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Is Daryl Morey signing J-Smoove as a piece for Love in 2014?

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by charles_zed, Apr 7, 2013.

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  1. charles_zed

    charles_zed Member

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    An obvious area that we need to improve in is our PF output and as Morey has stated - though he's not picky about stars, he would prefer that our 2nd one be someone from the front-court.

    There were rumours that Morey expressed interest in Josh Smith before the all-star deadline but when the Hawks demanded too much he declined and opted to pursue Josh in FA instead of shedding our assets. This does follow with Morey's comments that he would prefer to sign Houston's 2nd star with our cap room.

    It was always the best move anyway as J-Smoove had already expressed interest in joining the Rockets, is discontent with his situation in Atlanta, and the only other teams reportedly pursuing him are in bad situations... That and you don't break up a successful young core to add an expiring borderline star who may be in line to receive an albatross contract like Rashard Lewis, Gilbert Arenas, Amare Stoudemire, Eric Gordon, or the entire Brooklyn Nets roster.

    I think an unspoken rationale in Morey's strategy for pursuing Josh Smith is that he can be used as a centerpiece in a trade for an increasingly disgruntled Kevin Love in 2014.

    1. The Timberwolves are a small market and have difficulty attracting FAs

    2. They have been trying to assemble a win-now roster for the past two seasons. Their management and ownership group seems to be similar to Les in that they would prefer not to rebuild through deep sea lottery fishing.

    3. The Timberwolves are committed to mediocrity. This can be inferred from their moves which indicate that they're not positioning to become a championship caliber team, but only a profitable, relatively successful franchise.

    4. Kevin Love has been increasingly at odds with Minnesota management ever since they refused to give him to a 5 year extension and it's more than likely he opts out of his PO.

    With that understanding a good maximum tender for Josh Smith would be in the Nene, Al Horford range - a flat $11M over 4 seasons. There's a short list of PFs who have the talent of Josh Smith and none of them are interested in playing for Minnesota. They'll need to fill that void of talent and Josh Smith would be a good fit for their squad at that salary.

    If we were looking at fair market value, Josh Smith is a $9m player. This season his numbers have regressed despite the team losing Joe Johnson and his winshares have regressed to marginally below league average.

    The main concern is a team like the Suns possibly offering him the FA max or a contract that will be difficult to move as Josh Smith has stated the importance of contract dollars to him in terms of representing "respect".

    Personally, while I'd be happy with the acquisition of Josh Smith on reasonable contract terms I would prefer someone of Kevin Love, Chris Bosh or LMA's caliber (who wouldn't?) as Josh Smith is a known quantity that makes us 2nd rounders in the West at best but I think adding him on a slightly bloated contract can net us Kevin Love or even LMA.
     
    #1 charles_zed, Apr 7, 2013
  2. ngazi

    ngazi Member

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    That's pretty cool. And if he fits really well into our team we can keep him too.
     
    #2 ngazi, Apr 7, 2013
  3. Spacemoth

    Spacemoth Contributing Member

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    Whichever team that signs Josh Smith this summer will be stuck with him for the life of his inevitably horrible contract.

    Or they'll have to make a deal like the Gilbert Arenas Rashard Lewis trash-for-trash trade, where both teams are simply making the move because they don't want to sniff the stench of their useless freeloading bloated player/contract while they wait for that player/contract to literally and figuratively expire.

    God. I don't even know why this is a topic on Clutchfans. Is Morey an idiot? I think we've already established that he's not. Taking this into account, then you already know the answer about whether or not we will "pursue" Josh Smith this summer. Hint: WE WON'T.
     
    #3 Spacemoth, Apr 7, 2013
  4. nono

    nono Member

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    The thought of us signing Josh Smith at max money has me sometimes waking up crying in the middle of the night.
     
    #4 nono, Apr 7, 2013
    1 person likes this.
  5. nono

    nono Member

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    Players like Josh Smith and Iguodala are net negatives in this CBA. You sign one of these guys and you've basically condemned yourself to be perennial 4th-5th seeds. They are not max worthy but will still command max and are probably the worst thing that can happen to a team.
     
    #5 nono, Apr 7, 2013
  6. thiamjin

    thiamjin Member

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    I'd say the best perimeter defender in the NBA is max worthy...
     
    #6 thiamjin, Apr 7, 2013
  7. Mathloom

    Mathloom Shameless Optimist
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    No more than $10m/yr average. Otherwise we're killing ourselves cap-wise. Once he agrees, see if Dwight wants to join Harden/Smith and if he does, then see if Atlanta/anyone wants Asik/Garcia/Lin/etc.

    Clear that space. I believe in Morey's ability to pick up useful rotational players cheaply to fill roster spots.
     
    #7 Mathloom, Apr 7, 2013
  8. Jamers

    Jamers Member

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    Jsmoove is a chucker.. But he's really good defensively, loves to run transition and pretty good passer(perfect fit for the rockets). So if he's not an option, who are we going to sign then? Are we going to wait for LeBron, aldridge, cp3, durant and pray to dragons/Gods so that they sign with Us? LOL.. Smith is the best player available who's INTERESTED to join the rockets.. Ill take him for 10-12M/yr
     
    #8 Jamers, Apr 7, 2013
  9. hocash

    hocash Contributing Member

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    Better smith than love. If Rick Adelman can't get Love to lead his team to the playoffs, ever, then Love is hopeless.
    Smith has been stuck with mediocre coaching his whole career.
     
    #9 hocash, Apr 7, 2013
  10. CCM721

    CCM721 Member

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    Luckily we have Harden to lead us to the playoffs, Kevin Loves 26/13 will get us over the hump.
     
    #10 CCM721, Apr 7, 2013
  11. Naija Texan

    Naija Texan Member

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    I'd rather they pick up no one this off season, then make the mistake of going after Smith like he is a legit MAX level player. What good was he with Joe Johnson and Al Hortford in Atlanta? Neither is a legit MAX player but they are both very good star players and Atlanta was in the much weaker Eastern Conference. I signing him for a reasonable contract 3-4 years somewhere around upper level but not MAX money, I'd go for it.

    But Smith has all the markings of a potential bust to give a big contract to.
     
    #11 Naija Texan, Apr 7, 2013
  12. Aleron

    Aleron Contributing Member

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    he's worth serge ibaka money, about 12m per, but thats about it
     
    #12 Aleron, Apr 7, 2013
  13. SRR21

    SRR21 Member

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    If HOU did trade away Lin I would like to see PG Avery Bradley here. Bradley is a RFA in 2014.

    PG Bradley
    SG Harden
    SF Parsons
    PF Josh Smith
    C Howard

    I dont know if the money is doable but I think that line up would have best defense in the NBA.
     
    #13 SRR21, Apr 7, 2013
  14. TheFreak

    TheFreak Contributing Member

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    Rather have Smith than Love.
     
    #14 TheFreak, Apr 7, 2013
  15. hlmbasketball

    hlmbasketball Member
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    If we sign Smith, what do we do with T. Jones, D. Mo, T. Rob, G. Smith and R. White?

    You could put G. Smith back at the back up 5 and T. Jones can be the backup 4 but that leaves D. Mo, T Rob, and R. Whites on the outside looking in. I would try and trade either D. Mo or T. Rob for Evan Founier, J. Lamb or Terrence Ross.

    We need to balance our roster and we need a young perimeter player other than Harden
     
    #15 hlmbasketball, Apr 7, 2013
  16. DonatasFanboy

    DonatasFanboy Member

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    yep, LeBron should definitely get max.
     
    #16 DonatasFanboy, Apr 7, 2013
  17. Dat Dude

    Dat Dude Member

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    Man, I'd probably stop saying a whole lot after spouting off this non-sense. Unless of course you're talking about Lebron (who IS the best perimeter in the NBA)...
     
    #17 Dat Dude, Apr 7, 2013
  18. shortfuse3

    shortfuse3 Member

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    Jsmoove is an inefficient player who has no fit in Morey's moneyball system. One thing we know Morey loves and that's efficiency. It's why we're going to go after Paul Millsap.
     
    #18 shortfuse3, Apr 8, 2013
  19. wfeebs

    wfeebs Member

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    J smoove chucks inefficient long 2s and struggles with 3s. You think the ball gets sticky with harden? Just wait until Smith.

    The same people who don't want love didn't want harden. Look how that turned out. The love/harden foundation would be set for 10 years and they complement each other PERFECTLY.
     
    #19 wfeebs, Apr 8, 2013
  20. RedRedemption

    RedRedemption Contributing Member

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    Not with Parsons on board.
    Andre has little to no offense.
     
    #20 RedRedemption, Apr 8, 2013
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