Salaries are still way off. Expand trade and maybe it is palatable: NYK: Russ Westbrook, Danuel House ORL: Julius Randle, Dennis Smith, Ben McLemore + Rockets FRP HOU: Aaron Gordon, Bobby Portis, Mo Bamba, Kevin Knox + Knicks FRP 6'5 Harden/6'8 Josh Jackson (23) - MLE 6'3 EGo/6'5 Nwaba 6'7 RoCo/6'7 Kevin Knox(21) 6'8 AG (25)/6'5 PJ 6'10 Portis (25)/7'0 Bamba (22)
Ben Simmons is one of the most disruptive defenders in NBA in addition to his PG skills in 6'10 frame. Not only can he defend 1-5 but he was leading NBA in steals and top 5 in deflections before his injury. Simmons may not be a 3P shooter but he would be lethal PAIRED up with Harden. But most players, even Westbrook, are ultra weaponized with Harden.
Ben isn't maxed out. Au contraire...Yeah, only 24 ( plus he's missed some time with the knee)..You get him away from Embiid then you capitalize on his immense talent...instead of trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Play to his many strengths. Look at what he does when JE is hurt. I love James. He's a top 10 all time player. But, putting him in the right deal, with an eye towards the future, really helps solidify us down the road if we play our cards right. Sure, we'll struggle for 3-4 years, but we can emerge out of it with a culture under Silas...an identity that will last a long time.
People really out here proposing deals that gets us less for James Harden than what New Orleans got for Anthony Davis. You hate to see it.
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yywjpjhn Thing about Knicks getting House, is because in NY, he going be avg 15- 20ppg over there and really stand out. He going to get his 15ppg in the east. Payton will be ok filler for Westbrook, and Portis+Gibson gets you Centers you need. RJ Barrett will be your new rebuild player, but honestly , don't know if Knicks will let him go.. But Westbrook would give the Knicks the surge they need to get into playoffs, and i think there scared RJ, might need a better player around him to make him better, he might not be someone to build around , i heard some Knicks fans refer him as a Caron Butler like player and would trade him for a star like Westbrook.
LAC: Russ Westbrook PHI: Paul George HOU: Ben Simmons 6'5 Harden/McLemore 6'3 EGo/Nwaba 6'7 RoCo/House MLE/PJ 6'10 Simmons (23) MLE options: 6'10 Bobby Portis (25), 6'10 Harry Giles (22), 7'0 Meyers Leonard (28) or 6'8 Josh Jackson (23)
So, we seem to have this recurring theme of picking up injured players and then letting them go, then switch them out, giving up a bunch of pics. I have an idea, let keep this one and see how he does when he’s all healed up. Maybe we’ll have a cp3 scenario where he kills it.. with Russ. Rebuild now while Harden is at his peak? I ain’t tryin to slip into the dark ages. We just got back on China’s good side. When that China money comes back, we’ll be in good shape.
Tilman too dumb and greedy to do a rebuild Next year Harden will ask for a trade and his value will tank compared to this year, so will Westbrook's. We could get a 24yo Simmons (for our own rebuild) this year plus all their picks and young assets. Next year when Harden asks out, on top of being another year older, his value will drop (unless he has another MVP runner up season this season. We could get some decent picks if we trade Westbrook to the Knicks. Even with Westbrook and the East, they'd be a borderline playoff team. Next year's westbrook could be injured or have dropped his play level significantly. His contract will become a negative asset and we'll be sitting around wondering, how are we going to rebuild now with no picks and negative assets. I doubt we're even trading EG this year to get a better piece since Tilman isn't about winning now (he's about saving his dying businesses).
Ben Simmons had a broken ankle his Rookie Year, Metal Plate and Screws are in his ankle. That is a huge risk. I would ignore anything from Daryl Morey.
I actually think there is an opportunity to rebuild and still be relatively competitive right now. Devin Booker has apparently demanded a trade. Work out a deal centering around Harden for Booker. Booker is 24. The Orlando Magic are desperate for a star point guard. There are rumors we are actively talking to them about a trade involving Westbrook for Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Mo Bamba. If that's on the table DO THAT. We'd then be able to look at what we could get for aging vets that contenders would still value like Eric Gordon PJ Tucker and Robert Covington or we keep those guys to maintain our winning culture with these young guys.
The faster the rebuild starts the sooner I don't have to follow the Rockets anymore after 40 years. Harden is the only thing keeping me a Rockets fan. Les totally screwed us when he sold the rockets to Tilman on credit.
I typed Ben Simmons skill is maxed out, I didn't type anything about potential. Ben still can't shoot. Is he going to play Center.
We own our '22 and '23 picks. So if part of this blowup involves getting '21 pick(s) then that should be good enough for a tanking. 3 years of tanking is a long time.
