1. If any team were to be rewarded with the "NBA Team of No Defense" we'd be it with Love & Harden, the two worst defenders at their respective positions. 2. Pachulia? errrrrrrr 3. LLULL AND GENTILE ARE NEVER COMING OVER GET OVER YOURSELF
I don't think that finsraider's post was ludicrous or insane. Why so angry responses? It's definitely a possible course of action. As for a center who may be cheap Biyombo is if I'm not mistaken a free agent this summer too. For pfs Marvin Williams, Dudley.
and also if you see in his post the first trade he proposed it's actually homeristic for the Rockets. Dmo for Johnson. That would never ever happen. It's too good for us, trading a rfa to be with a bad back for a high potential wing with three more years in his contract who has already being a valuable contributor at age..20? So definitely don't understand the outrage here.
I just.. in no way... see the Rockets trading Dwight. Hitting the reset button is unrealistic especially sitting at 7th seed being 2 games out of the 5th seed. Getting rid of Lawson/Jones makes sense. I think his point about getting a PG beyond 2016 is pretty out of the ordinary unless he's an all-star. So he's got a good point there. Getting Gentile is possible, don't know about Llull. I say we look at 2 scenarios; Dwight staying and Dwight leaving. **This is all assuming we stand pat at the deadline, btw. ** Say Dwight stays: Either way, I think you let both Jones and D-Mo walk. First things first. Re-Sign Josh Smith. Second, let Thornton walk and bring in another buddy of Dwight's, Courtney Lee. Then sign and trade Corey Brewer to the Nets for Joe Johnson. Bring in an experienced vet PG on the cheap, Mo Williams, Mario Chalmers, or Greivis Vasquez. Then sign David Lee on the vet min. Then maybe get Roy Hibbert as a backup C making Capela expendable. Beverley/Vasquez/draft pick? Harden/Lee/KJ Ariza/Johnson/Dekker Lee/Smith/Harrell Dwight/Hibbert/Capela Now assume Dwight leaves: Do the same exact thing but give Al Horford the max, sign Joakim Noah, and don't sign Roy Hibbert & David Lee. Beverley/Vasquez/draft pick? Harden/Lee/KJ Ariza/Johnson/Dekker Horford/Smith/Harrell Noah/Capela/signee?
It may not happen, but it's possible. It's not something that should get such angry responses. It's not like he said we should trade Harden for Dion Waiters or smth. I heard Lowe podcast yesterday with Windhorst in his podcast. He said that a lot of executives around the league are saying that they will wait out the Warriors because they dont' think they have any chance to beat them. He said that a team like the Clippers if they don't win this year it's very likely they will break up the core and try to wait it out. Now I don't know if that's what Morrey thinks too or if that's what he's going to do but it's something that a lot of other teams are thinking. And IF Dwight is leaving then you are simply wasting one of the most valuable assets for nothing, one asset that can bring back valuable players or picks. Not a king's ransom but still valuable. As for your trade proposals you can't dump Brew to the Nets next summer for Johnson because Johnson expires. Noah is most probably gonna get resigned with the Bulls a team and city he really loves. Because the Bulls won't be able to resign Gasol , he doesn't want to resign with them , he only went there because he thought they were a contender. And max horford...Horford will have Atlanta and many other teams after him..it's more probably than not that he will not sign with the Rockets. So if Dwight leaves it's possible we will be looking at either DMO or the likes of Mozgov, Hibbert etc as starting C. And no other star.
Hiring Ettore Messina isn't the worst idea in the world... I don't see his intensity and preparation jiving with this particular team, though.
At this point some kind of leadership needs to come in weather that be a coach (Thibodeau) or a player with a strong enough personality to stand up and tell players (Harden)to play defense. Only Players I can think of are: Rondo ( I know the concerns about fit but I think we are past that) Deng Tony Allen Conley G.Hill maybe a assistant coach hire like Shane Battier
LegionNBA @MySportsLegion 5m5 minutes ago Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell is reportedly being made available in trade talks. Woah. (via @hoopscritic)
That's insane. How dysfunctional a franchise do you have to be to trade the No. 2 draft pick a few months into his rookie season?
Thanks Malakas. I don't mind criticism at all, but its not worth investing my time in responding to bashers. And yes, the DMo for Stanley trade was homerific. I knew it when I typed it. I was somewhat playing off the recent news that Detriot is interested in DMo. Maybe if we ate their worst contract, threw in a pick and a few other players, etc. But still....yeah, probably not. A Harden-Love pairing doesn't scare me as much as it does other people. I think it would bring a degree of stability to our offense that we haven't seen since pre-Dwight. Defensively.....yeah it's not ideal, but I don't think Love has ever played with the right "fit" on that end. He needs a true rim protector, and we have one of the best young ones in the league in Capela. I really believe that if we don't see marked improvement within the next few weeks, everyone save our young prospects and Harden is going to be put on the block. Everything Morey, Dwight or others say is just window dressing at the point. The fact is we've been blown out by the best times and struggled to beat THE WORST TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE. That's the mark of a mediocre team, which is exactly who we are. Is it really worth it to make it to playoffs, lose our first round pick, get blown out by OKC/SA/GSW in the first round, and then watch Dwight bail or demand a long term $100+ million deal?....cause that's exactly what we're facing right now. I'd rather hit the reset button with Love and see where that takes us.
Finsraider, I like a lot of your posts and your trade ideas. But I can't get behind the "reset" trade scenario. The Rockets will get there are some point, but I don't think that is today. I am more interested in seeing if the Rockets can shuffle the role players to better accommodate Harden's/Howard's shortcomings.
We need to simultaneously move out the salaries of Brewer (if possible), Beverley, KJ (or Ariza) along with whatever young assets to get back one of the guys in my list..young star level players that could blossom into superstars. For instance, Marcus Smart. If we could convince Ainge to deal us Smart, Turner. Jerebko, and Zeller for Capela, Dekker, Brewer, McDaniels (plus 2018 first unprotected), then we're in a much better place s far as building a super team. We'd have Harden, Smart, Dwight, and DMO (cap hold) as our foundation with the ability to execute a sign and trade involving Ariza, Jerebko, etc.for Durant or flat trade Ariza for a future pick, release Jerebko and sign Durant outright. And if Durant didn't come we've still got Ariza and cap space to play with next summer. We can sign someone else, and hold our cap tight for a max contract in 2017. Same thing works for Noel. We really need to move out around S10-15 million in next year salary to give ourselves a myriad of options.
I know what you are saying. It's a tough road no matter what and tough decisions have to be made. Sometimes you have to wake up and smell the roses. Noone knows here what Morrey does. What Dwight's agent and Dwight's doctors tell him. But if Dwight has indicated that he's gonna get the max (probabillity 90%) or leave then one would hope that Morrey being the smart guy he is will decide to take what he can an dmove on. If Morrey on the other hand knows that Dwight is gonna stay at a discount then okay. Reshuffle. It's not true don't bother. Check the source -> unreliable. Anyone can make a twitter post and claim whatever they want.
I don't think I need to wake up and smell the roses. But of course, no one knows Dwight's plan and yeah Morey doesn't want to loose assets for nothing. We don't even know if Morey is willing to take on salary/years or if he must maintain flexibility for the summer at all cost. Maybe there is a talent threshold there where he will take on salary. No one knows of course. But, my feeling is, Morey will keep his cornerstone players and retool the role players.
I have no idea what Morey will do. However finsraider idea is not ludicrous to consider. It's one distinct posibillity ..depending on the situation that we are not aware of. What is going on with Dwight and his agent. I think that the bait of Durant is too tempting that Morey will take on more salary. Just my opinion.
Teague and Evens are on the market. I like both, both are two way players that can pass, both have great athleticism, both are on good contracts for this and next season, both upgrades over current starters (Bev, Ariza). Neither are good career 3pt shooters, but this season but are shooting very well. My trade proposal to get both Ariza, Cole to Hawks Evens, Teague, Scott to Rockets Lawson, Jones, Dekker, NYK 2nd, Den 2nd Teague / Beverley Harden / Thornton / Terry Evens / Brewer / KJ Motie / Smith / Scott Howard / Capela / Harrell
