Welcome to the Noel side BM! But do not think 6ers keep Noel over Richaun Holmes. Holmes is still on rook contract and Noel is going to get near max dollars as soon as next season. It would be insane to pay near max-max for a back up especially when they have Embiid coming off the books in a couple as well. Richaun makes more financial sense as back up. Okafor and Noel are going to be used to acquire guard upgrades/young players/picks. Colangelo will not let Noel go for nothing. The Process would haunt him for sure.
If they move him I honestly think it's out of our price range. I understand what your saying but they could go ahead and match whatever offer he gets and trade him in the future once they find out how healthy Embiid will be and comes up for his raise.
Also, he can easily play alongside Embiid, stylistically speaking. Embiid is so versatile, he can operate inside, outsid He's just not played well enough to start. Do these numbers take into account who is on the floor/roster with these guys? Are these numbers vs the backups or vs opponents or vs league average? I say this because we all know there is not a chance in hell Serpahin is that much better than all these guys defensively. There seem to be some oddities in this list. If you're starting with 4 excellent defenders, your numbers will look better because less penetration is coming through. If you're starting with 4 people who can't play defense, even with the same effort/performance, your numbers are going to take a dive. Is that right? If that's the case, these numbers are pretty random.
No, the only thing that takes those things into account is RPM/DRPM. Could pull those too for these guys to give a correlative. Would have to be later or tomorrow though
IMAGINE IF: 1) The Rockets never traded Beasley for Ennis 2) The Rockets traded for N.Young as was mentioned at the beginning of the season (Bev, don't kill me yet, read all) 3) The Rockets had signed J. Fredette before he went to China 4) Unloaded Brewer with a second round pick or overseas stash before the season began, knowing that he can't shoot 3s. Maybe to a team that is below the salary floor in exchange for them getting the free 2nd round pick, because they have to pay the salary anyway to someone. Those are 4 simple moves that wouldn't have cost much (yes Bev is a lot, but I will explain) and you end up with: Harden/Fredette Gordon/Young Ariza/Dekker Anderson/Beasley Capela/Nene with Brown, KJ, Harrell as the last 3 on the bench, and still have Wiljer and Onauku in the D-League, most of your picks and overseas stashes still. 1st observation: Our starting lineup would be so potent offensively because Harden and Capela would kill even more interiors without help being able to slack off of Bev because that would be Gordon standing 4 to 5 feet beyond the 3 point line just like Anderson; essentially taken both of their men out of the play or giving them even more open 3s. Gordon's defense without the hurt toe is not light years behind Bev's. 2nd observation: The second unit would have been killer from scoring ALL YEAR long and we would probably have won more of those early games that we lost, as well as others because of the scoring punch from the 2nd unit. All five players can shoot, dribble and beat their man one of one for the most part. Fredette would not be a superstar like he is in China, but on the second unit he would create havoc for other teams in our offense. Young is instant offense one on one or a 3 point threat. Dekker, we see what he can do. Beasley, will rebound and score whenever you give him the ball when the offense bogs down. Nene can shoot that midrange and pull other centers out. To me it would be the best "scoring" bench in the league. 3rd observation: I have always been a fan of playing players at 1 position instead of different positions, because it's easier for them to know their roles and places on the court. With the exception of Beasley/Dekker being a 3/4 in any given situation, the rest of these players are clear as to their position and roles when on the court. What does this do to me? Forces MDA to make better rotations and lineups because that is his biggest weaknesses to me, although I am overall very thrilled and happy to have him this year. 4th observation: We win at least a couple of more games by default for not having Sewer on the team/court! I could explain for days, but if you don't know why by now, you are either: a) not watching Rockets games this season, or b) a Brewer fan and whatever I say won't matter anyway. 5th observation: We would still be weak in the C position as far as rebounding and rim protection. My first thought on this, that many won't agree with, is to play Capela for 34 mpg and let him continue to develop and most importantly GAIN CONFIDENCE throughout the season to be ready for the playoffs. Then Nene or Harrell can get the other 14 minutes, with Harrell getting all of the back to back games, and any other minutes when one of the other 2 are in foul trouble. Then you can look at small trades this year or players that are bought out at the deadline to try and find another C if you can. (Bogut maybe?) If not, I would be fine with this team's centers this year and try to strengthen in FA in the summer. 6th observation: You can still strengthen the team with assets such as: 1) 1st round pick 2) another 2nd round pick 3) overseas players 4) current non major rotation players such as KJ and Harrell. These aren't much, but they can get you another rotation player for the playoffs if you wanted to strengthen a particular position due to injury or bad play. Or they could be combined with major rotation players for a star/superstar if one becomes available. 7th observation: None of the above moves changes our salary cap situation drastically, so we remain flexible for this summer while still being able to make a mini run this year that with a few right bounces, we could be in the WCF or even the Finals if the basketball gods so will it. 8th observation: MDA still probably wouldn't play KJ to expand the rotation, but at least he WOULDN'T have Sewer as an option and would be forced to use Fredette and Young, which he more likely would be okay with because they are not rookies or players who haven't played much before. Maybe Morey can't control or tell MDA who to play, as that is not his position, but this would guide MDA in the right direction to a certain degree. 9th observation: Yes, we lose Bev! That's very unfortunate for his team spirit, heart, hustle, defense, etc. And now Gordon loses his opportunity to win 6th man of the year possibly. BUT, I think the first unit is better offensively and makes Harden even better by giving him a more potent and quicker shooting 3 point threat that helps spread the floor MUCH MORE than Bev does. Not to mention that as is seen lately, Harden can give the ball to Gordon to start the offense so he can get the ball on the elbow to get him an easier shot or drive. There is no comparison to Gordon with the ball verses Bev with the ball when it comes to driving and passing, or 3 pt shooting. Yes, Bev is good, but Gordon with Harden would wear teams defenses out trying to guard them for 30 plus minutes a game together. With Fredette as the backup PG, Gordon can get ALL of his minutes on the court with Harden, thus making Harden's job easier and getting Harden more assists than he does with Bev. How many open shots have Bev passed up this year when Harden throws him a pass but he can't get it off before the defense closes? Plus Bev is NEVER a threat from 4 to 5 feet beyond the 3 point line, he has to be directly on it to shoot it, unlike Gordon. 10th observation: With the second unit being more offensively talented, MDA wouldn't have to play Ariza so many minutes. While I would like to see the entire starting lineup play at least 34 minutes per game, none would or should average over 36 mpg with the firepower coming off the bench to keep the score board moving, with the exception of a particular game here or there that is very close. In conclusion, while hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20, these simple moves were asked for by many on the board...not all. Many didn't want Beasley traded for Ennis, although many claimed he didn't fit the MDA offense. I disagree with this because he scores when the offense stagnates on the 2nd unit and he does rebound decently. I predict 90% of the board wanted Sewer gone, but I think MDA and Morey don't want him gone yet (nude pics?), but I think one of the teams below the salary floor would have taken him if an overseas stash or 2nd round pick would have been attached. The other team would have to pay the money regardless, so I don't think much more would be needed to move him. I said N. Young in the beginning, but you could replace him with L. Williams from the Lakers. All indications where that they wanted to move one of them, and we never seemed eager to do it, especially if they wanted Bev in return. That's probably the hardest and least likely that most on this board would have agreed to, and would have been a very unpopular trade I'm sure. But I WOULD HAVE DONE IT because I don't think Bev fits this team as best as a Young or Williams would for what we do. We are an offensive team, not a defensive team. Instead of great one on one defensive players, we have to have great team defense. IMHO. Not paid as much attention to, but I remember many asking why we don't sign Fredette when we played him in preseason. He ran through us like barbecue chicken. Maybe it was too late by then already, but it's the GM's job to find gems. As a backup PG for 12 to 14 minutes a game strickly backing up Harden, he would have been awesome running this potent offense, much more than Bev offensively. All in all, I'm very please and happy to be where we are this season so far. We are ahead of where even our biggest die hard fans would have predicted coming out of training camp. BUT, I can't help but think...IMAGINE IF we have done these things, how much better would our record be right now? And how much more leverage and assets would we have for a better and bigger trade right now? (continued in next post)
PS. IMAGINE IF: 5) The Rockets had MATCHED all of the DMo contract from the Nets including the incentives and waived the physical so DMo was here 11th observation: While I don't think the Rockets did anything wrong and proceeded as forced to, IF they had DMo now, we would have had to make a roster move to add him. Either B. Brown (most likely) or Wiltjer would be gone, or probably both. Because if you move Brown for DMo, you probably release Wiltjer to add another backup 3rd PG to the roster just for injury insurance. But having DMo, while not adding to our superstar power in the least, would give us other options at the 4/5 for specific lineups to match up to other teams, in addition to another trade chip down the line. It would have really been GREAT if DMo would have just signed the qualifying offer in the offseason, then allowing us to have him as a trade chip at the deadline, and then with the other moves above, we probably keep Prigs instead of BBrown or WIltjer....maybe. B. Brown may have always been assured a spot to some degree because of Harden, and I'm able to live with that because neither him or Prigs would probably ever play barring injury or garbage time. Then our current lineups would have probably been: Harden/Fredette/Brown Gordon/Young/KJ Ariza/Dekker/Beasley Anderson/DMo/Harrell Capela/Nene/Onauku With Brown and Onauku probably tearing up the D-League. (is Brown eligible? I'm sure I think) And Beasley splitting time with DMo and Dekker as MDA saw fit, and Harrell getting time as previously mentioned at C though. IMAGINE IF I would be totally happy with the above team this whole year to see what they could do, even if we made no moves at the trade deadline...and allow Morey to upgrade it in the offseason based on how well we do in the playoffs. Any thoughts?
Makes sense, I thought to myself wow how did the wiz botch that up lol. It's not like he was bad last year and he was the #3 pick and is only 23 years old. He's a solid player and if he can take that next step to boarderline allstar player than the wiz imo become the biggest threat to the Cavs over the next few years unless Boston finally makes a move with all their assets.
I'm responding out of respect that you wrote that entire book @FANfrom86toNow First, Nick young was reported to be available for a 2nd rd pick not bev. But we were clearly trying to build a great locker room. Something Nick young has not been up to this point in his career is a great locker room presence. He is playing great this year but no one expected this. Second, bev was, Imo, the biggest reason we went 19-2 and played such great defense. He was brilliant, as was the team. Also, locker room again. IDK why you think people don't respect his shot and sag off? He shoots for a high % 2 years now from deep at high volume. Third, Beasley does not fit our system. He is a mid range ISO player. He was a good fit for Mchale, but not mda. We took a flyer on a rookie scale player who is decent in PnR for depth purposes. It hasn't worked out but it hasn't hurt anything either. Fourth, Gordon off the bench has been why we are good. It gives him the keys to the offense and staggers his and hardens minutes. If they both start you don't have a legit playmates when they sit. Not to mention we are being cautious with his minutes because of injury history and it's been working for us. Him as the 6th man is where he belongs Imo. Five, dmo seems to be selfish and not good anymore. Likely wouldn't want him in our locker room as a distraction anyways. No love lost there. Six, having all these players and depth doesn't really accomplish much, because mda is known for short rotations. It likely stays at 8 or 9 anyways. Which means Kj and Freddette or whoever likely don't play anyways. Seven, I absolutely agree with dumping of brewer. But there was hope they he could bounce back and thrive in transition under mda pace. Plus he's good in the locker room. The only thing I think we missed on is Nick young for a 2nd. That's a miscalculation even though I understand it.
I'm curious to see what N.O. Pels gives up for Okafor. Will it be a 1st rd pick (unprotected or protected)? 2nd rounders? 76ers don't need a big back in return....Embiid/Ilyasova/Simmons/Saric/Holmes/Noel IMO Nerlens is more suited for today's NBA going forward (unless some rules change) than Okafor . NN being a RFA brings his price tag down some.....but then again Cavs gave a 1st rd pick for Korver (UFA). I just know the Rockets can't afford Ibaka. Orlando gave up Oladipo/Ilyasova/Sabonis(11th pick/1st rd) I'm not sure Houston can get close enough to that vs other teams. Rockets would have to turn over good pieces of their current roster. People can forget about Cousins.
Combination of a few rumors/ideas. Houston In: Lee / O'Quinn Sacramento In: Brewer / Nene + Houston 1st New York In: Koufus/ McLemore Houston brings back a former fan favorite and 3/D specialist along with a rim protecting center. Sacramento moves McLemore and Koufus for a first rounder and a great locker room presence in Nene. Brewer fits well within their dysfunction. New York is having a fire sale and this allows them to cash in and get a good center on a good contract and a more intriguing scoring prospect in McLemore. Houston Rotation: Harden/Lee Beverley/ Gordon Ariza/ Dekker Anderson Capella/ O'Quinn / Harrell Reserves: McDaniels/ Wiltjer/ Ennis/ Brown / Onuaku
The Knicks look like they may be willing to accept a box of chocolates and a valentine's day card for Anthony to waive his no trade clause. Hmmmmm
I don't know about Tyson Chandler. The guy is 34 in his 16th season and is still owed 26.5m after this year for two more seasons. He would be in his 17th and 18th season over the age of 35 for next wear and the following. That's not a move I make if I'm Morey. he's not the same player he was 5-6 years ago. He's not even the same player he was 2 years ago before he signed that contract in Phoenix. He is avg 11 rebounds a game in only 28 min but he's avg .5 blocks a game in that same time. He's not really bringing much rim protection nowadays. I could only see him helping us this season. The next two year on that deal are terrible. Remember he came out of high school so he has extra mileage on his body even though he's only 34.
I believe MDA has been vindicated from his Knicks days with Melo. Phil Jackson pretty much is saying the same this year. Melo is a ball stopper that interferes with the Triangle Offense of Phil Jackson's. The wish would be getting Melo to conform as he did with national teams in a "play nice with others" way. Some risk involved with that.
Thanks @BigMaloe for responding. I know not to expect much response because most people on the board hate to read long drawn out posts, and I understand why. I'm the same way unless it's a topic that I'm particularly passionate about. But I figured it was best suited for this thread and wanted to get it off my chest since it was in my mind. As you mentioned about N. Young, I do remember now that it was for a 2nd. I wanted to do it then. But maybe I remember Bev's name being mentioned for L. Williams. In some way it was said, not that it was true, that the Lakers wanted Bev. I understand your points about Bev and know that many in the city and on this forum feel the exact same way. I agree and disagree, if that can be understood, and here's why. I agree because Bev was instrumental in our run. But I disagree because I still IMHO believe that Gordon would be a better starter with Harden, but only isn't starting because then we would have a weak bench...hence Bev is not strong enough to do for the bench what Gordon does. But, if we had a Fredette as a backup PG, and a N. Young or Lou Williams as a back up SG on the bench, and Bev is not here; then I think Gordon goes to the starting lineup which is what I ultimately want. Sure, as the team stands now, I can see how people prefer him off the bench. But if we had a stronger bench that could keep the score board moving, I think Gordon does more for Harden in the starting lineup than Anderson does, and then you multiply it by having both on them in the starting lineup because you have 2 threats that can shoot 4 to 5 feet behind the line. While Bev's 3pt shooting is decent to good percentage wise, he has a slow release, is reluctant to shoot many times, and doesn't have the range that Gordon has. I don't think anyone can argue that Gordon is also a much better offensive player than Bev in every category except offensive rebounding, although Gordon does get some rebounds each game. I love Bev's heart, but he is not a starter on a championship team imho. On this team, MDA will never bring him off of the bench probably, so I am for moving him. Beasley. Yes, I understand that everyone says he doesn't fit our system. I don't necessarily agree. Harden is OUR SYSTEM. Once Harden sits, the game and our second unit plays very differently. We need more scorers on that unit that can create their own shot and beat their man one on one. Beasley can do that, and he boards as good as any bench SF or PF. For 12 minutes a game to get you buckets when Harden is sitting, I will take him on offense over any bench player we have not named Gordon. His defense is no worse than any bench player we have, but his offense is much better. Keep the scoring moving and even with the other team when Harden sits, and we win 70% or higher of our games. I also understand the issue with Gordon and his injury history. But to me, I don't think you limit him based off of that, because most were not injuries due to minutes...more like freak minutes. This guy has the talent to be a top player in the league, so making him a best 6th man because of being scared of injuries is not the best move, although I understand it. DMo's attitude did suck. But he still is a 7 footer than you can get a bucket or two when needed down low and stretch the floor a little when needed, in limited minutes. Plus, at the qualifying offer, would have been a great trade chip. If Bev wasn't here, and Fredette was, he would get 12 minutes a game or so to backup Harden. I have no doubt about that. If Young or Williams were here and Bev wasn't, I believe MDA would play either of them backup SG minutes behind Gordon starting. Both those situations kind of force his hand a bit to me. Lastly, I'm not mad about any of these moves or lack of moves, except not getting rid of Sewer, because as I said, hindsight is 20/20. Morey does a great job and can't get them all right. As I said, no one expected us to even be where we are now at this moment. But..... IMAGINE IF all that had happened. That's all that I was saying really. If it had all happened, do you think we would be a better team right now? Some will say no, I say YES, IMHO.
