Lol sorry but you cant just invent your own definition of commonly used words. Thats like saying you think Brewer is a superior 3 pt shooter because in your definition "superior" is someone who shoots 10% or more. The Rockets are above average, like what Mathloom said the Rox have the 5th strongest schedule but have a winning record, that is obviously not "mediocre" bevause a mediocre or average team would be 0.500 with an average (around 12th) strongest schedule. And no, if the playoffs started today Rox would roll over Memphis. We have the same record with a harder schedule, I dont know what you base your opinions on.
I'll never get over the Anderson contract. One of the biggest mistakes Morey has made as GM. Just freaking terrible.
Dictionary definition: "of only average quality". Your complaint about fans: "every time someone uses it in a sports context, they are usually talking about a player or team that is average." Regardless, there isn't a non-laughable argument that the Rockets this year have been only average or below average, unless you also want to re-define the word "average" to something other than "50% above, 50% below." Thanks for trying.
Try reading what I said one more time and see if you do a better job comprehending what I actually said, here I'll re-post it for you Hopefully this time through you'll figure out what works mean and decipher what I'm actually saying here because so far, you've gotten it all wrong.
but he gives harden more space. quick triggers and spacing > defense, rebounding, off dribble scoring, etc
I'm watching games with other team's commentary, usually, and I can tell they all fear Ryan Anderson's 3 point shot like it's the devil. Remember that we used to be like that every time Pelicans played Rockets. Yes, he's overpaid, but he's underrated by Rockets fans. Anderson can go 0-6 five games in a row and other teams will continue to be glued to him on perimeter anyway. Unless he shoots below 30% for half a season, other teams will continue to give him mad respect and Anderson will continue to give value on offense even when he doesn't score. I'm pretty sure we all agree on that, we just want to complain about the money he gets paid, since we paid him from our pockets. Oh wait.
I'm pretty excited that we are 10-6 and Ryno and Gordon haven't even really found their rhythms yet. I expect D'Antoni/Harden to get both of these guys WAY more comfortable in the next few weeks.
Mozgov = 16 million a year. The market has vastly changed, and it is going to change even more next year.
The problem here is we actually have a lot of potential stretch 4s on the team apart from Anderson, Ariza, Dekker, and yes even Brewer (who is actually hitting 3s at a decent % this season) can all play stretch 4, not to mention Wiltjer who is undoubtedly a much better 3 pt shooter than Anderson himself. In terms of having Ariza and Dekker play the 4 for example, you actually get better rebounding, better defense and much better off the ball action. The argument for Anderson is he is a superior shooter, but everyone who watches Rockets games this season with any semblance of objectivity will know that's not true this season and in a typical game Anderson will only contribute two (2) made threes the entire game. Who fears a "superior shooter" who only gives you two made threes in a game but is a negative on everything else besides shooting? And to me the key question is why is a guy like that getting 30 mins a game? So to me the "spacing" benefit posters like you keep arguing for isn't that compelling because alternatives exist which offer the same thing. Its like you telling me you need to keep smoking because you need to experience smoke coming out of your mouth when I'm telling you Vape is a thing nowadays which will provide the same "smoking" experience. Sure smoking will probably provide a more genuine experience, but at the same it will also give you and the ones next to you (presumably friends, families, and other loved ones) lung cancer. OTH, Vape can actually be loaded with amino acids which will lower your cholesterol and risk of heart disease with every puff. In terms of value proposition the benefits can't even be compared so if you actually care about getting the most value or utility out of your smoking habit then the logical choice is to switch to Vape. Yeah at the start of the season I was really horrified with the amount the Rox are paying Anderson, but right now more than his contract I'm horrified he is seeing so much PT. If the goal of the Rockets is to win games, then objectively speaking Anderson should be the guy in the doghouse, we give his PT to Dekker/Ariza at the 4 and then we give Dekker's backup minutes at the 3 to KJ. If we look at the King's game the blowout happened when Anderson was on the bench, and this was enabled by good defense/crappy turnovers by Kings which lead to a 3 pt barrage and fast break assault. If Anderson was there that wouldn't have happened, because he would have bricked his open 3 pt shots and with his slow footed mobility the fast breaks wouldn't be possible. So rather than simply talking about how much benefit Anderson's legendary spacing gives to the team and just keep on focusing on that, you need to look at alternatives and determine which tradeoffs would result in a bigger net positive for the Rockets. We lose out on so much potential scoring when Anderson is on the floor it's a joke, we all know Harden is having trouble running up and down, losing an athletic freak in Dekker/Ariza/Brewer and putting in another slow footed dude in Anderson pretty much makes our fast breaks 2 people max if you don't count Capela who really shouldn't be running court-to-court as it will cause him to tire out quickly.The PHX Suns didn't just rely on 3 pt shooting, they also ran their opponents into the ground so I think having slow footed Anderson in tandem with a tired Harden really prevents the Suns offense from happening. You can even argue that Anderson is the reason why Harden's legs are shot because while in the Suns offense Nash can focus on setting other people up and spotting for open 3s while Matrix and Stat are the ones running court to court, in our offense Harden needs to keep driving the ball to the face of the enemy because Anderson is the one lagging behind for the spot up 3, and then he wastes it by either passing it to other players because his confidence is shot or he just contributes his mandatory 2 made 3s in a game and then misses everything else. I know Anderson is a career role player, but Anderson this year isn't playing like a role player, he's playing like a bench player I would put him on the same level as Ennis in terms of his overall impact in the game.
I'd rather pay Mozgov 16M a year than Anderson 20M a year. Big men are pretty scarce, if we can flat out trade Anderson for Mozghov I'd be on board with that.
Ryan is hitting 40% of his threes. That's very very good. He needs to find a good way to contribute though when his shot isn't falling.
Roslolian, Nuggets, Blazers, 76ers, what do these 3 teams have in common? Shitload of QUALITY YOUNG CENTERS that they just can't find a team to trade to. Why? Because no one needs centers! EVERYONE needs Power Forwards who can shoot 40% from 3. You want to "trade Anderson for Mozghov". That's some Billy King type of stuff there man...
Plus one can't justify a bad contract by pointing out another bad contract. If you measure a sh#t move against another sh#t move, you're still pointing to a sh#tty outcome. I'd rather make smart moves. Locking in $80 mil for 4 years of Ryan Anderson is just not a wise use of the cap. We should be betting on younger talent with huge upside, not playing scared and overpaying above average players like they are all-stars. That's what bad organizations do.
Mozghov isn't a "quality young center" he's a seasoned vet he's 30 years old, he's fully developed his skills and he would provide the team with a reliable backup to Capela in terms of defending the paint, grabbing rebounds and scoring in the PnR. Mozghov's production isn't bad, it's only because he's getting limited minutes if he got as much PT as Anderson he'd score 14 pts and 8 rebs a night which is way better than what Anderson is giving you right now. Shooting 40% from the 3 doesn't really matter if you only contribute 2 made threes or 6 pts from 3s a night, by your logic Dekker would be even more highly sought after than Anderson because guess what, Dekker is shooting 43% from the 3! Since others Gms aren't exactly beating a path to Morey's door for Dekker, what makes you think Anderson at his horrible contract of 20M is something GMs would want? This is really all conjecture on your part so I don't know why you are so confident about it. Billy King's problem wasn't that he brought in bad players, his problem was he didn't pay attention to the salary cap and brought in so many overpaid players, maybe because he thought the same as some posters here and decided the salaries don't matter because he's not the one paying them. Mozghov only makes 16M a year compared to Anderson's 20M, he's actually cheaper than Anderson and he would fill a position of need to this team.
You can't unpay Anderson at this point, all you really can do at this point is trade him for somebody we would need. We can survive Anderson going away because he's not really that good and we have other stretch PFs, but if Capela or Nene get injured all we really have is Harrell at the C spot, so IMHO the Rox would need someone like Mozgov more than they need Anderson.
Playing scared? Anderson wasn't the Rockets first choice... You'd prefer to kick cans or waste Harden's window by doing nothing? Anderson fits what we are doing offensively with MDA, just get over it and give him more than 16 games before going full r****d. As far as young players go... we got Dekker, Harrell, KJ, and Capela.... Do we watch the Rockets bro?
