Yeah, doesn't make any sense...for what then? Noah D.Mo Crabbe Harden Jennings The team we have right now is better than this, just saying...and btw this plan means lottery for 2017 and Harden traded sooner rather than later. I just cannot understand how people can be ok with going all in to be a jobber for 5 years.
Arizas still our starting SF if we can't get Crabbe. And the Blazers have another FA to worry about in Leonard who is supposedly demanding near max money in preliminary talks. Blazers won't be able to keep both. If they keep Crabbe, we still have Ariza. He had a bad year but he might flourish under a strong coach that demands accountability from every player.
You are kidding me right? You really think a team with our current roster (minus dwight) and this starting lineup would be a lottery team? You'd have Beverly, Ariza, and capela coming off the bench. These moves are about 2017.
Why isn't he a good fit? He will demand players to play defense which is needed and offensively, Harden will love him. JVG doesn't demand movement on offense. He's very ISO and post inside out heavy. Harden will average close to 30 again with JVG as his head coach.
Good points, they need a secondary playmaker like durant to compete though. The moves you posted will improve the team possibly back to a 45 - 50 win club but still not enough to beat the warriors/spurs.
With the 37th pick in the 2016 NBA draft, the Houston Rockets select... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pM3Hx5LNImI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
We're screwed guys. Either they sign Durant (10% chance) or Harden leaves in 2018 and we wait another 10+ years for them to build a contender from scratch.
Things we need: Guys that are 40%+ on threes Another guy that can score off the dribble A real power forward A defensive minded center with sand in his pants What free agents might actually be available that fit the bill? Guys that are around 40%+ on threes: Marvin Williams Nicolas Batum Eric Gordon Courtney Lee Another guy that can score off the dribble: Mike Conley Chandler Parsons A real power forward: Pau Gasol Al Horford David Lee Ryan Anderson A defensive minded center with sand in his pants: Hassan Whiteside Joakim Noah Who else?
Leonard what? Max money? Loooool...they've toon of money to spend though. Nope. I think next year some young teams will be better than this year: Jazz, Blazers, Wolves, Pelicans. Maybe even the Nuggets. So i don't see how a team with a couple of injury prone and maybe/probably done players and one/two young unproven starters can be better than this Rockets team, sorry. But that's ok, you like to put the money on those guys and have an irrelevant team for 5 years, or actually one cause Harden would bolt that team in a year. I just think different but to each their own i suppose.
Stacking the roster with long term mid level contracts for role players when we only have one superstar player is a recipe for landlocking ourselves into mediocrity for years. Our first target has to be Durant. We really should not sign guys until it is clear what Durant is going to do. If he signs here, great. We can build out the roster. Gotta get interior defense and rebounding though to replace Dwight and make us a better defensive rebounding team than we were this year. And we still gotta get a playmaker that can feed both guys the ball and balance the floor for us. If Durant signs long term in Washington then we gotta go after another premier player.....most likely in trade. We can't just fill up the cap space with mid level role players on long term deals. If Durant signs a one-year deal with a player option on year 2 to remain on OKC then the game is on. We need to acquire through trade and free agent signings as much talent on value contracts a we possibly can. Talent on value contracts. Inn other words they are outperforming and will outperform their contract. Also need to pursue sign-and-trade deals with Dwight. We may be able to net shine value contracts doing that. Also the possibility of using our cap space to acquire an asset by taking on a salary dump so another team can sign Dwight or some other free agent. We take their contract(s) along with a lick and they get space. All these should be pursued before considering signing mid-level role players to long term deals. Remember, the reason we have cap space to pursue Durant is because Morey didn't clog the cap with role players on long term deals. And the worst contracts we have on the books (Brewer, Beverley) are guys he re-signed to long-term mid-level deals.
Nice post. Some thoughts: I am assuming we build around Harden. The first step is, as you identified, to find a coach who doesn't play loosey goosey and has a commitment to discipline and a defined system. JVG would fit this. Luke Walton might but he is totally unproven at having a defined system of his own. Less popular choices but more intriguing in my opinion: David Blatt, Ettore Messina, Nate Tibbets, Jay Larranaga. The next is, as you identify, to find a PG who can defend and pass and doesn't need the ball to create. Brandon Jennings has the downside of no longer being a scorer. Jarret Jack might fit, but only on a vet min. Ish Smith and Jerryd Bayless may not be a bad option on the cheap either; of the two, I doubt Bayless is available. Rajon Rondo would be a gonzo move if you can get him for cheap but Sacto will likely keep him. Finally, I'd consider Garrett Temple. I doubt we ever see Llull in a Rockets uniform. At the end of the day, there aren't any marquee free agent PG's, and we are likely going to be stuck with Beverley as a starter. The next step, once you identify a 3 and D PG who is a competent passer, is to convince Harden to move off the ball. Harden simply commits too many turnovers to be our primary ball handler. Moving off the ball in a true spread pick and roll system would not only create confusion for opposing defenses and allow us to give multiple looks but would allow Harden to get to his spots more efficiently and ultimately but less wear and tear on him. Heck, maybe he will even play defense! I'd try and peg a backup SG too. Temple is kind of a backup PG. I think this would be a good time to bring Alessandro Gentile over and see what he can do. Then, I think you need to dump both Brewer and Ariza. Brewer is awful, we all know that. However, Ariza has declined substantially and he was PUTRID in the playoffs. He had a PER of 2.0 for the series, to put his awfulness in perspsective. You can scream chemistry all you want but he was missing open shots. He's too streaky to take a chance on. I think he's on a value contract and hopefully someone will take a flyer on him for a pick. Maybe we can package Dekker and have someone take him and Brewer off our hands. My ideal sign here would by Nicolas Batum or Marvin Williams. Kent Bazemore if you can get him at a reasonable deal. I would also consider Matt Barnes, Jared Dudley or Luol Deng on a cheap contract as a backup. Next is PF. Obviously you let Jones walk. You extend a QO to D Mo and match anything less than $8 million/year. If he gets more, let him walk. The big sign here has to be Al Horford. Everyone is going to chase Durant; let's not make another Lowry mistake. Can you imagine if we had Lowry at 12 million/year? Horford is our guy. Durant is going to take offers and probably end up signing a 1 year offer with OKC. Let's not miss out again swinging for the fences. Ryan Anderson if you can get him at 12-15 million/year for 3 years - but somebody will pay him more. Brandon Bass if you strike out. Finally C. Let Dwight go. Enough said on that. Capela isn't ready to start, but he is ready to contribute at 15-20 minutes a night. He did make a good leap from year 1 to 2. I'd try and get someone like Zaza Pachulia on a reasonable deal if Dallas chases Dwight. So our roster could look something like this: PG: Beverley/Temple/Goudelock SG: Harden/Gentile SF: Batum/KJ McDaniels/Dudley PF: Horford/Beasley/D Mo/Harrell C: Capela/Pachulia One open roster spot - ideally another wing. We would be carrying forward about 30.8 million in salary. If the new cap is 89 million, that gives us about 58 million to spend. The bulk of that is going to go to Horford and Batum. That means that Dudley, Temple, and Gentile would have to sign to cheap deals or we would have to exercise other options. It also means that we likely can't chase Batum and Pachulia both. We would also have to go over the cap to sign D Mo. Anyway, these are just some thoughts moving forward - smarter minds can make the salaries work!
First time I hear that Leonard who Portland doesnt even want to resign wants a max. Do you have a link to that? Point still remains that we still will be left with nothing then if we waste our time going after such a rfa as first priority. At least Barnes and Fournier have more chances to be let go by their teams. Oh really? A far fetched imaginary scenario. Please give me a reason why a team who is after Dwight or Dwight himself will agree to a s+t? As many teams will go realistically after Durant same number will go after Batum and Horford. They are the best free agents this year and maybe the only ones who will be worth the contracts they will get. For Horford already there has been widely known interest from Atlanta (most money+years), Boston,Orlando at least. And we are still in April. For Batum Charlotte (most money +years), Orlando , Los Angeles and Toronto. These guys will have many many suitors. If anyone has the least suitors that would be Conley because hes a pg and most teams already have good pgs.
I forgot Conley in my coffee-less haze. If you can get him for 12-15 million that would be great - but I still think replacing Ariza with someone like Marvin Williams would pay dividends.
He will get a max from Memphis so thats his baseline price. 26. I really like how Marvin has changed his game. Hes in the 15 per pricetag. Charlotte shouldnt let him go but who knows.
They might. I can't imagine they are willing to drop big money on MKG, Batum, AND Williams. At least one of those guys is an odd man out.
Considering how the role players let down the Rockets this year it is quite understandable to want to exchange out those players for better ones. And the Rockets need better ones, no question. It is just the acquisition order that is wrong here. Get the stars first (if you can), then pepper the roster with the right role players that augment Harden's and the other star(s) game.
Defense is terrible. Sign Mo Williams and Aaron Brooks. Why do y'all expect anyone to take you guys seriously?
