Sure. There's no "good" spot to be in with Golden State there. With them in the league, that is every Western Conference teams' ceiling for the next 5 years at least. However...the Rockets can at least theoretically swap Anderson for a max player. Huge upgrade right there. Will it happen? I'd say probably not, but there is at the very least a clear path for the Rockets to at least vault themselves towards a substantially improved team. I'd much prefer that than a situation like Utah/Portland/Thunder where they're virtually going to HAVE to cap themselves out to keep young players.
I agree with you, I'm just dejected about the league. I have so much fun rooting for the Rockets in this series and then like a cold shower I'm reminded that Golden State is just sitting there with the dream team ready to slaughter Spain in the finals.
Realistically no team has a chance against the Dubs. What would you rather do just not resign anyone?
If the Rockets got Gordon Hayward, I would not be surprised if the Rockets had a realistic chance to beat the Warriors.
You're seeing it already. Many, MANY, bloggers/writers/etc. spewed the "How can you not like this? It's beautiful basketball!" the first few weeks of the season, and have already retracted that line of thinking. There's a whole lot of "are the Warriors actually boring?" going around lately, and they're clearly not as beloved as last year. Durant will continue to receive criticism and will for the entirety of his GSW tenure. I wonder if this is kind of a watershed moment that will keep other stars from doing the same. Almost certainly wishful thinking on my part there, but that's kind of the ONLY hope there is regarding stuff like that. It truly has lessened the NBA.
it sucks that Harden's prime coincides with this GS team...**** Kevin Durant for going there Rockets would need to add PG and Anthony Davis in order to possibly be considered the favorites against them, that's how good they are
I would be SHOCKED to see Hayward walk away from Utah and that massive pile of money. Maybe if Hayward signed a huge shoe deal like Harden or KD, then maybe he would leave. But really, the money he would be giving up by leaving Utah is ridiculous. He can still chase a ring later in his career.
I don't know - opportunity is a rare and life changing thing(just ask Kevin Durant). If you got the chance to be a part of a legit contending team, then you do it because there are no guarantees that you'll have that opportunity later in your career. The dollar amount difference would be the difference between an ungodly amount of money, and more than an ungodly amount of money. Does it really make that much difference if you can afford a 15 bedroom house vs a 10 bedroom one?
That's definitely a possibility. But ring or no ring this year, I don't see them getting hometown discounts. Maybe a slight discount from Iggy... but that's not saying much... he won't get a super huge contract on the open market anyway. Potentially the bigger risk if they don't win this year would be KD leaving again voluntarily. I mean it doesn't seem likely. He seems to like the city, he's an amazing offensive player in that system, and it still gives him the best chance for a ring for the foreseeable future. But if they don't win it probably s some kind of non-perfect fit with him and Steph, and he could maybe say I chased the ring, didn't work, let me try something else. Especially if Boston can make the space for him, since him on the Celtics makes them a legitimate threat to take down the Cavs and make the Finals... where he'd play a GSW team that is weakened relative to when they did win it. I'm not handing any team championships, but also am not overlooking the obvious, which is GSW and the Cavs are a tier above for the foreseeable future.
I guess I'm optimistic because, yeah, the Warriors are really good and will probably win this year, but a lot can happen over a year or two, and it's not like the Rockets were supposed to do anything this year anyway. The Rockets (and other teams for that matter) just need to focus on their stuff, keep working to improve, and hopefully things will fall into place. Maybe it'll be Hayward or maybe some player(s) Morey is able to grab for cheap but turn out to be unexpectedly good...
As as secondary playmaker/scorer Hayward would be a great fit with Harden. I am not sure Hayward is up to the task of being a #1 guy on a championship team, but as a #2 guy, sure. He would be a phenomenal fit in MDA's offense. Hayward is sneaky competitive. Tried to keep it on the DL about working out with Kobe last summer. I could see the appeal with wanting to play with Harden and learn from him. And Harden also is tight with Kobe. I would love for Morey/Harden/MDA to get a FA meeting with Hayward and have a chance to give their pitch. Hayward is basically the same age as Harden, they have the same time/horizon with this team.
It's too early to get the hope high in the Free Agency market at this time. Should wait to see if we can pass the Spurs in this series and make the next series more competitive than others. If we can do that, we will be one of the top destination in the Summer, as we show that we are 1-2 stars away to knock out a Historical Super Team. Who would refuse to add that to their legacy? If we lose to Spurs or get destroyed in next series, I don't see we are that attractive to Gordon Haywood for him to leave Utah, considering they have beat us 2 games this season and not far from us in the regular season.
There is one more possibility that prevents the team from winning the next 4 titles - they are about to have to pay Curry a full max deal as a "designated player" meaning he will rake in a $207mil/5 year deal. Assuming they also retain max level Durant, that puts them dangerously close to the luxury cap line with only 4 roster spots meaning they will need to rely on: A.) an escalating cap figure to leave room for them to fill out their roster (better hope fans of the rest of the league don't turn their TVs off because the Warrior's inevitable title as a forgone conclusion) B.) Some pretty extreme discounts by good players to get non D-league style players to come play with them. ...I get the aging vet chasing a ring thing, but this will be testing the extreme limits of vet ring chasing - the discrepancy will never have been so grea! Imagine being the Warriors 5th man (a starter) making 1 mil a year while everyone around you is making 20mil plus. And lets not forget that Durant and Curry still have significant injury histories around them meaning this could be a house of cards if something happens to one of their big 4. Part of Curry's sudden turn in health fortunes has a lot to do with having a deep team that allowed him to log way less minutes than the average franchise player(low 30s like most Warrior starters). Put him back playing franchise player minutes because they have league minimum players surrounding them - what happens?
According to Forbes, the Warriors are the 3rd most valuable team in the NBA. A league with 2 teams in NYC and LA, teams in Chicago, etc. That value is $2.6 billion. They are moving into a new arena in SF. Where they will no doubt charge ungodly amounts of money for season and individual tickets. They are I believe private equity or consortium owned. While I doubt the team wants to be cash flow negative any year, I also doubt they would be even in the luxury tax. They'll pay Steph, they'll pay KD, they'll continue to have Steph, KD, Dray and Klay in their primes, they'll surround them with mid-level exception guys and vet minimums... and be fine. Consider the Cavs were able to add both Bogut (though he got injured) and Deron Williams mid year this season purposefully because they were ring chasing. Javale McGee makes $1.4 million. David West makes $1.8 million. I don't know all the cap rules down to a T, but they'll find players to surround their superstar core to make it work. You might argue that it won't be AS SUCCESSFUL as their group that won the ring, which had superior depth even if not as superior starters, or last year's 73 win team... which might be true. But still won't matter much.
Agreed. That's why it's so important to find a second star as soon as possible, if we get that we would instantly get better obviously, but that would also help us becoming more attractive to a potential third star.
I don't argue that the Warriors are the odds on title favorite for at least the next 4 years. They have the best starting 4 basically every. My point is that, there are very real scenarios that could reduce their dominance overnight and their overall team was stronger in the title year/73 win year. One important point to note too about the Cavs picking up vets on the cheap - don't underestimate the effect of having the ultimate Cavs brand ambassador in Lebron wooing potential vets. Draymond, Klay, and Durant don't have near the likability around the league.
