Hey fellow Rockets, Quick question regarding our depth, perticularly as it pretains to the Guard position. I seem to remeber waiving Ish Smith just prior to the season. I was wondering, why wouldn't a team looking to make a splash at the trade deadline not keep a player who, potentially, has some upside. And while we are on the subject of trade assets, I was curious as to why Nick Johnson does not play more. Admittingly, I know very little about the ins and outs of NBA practice and rotations, but I feel like players similar to Clint Capela, Nick Johnson, and Ish Smith add more value to a team than players such as Francisco Garcia, Joe Dorsey, and even Troy Daniels. Wouldn't increasing the minutes for the former increase trade value as well as give these players valueable experience incase one of them needed to step in and take over in a time of injury? Couldn't you potentially find a diamond in the rough, and wind up having that elusive 3rd star we have all been clamoring foor? Just wanted to get Red Nations' opinion on the matter. SUCK IT PARSONS, SUCK IT LONG AND HARD
Ish Smith is a career journeyman with absolutely no value to any team. He is someone you sign when you are down to your 2nd or 3rd String PG And you don't play players like Cappella and Johnson because you are arguably a top 5 team in the NBA, your goal is to win games right now, not potential lose games by "developing projects," you leave that to the garbage teams of the league
We were over 30 points ahead of the Spurs before garbage time without its starting front 2, there's basically no way to have enough depth to cover the loss of both. Guard/wing wise, we're good for the most part.
Ish Smith is crap. Hence he was waived. I'm not sure guard depth is a major issue for us? From what I'm seeing, we have 2 NBA quality big men (Howard, Jones), and 2 particularly bad options for the backup C spot. What we really need is to upgrade that backup 4/5 spot - but it's unreasonable to expect an all-star for 'depth'. I'd be waiving Black, and signing one of: Jermaine O'Neal, Dante Cunningham, Aaron Gray or Bernard James. None of them spectacular (although O'Neal brings quite a lot to the table), but Gray and James are both 'large' bodies close to the hoop. I suppose the downside is that Black at least knows the system....
We need an answer for ball movement first. I know Harden is the epitome of moreyball but that is not the way to play the game. I feel like we have a good bench but just not properly coached.
Okafor would be perfect. If he can completely recover from his neck injury. And get back into game shape.