use as assets later: Jones - I love Jones' potential and I would keep him if Smith leaves. But if Smith stays, there may not be any room for Jones on this team. Ideally, he is a great trade piece that could help net us a quality point guard along with the NOP pick. Pap - I was so high on Pap to start the year but he is such a turnover machine. Wish he could have used him more though because he is very crafty, but I don't see any room for him on this team now. Plus, his contract is basically expiring so he can be used as a big trade piece. Johnson - I was very high on him too and really like his defensive potential, but he is such a liability on offense. Would be a good project to keep and develop but he is going to have to put in a lot of work to develop his offense and point guard skills. Vet Min Guys ONLY JET - I still think JET still has a lot to give. We totally misused him this season by overplaying him early in the season. Never understood why we played him so much when Canaan was on the team and showed to be capable. Ideally, he only plays in the regular season to warm up for the playoffs. LET IT GO: Prigs - Will never forget him in Game 7 vs. the Clippers but at 38 years old, there really isn't any room on the team for him. I wish he ran more pick and roll with our guys but all he does is dribble up the court and hand it off to Harden or dribble behind a pick and miss a 25 foot 3-pointer. Dorsey - I think Dorsey was trashed on too much this season. He understood his role on this team better than some players but at 6'8, trying to hold centers it was not going to work. Please, get his sub 30% free throw shooting off the team ASAP.
I still think we need another player who can just get us buckets when we need it. The problem with the Rockets is that we have two stars, but only one of those stars is a guy we can consistently rely on to get us buckets. I'm so torn up on Brewer and Smith. I want to keep them because they can be so good at times like in the Dallas series and Games 5-7 of the Clippers series. But on the other hand, when they are off, they can be very detrimental to the team with their lack of shooting. Pretty much agree with everyone that Harden, Howard, Ariza, DMo, and Capela are must keeps. As for TJones, I would volunteer to help pack his bags. Such a frustrating player.
Top 3 point shooters who may be available via free agency. Eric Gordon - 44.8% (player option) Danny Green - 41.8% UFA Matthew Dellavedova - 40.7% RFA Mike Dunleavy - 40.7% UFA Khris Middleton - 40.7% UFA Demarre Carroll - 39.5% UFA Brandon Knight - 38.9% RFA Wesley Matthews - 38.8% UFA
This team just wasn't good enough to make it this year we didn't have the proper roster balance we really need shooters. Harden needs help badly if we are going to get over the hump. Keep Dmo, Harden, Capella, Dwight and Ariza. If Brew and Smith want to come back for the cheap that's cool if not bye bye. We NEED shooters Morey
Harden, Howard and Ariza are the core. Everyone else except for Capela and maybe Dmo are expendable and replaceable.
The only 3 players I would be shocked to see back here would be Pablo, KPap, and Dorsey. Keep Brewer and Capella at all cost. Get JET with that vet min. Keep PatBev if he isn't asking for much. Get rid of 1 of the PFs: Smith, TJones, DMo. I would get rid of TJones. Smith can be a knucklehead, but his best is WAY better than TJones best, plus Smith/Howard combo is lethal and fun. DMo has much more potential than TJones, because he can make 3's more often and has a post-up game. Draft a PG with #18th pick (I like Grant, maybe Payne or Tyus Jones) ONLY get trade Ariza if you get LMA and can resign Brewer. I do not want Kevin Love at all. He showed in Cleveland that he doesn't mix well with high level offensive players like Irving and LeBron, I have no reason to believe he would play well with Harden. And his contract would destroy ANY chance at Kevin Durant 2016 (even though I think there is just a 10-15% chance that the Rockets get him). My ideal 2015-16 roster: PG: Bev(at the right price)/#18th pick SG: Harden/JET(at vet minimum) SF: Ariza/Brewer/KJ PF:Smith/Dmo C: Dwight/Capella I think our best trade assets are the #32 pick, TJones, KPap, and the #18th pick if we want to move up in the draft.
Now who can play defense on that list Green, Middleton, Carroll, Matthews Can't afford any of them, all will get a minimum of 10 mill per. Even the players on the list who can't play defense will be looking for more then MLE. If we want pure shooters it's best to look for vet min ones because we're not really in position to sign anybody for more then MLE.
^^This Why is it that people think that there is a pool of great players of whom Morey is completely ignoring? The Smith/Howard experiment is worth giving another season, I think. Is Capela worth losing for a s&t for LA? What is the trade value for TJones? Terry provided us some scoring but if he is so replacable who will replace his veteran/championship presence in the locker room? Prigi I can do without. KJ and Nick I don't view as priorities right now and Brewer is a must have. I remember when people were as high or even higher on TJones as they are on DMO. I'd trade him before I did Capela, even though I really like how he's developing. Other trade possibilities. James Harden should trade his night life for a better work ethic. Dwight Howard should trade his penchant for aggression for some free throw woodshedding. Josh should join him there. TJones should trade that menacing stare for something actually menacing.
Capela, Papa and KJ deserve to stay. It's time for us to develop some sort of young core again, these guys have potential.
Dream scenario for offseason: Re-sign Terry to vet minimum -Rationale: he has something left in the tank, wants to be here, we want him back (according to Marc Stein) Trade Jones, Pap, Prigs, Dorsey, NOP pick for Lawson -Rationale: WE NEED A PG, Denver wants to re-build, Lawson wants to be in Texas (instagram post) Re-sign Brewer to one year deal at ~7-8 million -Rationale: Brewer has been a great sparkplug off the bench, he loves McHale and won't get this money on the market, and a one year deal gives us flexibilty for next summer Re-sign Smith at 120% of 2014-15 salary (~$2 million) -Rationale: great (but unreliable) sparkplug off bench, he's already getting money from Detroit, career resurgence, Dwight, and can be a FA in the summer where everyone has $. Re-sign Bev to 5 million/yr deal -Rationale: good market deal for us, who else is going to pay him? Split MLE between McDaniels ($2 million) and Dunleavy ($3.8 million) -Rationale: More wing depth and shooting. May decide to just sign one player with non-taxpayer MLE ($3.8 million) to avoid hard cap* Sign Scola to vet minimum -Rationale: fan favorite, consumate professional, cyberx said he wants to come back, DMo's mentor Line-Up: C-Howard/Capela PF-DMo/Smith/Scola SF-Ariza/Brewer/McDaniels* SG-Harden/Dunleavy*/Johnson PG-Lawson/Bev/Terry And maybe Okafor/Jermaine will be healthy and want that 3rd string C spot. Regardless, this team would be a juggernaut and have no real weaknesses)
That's nowhere near the improvement we need. I don't think we should go for the homerun ball, but not using our assets to improve the team is pretty foolish. The big holes (3 pt shooting, secondary playmaking aka point guard) are still very apparent in this squad without strengthening anything else really. The PG draft class is pretty weak and running with a rookie backup PG and Beverley just isn't gonna cut it.
I think it is THE problem for him and the team. You don't go from an all world athletic performance to incompetence in a matter of hours without the presence of brain altering chemicals of some kind. Otherwise, it had to be an injury, sickness, hangover, or being under the influence of "something." What other explanation is there? Bad game, off night, loss of focus, choke......baloney.
sir/mam true professionals do not party on the night before the most important game of their career.Sports, business or otherwise. thats professionalism 101.
Seems to me the glaring holes are; 1) Rebounding support for Howard. ( Jones, Donatas, and Smith are poor support ) 2) Point guard play ( We need to at least move into the top 15 here ). Beverly is fine off the bench with Terry. 3) Improved FT Shooting ( Seems unlikely to be resolved. ) 4) Reduced Turnovers ( This also seems unlikely to be resolved with the type of players we have. howard loses his dribble, Jones cannot catch a bounce pass, and Harden getting sloppy) 5) Jones has moments, but plays too small at times. Out of everything, I would say adding a big rebounder for the bench and a starting point guard would be the mission. and then hope that Donatas can regain his offensive form.
Must Keep: Harden That's it. Dwight was great in the playoffs, and if he can continue playing close to that level next year that would be great. But after an injury riddled year, at $22M next year and a player option the following, there is no guarantee that his best years aren't behind him. Houston did great without him, but having your second best guy routinely miss time or play at nowhere close to 100% is extremely hard on a franchise. That being said, Dwight is still very close to a must keep. If you can trade him away and acquire someone like DeMarcus Cousins you do it. That's very unlikely though. Then you use Ariza's contract, Kostas $5M expiring, and a grab bag of picks/TJones/Dmo/Capela to acquire another superstar. I like those guys too and I'd hate to lose them, but you have to give up something to get something. The splash brothers have each other, Lebron has Kyrie, Paul has Griffin...I think these playoffs proved the Rockets still need another big time offensive talent to pair with Harden. Doesn't matter if its a power forward, point guard, or small forward, you acquire the best guy available and fill in the holes where necessary. Based on who leaves and what position the new superstar is, prioritize resigning Beverley, Terry, Brewer, Josh Smith. But who knows? We may swing for the fences again and not get that max guy. In that case, a lot of our guys could be back for another season. The only guy that is for sure gone is Kostas. His contract is structured in a way that would be too valuable not to use in any big trade, or even a smaller one to fill out a more pressing need (like shooters!).
