I'm glad that dumb meltdown happened before the half and not in the 4th, I think we have our heads back together now and can finish the game like they started it.
Can't be worse than Prigs. And just don't let him close games. Easy to prevent backbreaking turnovers.
In all fairness to Lin, he's an average to slightly above average point guard who shoots a decent clip from 3 and can function in a bench spark plug pretty well in 15-20 minutes a game. Smith, for all his defensive prowess, is still foul prone and takes at least 2-3 horrendously bad shots a game, just as bad as Lin's 2-3 horrendously bad turnovers a game. At the end of the day, Lin is a steal at 2-3 mill/year and would complement pretty much any bench lineup. As much as people hate Lin, he's still an upgrade over Terry or Prigs by almost every metric except CF rep.
My issue is that I don't know that LMA is that good... He's getting destroyed versus Memphis against an aging Randolph and has turned into a volume shooter - 13/34, 7/20, 6/18... He is an average defender who is declining on that end and posts mediocre VORP/BPM despite huge usage (30%). That production will inevitably decline with decreasing usage. He is a volume player who contributes minimally on defense. In the right system he could be a good utility player (like San Antonio) but he's hardly a "star" and paying him max money could be a big mistake, especially if he only wants a one year deal. I think people are making LMA look like a home run and I just don't see it as anything but an expensive gamble.
I like our team as it is. But if Lamarcus Aldridge is willing to come to Houston, Morey makes it happen. Aldridge is a superior player over Chris Bosh... And a true all star. But Morey will need to be diplomatic because he cant upset Josh Smooth or Howard in the process. As Smooth is still a real possibility to come back next season, since he is having fun on the court again.
Also, you cannot break up Ariza and Harden. Because it seems that Ariza and Harden were the one constant throughout the season. So everything must be done not to move Ariza out of Houston in an attempt to bring in Aldridge. Your untouchables are Harden, Howard, and Ariza.
Portland overall is having a poor series against Memphis, but it might be that having played short-handed has put that much more pressure on Lillard and LMA. Also, LMA is basically playing with no thumbs....that is, he hurt both this season and put off surgery needed on one of them. But, unless LMA is willing to take one year at MLE and Josh Smith one year at veteran's minimum.....because Ariza helps Harden immensely, and lrobably can't be replaced by McDaniels. Yet.
Too bad their are 30 teams in the NBA, bet this is exactly what Cuban thought when he signed Parsons to the max, "Cannot let Houston keep him!". LMA as a superstar is questionable, the guy is a great mid-range shooter but he is only average (or below average) defensively, and average passing and on the boards. He is also getting up there in age, 29 might not be old technically but remember LMA has been in the league for a long time and he has been dealing with all sorts of injury. You're right Dwight is banged up so why will we gut the team for another banged up dude? So they can sit on th bench together in suits? WTF.
LMA for Dmo or Jones plus First round pick, Capel Ariza I would do we can't keep all those guys anyway.
so what's the benefit of getting LMA and loosing the depth? what if LMA gets injured which it seems like he has been alot recently. also by loosing Ariza,DMO,and Jones then whos gonna play defense dorsey?
You keep one of either our 4's ... there is no way we can keep Smith, Jones, and Dmo. Capela we have on a rookie contract, but teams will like similar to the Lamb trade bait Dam Presti bit on. Let's keep one and get LaMarcus the upside to our team is incredible .
I don't watch Portland that much but when they play Houston, LMA always seems to have huge nights. Even going back to the year we beat them in the play-offs with Yao Ming I seem to remember him having big nights against us. Maybe he just likes playing against Houston.
Lol at losing role players... If you have Harden/Howard/ LMA you will not have any problem finding roles players.
Why would Portland do that deal? Capel and Ariza are garbage. Dmo might be worth something. Tjones is average. The 1st round pick will be near the end of the 1st.
If Jsmooth is shipped out, D12 is gonna be upset for sure. It's a problem with chemistry. And Jsmooth is doing fine at Houston. Roster as of now looks good enough, just need to address PG. I don't think one LMA gonna make Rockets win 70 wins in regular season.
Not that it would preclude acquiring LMA altogether, but people need to be mindful that getting Aldridge via S&T would impose a HARD CAP on the Rockets at the "apron" level. If the currently projected cap figure ($67.1M) holds true, that'd be a hard cap at $85.6M. (And given all the first round sweeps in the playoffs, it's possible that BRI -- and by extension the cap -- may come in slightly below those projections.) Dwight, Aldridge (if signed to a max deal) & Harden would make up about $57M of team salary alone. That leaves $28-29M (or less) to fill out the remaining 10-12 roster spots. Again, I'm not saying that this would *prevent* the Rockets from getting Aldridge. But it's a situation that will weigh heavily on the Rockets' thought process this summer.
Good player analysis. Put out a paid newsletter. And just curious, which 1st rounder will be near the end of the 1st??? C'mon, Cubes, quit trolling...
