I could see us trading for Melo. Something along the lines of Capela/Dekker/McDaniels/ and a handful of firsts and seconds. Note that I'm not particularly advocating for this, but it trading seems like the best course for adding a star this offseason as opposed to FA. KD and Horford seem to be staying put. This is not a strong star class otherwise. Melo seems like the star most likely to get traded, given his discontent with NYK's rebuild. Similarly, Houston's FO wants to add a star NOW. Hence, the teams line up. I'd be intrigued to see JH and Melo play together. Whether it would work or be a complete trainwreck is yet to be seen, though there are obvious concerns with that pairing. That said, I just see HOU as only being able to add its star through trading, and Melo seems like the most likely trade candidate. I'd hope for Boogie, but with Joerger hiring, I doubt they move Boogie.
Congratulations on the ad hominem post, motleydeflep6. Surely one of your best of 150 posts, and also welcome to ignore. I personally don't want our team compared to the Kings, but thanks for the useless technicality in the last of our communication.
The post that I replied to said that good teams didn't plan for FA 2 years in advance. It was a blanket statement and didn't even explicitly mention the Rockets. Miami was certainly a good team and they certainly planned for FA 2 years in advance so they directly refute the posters statement. Also, Pat Riley was very involved in assembling the big 3 for over 2 years prior to the signings. Riley even went as far as having dinner with Michael Jordan and Lebron when the Cavs were in Miami for a game in November of 2009. Cleveland knew about the dinner and choose not to file tampering charges. Riley spent the next 2 years manipulating the roster so that almost everyone other than Wade had a contract that expired in the summer of 2010. I'll have to disagree with the idea that Lebron or Bosh was in favor of forming a super team because Wade had won a title. Lebron was clearly the linchpin for the whole deal. I have no idea what Durant plans to do or not do, nobody here does. What I do believe is that Durant isn't looking to find somebody that's won a title to show him the way. Players of that level are usually very confident and think that they can lead a team if surrounded with the needed talent. Durant isn't looking for somebody to lead him to a title, he's looking for talent to surround himself with to enable him to lead a team to a title. Everyone's heard the story of Chris Paul's famous toast at Carmelo Anthony's wedding where he said that he, Anthony and Amare Stoudemire would form their own big 3. Those guys don't have a title between them but they were still talking about teaming up. In those guys minds, its the talent that matters. Durant may very well stay in OKC. If he doesn't then his decision regarding the Rockets would be based on what he thinks he could do with Harden, another max player and the supporting cast that Morey could assemble. What Harden did with Howard and our current supporting cast wouldn't be of much relevance. The general blueprint teams us is to acquire the star players and then to put the role players around them. That's because the stars are much harder to acquire and role players without stars aren't going to win a title. Most every team that's acquired a star has needed to dump role players in order to make it happen. Miami cleared out their entire roster except for 2 players to be able to sign the big 3 and SA dumped Splitter and Corey Joseph in order to sign LMA. That's how it's usually done.
If Durant leaves in FA then OKC isn't a very good team anymore. Likewise, if Durant were to team up with Harden and another max player then we certainly aren't a bubble team. As far as your chemistry argument, it's moot once Howard is no longer on the roster. OKC without Durant didn't make the playoffs last season. OKC with Durant is in the WCF this season. That's how much of a difference maker Durant is.
Why would Durant choose Houston when he can play in Miami? If you were young and rich, would you prefer Houston over Miami? I seriously doubt it.
Durant is Christmas man. He does not give second thoughts to Miami lifestyle, or does heeee? Dun dun dun
The fact that we're supposed feel better about ourselves because we don't suck as bad as the Kings is not very reassuring.
I do love your optimism. We have equal ability to know Durant's mind. Maybe he has the incredibly Rocket-positive view of our prospects that you have. Maybe the entire league thinks Howard, on his own, caused our team's collective spirit to collapse this year. Doesn't seem logical to me, but Durant will know a lot more about the league than I do.
Never mind how you're supposed to analytically compare the chemistry of two broken teams. Do you measure number of team huddle eye rolls or something?
Rockets beat Dallas / Clippers and lose to Warriors in WCF OKC beat Dallas / SA and lose to Warriors in WCF (big if of course) Really that means that all teams (including SA) are still at best 2nd tier, any one year one of these emerge to face GS. Whether it's Harden / Howard, Durant / Westbrook or LMA / Leonard, they're all below Curry / thompson / Green (so far). If Durant loses, it shouldnt matter that it was in the WCF. The fact is no one can still beat GS. Meaning he needs to form a super team to win.
Pat Riley, one of the most respected HOF coaches of all time. A man that has the resume, and garners respect on the level of Phil Jackson....LOL yea a doofus with an IPAD and no on the court experience is going to command that advantage. Are you allergic to context? I say this based on your past history of applying subjective stats and implying causation at every turn. Wake up.
lol exactly. Claims to put down everything that isn't in line with his subjective stats (where he implies a causal relationship at every turn) , and then asserts that our chemistry problems are because of Howard and he can read Durant's mind. Insanity.
