The biggest hurdle is getting LeBron to agree to come to the Rockets. I am confident that Morey can make the necessary deals to make it happen and build a team around Harden, CP3 and LeBron.
Tyreke Evans - Pretty much a no-brainer if the interest is mutual given what we are in position to offer. Comes from the same mold as EG: naturally very skilled & athletic, great instincts and drafted to be a franchise player yet has since accepted their complementary roles. I do agree, however, it might not make sense if we retain EG. Evans is a lot more versatile and useful than Lou Will (to say the very least), but you might run into a repeat of the Lou/EG & EG/Green situation where there's not enough minutes for two backcourt sparkplugs when 100% healthy. I still do it either way, though. Jimmy Butler - Not holding my breath on this one. I don't doubt there's interest on our end, but I have a VERY hard time believing we wouldn't get outbid if Butler was truly on the market. That said, I saw a couple negative posts about the idea -- that's madness to me. If Jimmy freaking Butler is your third or fourth best player, I'd say you have a pretty good basketball team. I do agree it's probably just a ploy to gauge interest in Andrew Wiggins. Speaking of Wiggins..... [Putting on my flamesuit] Generally speaking, I actually don't hate the idea of Andrew Wiggins. For us? No, he's not the right fit given that we are in win-now mode and trying to lure the best basketball player in the world. But if I'm one of these middle-of-the-road or rebuilding teams, I would certainly at least take a flyer. I honestly believe he's a player that could someday be a top 5 scorer in this league. His level of explosive athleticism and natural skill is exceptional, IMO. On top of that, he doesn't get hurt. Guaranteed points in the basket. I mean, in a world where Ryan Anderson and Allen Crabbe are worth $20M/year to be underwhelming finished products, is it really such a crisis to pay a 23-year-old enigma with superstar potential $25M/year or so and see if he ever discovers that "extra gear"?
What I like about Tyreke evans over Eric Gordon is that the man can play defense, and could probably become a reliable 3 pt shooter like eg with less focus going on him but he can also really play the point if needed. Eg is just a horse with blinders on. He is either looking to drive to the hole or shoot the three...
What else is he supposed to do? That's our offensive philosophy. He was perfect in his role. Nobody could have stepped up like he did when our Stars were having a bad night or out.
Just like it would be enticing for us/another team, it should be clear that Minny has to first be disappointed in his performance this year with the money they will pay before he goes anywhere. I don't think Wiggins is that tarnished yet, especially because he is that young. Minny would have to be REALLY trigger happy AND impatient about not bringing him along for a few more years to trade him. That said, I'd FREAK if we could get him involved in a Ryno trade to Cleveland. That salary is sizable enough to be involved, helps Cleveland get back their 1st Rd Pick, put someone in the SF position immediately, locks up a potential star for 6 years...much upside for Cleveland I feel. This reminds me of how we traded Lamb on potential for Harden. Who else would approach Minny for Wiggins tbh? OKC might. CLE might. We could swing Gordon/Nene for PG13 at the same time, it could totally work ^_^
Isn't Wiggins going to be on a 5 year 146M deal from 2018-19 onwards? I don't think Cleveland would take Ryan at 20 M plus and Wiggins for all that much. Nene has no trade value left. Gordon plus 2 first rounders might get PG to Houston, if he is willing to sacrifice money and a bigger role in LA. I don't want to do that, because Lebron should be the target. George is worth one good pick plus EG, not 2 of them.
Man Wiggins is going to make 30M per year until 2023...yeah, you read it right, until 2023...that might legitimately be the worst contract in the league as today.
Yeah I assumed for a sign and trade his consent so I'm not necessarily advocating using him as a trade chip to bring back another star, my argument is more along the lines of "Max money to centers is not a good allocation of resources, therefore we will avoid that pitfall." I guess being over the cap makes this argument less strong given that it's not like we can just let him go and have max cap room. Didn't know how the cap mechanics worked, but given your point of half salary counting, you'd basically have to find a team Capela is willing to go to and that wants him, and a player the rockets consider useful to get in return who makes half the max. Seems like too many variables, so perhaps I'm wrong.
Yup. If the series ends in Cleveland Friday, he's got 21 days. If it ends in Oakland on Monday, he'll have 18 days. That's plenty of time for both LeBron and the Cavs to think through their options. I do agree that all things being equal, LeBron likes all the July attention. But it's quite a stretch to go from that to assuming that he'll pass up his preferred destination as a result of it. Things aren't equal here. You know good and well that CP will inform LeBron (on Daryl's behalf) that the only realistic route to Houston involves making a decision by the end of June and opting in. We'll see if that's what LeBron wants and/or if the Cavs are willing to play ball, but I don't think the timing of it is likely to be a problem.
If anything I think Houston presents him his least "going to get killed for this" type option. He's lifelong friends with CP3 and has been wanting to do this for years. His career is winding down, wants to teamup with Chris before time runs out. It's not even about chasing rings wink wink
Maybe liked. Like when Melo came and ate at Americas for free. LOL. At this stage in his career, I don't see it playing any factor.
I'm probably just being optimistic, but I think it would go a long way for Lebron's image if he committed to a team (not even necessarily us) early and avoid another round of Lebron sweepstakes media frenzy.
Well, he has to commit to the Rockets immediately. He can afford to wait if he's planning to sign with Philly or the Lakers. Boston doesn't currently have the cap space, but I'm pretty sure Ainge would have no trouble unloading Kyrie or Hayward to make room. I'm not sure if there's anyone else with a realistic shot at him. And no, he's not going to the Spurs like some in the media are desperate to see. Even if Kawhi stays there, there is way too much uncertainty with that roster.
The only reason why I think the timing matters is that they will just be finishing up the Finals (be it 4 or 5 games) and I think LeBron may need some time to just decompress from the season instead of immediately going into next season destination mode. I dont think its going to be something where the Finals end and the next day LeBron starts his process. The Cavs still will have to do exit interviews and all and he could be thinking about it during these times, but he probably will want to forget basketball for a little bit first to make sure he makes a decision that is the most beneficial to his career. IIRC he went on vacation to some island and vegas as well before announcing his decision last time. The quicker decision benefits the Rockets greatly of course since it will be much harder to do a sign and trade with LeBron now if he does become a FA. I do not think anyone really knows his preferred destination right now. There are the obvious favorites, but there will be a lot of factors that will be at play here. If LeBron does come to the western conference then the east really will be depleted of serious contenders outside of Boston and potentially Philly depending on what moves they make in the offseason.
The contracts begin in the first week of July after the moratorium ends. Generally this is around July 6th or 7th. The 2017/2018 season ends officially on June 30th and the moratorium allows the league to close their books and prepare the new books and officially set the cap number. Trades can happen prior to June 30th but these would be under the contract sizes for the 2017/2018 season and if its after July 6th then it would be under the sizes of the 2018/2019 contracts. In the CP3 case, opting into his contract allowed the Rockets to trade for him and get his bird rights to be able to potentially sign him to a 5 year max this off season. If CP3 opted out he could have signed with the Rockets, provided they opened up the necessary cap space needed (So basically they would have had to trade away some of these players for nothing) but he could have only signed a 4 year deal because the Rockets would not have his bird rights. I believe CP3 took a smaller (but still large) pay for the 2017/2018 season by opting in for a much larger pay day in getting a 5 year deal this offseason. I think BimaThug mentioned that LeBron if he opts in can actually make more next season then becoming a free agent based on the max rules of the CBA. LeBron opting in helps the Rockets a lot because they can then trade with the Cavs a lot easier than trying to make the cap space to sign him as a free agent when they have a bunch of their own free agents to re-sign. Ideal scenario for the Rockets would be to make the trade for LeBron prior to July 1st. Extended QO to Capela making him a RFA, And then re-sign Ariza, re-sign Paul and then match whatever offer Capela is given. This is going to be a huge bill for the Rockets but they are allowed to go over to re-sign their own FAs.
