I want Stephenson too but Morey may feel that starting 4 spot or backup 5 are more pressing issues at this time.
And then we'd be locked in to Parsons at max money. I was all for this but the more I think about it the more I realize that Parsons at max money with those stats is just not good enough. Look he played in a high powered high pace offense and barely averaged more points than Ariza.....and besides that Ariza plays better defense. In my opinion NOT matching Parsons contract was the smart thing to do in the long run.
I agree with this 100%. The defensive upgrade is good, but I don't want Ariza to touch the ball unless he's about to shoot or take it to the rim. Parsons could noodle around with it for a bit and stuff would occasionally happen. My biggest concern is that the tendency of Harden to hold the ball and dribble out the clock/try to force something/wait for something to happen is going to become more pronounced. Defense is the winner in this trade off, but I could see ball movement being the big looser in the exchange, and ball movement isn't exactly the strong suit right now. For all of his faults, Lin was another guy who helped keep Harden from dominating the ball. It would be nice to get a point forward type, maybe an undersized 2/3 guy to bring off the bench to compliment what Azira brings.
Morey and Co. took their time and assessed the situation thoroughly. They could have resigned him and I'm sure thought about any potential backlash of not resigning him and STILL decided not to resign him. These are NOT dumb people who run this ship. The chips don't always fall your way but Morey is a winner when it comes to deals, he just got blown out of the water by the home teams with Anthony signing a HUGE contract and Bosh getting a "WTF" offer with that Ultimate Max and then Parsons also getting a "You've Got To Have Gone Totally Mental" deal from Cuban. I was on the Dallas board earlier today and a lot of them were saying, "Maybe Houston will match the offer and save us from ourselves." The fans there were not excited about $15 Million dollars for Parsons. Think about that for a second..... $15 Million for Parsons. Harden is WAAAAY more talented than Parsons and he wasn't making that much money last year. I think Cuban's ultimate goal was to get Morey to screw himself and remove Morey as competition down the road with bigger fish by making him commit to Parsons on a ridiculous deal cause he knew how high he was on him. We will most definitely see who laughs last with that one. Morey ain't dumb. Now, all that being said, Ariza is a great fit for this team and someone who will do the things that Parsons can't do in the Playoffs. Lock Down Your Man! That is what the Playoffs are all about! You don't bring Top Notch Defense to every game in the Playoffs, you are one and done. The Rockets know this and making the necessary adjustments to get us there. Sure, they would have liked to still have Parsons but we still have to get a legit player at the 4. Signing Parsons would have prevented that from happening for the next 3 years. Not good. Believe me, we would have ALL been complaining about that. Let's not forget that Ariza is a superior shooter to Parsons and if we had Ariza last year in the playoffs instead of Parsons, I am 100% confident we would have seen San Antonio in Rd. 2. 100%. Morey is King of the Contingency plan and a Master of Making the RIGHT deal. He is not perfect but his knowledge of the game and his planning and foresight are light years beyond most other GM's. Rockets still got loads of talent and just got Grittier for the next year: P.G. - Beverley ("Wolverine") / Johnson (Already a Triple Double ) S.G. - Harden (#1 SG in the League) / Daniels (Lights out from 3) S.F. - Ariza (Excellent Defensive Wing) / Hamilton (Real potential to grow) P.F. - Jones (Great Flashes last year) / Motiejunas (Big Question Mark) ..C. - Howard (#1 Center come Playoffs) / Capela? (Raw - will still need to add depth) AND THE BEST THING IS THAT THIS OFFSEASON IS NOT OVER! TONS OF ASSETS AND PLENTY OF MONEY TO SPEND. THERE IS MORE TO COME, JUST HOLD ON.
Ariza is about as good of a replacement for Parsons as we could expect, and at half the price of a new Parsons contract. On defense, it's a completely different story. Ariza is long, fast and always in the passing lanes. We now have a lock down defender in the post (Howard), on the wing (Ariza) and at guard (Beverley). Our problem last year wan't offense, it was defense. Even if we lost some offensive play making and leadership with Parson, we gained at least a proportional amount on the defensive end with Ariza.
The argument is they only pay that kind of money to a potential finalists. Ariza and Parsons do not make us an instant Finalist or WC finalist for that matter. But I am doubting Les is willing to pay this kind of money at all.
Bang on! Yea we just lost two facilitators. When Harden sits need someone else to come in and make plays.
I'm not gonna lie, this helps me! Still gonna hate to see parsons wearing those disgusting Mav jerseys though!
Different role now for Ariza now though, compared to last time. The stats are extremely similar, and i think Parsons playing in our fast paced offense gave him an advantage there.
Parson the better player. Ariza the better defender and much more cap friendly. Not hard to see which way Morey goes.
Team just got better.. Ariza vs Bulls Playoffs.. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/S3Zy1gaAAmY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> 2013-2014 highlights <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/iwMFJ00XJJ4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8tBe_2Y1Buw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
CP is a 25 year old that has gotten better every year on offense. Ariza is a 29 year old that was bad as a starter in HOU & No but good in WAS. CP was a stud defender his Rookie year but has regressed every year since Ariza is better on defense but proved to be overrated when he was her last time. CP was superior, not just better than, he was superior to Ariza in their times as a Rocket
