You implied harrell wasn't going to cut it because he doesn't rebound well and those guys never improve rebounding... Now you're saying he's just not ready for rotation minutes, which implies he may improve.. So which is it? I put Harrell at a back up PF spot..but I don't think he's necessarily the first back up..he's just the only back up i'd assume would definitely be back. It all depends on other moves. And I'm defending Harrell's potential. I don't feel attacked.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15427734/deron-williams-plans-opt-deal-dallas-mavericks Wouldn't mind Williams for around 8 mill, a shell of his old self but still a solid PG. He averaged 14.1 points, 5.8 assist, 2.9 rebounds, .9 steal, shooting 41/34/87 this season with only 2.3 turnovers, in 65 games at 32 mpg
You never defended Harrell's potential. You never gave any pro's for him to my con's. You never gave any examples of of other players who improved upon similar issues. And you acted very defensively to somebody merely asking why you had him in your projected lineup. This board is for discussion. You say something. Somebody else has a different take. Back and forth. That sort of thing
Batum checks some boxes on paper, no doubt. But my opinion of him comes from a couple of years ago when we were playing Portland. There weren't any threads or even posts ahead of the series saying watch out for this Batum guy - I'm really worried about Batum. He was an afterthought. He played well that series, but still - I want max players who feature more prominently on the scouting report. I don't want passive max players who get good numbers against bad teams but are likely to disappear when you really need buckets. I bet Gay and Johnson were more deserving of the max than Batum is
Batum is ideally your third best player, like he was in Portland. Which is deserving of the max. I agree with the other poster that Batum would be an amazing fit for us. With a Harden/Batum team you probably grab a Whiteside for his rim protection and hope he turns into a sub-superstar once he expands his range more.
We go from targeting a Big Three to Maxing out two guys who can't average 15 PPG?? Hard fall. You basically only want one player who can consistently draw a double team in Harden?
Also, Batum wasn't like THE 3rd best player for Portland. It was basically LMA, Lillard, and their supporting cast. Batum was one of the better members of the supporting cast.
Right, Whiteside hasn't averaged 15 ppg, but I think he can easily be a 20 ppg producer that draws double teams (very similar to how Deandre jordan puts pressure on the defense on his rolls) except, Whiteside has 15-20 ft jumpshot potential for the pop. He went from shooting like 50% FTs to almost 75% the second half of the year. The moral of the story is, geniuses aren't made by picking the proven commodities. You win by grabbing the Millsaps who average 15 ppg, then improve by expanding his range, or Harden who was averaging 16 ppg playing starters minutes but became a top 5 caliber player with us. My only issue with a Harden/Whiteside/Batum grouping is where are you going to get leadership from? When will Harden become a real leader so we stop asking that question?
You completely dodged what I asked... And I'm surprised I have to go into specifics to defend his potential...hes fluid around the rim, strong under and at the rim, good touch on shot so theres hope for his jumper..has shown some ability to block shots. Confident, even mean, you could say.Good energy. We have nothing like that at the 4 right now. DMo cant rebound either, but whats going to limit his career his inability to focus on his offense, lack of blocking at 7ft, and spending too much time on the floor. Rebounding isnt everything, if you have more than that. Harrell may not improve that area, but he's got enough potential aside from that to look past the lack of rebounding.
Fair enough. I'm still stuck on the rebounding thing. What question? The one where you implied I flip flopped? I've had the same opinion the whole time. I am troubled by his lack of rebounding and how it seems players don't develop that ability. It doesn't mean we should cut him or not give him a chance.
I think what rockets really need is high-percentage catch & shoot 3-point shooters. The players who ranked the top in that category(who during the regular season are: Teague, Curry, Redick, Bayless, Leonard, George Hill. Given Bayless is a UFA after this season, I think he should be the top priority of recruiting, just my two cents.
Teague is the number one guy we should target. At 8m p/a he is the best bargain in the NBA. The Hawks need to trade him, since they have a ready replacement in Schroeder. Ariza plus a 2nd rounder should get it done. Mayo, Bayless, Sessions are interesting PG FAs that could replace or back-up Beverley, if not deal for Teague can be done. Whiteside is the only FA, that I think would be good value for us at the max (outside of Durant who will renew with OKC). I like Horford, but his max is higher and his age a concern. Gasol, Pachulia, Plumlee, Biyombo are decent FA centers that could be available at a decent price, if Whiteside signes elsewhere. On the wings, we need to replace Ariza and Brewer. Dudley and Afflalo are my primary targets. Both can shoot the 3 and defend well, Afflalo can create a bit. If we max Whiteside, trade for Teague, sign Afflalo and renew DMo, it would be a tremendous summer. Gasol, Sessions and Dudley is more realistic.
This will leed us nowhere though...Teague next year is goin to get paid, and i'm teling you, you don't want to be the guy which has to pay him big money.
Millsap is a bad example. He became a super-stud when he was on a bargain contract - I think he signed a 2 year deal for like $9M a year when Howard was signed. I don't like taking risks with Max contracts. You only have a limited number of them. We already saw what it was like when we had so much money invested in a player who underperformd. I admit I don't know much about Whiteside beyond stats. That's why my input on pretty much all options is incomplete. I will throw this out: 1) I don't know many spot up jump shooters who draw double teams. 2) His RPM, FWIW, is not real impressive. He has a negative ORPM, -1.34, and his DRPM, which should be awesome, is only 22nd among centers. Sure, RPM is probably flawed, but I would expect better numbers with this stat pointed to so often.
How would Ariza get you Teague? That number on spot-ups is great for him, but is this just an outlier year for his shooting? Look at his career numbers. This year, he is way better from three than he had been. Reminds me of Ariza's performance in his contract year. I did hear a stat once that identified Teague as one of the elite players at creating offense off of driving (which I really love). Problem is Lawson received the same recognition before, and that didn't help too much when playing with Harden, who is even better at it. How is Teague's defense? NBA.com's defensive stat makes Teague look awesome on defense, but ESPN's RPM makes him look real bad on defense.
