For a restricted free agent, seems unlikely. Unless you are saying to DMo, here's a crap-ton of money, or he has a VERY good feel that the contract he'd be signing is the top of what he can get. You'd kind of question why the Hawks would do that that.
Because the may be willing to sign DMo for 10 a year (adding Ariza and something else) but not Horford for 25 a year. My point was if was makeable CBA wise.
Ideal free agency we get horford, seth curry and a load of shooters who can create their own shots and play D
Great off season scenario, my tweaks would be to trade Ariza/Capela for Eric Bledsoe instead and draft Zhou Qi and Joel Bolomboy with the 2 second rounders. Trade Bev and Dekker for a mid 1st round pick and draft Wade Baldwin. Starting 5: Harden Bledsoe Durant D-Mo Whiteside Bench: Baldwin, Brewer, Beasley, Harrell, Qi, Bolomboy, Putney (1 year non guaranteed), Russ Smith (2 year vet min with 2nd year team option)
Please sweet Jesus say no to Hassan Whiteside. Just an idiot with awful character. Please stop signing losers and get some real professionals in here. ROCKET CULTURE is broken, and in my opinion that needs to be fixed first and foremost before we take more chances on more mentally/emotionally r****ded humans. I would much rather have Noah, for nothing other than his ability to lead.
He does not have awful character. He is somewhat an idiot. And he's a doofus goofus off the court. But he's not a criminal that's out there fighting in bars and doing dope. I'm not in favor of nor am I against signing him for a max deal. I suspect it's a moot point. I suspect he gets a 4- year max deal from Miami.
I'm scared Man. I really, really want this culture addressed first and foremost, from the top down. After that I am 100 percent ready to take shots on all sorts of dynamic talent, but we need the alpha-male leaders to keep them in line and allow them to develop. Can Hassan develop into a leader who will die for his teammates? Can he get the eye of the tiger so to speak? I would feel a whole lot better If we still had some of the leaders of the not so distant past on this squad. Shane, Lowry, Scola, Deke, Yao, Landry, Chuck etc. We had such high character and it showed. Artest shined in the environment we created, as I'm sure many talented players would have. I hope we can round out our roster with some nice veterans that can still play, along with the talent we attract. I would kill to grab Scola on a cheap ass deal to round out the roster.
No. Hassan will never be a leader. What Hassan will be is a 9'6" standing reach packed on to a now solid, muscular 275 lb. frame, with good hops that make it very difficult to shoot and rebound over. The man is huge, athletic, strong, and super, super long. He'll dominate the defensive glass and rim defense for the next few years. That's what he will get paid a max contract to do. Because every championship team has a big time stopper in the paint. He's not going to get paid a max deal to be a leader. Other than leading the rebounding and blocked shoot columns.
I want Durant . But we cannot cripple ourselves by playing the waiting game . Maybe we can ? But if we don't land durant then unless we get an absolute haul then we are in a tough tough spot . Look at our position in the league . We upgraded at Coaching , but by how much remains to be seen . The second best player on our team isn't in the top 25 .
I agree with you about culture, but you don't need, nor really should hassan be a leader. He needs to be a deandre Jordan style player where he just does what he is needed, which is rebound, block and defend. But to address your point about culture, it has to be addressed and this is an area where harden has to grow. But you can change the locker room culture and dynamic with high character role players. Just add 3-4 strong locker room guys and have harden mature thru USA bball again and hope he becomes even better (which seems so unfathomable considering how great he is but never the less quite possible). If we were to land just Whiteside as our only max to near max marquee free agent. I'd be ok with that, but I would surely want to add strong veterans. Max Whiteside Then sign 2-3 guys like Dudley Courtney Lee Jerryd bayless Mario Chalmers Teletovic Marvin Williams Maybe even a few vet minimum types like Jason terry Luis scola Aaron brooks Varejao Am are Richard Jefferson Mike miller James Jones Tayshaun prince Take a risk on a show me contract with e.gordon Trade away brewer, assume it takes kj and 2nd rd picks Let Dwight, Jones, goudelock, dmo and smith walk You could end up with a roster rotation like the following Bev/Bayless Harden/gordon Ariza/dudley Marvin/Beasley Hassan/Capela Dekkar/Harrell as youngsters Scola/brooks as vet min guys One open roster spot for whatever draft pick or extra signing. That doesn't make us championship contenders but it def gives us a much better culture and much better shooting from deep for MDAs system.
Made me smile, I wanted AR badly for years, yet he never lived up to a fraction of the potential I had set for him in my head. He was going to be the Rocket's savior now he is a punch line. I would like AR, too. --> so dreams really can come true. :grin:
He's around 26 years old. Has NBA skills. Needs to humbe himself, accept a minimum salary deal, come back into the league and fit his skills into a team concept.
Which is why if Durant is reupping with OKC, I hope he does it quickly. Cuz I have a bad feeling Morey and Les are delusional enough to sit around and wait for him to announce his decision like they did with Melo 2 years ago while all the attainable free agents get scooped up by other teams.
Assumptions: DMo signs somewhere else instead, and we find a way to clear Brewer's cap space. We don't retain Jones either, but we keep Ariza, Bev and Capella. Decker, McDaniels, Harrell, and Beasley are all retained and/or used for trade bait. This leaves us significant cap space; here are a few guys worth using it on: 1) Durant 2) Conley 3) Beal 4) Batum (wish we had kept him the first time) 5) Parsons 6) Waiters 7) Bazemore 8) Ezeli 9) Fornier 10) Crabbe 11) Mahinmi 12) Teletovic 13) Jennings
I have no idea what the Rockets management is going to do, but I feel that two (semi-stars) with character and toughness, are going to better than going for one big star. Two 15 M/yr players, are better than one 25-30 M player. Unfortunately, everyone is asking for at least 20M/yr. I hope we will be fortunate in free agency, although I'm afraid Les, Morey, and D'Antoni will probably goof up here too.
Bad news bears! Woj said yesterday "I do think he'll go through the process. I don't think this will happen on July 1st, 2nd or 3rd. There will be some kind of a process & it could hold up free agency in July."
We have the perfect coach for him. I would give more than a mimi contract, if were to accept his role and work within a team concept. Goodness, he has all the talent in the world. He is a perfect small ball 5. Paired with Harden & Bezz , Good job thinking outside the box --> It will work on a budget, too.
