Do not overpay another Anderson.... that's about it..... do not toxic pill contract average guys like Jeremy Lin and Ömer
He doesn't want to win though he wants to play in LA, winning is secondary to him. Lakers isn't so bad the team's got some good young talent and a really good coach. Plus looks like they're gonna keep a top lottery pick in a loaded draft. That's not gonna win a ring anytime soon but its enough for them to get one of the lower seeds and get to the playoffs the next couple of years.
To be fair Anderson isn't overpaid, in fact he is underpaid because according to reports he had an even bigger offer but turned it down to go to Houston. He came in packaged with Eric Gordon who probably deserved a max contract so if you look at the totality of their contracts the Rox still benefitted with signing Anderson. I'm not sure what you have against toxic pill contracts, 8M for Asik and Lin was very good value both of them were actually underpaid in terms of value esp. if you apply 8M in today's market.
Well, it is the year 2017. You could argue that at that exact time Asik and Lin were good value but hindsight tells you they were just mediocre players, Asik was better than Lin because he could rebound fairly consistently. (Specialist) Especially we all knew Alexander just signed Lin because of the Chinese/Taiwanese market, if you argue otherwise, then I am questioning your ability to rationally evaluate. Asik and Lin's career turned to the worse after they left Houston which tells you Houston did indeed well maximizing their talent but they only played good ball one or two seasons (One season of good basketball is not good value). Well, maybe I am not in the Morey camp that values kicking the can down the road every other year.... I believe in long, sustainable relationships with young players coming from the draft. That is not what Morey believes in given his 'Everyone is an asset' concept. He gambles on players either undrafted, unwanted by others, with substance abuse issues or just past their prime to give us a surprise moment far too often. I believe that Anderson is starting to decline just like when we got damaged goods version of Orlando Dwight. Latter was still very good but not allstar superstar level good in regular season. We only have Harden who is clearly in his prime, couple are others have already been past their primes......some just have been overachieving.
I can't believe anyone in their right mind would want Blake Griffin. That walking river of tears is so overrated... I feel this team doesn't really need another superstar, after the Dwightmare I'm hesitant to introduce another superstar. Paul George I'd make an exception for lol...Reddick too but he's not really a superstar.... I think you know, keep this squad together. Gel. Seasoning. These young guys come up a bit, Dekker, Clint, Harrell, ONUAKU! That'd really take them up another level without doing anything. Scour the globe for a worldly player that might actually come here one day or trade off every "rights" we own to get a pick? Sign another role player, bench depth guy? Just keep this thing going, I believe it to be on the right track.
Zach Lowe said on his podcast yesterday that he spoke to "a Western conference GM" who told Lowe that the GM made the decision back in December to offer Otto Porter the max this summer. Could see that GM being Morey.
Asik when we got him was great value for money, I don't have any idea what the hell you're smoking if you can't see the value in an athletic, defensive big man who can rebound and play a lot of mins for just 8M. Calling Dwight old when we got him is just plain wrong he was like 28? 28 is declining? LOL! And the dude got us into WCF in only 3 years, that's not exactly a bad return on your investment. Dwight took a chance on this team and chose Houston over a host of other teams, to badmouth him now after he took the team to WCF is just plain scummy IMHO. As for Jeremy Lin he was signed right after his breakout Linsanity performance so his contract was a decent gamble for the possibility of him becoming a star. During his tenure I think he played well enough to justify his salary, dude was a decent 6th man which is ayt for around 8M, what him unbearable was his delusional fans rather than the player himself. The squad of Lin, Harden and Parsons was a pretty good combo they had good chemistry and had complementary games, Lin was basically doing Ego's role albeit at a much inferior manner. When most people complain about Morey's approach I think they are clueless when it comes to FO management and think anybody can do a bang up job being a general manager in the NBA. Rockets can't tank because Les Alexander doesn't want to miss the playoffs, how else is Morey going to get talent if he doesn't take a chance on players who are undrafted, unwanted by others etc? It was his "kick the can" approach that led to Harden arriving on the team in the first place so honestly you are clearly wack if you don't think Morey's approach didn't work. You think OKC would've traded us Harden if Morey didn't do a good job of rolling over players and collecting assets? Would you rather have a long sustained, relationship with Marcus Morris, Patrick Patterson and whoever else we had been getting at the 14th pick instead over Harden the 3rd seed team we have now? Also Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson and James Harden are all at the same age. Capela, Dekker and Harrell are just in their 2nd year. So when you say Harden is the only guy in his prime and the rest are all old or overachievers then that shows you are just resulting to hyperbole. Rockets are far from complete and are actually behind other teams...well that's what happens when you don't tank and get your own all stars, Spurs are the only other contender who built their team through scratch and FA signings.
This, I heard that podcast too and assumed it was Morey. Otto Porter would be my number one target. Wizards got a lot of money tied up but the new CBA favors the Wizards keeping him.
I don't think the big names will be moving. Have to find the mid-tier guys like Patterson, Covington, Ilyasova, Gallinari, etc... and really that's what it takes to win a 'chip.
I don't see any stars emerging from our current roster. Harrell, Dekker, and Capela all have considerable upside and may develop into very good players. But, I don't see any of those guys being all-star caliber players. However, I don't believe the Rockets have to have another star player to contend for a title. They need a significant upgrade at small forward, and they could use a true rim protector, but I don't think they need an all-star player to fill those needs. I'm more concerned about fit. Find the right guys that are a perfect fit. They don't have to be stars. Harden is such a good player, I believe he is one of the very few players in NBA history that can carry a team to a championship without a lot of other star players on the team. Just find the right guys that fit our system.
IMHO that might just be good enough, I mean we get a wing at Wilson Chandler or Gallo level and we're good to go IMHO. Just need someone good enough to replacr Ariza at the 3 and turn him into an elite bench player.
Harden is in his prime, we can't wait and hope for 1 of our young guys to develop into something good. Dekker has a long way to go, and none of those young players that u mentioned have star potential. Onuaku is irrelevant AFAIC. This team desperately needs another superstar if the goal is to win a championship. As great as Harden is, the chances of 1 star teams winning a championship are exceedingly low.
Even a player as great as Lebron needed other stars around him in order to win a chip. Guys like Kevin Durant can't even get it done on their own. All of y'all thinking that Harden and a bunch of role players can win a chip will be disappointed once Harden's prime is over and the Rockets still haven't won anything.
I didn't say that it had to be Blake Griffin, but we do need another star alongside Harden. Harden and role players is NOT winning a championship.
i'd probably agree for the most part. Another all star caliber player is likely needed but the problem is who would that realistically be that will actually be FA's and move. that's why i mentioned in this thread earlier, the rockets may not have a choice in the matter and their best bet is to get a borderline star.
I'm hoping that Paul George doesn't make an All-NBA team this year which would prevent him from qualifying for the Designated Veterans Player Extension. This means that he wouldn't be able to get a supermax from Indiana which would lower their financial advantage over other teams. At that point, I'm hoping that Harden will be in his ear nonstop telling him that Houston is where he needs to be. He can go to LA and lose games or he can join Harden in Houston and compete for championships. He is the star that we need. Other than that, adding guys like Gallinari or Ibaka are nice moves, but those guys won't catapult us into true championship contention. The people thinking that Harden and role players/depth will be good enough will be very disappointed when Harden's prime ends with the Rockets never having a real shot at a ring.
