Why Morey should aggressively pursue a 3rd star: Because Harden/Howard aren't Lebron or Durant

Key is to have a rotation of guys who can pop off for 20 when needed. We have that. Lin has proven her can go for 30-40 when necessary, or 20. Parsons is good for some 20's.

We probably have more firepower than most teams. Our biggest problem is a closer. We don't have someone who can rise up and hit a shot without being contested. Harden plays generally to low to the ground. Howard has the physical talent to be that guy, but not someone who has delivered. He is Shawn Kemp right now. Hakeem will need to change that. But I think we have plenty of firepower, or more than most might think we do. And that's really what you need to win a title. Miami has a big three, but it's really just a bunch of guys who support Lebron with some 20 plus games every now and again. Some people who aren't afraid to step it up. Think we have that.

Three things for me:
My big thing is get a PF with hands who can shoot a high percentage and rebound. Length would be nice.
Turn Dwight into the Goto Player with a finishing move.
Train Harden to play defense all the time.

 

Why did Miami pursue three superstar together Because Lebron/Wade/Bosh aren't Kobe or Dirk?

 

Well you're obviously not too bright. I would love to be just like Kobe & Shaq if it means that we win 3 championships. Oh and Kobe has a better outside shot than Harden. Harden might have a better 3 point shot but that's a big if.

 

Let's look at what we have first before we say it's not enough.

A lot of people are stepping up on this team. There's a good vibe going on and that might just be enough.

 

Been saying this all along about how Harden and Dwight's game compliment each other perfectly. I can only think of one or two duo's in the league (not counting Lebron) that is better than our Dwight and Harden combo. The funny thing is, usually when you get such a perfect match, you have to give up A LOT. Remove Dwight, and our current squad finishes 7th or 6th next year. It's hard to imagine that we do not finish with home court advantage with a top 5 player in the league that actually compliments everything about our team.

That being said, we still have plenty of room to improve and although a lot of our team COULD be a finished product, we have options to upgrade and we will do so without having the panic of time pushing us to do so.

 

The spurs should have won the title this year if not for the fluke ending to game 6. You don't need 3 superstars to win...and you don't need one of them to be in the LBJ or Durant category.

 

If you look at recent history, the only two players who can reasonably claim to have actually carried teams on their backs by themselves are LeBron (Cavs) and Howard (Magic). Everyone else, including LeBron in his Heat years, has had at least one other superstar playing with him. In addition, neither Howard nor LeBron were actually able to win the championship on their own, so the whole, "Howard and Harden aren't top tier superstars who can carry the team by themselves" argument is moot. No one in the current era has actually proven that he can win a championship on his own.

But, just for kicks, even if you took that argument on its face, putting Durant above Howard makes no sense. Howard took the Magic to the Finals with literally nobody, while Durant had both Westbrook and Harden (among others) in all of their playoff runs.

Dwight Howard's Magic
'06-'07 - 1st Round
'07-'08 - 2nd Round
'08-'09 - NBA Finals
'09-'10 - Eastern Conference Finals
'10-'11 - 1st Round
'11-'12 - 1st Round

Kevin Durant's Thunder
'09-'10 - 1st Round
'10-'11 - Western Conference Finals
'11-'12 - NBA Finals
'12-'13 - 2nd Round


Putting the whole "superstars who carry teams by themselves" argument aside, if you want to say that the Rockets need another superstar to win the Finals, then that's something else entirely.

Obviously, if you can get another player on the tier of Howard or Harden, you do so. That only increases your chances of winning the championship. What exactly are you saying here? That the Rockets should try to get another superstar? OK, that's great. It's also something you can say about literally every single other team in the NBA, including the Heat. Everyone wants more superstars. But short of Oprah giving them away to all the teams, how exactly are the Rockets supposed to do this?

If you want a free agent, then you'll have to wait until next offseason. And, you would have to dump both Lin and Asik, as well as gut the remainder of the roster (because those two only get you $15 million out of the $20 million you need for a superstar). Getting rid of Lin and Asik for just their contract value is pretty much impossible - no team is just going to give you random bench players for taking on those contracts, especially if they know you are trying to free up cap space to sign a superstar. Trading for one is pretty much impossible because even if you do a straight swap for both of them at once, you still won't have the extra $5 million in cap space to clear the superstar salary you will be taking on.

I also think you're massively underrating the players who were on the team last year. They had one of the top offenses in the league, were competitive for the 6th seed, and nearly made it to the second round. Without Howard.

That sounds a lot to me like the team is already pretty good. Perhaps good enough that it's Dwight Howard who is really the "third" superstar being added to take the team over the hump.

 

You can, but it's more difficult, and makes the path much more dependent on the state of the rest of the league.

Today, the rest of the league has a number of teams with multiple great players: Heat, Thunder, Spurs, Clippers, Nets, Pacers, etc.

I'd put the Rockets up with any of them at the moment (though not above any of them yet). but if we want to be obviously ahead of all of them, then sure we need more talent.

Moreover, the main reason he should be pursuing it aggressively now is because these things have a limited timeframe, and can go south quicker then you think. Consider there was discussion around breaking up the Heat Big "3" this off-season if not for a miraculous Ray Allen shot. And that would have been after 3 finals trips and 1 win.

It's nice and all for DM to keep expectations low... "our goal is WCF". But the goal has to be championship(s). And frankly, my focus is on the plural. Dwight didn't come here to make WCF trips. He was doing that in Orlando. He HAS to win a championship to repair his image. And as a fan, I see the potential here for this to be a DOMINANT team.... if Les is willing to go into luxury tax land.

How does it become a dominant team? By flipping some combination of Lin/Asik for a star PF. It's obvious. Harden is a de facto PG a lot of the time anyways... the same way Lebron is in Miami. We need a Mario Chalmers type at PG. Lin may already be that, but he's getting paid twice as much, and has expectations to be a lot more. No disrespect to him or his fans, but that's not what he can/should be in houston or what we need. Asik is great. hard worker, great defender... and I certainly recognize the value of having him and Dwight on the same team. And Asik is frankly underpaid at this point. Tiago Splitter just got $9 million a year. But that's exactly why he should be flipped.

Horford/Aldridge/Love... and in that order, is what DM should be pursuing aggressively. I used to have the order completely reversed... but Love has been too injured, and I think the value of Asik that you'd eb losing is more replaceable by Horford, who is a much better defender and can play center.

Unfortunately I'm guessing there is about zero chance of Horford being traded. But then I'm not sure what Atlanta is doing. They're as stuck in neutral as you can be. Sure, Millsap is a cheaper version of Josh Smith.. but he's also a lesser version defensively. Elton Brand is as stop gap a backup big as you can get. That said, are they interested in Asik, DMo, TJones, future first for Horford? Probably not. Even if you add Lin, probably not... though maybe.

Anyway, if possible, the following lineup wins you multiple championships imo.

PG: Beverly, Canaan (weakest spot, but fill with veteran)
SG: Harden, Garcia
SF: Parsons, Caspi
PF: Horford, Smith
C: Dwight

 

Pretty sure dirk just won against the heat.

 

Hibbert and West are almost enough to beat Miami, Dwight and LMA would be all their nightmares rolled into one.

Unless of course Oden signs and doesn't break down, then we're all screwed, lol

 

Nice comments. I agree with your thinking.

I don't think we need to necessarily get a PF right now. I would like to see if one of our young PFs can blossom into a solid starter. Of course if the opportunity presents itself to get someone like LMA then go for it.

I would like to see us execute down the stretch. I think that would be of greatest benefit to the team. If we can show poise down the stretch I think this team can be something special.

 

How about we let them go through a training camp and then play a quarter of the season first before passing judgement? You have to see what you have with this group before deciding if you need another "superstar". There could be another "star" already on the team

Nobody knows how Harden, Howard, and crew will all fit together. I'm very interested to see how having Howard on the floor impacts Lin's game. I think it will open things up for him. I never thought of him as a #2 option on a contending team. He should be better as a #3-4 option.

Having a inside threat will be great for this lineup. Having Howard patrolling the paint on D (along with Asik) will vastly improve our defense.

 

Parsons !!!!! I get the feeling we have our 3rd star already - DRASTIC improvement from year 1 to 2 -

He has worked his A$$ off this Summer - apparently adding 8 pounds of muscle in the weight room and shooting a millions 3's a day. This dude is determined.

That's not to say if we could add Adlridge for Asik/Lin - i'd be game . . .

 

I think Lebron and KD might find this a little difficult as well. LOL.

 

The Rockets need someone with flashy tattoos, maybe a whole neck or body of them who's ready to bang down low. We have someone with a beard, maybe if Jeremy Lin gets a whole body of tattoos and a dragon style haircut we'd be in contender status, even Elite status. He could be called Dragon-man, be the one bullying others on the court with his blind martial art skills.

 

If Parsons steps forward this year, he could be a very strong third guy.

 

Yeah, we had the youngest roster in the league last year. Everyone on this team is due to take a step forward and the game just became a little bit easier for everyone with Howard on the court. I think there could very well be someone on our roster (Lin, Parson or Jones) that could step up and be that 3rd and 4th guy.

But if anything SA proved that you need guys 1-8 to play well. More players in that Kahwi Leonard, Danny Green stata, not necessarily stars.

 

Morey isn't standing pat. Everyone needs to calm the #### down.

 

Even the Heat had problems filling out the role player roles because of the dedicated money to the top three stars. I say we play it out and see where we need help before we mortgage our future.

 

The NBA hierarchy goes:

Lebron
Healthy Dwight

Durant/Cp3

In that order.

And while Lebron is the best player in the world, a healthy Dwight is not order of magnitudes below.

That said, Morey should not stop improving the team until we are favorites to win it all.