[Ringer] Rockets See 3 and D as "as a cheap, replaceable commodity."

It was about money but really outside of CP3 and Harden everyone has a max price that Rockets are willing to pay (for those two its the max the CBA allows of course). Trevor given his age and role on the team 15M was too much and made it much more obvious because of the luxury tax hit. His locker room leadership and presence are the biggest irreplaceable things about him. His on court production can be replaced, but of course if its someone who is relatively unknown like Ennis he may not get the same benefit of the doubt from refs and all like Ariza who has a more established reputation.

Morey has found plenty of great value signings in the past (like Ariza) and I wish we were able to keep Trevor but man at 15M that is a lot of money for a guy who has made around 70-80M total in his NBA career. I dont blame him at all getting one big pay day like that.

 

It doesn't really look like they are looking for a backup big atm. Not really much of a priority when they still have nene and just signed hartenstein. The wing replacement is a much bigger issue

 

They're not wrong. Defense is about heart, hunger and hustle. Things young guys who can't shoot should be good at. Hitting 3s is different. I believe you either have the touch or you don't have to find comfortable distance shooters. Hardest part is to find guys who can create for themselves. Who don't need to be set up or spoon fed easy buckets. Competent inside/outside scorers.

 

defense is only partly those things. You still have to understand schemes, tendencies, positioning, iq, and consistency.

 

Luc and Ariza are better against GS than Capela. Joke logic.

 

i agree that's what the article was saying. The problem is that Clint isn't that easily replaceable by anyone current on our team. Montrezl could duplicate some of what Clint gives us, but he's gone now. Nene, Hartenstein and Nanu are nowhere close. Nanu will never get there, and Hartenstein needs a couple of years (and still might not get there).

However, I think Murray is convinced that if Clint takes the QO, we can replace him with a cheaper alternative via trade or free agency. He's a great fit for our team, but that's in large part due to him having been trained to be exactly that. I definitely wouldn't give him more than $20M/yr, and would hesitate to go over $18M, simply because his talent isn't unique these days.

 

I think with $75 million tied to both Harden and Paul for the 2019/2020 season Morey has to have game planned for either scenario (Clint signing the QO or taking the contract offered to him) to occur since the Rockets won't have capspace next summer if they don't move AT LEAST Ryan Anderson by then. If Clint signs on for longer, great. However, if he signs that QO deal I think Morey would have to look at moving both Anderson and Gordon to get the necessary capspace to sign a DeAndre Jordan or throw a sizable offer at another center (Cauley Stein?) next summer.

 

Yep. In fact, if Clint takes the QO, I think Morey might not wait until summer and let him walk for nothing. He'll pull the trigger on a deal at the deadline, maybe including Anderson. If they're still sucking mid-season, the Mavs might be willing to take a year of Ryno's salary and a shot at Clint long-term in return for Deandre Jordan.

Bottom line is that Maori's not stupid. He's got contingency plans for his contingency plans. We'll be fine.

 

The articles makes Ariza & Luc (and Tucker?) sound unimportant by focusing mostly on offense. Defensively, those 3 guys (and Paul) were a big reason why we finally become a GOOD defensive team (most of the time). And we know Morey values defense (wants to be top 10 on both sides of the ball).

If we didn't value 3&D it wouldn't explain why we paid Ariza (the first time - although that predates D'Antoni), Tucker and chased guys like Iggy.

 

'xactly!

Don't forget the $8m we gave Brewer, and how we gave Bev more money than Luc, too.

But more to the D'Antoni present, in the NBA Summer of Wild Spending, we also offered the $20m+ to Bazemore and Horford as Plan A. Ryan and Gordon were Plan B. Lou Will's days were numbered, too. He was just "doubling down", "high variance" patchwork, until we could find the PJs and Luc's of the world.

Bottomline: Luc was a casualty of the hardcap, and no Bird Rights, as the $4.3m deal he got is 1/2 a million above what we had to spend, after subtracting what we wanted for Melton and Isaiah. If we weren't sooo good, with two Supermax players, we have Full MLE and Luc would have gotten Bev's pay, and stayed.

 

I don't get the infatuation with DeAndre Jordan as a replacement for Clint. He makes more, he'll expect a lucrative contract after this coming season, and I haven't had much respect for the guy since he stiffed Dallas in such a bizarre way (not that I give a damn about Dallas, but it says something about Jordan). Yes, he's a better rebounder, but aside from that metric, I'd much rather have Clint. I think he's a far better fit for the Rockets and what they want to do, in my opinion.

 

This is all speculative crap based on the fact that we let Ariza (overpaid) and Luc (injury concerns) walk. Just because we let those 2 walk doesn't mean we view them as replaceable or that we somehow diminish the value that they bring to the team. It just means that, given the timing of the situation, we didn't feel that paying Ariza that much money or giving Luc starter's money was good for the short-term success of this team. I'm willing to give Morey the benefit of the doubt here, and trust that his vision for this team still has us hoisting the trophy this year.

 

If we can play with 7, our offense will truly be unstoppable.

 

3nD players in the right system was shown capable of ruining the Warriors brand of "fabulous basketball" for three games in a playoff series. We needed more of them.

They might be "replaceable" in the sense that they're still undervalued and Morey trusts his scouting system, but put four/five above average shooters and stoppers into a rotation like ours or with LeBron, and you can credibly engineer a competitive series against the Warriors. Gimp Luc cost us a good 15 mins/game in that tough series.

I love BS articles from the ringer because of the misinformation it spreads with people like Chau. Kevin is the only readable person there because he tries with the Rockets.

 

Hey! Be careful, or 'holic will descend on this puppy like a giant buzzard coming down to eat that dead squirrel in the middle of the street.

 

I think players on the Rockets know if you are the main players you will get your money, if you are a role player we won't over pay you (excluding Ryan Anderson).

 

very clever! As the first three responses in the other thread are addressed to holic.

 

100 percent .

The media always had to make up some sort of narrative .