Morey is usually one to see trends coming. How he missed the trend of role players taking single year big money contracts I don't know. I also think Morey didn't realize how hard getting rid of Anderson would be and what it would cost. Overall I'm thinking Morey probably hasn't had a good night's sleep since Sunday.
Bjelica would have been a decent sign. Oh well, he's gone from the market. At least that should mean that Philly is out of the running for Luc, not that I'm jumping for joy if Luc is going to be hindered mentally regarding the shoulder dislocation.
So our best / most realistic model toward a ship remaining is.... (1) Anderson + Jackson + 2019 1st (top 10 protected) to ATL for Bazemore + Dedmon (2) re-sign LMBM + Capela to non-cap crushing deals (2) win sweepstakes over Fakers for Melo (after OKC buyout or stretch) (3) meteor crushes Scott Foster & Tony Brothers (4) trade MCW + 2020 2nd + rights to Hartenstein to BRK for Spencer Dinwiddie CP3 - Dinwiddie - Melton Harden - Gordon - Green Bazemore - LMBM - Nunnally / Clark / Edwards Melo - Tucker - Qi Capela - Dedmon - Nene I am kool with that. Htine ship!
I admire your ability to talk yourself into just about anything. The Rockets lost their starting small forward, lowering their current rotation to 5 quality players. If they bring Luc back, that is a 6 man rotation of quality players. That's not beating the Warriors. Downplay the Ariza loss all you want, but as it stands, they lost their best small forward and one of their best defenders, with no replacement in sight. We'll see what Morey does, but the options are limited, and the gap between the Rockets and the Warriors has widened, whether you want to acknowledge it or not.
They lost an aging 3 and D player who disappeared in 2 of the last 3 playoffs.....not exactly the end of the world. A healthy LRMAM is an upgrade and let's face it, the Rockets are going to sign Melo once he's bought out and while his defense is nowhere near what Ariza's is, his offense is equally better than Arizas.
If the Bulls lose Lavine to the Kings will they go after Capela? They don't have any young C but a crap ton of capspace.
I mostly agree with this, but the point remains...they're still taking a step back from beating the Warriors. The primary advantage Luc brought was his ability to kill teams off the bench. Him as a starter is fine, but it still leaves us a man down in the rotation. Disagree on Melo. His offense is not "equally better than Ariza's defensive upgrade". Ariza is light-years better as a defender, and his 3 point shooting is on par with Melo's, and maybe even better in some cases. Melo would be mostly unplayable against any good team in the league, especially the Warriors, and while I think he'd be better than his performance alongside Westbrook this past season, the offensive upgrade is not going to be that much. But I trust Morey. Maybe he swings a trade mid-season. Maybe Melton proves playable. We'll see.
I think everyone realizes that they can't actually get Capela so they aren't even bothering having their cap space held hostage.
Well this isn't perfect either. You can't trade them if it's one year deal and if they're cheap and play well they will bolt in FA. Less flexibillity in trades and these contracts can never become assets.
I expect Melo to look better on a team with guys like CP3 and Harden and given how Ariza keeps disappearing in the playoffs, I don't see him as a fatal loss. If you replaced him with Melo in game 7, the Rockets likely are NBA champions right now. Ariza was part of the problem 2 of the past 3 postseasons and he's just getting older. Not just that, I'm willing to wait and see what happens before flipping out. There are plenty of moves that can still be made and worst case scenario you have the Rockets who are roughly equal with the Warriors
