1. Trade Gordon to Detroit and let them absorb his $20 mill per with their projected $37 million in capspace this offseason. I mean, what big free agent is going to want to go to Detroit and what young free agent wants to wait his turn to get the ball behind Rose and Griffin? Once we get Gordon off the books we have a more palatable asset to use: a hugeass $20 million trade exception. 2. What players are available that fits under that $20 million? Charlotte: You might be able to talk MJ into calling a mulligan on the Rozier ($18 million) experiment and nab him without additional cost. Chicago: Thaddeus Young ($14 million) could be intriguing; shot 35.6% last year Cleveland: Larry Nance Jr ($11 million) Minnesota: James Johnson ($14 million) if we're still jonesing for another enforcer in the front court New York: pretty much anyone on their roster that they signed last summer Orlando: Fournier ($17), Gordon ($20), Ross ($11) And then there are these two: Miles Turner ($20) and Dennis Schroder ($17.5). I saved them for last because they are the two best players I saw who could be available in exchange for a trade exception (or more but we'll get to that). If Morey is looking to upgrade the 5 spot Turner hits pretty much all the boxes: he's young, tall, a solid defender and shoots the 3 ball at 35.7%! Getting out of paying Turner 20 mill a year until 2023 could help Indiana maintain some kind of flexibility if they give Oladipo the max contract or, if he bolts, gives them a bunch of salary cap room to overspend on free agents in 2021. On the flip side, we have Schroder, Mr. Nut Puncher. I hated his game when he was in Atlanta but that series against OKC led me to believe that he should and could be our 6th man. Dude plays fearless, can hit the 3 ball fairly well (39.5% last year), and can finish at the basket (64%). What would it take for Presti to let him go? Well the first domino would be to find a team that's willing to trade for Chris Paul. After that, Adams and Schroder are next up. What if we absorb Schroder's salary with the trade exception and, say, turn one of those swap-pick 1sts into a total forfeiture (assuming it's possible)? Schroder is going to be an UFA after 2020/2021 season and Presti would basically turn his expiring contract into a 1st Rounder. In return, we get a better player than Gordon. 3a. We use the trade exception to absorb and take back Turner. Now we can use part of or all of the NTMLE to look for a scorer / 6th man to replace Gordon. E'twuan Moore, Rodney Hood, Denzel Valentine, PJ Dozier, Trey Burke, etc. 3b. We use the trade exception to absorb and take back Schroder. Now we can use all of the NTMLE on the man of the moment
Ok give me Rudy Gay & Cady Lalanne x Eric Gordon. (salary jumps up to $16.8, so Spurs need to add Cady) http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yy7s32dz Houston in : Rudy Gay Cady Lalanne x Spurs in : Eric Gordon I know the Spurs/Rockets don’t like to trade with one another; but that’s how we got Scola Rockets Roster 20/21 PG) Westbrook............Rivers/Clemons SG) Harden.................McLemore SF) House...................Nwaba / (Tucker) PF) Rudy Gay..............Covington / (Tucker) C) Tucker.....................Cady Lalanne/ Jeff Green (re-sign)
If u look at nuggets, they have 3 starters who are able to score 30 points. their bench can score over 20 points. Houston should have a direction to build a team like that. Just 2 people is not enough
We need some bigs that can shoot, rebound, and get some blocks. We should do this. Trade: Gordon Robert Covington For: Kevin Love The salaries match in this trade and now we would have a big 3. Free Agent signings: Next sign Boogie Cousins for cheap Thon Maker for cheap Gerald Green for cheap Try to sign Serge Ibaka to MLE contract Bring Michael Beasley back for cheap Try to sign maybe jeff teague or rodney hood to BAE contract Russ/Rivers/jeff teague James/Hood/Ben Mac/Gerald Green PJ/House/Hood Kevin Love/Jeff Green/Beasley Boogie or Serge/Thon Maker This is a very cheap setup but its possible for this to happen. We would have depth at every position. Scoring, defense, size, and rebounding. If you know basketball then you should know "no rebounds, no rings." We can score and play defense. The problem is rebounding. There is no way around it we need size. But to keep it small ball friendly, you go out and get bigs that can shoot. We might be able to miss the luxury tax again with this lineup. If not then we would go over just a little bit.
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y66bwzxv Russell Westbrook to Chicago (Chicago gets a big name all-star and Westbrook reunites with Billy D) Eric Gordon, Tomas Satoransky, Lauri Markkanen and Luke Kornet to New Orleans (Shooters and depth to surround Zion) Jrue Holiday, Thad Young and Daniel Gafford to Houston (Defensive upgrade and an extra playmaker in Jrue, Thad provides veteran toughness, I don't know what a Daniel Gafford is but I had to throw him in to make the numbers work)
Maybe we as fans are lower on russ than other nba organizations who still view him very favorably. Russ just made 3rd team all-nba, and while he does dumb things on the court, he is exciting and will bring your team primetime games. Thats basically great for small market teams. I say that to say this,i got a super long text from a person who is a lifelong friend to an agent that rumored in one of the trades( and who shall remain nameless) she told me that the rockets are silently putting the pieces together to try and get or finalize a 4 team trade when the playoffs are over involving the pacers, magic, and suns. She went into detail discusses trades involving eric gordon, ben mclemore and danuel house to the magic for vucevic and mo bamba( apparently the magic arent as high on mo bamba anymore). basically these trades have like a 60/40 chance of happening and an 75/25ish type chance if James Harden is ok with and wont pout if his friends are traded( because james is really close with eric). He's indifferent on House with how our season ended. Harden didnt like how house brought a little contreversey to the team and considered it a distraction, so im not sure if they are still on talking terms the second part of the trade she texted me discussed will NOT happen if Harden does not sign off or agree and its basically the completion to the first trade i first mentioned before. Its a trade centered around 5 main players and chris clemons. The players from indiana going to houston is myles turner, Houston would also recieve ricky rubio from pheonix along with the suns 2020 lottery pick which is the number 10 selection.. Russell Westbrook and chris clemons along with draft capital would go to the suns The final part of the trade is kelly oubre being shipped to indiana( im guessing he being shipped out due to the emergence of cam johnson and mikal bridges) but thats just a guess( he was injured in the bubble if i remember correctly) this a MONSTER trade and it has been discussed QUIETLY by 3 of the 4 teams involved( of course they cant come out and admit that) it gained high traction when mike was let go. And i guess they are just gonna wait till the season is over and start it up again at the draft One thing i did not know before this text is suns coach Monty Williams is extremely close to Russell Westbrook, he was an assistant for years in okc and they were from a what source told me" inseperable" So once again here are the moving parts houston rockets sends eric gordon, danuel house, ben mclemore, chris clemons... AND RUSSELL WESTBROOK orlando magic send nikola vucevic, and mo bamba pheonix suns send ricky rubio, and kelly oubre Indiana pacers send out Myles Turner Final Discussed Trade Houston rockets will recieve: nikola vucevic, mo bamba, ricky rubio,, myles turner and the suns number 10 pick in the 2020 draft( morey will most likely trade this away for future draft capital) Orlando magic will recieve: eric gordon, danuel house , ben mclemore and a total of 2 future second rounds in 2021 or 2022 from either pacers or suns Pheonix suns will recieve: RUSSELL WESTBROOK, chris clemons and more future 2nd rounders Indiana pacers will recieve: Kelly Oubre.. no second rounders. This is what a source told me, because she knew i was a rockets fan. James Harden is not getting traded, they will try and build the best team around him this offseason
These aren't exciting names, and if you can get younger players great, but I hope the Rockets take a look at Kent Bazemore and Iman Shumpert for the vet min. As much as we want as many switchable wings as possible from 6'6-6'9 we do need some guys who can at least attempt to pick up smaller guards and defend the point of attack on the perimeter. I'm really surprised Shumpert was never picked up by another team, he was playable against the Warriors in a playoff series! How many guys can you say that about who you can get for the minimum? I know he left on bad terms but Kelly Iko hinted that was due to Mike D'Antoni, so maybe he would come back. Its the same idea with Bazemore basically.
If Aminu was healthy and playing at his Portland level, I would say yes. A healthy Aminu is better than a healthy Luc.
i don’t doubt discussions but there is no reason to include Indiana in that particular deal. Vuc/Bamba/Turner are somewhat redundant and Oubre is very close to Harden. That portion of the trade makes no sense. Rubio/Oubre/Pick 10 for Westbrook is probably about his value though. Thanks for sharing. Trade probably won’t happen because a lot has to happen for a deal like that.
So only one team wins the trade. Sounds realistic. Also, why are the rockets trading for 3 starting 5’s?
I think the Pacers, Magic and Suns get better with that particular trade. Doesn’t necessarily mean that the value is equal. I don’t think the Magic would do that deal in a vacuum. I do think Phoenix and Indy would. Suns get a star added to their 8-0 squad. Magic get some back court players added to their front court heavy team. Vuc is the better player but I’d prefer Isaac or Gordon to be my future 5. Pacers get a scoring machine wing for a center they are going to have to make a decision on sooner than later. Rockets get incredibly imbalanced in a brand new way. Rubio and Harden would be the only guards under contract and Rubio hasn’t fully stayed healthy maybe ever. cutting out Orlando makes a lot of sense. Either Rockets trade Eric + pick 10 for Turner or they get Turner added as constructed while keeping Eric. Rubio/ PG 2 Harden / Eric House/ Nwaba RoCo/ PJ Turner/ Bruno Or Rubio/PG2 Harden/ Nwaba Oubre/ House RoCo / PJ Turner/Bruno either way, that team is better than adding the Magic centers. I think trading Eric and not keeping the pick is the best move that’s realistic. Turner and Oubre are both in their mid 20s and would make us so much younger and extend the window. this is realistic in a world where trading Russ is realistic. I don’t see it.
Like Covington, I think Aminu would do well in our system. I’m trying hard to move Eric Gordon. Because I believe the LuxuryTax level will remain at around $130M regardless if the salary cap drops to worse case scenario around $100M....Rockets don’t have much money to fill in the roster. Moving Eric Gordon for 2 or 3 players would be ideal. Yes pending condition of Aminu. I believe he experienced complications with his knee recovery. Red ninety-four came up with a stat post recently. Eric Gordon on/off in the playoffs Houston NetRtg was +17 with Eric Gordon Off the Court Houston NetRtg was — 5 with Eric Gordon On the Court ................................. — 22 NetRtg Diff (worst on the team......yes even worse than Russ) McLemore on/off in the playoffs Houston NetRtg was — 3.5 with McLemore Off the Court Houston NetRtg was +16.4 with McLemore On the Court .................................. +19.9 NetRtg Diff (best on the team) I strongly believe this lead to the demise of the Rockets in the playoffs and the departure of D’Antoni. He was always hardheaded on playing Eric Gordon starter minutes. I my post for Aminu/Birch or Rudy Gay/Lalanne.... you find me moving McLemore up the roster rotation. Right behind Harden. The next coach may find McLemore more serviceable than D’Antoni did.
Shumpert did not want to defend the way the Rockets wanted him to. If he is agreeable and in good shape, I would have no issue with him being on the team. While he is not a great defender of 4's and 5's, he can defend perimeter players like you stated. I would be fine with Kent Bazemore as well. Garrett Temple is another player in that vein........ and they could always decide to throw their MLE at De'Anthony Melton, who has really high upside and defends well. I don't expect it to happen but I would like them to sign someone that is a real point guard off the bench is available, like Raul Neto.
That last paragraph is exactly what I want to happen. We need some one like that either starting or off the bench. Especially after watching what Rondo is doing for the lakers. That’s why I wouldn’t mind Rubio either.
