First I want to give some kudos to my Clutch brothers and sisters. Some really savvy and smart BBall minds on this board. I truly enjoy the comments, the banter and sharing ideas. Many of the articles written lately are click bait or not written very well--CF is so much better. With that in mind, I'm interested in your thoughts on the Rocket's next moves--what's your game plan for the rebuild? Who would you trade and who would you keep? What would you focus on the rest of this season and what who would you look at in the draft. I'll take a crack at it first... Current roster keepers/positions - C. Wood (5/4) - K. Porter Jr. (1/2) - J. Tate (3/4) - K. Martin Jr. (3/4) Available for trade (*Likely stay/**Don't mind if they stay) - V. Oladipo - J, Wall* - PJ. Tucker - E. Gordon* - D. House - B. McLemore - D. Nwaba** - S. Brown** - M. Jones* - D. Exum - R. Kurucs** - J. Patton** G-League Roster I'd like to see promoted - A. Brooks (2) - A. Lamb (4/3) Next steps: - Early March is the timeframe that VO can be packaged with other players. We need him to have a few more good games to give team a sense he's coming back and can make a difference for their roster. - I would reduce PJ's time to 20-24 minutes immediately (maybe less). He can still have an impact on younger players, but give his body some rest for next team/play-off push. - See if there are any opportunities to trade Wall and/or Gordon without having to send a lot of trade capital with them. Someone may really like what they can bring to a team that needs a 1 or a 2 that can play a bit on both ends and still score. - Extract as much overall value as possible (either picks or young promising players) - Try to add size and length to overall team - Retain cheap vets (unless better value with trade) that can help the young guys develop by setting an example (mainly Nwaba and Brown) Trades: (Better CF GM's then me, but a few thoughts) - Build package(s) around Oladipo, Tucker, House, McLemore and filler to entice DEN, PHI, BOS, CHA, MIL, MIA, NYK, ORL, DAL or someone else. - Explore any opportunities to trade Gordon and/or Wall; likely neither, but someone might see some value in either in the right situation - GOAL: Clear vets with value for building blocks and to open space to develop young players Team: (Tough to call until we see trades and what they could bring back talent wise) - When the dust settles and hopefully we've jettisoned 3-5 of the above vets, Silas will need to reset his team with what's developed. Two key pieces for this season and hopefully the future are Wood and Porter. Getting those two together on the court could be really exciting to see. - Get Tate and Martin more time in the 3/4 rotation. - Try to develop the young players that are left and see what you can grow and retain for the future. - With 38 games left when Wood and Porter come back we'll have more than half the season to see what we've got. Draft: We'll need to track OKC, MIA and our record to see where we pick - If we're lucky enough to be in the Top 4, you have to take the best player regardless of position, but I'd suggest that maybe our philosophy as well with the POR pick. - Would be nice to get some size, really tired of us losing the rebound battle Alright, hopefully that sets the stage to see what some of our CF All-Stars would do.
this is exactly why they should've kept Jarret Allen. anyway here's what I would do. option 1 1) Trade Oladipo, Tucker, Exum for Blake, Ellington, Okafor if Detroit is willing to ease the protections on the pick they owe us. I'm sure they won't unprotect this year's pick. However, maybe top 3 protected next year instead of top 16? Assuming we are awful again we could end up with 2 top 5 picks next year. this trade actually keeps us under the tax too so tilman signs off. Also, we won't get more draft capitol than this if we traded oladipo and tucker alone, not even close. 2) play out the season and hope the lotto balls are in our favor 3) because of Blake's contract we would not have any cap space next offseason, but we probably can't sign anyone good without overpaying anyway. However we could strategically overpay a young guy using the MLE. For example offer the MLE to Bol Bol or Horton-Tucker just to consider them our "rookie" since we don't have a draft pick. a top pick would get paid similar to that anyway. 4) replace 1 or more assistant coaches with better coaches. I like the idea of taking on bad money for better picks. I really would look forward to the 2022 draft knowing we might grab 2 top 5 guys. and I would enjoy rooting for a young guy like Horton-tucker or Bol to develop here. I don't think their teams would match an MLE offer, and I think both can become starters or better in the nba. option 2 1) trade the blazers and bucks picks with house for Collins. The hawks said they're looking for a lottery-type pick. Maybe 2 later firsts gets it done? 2) trade oladipo, Mclemore, the pistons pick, and the wizards pick for Ball and Redick. If the Pels are really shopping Ball before he becomes a FA, I think oladipo and 2 picks is a fair offer. 3) throw the MLE at Horton-Tucker 4) replace 1 or more assistant coaches. in this scenario we still keep all the high quality draft picks from ourselves and the nets, trade all the spare picks for young just to jump start the rebuild. go into next year with Ball, Horton-Tucker, Collins, and Wood as key pieces for the next 3-4 years. by then our draft picks should start filling out the roster into a playoff team and the nets picks will start to pay off as the big 3 would've aged out or left Brooklyn.
I've got confidence in the plan the Fertitta family and the Rockets FO are executing. Here is a live look at them working hard to improve the Rockets.
Plan A. Go back in time, tell Tillman’s parents to raise him to be a better owner If that doesn’t work we’ll just give them plan B
B Blake ? As an Blake Griffin? So instead of getting rid of Oladipo who’s contract is up this year! Trade him for a worse albatross contact that’s on the hook for another 2 years?
yes and did you see the part about getting draft picks in return, from a terrible team? our cap space won't be used on anyone good for the foreseeable future. no one wants to play here. should we overpay vets on 1 year deals with it just to win meaningless games and mess up our draft position? or we could purposefully take on bad contracts and charge picks. if the pistons are willing to ease the protections on the pick they gave us, and we stay under the tax, I think we can eat Blake's contract for 1 year if it means adding a lottery pick.
LOL, are you watching NBA games on Hallmark channel to come up with such great idea or you just completely lost your mind by watching this team having a long losing streak?
I like the Pistons trade offer you mentioned OP. I posted this in the trade idea thread but I'd move Wall for Griffin to get out of Wall's contract one year sooner. I want a Hinkie-like rebuild. We need young talent on this team.
The PLAN Keepers: Tate Mason Jones Kevin Porter jr Kenyon Martin jr (I'm not as high on him as others; but I give him more time) Patton Probably not able to trade Wall Eric Gordon Trades (management determine draft pick rounds and swaps) 1) Houston-Warriors: Sterling Brown/Ben McLemore x Brad Wanamaker/M Chriss/ (rights to Justinian Jessup 2) Houston-Heat: U Haslem/Dragic/Harkless/Duncan Robinson/Kz Okpala x Oladipo/Nwaba/House 3) Houston-Knicks: Exum/Tucker x Frank Ntilikina/Kevin Knox Cuts/waived to clear room for young call ups Marquese Chriss Haslem Harkless Wanamaker (buyout) Draft prospects (If in top 4) Cade Cunningham.,..Jalen Green......Kuminga (If near pick 22) Charles Bassey...........Riko Prkacin......Franz Wagner (possibly move up 10 spots to get Kispert) Roster after March 25th PG) Wall........................Mason Jones / Dragic (won't play......team option on $19.4M this off-season) SG) Kevin Porter jr.......Eric Gordon / Frank Ntilikina SF) Tate........................Duncan Robinson / Knox PF) Kz Okpala..............Kenyon Martin jr / Anthony Lamb (2-way contract) C) Wood.......................Patton Next season (Chances are): PG) Kevin Porter..................Wall / Mason Jones SG) Jalen Green..................Eric Gordon / J Jessup SF) Tate...............................Knox PF) Wood...........................Kz Okpala C) Olynyk (FA)....................Patton / Bassey I believe we lose Frank Ntilikina as Restricted Free Agent that we renounce his rights Patton stays if he plays well the rest of this season......may not need to draft Bassey. Rest of Nets picks help fill in some holes along the way if possible in years to come.
have you heard of our cheap ass owner not wanting to pay and uxury tax savings ? If you really wanna do that then why not give them wall instead?
I am well aware of Tillman's cheapness. This trade doesn't put us over the luxury tax as we are sending out more money than we are taking in. The reason we don't give them wall instead is because wall for Blake would be just swapping bad contracts, in fact wall's contract is larger meaning we would have to sweeten the deal for the pistons by adding assets. the whole point of taking on bad money is to get the other team to add assets. In this case the pistons are facing the largest buyout in NBA history if they can't find a trade partner and no one wants that contract. If we offer to take it on I'm sure they would be willing to ease the draft restrictions on the pick they gave us. Maybe not in this upcoming draft since they are in play for the first overall pick. However the next few years instead of protecting that pick in the top 16, maybe ask them to drop it to top 3 or 4 protected. If they agree to sending us a lottery pick in the next year or two, that's a better use of that cap space than trying to overpay a veteran next summer in FA to win a few extra games next season and mess up our draft position in 2022 when we own our own pick. In fact that draft pick is a better return than anything oladipo or tucker can bring us if traded separately. That's what makes this trade a win win.
The Draft : I hate to say this because its not popular but i think Jalen Suggs should be your Harden Replacement. But people look at Cade and think damn, Rockets are really hoping to land this kid. He may be the only chance to get a great future HOF in the Draft imo. The Twin Towers thing would be nice with Mobley. Trade Packages : For First or 2nds and young "has potential" players who cant crack starting roles on regular teams in the league. It will be interesting to see what the rocket do for sure thou. Good takes on everything btw.
Wow, this is such a bad take. For one you want us to trade expiring contracts for Blake Griffin's horrible contract for what? Less restrictions on a pick? Hell no. We are doing Detroit a favor and sacrificing our cap space that we could use to take on players for assets. No way I do this for Detroit without getting back at least an additional first and a two second rounders. The plan is to trade Vic and Tucker and Exum for either picks or add them in as a third team trying to help facilitate other trades. their contracts are great for moving big salary. Get in on a Beal deal and get some picks and young players. Help the Warriors duck the repeater tax. Try to get Randle from the Knicks?
I like the idea. You have a ton cap space when it comes off with wall also. You get another top draft pick. It increases the value of the Rockets own pick the next two seasons. Then you have youth and space to sign players with them and pay Wood. Then you still have a ton of assets still owed.
Here is a better trade that might even work. We take on Blake next year, but unload Gordan and Dipo and get two picks, and keeps the tank alive since Blake sucks. https://tradenba.com/trades/eMVmg_cS7
