Lulll, Grant, Harrison, etc... no matter what moves we make this year during the draft will overcome the atrocity of free throw shooting by out starting PF's and C. I don't see any draft pick playing in 4th Qtr (Sam Cassell was a great aberration and congrats to Rudy for having the guts to play him) that will alleviate this. We didn't lose in the WCF because our PG play was subpar (IMHO), we lost because our starting PF's and C can't make free throws, as a result, 2 of our top 3 players aren't on the floor during the crucial minutes of the 4th quarter. This also includdes the 2 minutes in the 4th qtr when you can't intentionally foul player, it still doesn't make a difference because they would miss either 1 or both free throws. We lost by 4 and 1 point in the 1st 2 games of the WCF. Imagine if our starting C and PF's could make free throws at a 70% rate. Those games aren't close and GS is down 2 - 0 and headed to Clutch City. There insn't a team in the league that can beat the Rockets in a 7 game series if Dwight Howard, Josh Smith, and Terrance Jones are 70% free throw shooters. Hoping those gentlemen are focused on the real issue, making free throws at a 70% rate. Any stories out there about free throw shooting coaches for our starting C and PF's?
Who says Josh Smith and Terrence Jones will be on the team? Do you really think we will have the same team from last year? Smith is a FA, and TJones has been dangled in trades most likely. I am sure Morey realizes everything you just said. He knows what he is doing. Trust him. #InMoreyITrust
I get your point Hook, but the biggest factor is our rim proctector will still be here and he is the one we rely on the most. D12 must ascend to that level or the $22 mln we pay him doesn't make sense. Would you trade him for Demarcus Cousin's right now? I would in a heartbeat.
We all would, but D12 is still a top 3 Center when healthy and top 2 defensive Center. Our main problem is not having third option offensively. D12 isn't a legit second option. We can probably find that in a trade some how. We are very overloaded in the 4 and 5 spot. Big moves can happen anyday now
I am not excited about it, but it is possible to get a couple of good role players. If we are lucky, they may even be a pleasant surprise for us. Let's hope for the best.
Its pretty much the 2nd or 3rd highest quantity of roster transaction weeks in the year. Whether you like that particular draft or not doesn't really matter. Its a major week to seize opportunity to make your team better. Free throws???...... what on earth could correlate the draft with the current roster's issues with free throws? The draft week is about roster building, and setting yourself up for free agency/training camp. Its not really about tweaking or on the court performance. Its a very macro level outlook on the teams roster in terms of OVERALL TALENT. Even the supposed "Draft Expert Analysts" have the draft wrong in terms of its purpose, and the way its viewed by the best franchise front offices. Its all about how this player or that player fits a need to them. That's just not what its about. If you are focusing your draft around what little need you had in May of this previous season then you are sort of missing the point. This week for the Rockets is about two things - A. How can they add more talent with their picks that will continue to build quality players around Harden for the next 5+ years. B. What moves can we make to setup our team's strategy to make the deal we need/want to make on July 7th to bring in the "Right Talent" that fits how we want to build our roster for the 2015/16 season (Ex: Papanikolaou/Prigioni type of cap maneuvering trade).
The Rockets have 2 horrendous foul shooters in Dwight and Josh. Capela doesn't play enough to count and he improved late in the season anyway. And Dorsey hopefully won't see any PT ever again in a Rocket uniform. Dwight is what he is. He's not gonna magically up his free throw shooting to 65-70% a decade into his career. I do agree that he was particularly awful this postseason hovering around 40% in DeAndre Jordan territory, but at best he's gonna give us 55%. Smith on the other hand could and should be better. There's no reason for him to be struggling to hit half his free throws. But he's unlikely to get much higher than 60%. Here's the thing though. The Rockets were stuck in a tough situation in the playoffs because of the D-Mo injury. Not that he was a good foul shooter himself(around 60%), but having him available would've allowed McHale to sub out Dwight or Josh and limit the amount of Hack-a that other teams employed. Opponents won't intentionally foul a 60% free throw shooter. That's why T-Jones never got that kind of treatment and Capela likely won't either next season if he continues to improve at the line. I would disagree BTW that the foul shooting cost the Rockets the WCF. Maybe Game 2. But Game 1 was lost because of lousy defense and bad turnovers in the 2nd and 4th quarters and Game 5 was lost due to Harden having arguably the worst game of his career. BTW, the Warriors weren't exactly very good at the free throw line themselves in that series. So that stat actually evened out in most of those games. As for the draft, it's a good thing when you're not excited about it. It means your team was really good last season and has a lower pick. Look at it this way. Would you rather be a Knicks or Lakers fan right now or a Rockets fan? I know which group I'd prefer to belong to heading into 2015-16.
Agreed, it is all about accumulating valuable assets that can hold there value for a period of time. If they contribute to the team as a rookie, great but that is just icing on the cake. A guy like Capella was icing on the cake last year and improved his value across the league more than likely. I love how the OP just looks at the playoffs only like we will be stuck with Smith, Jones, and Howard as our only bigs again while forgetting DMO who would have played huge minutes had he been healthy. Our roster and depth automatically improves if we get DMO back healthy this year. Also, guys like Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were acquired on draft night but the SAME team so anything can happen. Granted, Morey's blockbuster hit rate on draft night has been pretty underwhelming but you can bet we will get a sense for their strategy pretty early on. Hopefully it works out the way they want it to.
I've never been open to trading Howard BUT if we do trade him for say Demarcus Cousins (a much better free throw shooter) and we trade TJ like planned we have less reason to keep Josh Smith (since he's really just there to make Dwight happy). And with the extra cap space we get from this, we could sign players who can actually hit free throws.
Im most excited. I hope someway somehow Lawson is traded to Houston even I know its very unlikely. And i wait to see what will happen with all the rest draft day trades..
If you are playing 2k or if you are talking like a fantasy player than yes, I'd understand the move. The difference is that the NBA is also a people business. You are trading and dealing humans with relationships. Cousins and Howard have the same agent... and a very powerful one at that. The Rockets have already had to succumb to several concessions as part of the Dwight free agent signing two summers ago. There is more going on with deal that goes beyond the ESPN trade machine or the CBAFAQ by Larry Coon. This trade would never happen, and its kind of pointless to discuss Dwight Howard trades until it looks like that relationship with Houston and the Rockets has run its course. The way Dwight has carried himself, and the way he's taken to the franchise, I don't think he's going anywhere, and I don't think there is anything that warrants the Rockets wanting to part ways with him. Oh and Dwight Howard has continued his streak of being the best center in the playoffs two years in a row. Screw the regular season as it pertains to Dwight Howard in comparison to Boogie (big Boogie fan as well). Let's see Boogie in the playoffs first please. Lets also see him get along with a coach for a day as well. Again this is a people league. There is more that goes into these type of things than 2k or yahoo fantasy.
I red DMo's most recent interview, he talked how he'd come hours prior every practice and shoot 3s until he'd make 200. When asked about poor free throw shooting he blamed it on psychology and said he works on free throws when trainers tell him to. My impression was that Rockets coaches are more concerned about team's 3 point shooting than free throws and such opinion got stuck with the players, who seem not make big deal out of free throws. This is just my attempt to read between lines, far far fetched, but it would make sense, no?
I'm not saying the trade is realistic or better for us in the whole. I'm just saying that if you really want to stay relevant and have better free throw shooters, that's an out of reach way to do it.
