Rockets acquire KJ McDaniels for Isaiah Canaan, second round pick

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Working Constantly wit tha homies <a href="https://twitter.com/CapelaClint">@CapelaClint</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/iRocket3">@iRocket3</a> <a href="http://t.co/E61QW7xXCn">pic.twitter.com/E61QW7xXCn</a></p>&mdash; KJ McDaniels (@KJMcDaniels) <a href="https://twitter.com/KJMcDaniels/status/610594348498055168">June 15, 2015</a></blockquote>
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If we keep these guys, our summer league team should be very exciting. Should be dunk central with Capela, KJ and Johnson out there! LOLOL

 

I'm not that high on NJ. I mean he's shown flashes where he defends, but the dude can't shoot. He's a tweener, he's a SG in a PG body.

If he can start hitting his shots, we'll have a player. But until then, he's just a good defender.

 

He should be doing a TON of shooting this summer - shoot, shoot and shoot some more.

DD

 

Yes, and Johnson too. I am more optimistic about KJ improving as a shooter than Johnson though. KJ showed more promise in the earlier part of the 76'ers season.

Nick is further behind than him.

 

If there's one thing I trust this team to do... it's teach a young player to shoot the 3.

 

Oh, they'll learn to shoot it. They all shoot it.

Make the three? Might be a-whole-notha story. :grin:

 

Rockets need KJ's shooting to progress the way Kawhi Leonard's shooting progressed. That is the template to morph KJ into a true "3 & D" type player.

If I was KJ, I would be working on those short corner 3pt shots, just like Bruce Bowen.

 

Don't they need to lock him up first before they work on him? Maybe I missed it but IIRC they're still hoping to be able to keep KJ, unfortunately the most they can offer is like 2.5M or something due to some wonky contract rules.

 

Why do they need to lock him up? The Rockets hold his rights not some other team. The most the Rockets can offer K.J. McDaniels without using the MLE is about 1.05 million. Since he is a restricted free agent the Rockets have the right to match any offer providing they have the cap space or an available exception. Currently the Rockets have zero cap space so all they can offer him is a non-bird contract without using the MLE.

 

Try not to get confused. That $2.5M figure is the Non-Bird tender for JOSH SMITH in particular (120% of Smith's 2014-15 salary with Houston), not the amount of some uniform Non-Bird tender amount.

McDaniels's Non-Bird tender amount is the same as his qualifying offer amount: $1.05 million.

The maximum Non-Bird tender amount under the CBA is the greater of (a) 120% of the player's prior year's salary or (b) the applicable veteran's minimum salary + $200k.

 

kj started off the year shooting nearly 40% from 3 for philly. i think he has the capability to hit from a high clip.

 

His shot blocking excites me. If we lose Brew I hope we are able to brink KJ back. It's not Brew was a good shooter or anything he was pretty terrible at that aspect.

 

Is McDaniels more expendable now that we have Dekker?

 

Nah.

For KJ to get playing time, it's gonna come off his defensive potential. Dekker maybe in the Valley this upcoming season if we keep Ariza and Brewer.

 

Dekker will likely be tried at PF first.

 

Farewell KJ. It was fun*.

*largely pointless

 

[rquoter]The Lakers should ... drop an offer sheet on Houston's K.J. McDaniels

The 22-year-old McDaniels, sent to the Rockets from Philly at the trade deadline, is worth dropping a sheet on. The former second-round pick of the 76ers last year famously rejected a long-term deal with Phily, opting to sign for one year and bet that he'd outperform the typical second-rounder's deal. After some ridiculous flights of athletic fancy in Philly (and not so many with the Rockets), he appears to be right. And the Lakers should gamble on him. McDaniels has legit two-way potential as a wing player.

The Lakers certainly have the cap room to sign McDaniels to the same kind of back-loaded offer sheet that the Rockets used to get Jeremy Lin from the Knicks and Omer Asik from the Bulls in 2012. The Rockets will be looking for that third leg of the triad to go with Harden and Dwight Howard, though, along with needing to re-sign Josh Smith. It's hard to see them being willing or able to match a sheet on McDaniels that came in at, say, $6 or $7 million annually.

No doubt, the Lakers would be betting on the come that McDaniels is worth it. But he could be a scary good 3-and-D guy down the road. You can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs.[/rquoter]

 

Not according to Chris Finch. In an interview on draft night, he said they view him primarily as a SF with the potential to play some PF in small-ball lineups.

 

Hopefully Mitch Kupchak is more clued in on what the Rockets can match than this lakers fan.