I wonder if Morey has some kind of statistical evidence that the three-star approach has the highest success probability. Remember the iPad thing the first time he tried to recruit Bosh? He was supposed to convince Bosh that going to Miami would not let him yield more wins than if he came to Houston. Ironically, when Morey tried to recruit Bosh the second time last offseason, we already had two stars. So I'm not sure what his presentation was. I guess learning from experience, he figured Bosh wouldn't understand any of those nerd things anyway. :grin: Well, Miami did go to the Finals immediately and won two times out of four with the 3 stars, although Bosh obviously took a back seat and didn't have a "star" impact like before and after the 3-star alignment. Perhaps Miami could have had the same success if they had a Milsap or even a Ryan Anderson.
Things like club loyalty and home town discount in SA came from winning championships. Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili all won titles in their 1st or 2nd season.
I keep hearing Morey wants Rubio, Rondo... but he wasn't willing to give up Parsons to get Love? I think, our current top 3, plus Papa, one of Jones/Dmo, a near-All star PG, then fill around.
Definitely two stars + 1 or 2 borderline stars. Would you rather have Paul Milsap and Goran Dragic or Kevin Love and Isiah Canaan? In my opinion, Milsap and Dragic will affect the game much deeply than K. Love could by himself.
A quarter of the season in now and I'm curious if the thinking has changed here with the recent major steps taken by Dmo and to a lesser extent Canaan. We have these guys locked up for awhile and don't have to give up assets. Just develop them more. Do you trade these guys and our assets for a 3rd star, or hope dmo can be become that 3rd guy and use all out trade assets to deepen our roster? Obviously factors to consider are what players are available on the market and the window of time we are working in given D12 and the current CBA. I'm inclined to just keep Dmo AND jones (consider a trade next feb at the deadline) and use the NOP pick, TPE, 2nd rounders, Capella, Canaan, Johnson, terry and go shopping for roster depth (a bench rim protector and backcourt depth or someone else who can create). Here's to hoping Dmo can consistently develop and be the 4 we need him to be. We'd be just a few small pieces for legit contention.
The 3 superstars need to be synergistic though. Dwight and Howard already need the ball a lot, so whoever our 3rd star would ideally be someone who makes a large impact without the ball ie. elite defense, elite 3pt shooting, elite hustle -- basically Patrick Beverley so far this season.
If H&H and a quality bench gets to include the likes of Ariza and improved young forwards and bev, etc, I'll take it in a heartbeat.
I agree I think keeping this team and adding depth is the way to go. Making a major trade at this point I'm just not sure the upside is high enough and the current chemistry is clearly an asset. It's great to be in a position of having assets to improve incrementally.
For the playoffs last year, the Spurs highest ppg average went to Parker at 16 ppg with 5.7 assists. Duncan averaged 1.9 blocks and 9.7 rbs. Manu has 12.3 ppg, with 4 assists. Even the finals MVP only averaged 12 ppg and 6 rbs. None of those numbers scream superstar. They won with team defense and moving the ball around. What is even more amazing is that nobody averaged more than 30 minutes per game.
I'm curious do you know what the number of players in main rotation for the Spurs during the playoffs?
last year i would have said 3rd star. right now i'd rather have ariza and papa for $13M instead of parsons for $16M. you need one or two guys that you can rely on to carry the team. guys that can be closers at the end of a close game. because of dmo, papa, terry, and canaan producing more than expected, the rockets are closer to contending than expected. if they would add 1 or two more players with the lin TPE they could push themselves over the top this season.
I'm with two superstars and 2 really, really good players. For instance if we were able to get Dragic without giving up much we could have. Harden/Terry/Canaan Dragic/Beverly Ariza/Papa Howard/Black Dmo/Jones I would go to war with that squad.
I think the Rockets are in a pretty good situation, in that they have two stars in place and their role players are mostly playing up to their capabilities or exceeding them. Also, a true third star may be elusive, but given the "assets" available, getting someone at Parsons' level - a 0.5 star - on a less debilitating contract without gutting the roster is a realistic possibility. In other words having 2.5 stars as well as a pretty decent bench isn't out of the question.
