There is not a move to make. We have no space. Bring back Paul, Capela, and Ariza, and hope you don't miss 27 straight 3's.
People keep talking about how Houston had a small margin of error. We missed 27 three-pointers, had 3 Harden threes ruled non-shooting, 2 Bell illegal screens for 6 points for the warriors... and still only lost by 9. That's insane, and it isn't a small margin of error, it's a wide one. One of those things goes right and we win. Oh, and don't forget the CP3 injury.
Bring the whole gang back, give EGo an extension, use MLE to resign Green and Mbah a Moute to multi-year deals, take fliers on multiple guys at min. contracts, possibly Bruno Caboclo, Nick Calathes, Lucas Noguera, Glenn Robinson III, Richard Jefferson, Gerald Henderson, Vince Carter, Jameer Nelson, James Ennis...etc etc. Ryno will still be on team and will contribute during regular season and we'll all be like, oh I guess he really was hurt in playoffs. He won't contribute much more in playoffs next year though and then next summer he will be used as expiring contract to try and trade for another star...
We need to add a few more guys that are playable against GSW. @Nook (I think?) suggested Bazemore+Dedmon for Ryno, fillers, and picks in another thread I think that's a low downside move that gives us legitimate rotation pieces at critical positions.
I don't think it's likely to happen, but I think Jimmy Butler will be the next target. EG/ Melton and first rounders might be offered. Perhaps a 3rd team may also be involved. I think there is a 30 percent chance of success here. Perhaps a bit more too. I would be happier with EG and Butler but that's almost impossible to pull off.
I think its the same thing Morey's been doing for quite a while...field a team capable of competing AND build assets to acquire a star. To me, that means re-signing your quality vets to quality deals. Specifically I'm thinking about Butler. If the Wolves are willing to trade him, I don't think they will want to go into rebuilding. Gordon + Ariza + some prospects and picks might not look bad to them. Then again, if Ariza's contract gets ridiculous, I might let him walk and do something creative like the much discussed Anderson-Bazemore swap or resign Moute and make him my starter. We have to start rebuilding our asset cache if we want to have any chance at adding another star.
That's a major, MAJOR reason to get rid of him, though. We're trying our hardest to compete for a title - who knows how "open" the window is? We can't just hope for a complete turnaround, with Ryno. He had the entire season + postseason to return to form; as good a coaching staff as we have, they didn't identify that Ryan Anderson would be capable of doing well in the postseason. And back to the subpar play to pay ratio: it's not just that Anderson is playing a bit below what's expected of someone with his salary - he's playing like he should be earning 1/20th of that salary. No one would be complaining if he could average 12-14 points, making three to four 3pters a game, like he did the first year we got him. But he's completely fallen off. In a perfect world, we'd flip him for assets worth more than he is, as you've said. But at this point, I (and probably most other Rockets fans) would just rather have 2-3 players that would be paid the same amount of money, collectively, be on the court. Because those players can at least be productive, for the money.
But who are you referencing? Like what team has 2/3 subpar players who are poised for a bounce back in exchange for Ryno? Because, if we're trading Ryno (plus possibly a pick) for 2/3 crappy players it isn't really worth it. Maybe you could say we could get some form of luxury tax relief to help out Tilman, but I doubt that in itself would be enough either. Morey can't just rid himself of Ryno, he needs that deal to gain worth either by Ryno getting better or by the Rockets eating more of his salary. Now, if you're talking 2/3 players this trade deadline? Sure, we could flip him for some more risk/reward players. I would easily see that.
Morey needs to sign players that are good enough on defense to not kill the team. Going after the best shooters without thinking of anything else is how Morey got himself stuck with Ryan Anderson.
The problem is Ryno is less about his overall play on his contract and more that he is unplayable against the one team standing in our way. He hardly played this playoffs, had a relatively subpar season and we didn't really need him until we got to GS. I'm sure Morey would happily keep paying Anderson 20 mil a year if he only came to play against the warriors and gave us a knockdown shooter and average defender. We are good enough even with 20 mil committed to him to be able to eat up most teams. What we need is someone who moves the needle against GS.
