[ESPN Insider] Roster Reload: Rockets should chase Love or Aldridge

For the love of god, PG is the biggest GLARING WEAKNESS on this team. We can manage with Dmo and Jones, they will get out played sometimes but they still contribute.

 

But... they said Rockets don't need a ball dominant PG? A PG who's not ball dominant isn't exactly a PG. PG = POINT GUARD. Right? Lowry, Lin, Dragic... Rockets are blessed with a lot of good PGs. Where are they now???

 

Love is a good three point shooter when you consider his position and the amount of three pointers he takes. He also hits his free throws.

 

If we get Aldridge this team gonna be scary!! Would settle for Love too

 

You don't want Love because he is aloof.... but you want moody Aldridge?

LaMarcus isnt dramatic like Love, but he is notoriously moody.

 

When comparing Love and Aldridge, I like Love in long term (due to age) and LMA in the short term.

But I think its foolish to just assume you have your pick of the litter. If either one shows interest, you jump on it.

 

LMA was playing injured and was still dominating. He has a high basketball IQ and has the ability to read the defense and is a good passer for his position. I'll take LMA over Love any day. The only issue is will he be wanting to come here

 

Love? Freakin Kevin Love? Did you know Love had similar average numbers to DMO this year? We saw how useful Love is when he's only 3rd best player on the team. Why would anyone think we should butcher our roster, roster that made to top 3 in NBA this year for freakin Kevin drama queen Love.

 

+1000. For me, it should be LMA or Thompson. Faried will also be a good fit.

 

Hard to believe the Cavs traded Andrew Wiggins for a 1-year Kevin Love rental.

 

DMO: :::: :::: :::: :::: :::: :LOVE
28,7_________MPG_________33,8
12,0________PPG________16,4
9,9________FGA________12,7
.504________FG%________.434
1.9________3PA________5.2
.368________3P%________.367
2,3________FTA________4,3
.602________FT%________.804
5,9________RPG________9,7
1,8________APG________2,2
0,5________BPG________0,5
0,8________SPG________0,7
1,7________TO________1,6

One is on a rookie contract, other is max guy. In addition, giving away Ariza, maybe picks, other players? Losing depth, loosing flexibility, how do people come up with this stuff. Sure, it's super unlikely scenario that I am overreacting, but it's postseason, what else am I supposed to do?

 

You do not want LMA if he decides to come here? I do not think Morey would agree with you.

 

Yes, we did see how useful Love was when he was only the third best player on the team...and the answer is that he was WAY better than Motiejunas.

Much higher volume of 3s, at a similar rate. A ginormous rebounding advantage, less turnovers on higher usage, less fouls, and so on and so forth.

Even if you choose to blindly dismiss that, your premise is still incredibly flawed, as you could realistically have both Dmo and Love, with Jones being the odd man out. When you compare Love to Jones the gap is even bigger.

 

Love is NOT the answer. LMA or Ty Lawson

 

Of course I'd want to add Love to this team in an ideal situation, but I don't want to completely scrap the team and start rebuilding again to do it. I don't think you can add him without giving up Ariza and I really don't want to do that.

 

I need my Bima article to make the pain go away.

 

Kevin Love's reputation has taken a little bit of a beating this year. Which is funny, because just one year ago he was considered one of the best players in the league, one of the best PF's, and a clutchfans favorite Random Trade Idea target.

Remind you of anyone else? Dwight Howard's one year in Los Angeles? Where his reputation went from one of the best centers in the league to instead that he was a quitter and he wasn't serious enough and he didn't know how to win.

It is funny how much a payer's reputation can change in one year.


Kevin Love is still a great player. He can still score, shoot and rebound. He would be an upgrade over any of the PF's we have on our roster. He would be able to space the floor for James Harden drives as well as Dwight Howard down low. He would be a good rebounder for times when Dwight Howard went for a block. There are several things that he does well that would fit our team well.


All of that said, he isn't a good defender. That, by itself, wouldn't be too bad for me. I would think that his positives outweigh that negative. But if we were forced to lose Ariza as well, then the combined effect of losing a good defender in order to add a mediocre defender would be tough to take. Ariza was by far our best perimeter defender this year and a big reason why our defense was better than last year's team. His shooting went through ups and downs during the season, but he always played hard, played good defense, brought toughness and did a lot of other things for our team.

If getting Kevin Love meant we had to lose Ariza (and I don't think there would be any other way unless Morey pulled some kind of magic) then I, personally, don't think the loss on defense would be worth the marginal gain on offense.

 

The problem with Love is entirely the salary. You can't get him without giving up Ariza and you can't replace Ariza's defense this year in free agency with just the MLE. That means that once again you'd be terrible on defense.

Morey has explicitly stated that you have to be a top 10 defense to compete for a title and he has further stated that you really need a strong defender at the 1 and 3 to pair with Harden in order to accomplish that.

If there was a way to make Love work with Ariza, I'd be all over it, but I don't believe there is.

 

I'd rather have a PG, go after Conley.

 

It is much easier to find a "hidden gem" from the scrap heap to give you 85%+ of what Ariza does than it is to find someone approximating Love, Aldridge or one of those elite guys.

Nic Batum was a late 1st rounder, Wes Matthews was undrafted, DeMarre Carroll was a cheap free agent signing who failed with other teams, Corey Brewer cost only a couple 2nd round picks, Aminu made minimum wage...

It is not a trivial task, of course, since many cheap signings and low picks dont work out. But at least there is a much higher chance. Maybe someone like Jae Crowder can be signed for cheap, or perhaps a draft pick can turn into Chandler Parsons or a useful guy at least.