I would never imply Harden should turn into just a jump shooter. Given there are 48 mins in a game and if Rubio is handling the ball for a portion of the time Harden is on the court and for the majority of the time he's not, I think James will still have plenty of opportunities to create for himself and teammates. Hypothetically, Harden and Rubio could start games and then Ricky go out at the 6-7 min mark for Bev. Ricky then starts the 2nd qtr w/ a fresh Dwight and James takes a breather. If we got 28-32 mins of Rubio a night and Bev does 16-20, with some overlap when it makes sense, that's a pretty solid PG rotation. It would also hopefully mitigate the injury issues both players have my limiting their minutes. Yes, I worry about Rubio's terrible ability to finish, but maybe James can teach him to draw more contact and get to the line more. Rubio has also been working with a shooting coach, so hopefully, he's gotten better from distance.
Equally important is that he seems to be on the cusp of a bump in maturity and malakas mentioned it's a contract year so we can expect him to give his all. He's not a full time PG, but IMO he's exactly the type of guy we need on the floor when Harden sits. He can dominate second units. Imagine Mayo, Terry, Brewer, Smith and Capela on the floor? That team can do some real damage. Frankly I doubt it takes more than K-Pap. Mayo is older than their core and is in his final season. I think K-Pap fits in well there, and they can alternatively decide to just wipe that salary off the cap and save some money.
The more I think about it the more I like Corey Joseph He will be 24 when the season starts and he has gotten better each season. He doesn't turn the ball over. He learned in the Spurs organization so you know he is disciplined. His defense is very good. His 3pt shot has improved each season he has been in the league. He hits over 50% of his 2 point shots and 36% of his 3 point shots. As a restricted free agent he currently has a 5 million cap hold against the spurs salary cap. Instead of outright releasing him, I wonder if he would agree to 5.8 million contract and then do a S&T with SAS for KPap? SAS could turn around and cut KPap and his non guaranteed salary. We give SAS a 2nd round pick for their troubles and we get a very good young two way point guard and they don't lose him for nothing. FG% .504 2pt% .520 3pt% .364 MPG 18.3 As a starter his numbers were even better GS - 14 MPG - 34.6 PPG - 13.2 APG - 3.6 RPG - 4.5 FG% - .562 3pt% - .444 TS% - .605 And before anyone turns their noses up at 3.6 assists per game, remember the system they run in SAS. It's not based on just one player handing out assists. Tony Parker averaged less than 5 a game. In fact no Spur averaged 5 assists a game last season. If we could get Corey Joseph for a 2nd round pick and a non-guaranteed contract I think that would be a steal and he would challenge Pat for starters minutes.
Mike Monroe @Monroe_SA Per league source, #Spurs have withdrawn qualifying offer to @Cory_Joe making him unrestricted FA
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As <a href="https://twitter.com/Chris_Broussard">@Chris_Broussard</a> reported SAS had until July 23 to withdraw the QO for Cory Joseph. Past the 23rd and it has to be mutually agreed upon</p>— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) <a href="https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42/status/617824258354491393">July 5, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
He would be a great addition and have a good chance to challenge for starters minutes. I don't know what DM's plans are but I would like to see him here.
If the other team is willing we can. His salary is not enough by itself to get someone like Lawson or Hill. Some other salary would have to be tossed in as well.
Hope some of you guys aren't getting your hopes too high. Morey has shown has doesn't have an issue rolling with flexibility until the mid season trade deadline. It's not easy balancing win now and keeping your good eye towards the future. However, it seems like we may have a lot of cap room for a playoff team once the cap jumps up.
Definitely an interesting player to fit a need, totally forgot about him. However, like the rest of interesting pick ups that would fit a need, it depends on the price. Morey is not "overpaying" players yet like most of the teams in response to the rising cap. Luckily we have assets to do a trade, like you mentioned, and the ability to sign him short term.
Papa is non-guaranteed 4.8mill. He is behind Ariza and Brewer, and Dekker has the chance to surpass him, so he is basically filler for matching purposes! Prigs is 1.7mill non guaranteed also. Any PG deal would have to go down before rosters are trimmed to 15, which is still ages, but would allow a team to take back 3 players for 1. Jones OR DMo, plus the non guarnteeds give almost 10mill, so could bring back 15mill?
The Rockets should make a trade for Darren Collison. He is none too happy about the Kings picking up Rondo (I'm sure y'all have seen the tweets). He averaged 16 and 6 last season as the King's primary play-maker. He's a solid defender for his size (albeit he is undersized). He shot 37% from beyond the arc (For reference, Bev shot 36% and Terry shot 39%). Would he have an issue coming off the bench here? Maybe. But the chance to win a ring on a playoff team and not the trainwreck that is the Kings would have to soothe his ego a bit. He would have an importnat role for this team: Coming off the bench, setting up the squad, and relieving Harden of some of the playmaking burden. Jones + K-Pap would get the deal done. The Kings have a serious dearth of forwards after exiling them all to Philadelphia for...overseas stash picks. Jones is a hell of a talent to give up, no doubt. But next offseason, he and Motiejunas are both set to get paid. With Smith making Jones a bit redundant, I think he's expendable. He would instantly start on that Sacramento team, providing them with a hustling, rebounding, and scoring forward. He's undersized and needs to work on both his three-point shot and defense. Karl had a hard-on for Faried, so he is getting a similar player here. He can hit the mid-range shot and somewhat stretch the floor for Sac's 3 centers. K-Pap is a throw-in. High IQ player, and although physically at a disadvantage, he can provide what Casspi did on the chance they lose him. Shooting and the capability to stretch the floor as a small ball 4. What do y'all think? This is dependent on us retaining Smith; otherwise keep Jones. Corey Joseph would also be a nice pick-up if Collison is not on the market/ Morey doesn't like him.
Boston is spinning their wheels and maybe willing to part with Isiah Thomas, another player who fits the need as a playmaker and is on a nice contract for when the cap rises next year.
Prigioni is $440,00 guaranteed based on the rockets making the second round of the layoffs this year.
Forgot to add: Moving Collison frees up PT for Ray McCallum, from what I understand, impressed in limited minutes and Andre Miller (one of Karl's favorites).
My concern about Corey Joseph is that he might be a product of the system. Spurs system may have made him look better than he is.
