I like Smith, except he plays the 5 instead of 4. He and Asik are the only bonafide rebounders in our team. Morris and PPat need to learn from Lin on how to box out. Shame that both were often outrebounded by Lin or Parsons. How many Centers in their rookie season played as well as Smith? Just look at Aldrich, 11th overall pick in his 3rd year, and he is still in the league.
Asik Harden and Lin are untouchable...if LMA or Love arent available, STAND PAT....sidenote, this might come as a shocker but with this teams ability to run up and down the court I think a combo forward like Thadeus Young of the sixers would be an excellent fit for the team.
toney douglas is an expiring contract....stop making false statements. New York did not extend his q offer last season so they traded him
What's with all this " superstar needed " talk? Their are only about 8 of those in the league and we will never see them in houston. We are going after the next available allstar player since kobe, lebron durant melo or others aren't available. Morey is always aggressive but now he is more concerned with cap space than anything else. Hardens contract makes him the only untouchable on the roster but its obvious he is still learning to expand his game. With his small size I can eventually see harden turn into a young dwade once he develops more offensive moves and midrange game but even then he will need his shaq/lebron to compete for a ring. As u all say getter done morey
I'd make a move. We're bordering on a playoff bout with a young team that is having some weaknesses exposed right now. I'd try and get some more perimeter shooting around Harden and Lin and I'd try to get some production out of the PF position. Ideally, you'd get both out of the PF position because that would free Asik up to get rebounds around the basket, which would fuel the fast break. Teams aren't respecting our PF and are crowding Asik for rebounds, which is limiting the fast break, and they're packing the paint because they don't respect our outside shooting, which is minimizing Harden and Lin's strengths.
Excessive injuries and declining stats doesent deter people here it seems. love isn't the answer to a future championship team. Guy plays worse defense than morris!
I see several holes in his game which I question if they will ever change. He is talented around the basket and can put the ball through the whole. His body is big and those all equate to a valuable player. We also have him on a very favorable contract now. And without verifying the details, he is in a situation like Linn other than that we control him for an additional year. At that point, other teams will be able to use the loophole we did for Asik and Linn against us.
We should call New Orleans about Ryan Anderson. He's not a star certainly but he fits what we want to do, a stretch four who can play a little bit. Some combination of PPat, TJones, and a pick.
One thing I want us to do is to trade some of our PFs. We can't continue to have 5 PFs and try to develop them all at the same time. I'm not saying we need to dump them for picks, just try to package a few of them for an upgrade
That extra year means that other teams CANNOT use the Gilbert Arenas contract terms to sign Greg Smith out from Houston. Asik and Lin became free agents after 2 years in the NBA. Greg Smith is signed to a 3yr contract, with the 3rd year being a team option. If Morey exercises the team option, Greg Smith will become a free agent after the 3rd year. Greg Smith would not be under the Gilbert Arenas rules after 3yrs in the NBA. Other teams can not offer him a contract like the one that Morey offered Asik or Lin. You can only offer a Gilbert Arenas (Poison Pill) contract if the free agent has 2yrs or less of experience in the NBA.
no to tyrus 8 million for 2 more years...Warrick is not playing on Suns...but Thompson is interesting
You can say that about any rookie. IMO Smith is just as valuable as Parsons. You just can't find a legit backup 5 who can play as well as him on his rookie year and on a favorable contract. Centers usually take about 3-5 years to develop, and Smith is way ahead on his learning curve. Smith might be undersized but if Morey were to trade him for a pick, which I don't think he is, it would have to be a top 5 protected lottery pick. Good centers are really hard to come by in any draft.
While it's a fair point that there's a glut of young players and not enough playing time to develop them all, Morey is not stupid enough to put himself into a position where he is on the other end of the turn-a-bout. He's structuring all his contracts so that that circumstance never occurs and he is never put into the position the Knicks/Bulls were with regard to Lin/Asik. For instance, look at the contract Machado signed. If Machado had worked out, no one would be able to offer him a poison-pill contract because Morey made sure the contract would allow the Rockets to keep Machado for at least 3 years. After the 3rd year, the Gilbert Arenas rules wouldn't apply when Machado hits free agency. Same thing with Chandler Parson's contract and Patrick Beverly's newly signed contract. Morey makes sure that contracts he signs allows him to keep the rookies for at least 3 years if he wants to (so that Gilbert Arenas rules no longer apply). That means no one can offer them the type of contract that Morey offered Asik and Lin. Turnabout isn't fair play because Morey stacks the deck so that the Turnabout isn't allowed to happen.
