Why are people so desperate to hate on tax saving move? Yes its about money, but the Rockets actually got better too at a position of need. Teams out there making money moves are getting worse, I can understand the hate in that case, but this is the opposite. Does it move the needle by a lot? No. Would I rather go way over the tax for another Superstar? Hell yeah, and the Rockets would too. But if that is not available, why the hell would fans want the team to waste money just for the sake of it? I know its not your money so y'all don't give a ****, but this isn't NY or LA, ownership gets in enough financial burden and that's exactly what leads teams to blow it up.
You legitimately think that packaging our first rounder with a negative asset was going to give us the best possible return ? Ok you win
wouldnt be opposed as much on a regular year but this is a year coming off a wcf appearance. Tax savings should not even be mentioned
I never said Shumpert was the best possible player they could’ve received for Knight. I simply said Morey opted to do what it took to turn the unplayable Brandon Knight into a rotation piece for the playoffs. Which is better than having 19M in unplayable players like the Rockets did last potseason with Anderson. I’m sure guys like Batum, Bazemore or Porter were possible targets if the Rockets weren’t in luxury tax hell.
People are complaining about the tax savings...but this trade made us a better team. Shumpert is a clear upgrade as a rotation player. Is it a splashy move..no, but it isn't as if dumping salary was the sole result of this trade.
I guess I missed the press conference declaring to Rockets fans that after figuring out 3's, layups, and free throws are more efficient than long 2's, Daryl Morey was done with analytics and retiring from doing math. What are the exact odds over the last 10 years that a late 1st round pick will turn out to be a better asset on the court than a minimum signing such as Austin Rivers, Keneth Farried, or Gerald Green? If you took the players picked 22-30 in the NBA draft over the past 10 years and put them in a hat. Exactly how many pulls until your franchise is worse off with an x+chriss+knight for shumpert trade? Is it at all possible that an extremely small, flawed. and unconventional lineup with guys begging to be posted up and at a huge disadvantage rebounding such as Paul/Gordon/Shumpert/Harden/Tucker still projects to outscore opponents and create a more severe mismatch with speed, shooting, and an all time great isolation player?
The best thing that I can say about this trade is that Iman Shumpert is an actual human NBA player that I have heard of, not another randomly generated NBA 2K scrub. Hopefully he thrives like Austin Rivers and Kenneth Faried have around Harden.
If we approach this trade by whether Shumpert is the best we can get, I doubt it. I know Knight is a negative asset and our FRP has a little value, but the name of players traded on same day(Morris, Ellington) and players on rumor(JGree+Temple, Mirotic, Randle, Saric) leaves some kind of frustration. But, if we grade this trade by real value of Knight + 1st, and whether we got stronger or not, this is good trade. Experienced veteran with defensive awareness is what we needed on playoff. I will take it.
Shumpert has been a good player this year. I know this isn't the huge blockbuster trade most people are looking for, but you could do a lot worse than getting back a more than serviceable player in return. Some people here are calling Shump a scrub. He absolutely isn't and hasn't been for a while. Though his shooting varies from season to season, he's a smart defender who can guard the 1,2 and 3 spots, allowing James to be on a weaker offensive player without having to worry about size. I really believe Shumpert can be like last year's Mbah-a-Moute (pre-injury). The switching defense is taking form again.