1) Hire a STRONG coach. JVG is the most sense. He is a strong personality with the gravitas to challenge a superstar like Harden. Plus, he gets along with Morey (he told a NY radio show recently that he plays tennis with Morey a lot) so this is actually a realistic scenario. 2) Let Dwight go. Don't attempt to re-sign him. He and Harden have terrible chemistry for whatever reason and you need to side with the younger, healthier star. Just cut loose and move forward. 3) Sign a SG that can keep up with PGs. Harden isnt a natural playmaker but since he is a rhythm player that needs the ball in his hands, play to his strengths and find a SG to play alongside him that can keep up with smaller quicker PGs. again, he doesnt have to be a tough defender, just be able to keep up and get in the way on defense. I'm thinking someone like Brandon Jennings or Mo Williams would be a good fit. 4) Sign a good quick defender at the SF that can also shoot. Even though he is a RFA, I think it would make a lot of sense to make a run at Allen Crabbe. He defends and shot the 3 at nearly 40% this season. He even has a midrange game that I know Morey hates, but face it we need at least one of those guys on the team for those nights when our 3s just arent falling. 5) Re-sign Donatas if possible to a cheap contract. I saw enough from him after the Pistons debacle to warrant another chance for him. I am old school and love post up players, and Donatas has soem of the best post moves around. 6) Make a run at Joakim Noah, Biyombo, or Ezeli. Capela is not the answer once we let Dwight leave. These arent flashy moves for the most part. I want no part of any pursuit of KD. Build a solid team and maybe we can lure Westbrook next year. Please stop swinging for the fences.
Only thing I would disagree with is your 2nd point about Dwight, because it's a player option, not a team option. Yes, for our sake, he needs to opt out. As far as KD goes, I am in the same boat (if he wants to wait it out before making a decision). If he makes a decision quickly (and somehow he wants to come here), then no doubt sign him. If he wants to drag the process out, then DM needs to move on to sign other available pieces. This off season, time is the absolute last thing that DM can afford to waste, because other pieces will be signed quickly IMO.
I'm going on the assumption that Dwight will opt out, because I dont think he wants to stay here at all. I really hope Morey learned from his mistakes during the Bosh offseason fiasco.
I really hope we go after JVG hard. I think he's the guy to fix this teams issues. He knows how to build a defensive team and that's what we need to get back to. Couldn't agree more about Howard. I tried to be as supportive as possible throughout his time here in Houston but he's a quitter and a locker room cancer. Time to move on to someone new. Brandon Jennings would be a great player to add next to Harden. Coming off of an injury I can't imagine him commanding an outrageous contract. Wouldn't mind seeing a guy like Rondo here as well. He had a great season in Sacramento this year. I think the guy we should be looking for at SF is Bazemore. He's the real deal. He's long, can shoot the 3, plays great defense and he's an above average athlete. The combination of DMO and Beasley is something I would love to see a full year of. Only issue we face there is neither one of them really focus on playing defense. I feel that Beasley definitely has the ability to be that guy but he quits on too many plays. Noah would be great for our locker room. Not sure what he has left in the tank. Whiteside would be my main target of the offseason if I'm Morey. He's a younger Howard who would definitely run that pick and roll without complaining. He can come here and continue to do what he does now. Dunk everything, block everything and rebound everything. Im excited for the offseason. Hoping for several trades and major signings. Let's start with firing JBB and moving on to JVG
It's just not smart not to make play a for Durant when you have his buddy Harden. Not to mention other top free agents and simply just go after role players to fill out the roster. Seems you will be settling for more of the same with that approach as you have to be generationally special to compete with a star and a bunch of role players/broken down all stars. I am having trouble thinking of a NBA team that has mimicked that type of roster building and success.
Can that roster compete with the warrior Spurs thunder? Well still have to run harden into the ground. We need to build the best team possible not the most economic team. But we need to do it smarter
People who want Rondo have no idea what they are talking about. His defensive skills have completely eroded and he is a terrible shooter. In order for him to be effective he needs to have the ball in his hands which is not what we want next to Harden. A guy like Rondo would be awful on this team.
Those moves are designed in part to address issues that Morey has never fixed. It's making improvements tonthe roster and building a solid team around Harden, with the plan to lure in a big fish in 2017 with those solid role players. It's a completely different approach than the home run swings Morey takes every year it seems. I don't think it will be more of the same.
No it cannot, but given a year later with a solid core, it will be easier to attract another superstar whether thru Free agency or trade. Think about it, why would any star FA want to come to our team at this point?
out of those 3 centers, we should DEFINITELY pursuit Biyombo. Noah is getting old and injury prone. Ezeli is a scrub who seems good on paper because he plays with Curry. Look at his stats in playoffs. Biyombo already played in similar offense to ours, Hornets and Raps both are 3pt and fast break teams. He's only 23 too. He has a player option on his contract but he would be a fool not to opt-out, the problem is he might be demanding a big contract.
Absolutely, the PG next to Harden should be a sharp shooter and quick on his feet. An Aaron Brooks type of player that is even slightly better on the defensive end would be huge. You play off of him and try to double Harden and you pay.
After this many years with Harden, one thing I learn is Harden can't play with any PG because Harden likes to play PG. Eventually everyone will complain that so&so PG need to play off the bench because Harden and him can't seem to fit and in come Beverley back to the starting line up. Then the PG will eventually get discourage and play aweful and everyone will claim he's a failure and demand to trade him away. And the process starts all over again.
And lets say we do this plan. We will have to overpay to try to steal a rfa away and We will tie our money for days waiting for Portland to decide. And they have no reason not to. They have huge capspace and they can always trade Crabbe later if needed to get value back. So the rockets will be left with money and meanwhile all the other young good wings will have signed elsewhere. If you think its risky to go after stars its even more going after rfa of young teams with capspace. Unless of course you propose we give Crabbe crazy money like 18+.