Who cares if he might be an elite defender some day. He still won't be playing ahead of Harden, Ariza, or Brewer next year. That makes him irrelevant in a win now situation.
Reports have been pretty consistent that they are going to match him up to the MLE. You guys don't have to agree with them, but it is pretty clear the Rockets FO thinks he has good upside.
Then why haven't we used the full mle yet? Smith is waiting. And let's not pretend that Hinkie makes only good decisions in his ponzie scheme.
And my response is - when was the last time the Rockets FO actually leaked anything? The negotiations with KJ are pretty much internal. So probably no one knows.
Every year we have 1 player who everyone sees as a potential break out star (ie Williams) and cling for dear life in hopes that that person is kept to realize it. It's because we like to romaticize the rise of a star within our organization (I do it too) or it's because we are just hoarders. Either way, we know very little about how this player has performed in practice, what the coaches, upper management, etc view of the player and we all just assume they are a diamond in the ruff. I now believe it's just best to let the story unfold and sit back and enjoy it because it really is just like a movie, we have no control. This is all just here for our amusement and for some, money for those like who like to gamble.
IMHO Morey is waiting to see what Smith gets offered. If he can match it he probably will. Smith is an order of magnitude more important to the Rockets next season than KJ.
I'm not sure if this is sarcastic but anyway thanx . This is a possibillity but you know what is also more logical if you want to keep Smith? Not to wait for him to get an offer more than the full mle. Right now I'm seeing "i believe i can fly" Bargnani signing a deal for 5 million. Bargnani! And people think that kj wil take a 1 per? Even if he never fullfills his potential a 1 million at this market is something you give to Carron Buttler - a fully washed up vet who can't move his feet- .Even he got more I think. Anyway. We will find out soon.
Offers become public once they have been submitted to the NBA. So, obviously no team has written an offer for either Smith or KJ. As of yesterday morning I believe.
which is why I believe there is VERY much going on behind scenes. Negotiating. I think that Howard and Morrey are all over Smith to convince him to stay for only 2 per(his qo) and that Morrey is playing a game of chicken with the rest of the teams and Kj's agent. Because the minute Kj signs an offersheet we can match as long the mle is intact. So Morrey is daring the other teams to poison pill him and sacrifice precious cap space for 72 hours if they want him. Now Utah has signed Pleiss and Sac has signed Bargnani (not official yet). This makes the teams that can pp kj three I think. Denver, Portland after Sunday Philly and there is a remote chance of Boston if they waive their unguaranteed (not sure about this one after the Lee trade). There is also Dallas.
"Potential" is what got Nikoloz Tskitishvili drafted 5th overall, and Hasheem Thabeet drafted 2nd overall. I appreciate valuing potential, but nothing has gotten more coaches and GM'S fired than betting that potential will always be fulfilled, or even fulfilled more often than not. If you eliminate November, McDaniels' shooting stats make Josh Smith look like Stephen Curry. If you expect him to be anything more than a defense only/offensive liability player in the next two or three years, you are taking one hell of a gamble with your future. If you want to place a little side bet on him on the roulette table, that's cool. But if you drop your life savings on a spin of the wheel with McDaniels, going McDaniels or bust in the hope that your going to hit a home run, you most likely will regret it.
Since it really isn't possible to do a S&T of McDaniels, I wonder if the Rockets could make a trade with someone that "included" K.J. by telling that team we would not match. Only problem is that K.J. would have to want to go to that team.
KJ may not be an above-average rotation player now, but he has shown enough to be a good prospect. And as long as the opportunity cost is reasonable (and we'll see about that as the market plays out), it's better to have him on the roster than to fill that roster spot with a random free agent off the street. KJ reminds me of a young Gerald Wallace-- not as tall, but more varied offensive skills. If KJ has a 30% chance for reaching the Wallace level, it's worth paying him, say, $3M to see what happens to him. People pay that kind of money to random mid-1st round picks in their 2nd and 3rd years all the time.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nuggets?src=hash">#Nuggets</a> have signed Wilson Chandler to a multi-year extension! More: <a href="http://t.co/GOVEWDk1aj">http://t.co/GOVEWDk1aj</a> <a href="http://t.co/irLLPdAgsP">pic.twitter.com/irLLPdAgsP</a></p>— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) <a href="https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/620057353761611777">July 12, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I do not believe that is how this process works. Teams make CBA and NBA defined offers to players that hit free agency. Players like KJ and Smith can shop for offers from other teams. If another team actually offers such players a contract, it must be registered with the NBA. At that point it becomes public knowledge and the team (the Rockets in this case) has three calender days to respond to that offer. Until the player in question signs with his original team that player remains a free agent. The original team can revoke their offer at any time. It seems to me to be a well defined process, and the fact that there are no recorded offers to KJ or Smith is telling.
I've never heard of this. I believe only signed contracts go to the NBA. Signed offer sheets as well.
