The Rockets are trying to up the market for a Dipo trade by taking on bad contracts beyond this year if necessary. They are trying to get creative to get what they want in return.
I’m fine taking on bad contracts as long as they line up with John Wall’s and we get some FRPs in return. The draft is always a crapshoot and we need as many lotto tickets as we can get.
The creative thing I want in return is for OKC to expand the top-4 protection to lottery-protected. Right now they have a 52% chance of the pick not conveying at all this year, so a good guaranteed asset (MIL 1st round? That plus a future Brooklyn 1st round?) might be enough.
I’m good with that, so long as the contract and assets are matched well. I’d prefer any contract we take back expire next season.
With where the Rockets are in the lottery and with there being 5 clear cut players teams value highly in this lottery; I think the cost to get the Thunder to increase the protection on the pick would be extremely high. OKC has lots of draft picks but not many high level picks. Like the Rockets could offer. It is an interesting question. If you are the Thunder would you take 2- 3 low #1 picks to increase the protection from 1-4 to 1-5? That increases the Rockets odds of keeping the pick from 52% to 67% if the Rockets remain in the 3 spot...
Was originally interested in acquiring Huerter as part of a Harden deal. James to Philly and then Simmons to ATL for pieces, including Huerter. I think Huerter is, basically, Herro if Herro didnt play in a marquee market.
If you were the Rockets would you deal Wood to OKC for the lottery pick this year being top 5 protected and the Thunder’s right to flip picks one time down line being returned to the Rockets? At that point the Rockets would essentially have control of their draft picks.
That doesn't seem excessive to you. 3 1sts and we don't remove the protection entirely. So they could get 3 1sts and the 6th pick if we slip. That would disastrous.
No that's not enough. I'd need both picks back and both swaps lottery protected. Christian Wood is worth a superstar return. he's the kind of player who gets you MPJ type young guys if you really want to do that.
No. Zero interest in that. And to be honest, I’m not convinced that Houston isn’t in a better position long term than OKC is.
Duncan is going to be a 27 year old free agent this summer, is a win now piece who isn’t going to grow as a player, not sure he’s a good fit for this team.
High lottery picks are extremely valuable, especially in a draft like this where there are 5-6 top tier type players. Also those odds assume the Rockets stay at 3, if they end up at 1 their pick is completely protected. Yes I think that is what it would take.
If you read what I wrote you would see I said I know I am in the minority and that I know what his value is but I enjoy elite shooting!
The Rockets may be in a better position long term, a lot of it will rest on the Rockets pick this season. The Thunder have even more picks than the Rockets, but the Rockets have Wood and Porter. The Thunder have a young all star caliber guard. I agree with what someone associated with the Bulls said, the Rockets pick this year is going be a big part in whether OKC or Houston has a quick rebuild.
This is the right approach. No need to have cap room for a FA. Use the cap room to take on "semi-bad" contracts to get assets (picks, young blue chip players) in return.
Nice, maybe offload DJ Augustin for a worse contract with more compensation coming back to Houston. Makes sense to just take our lumps next season as well assuming Dipo is not in our future plans. I just don't want an albatross contract like Wiggins unless we are compensated extremely well. I think Dipo will have some decent value on his own but if we take on a bad contract, we can maybe get 1 or 2 more assets out of the trade. Will make the Harden trade that much more difficult to evaluate as assets will continue to be move around as the years go by. I do trust Stone to make shrewd moves so far as he has shown creativity in how he makes trades and seems to know how to negotiate with multiple teams to get his asking price.
Agreed. If the Rockets dont keep that pick and acquire one of the top 5 guys in this draft then they are probably looking at at least another year of tanking and likely having to view Wood as more of a temporary asset than a longer term fit which he could be if they get a top player who is 19 or 20 this season. I think it is already likely that Wood will be allowed to walk or will be traded if our core franchise guys (Porter and the draft pick) are 5 years younger than he when he is asking for big money in a couple of seasons.
Yes, and also those "semi-bad" contracts will eventually be expiring and could be valuable trade pieces down the line when salary is needed to trade for a bigger fish.
Houston is catching up on the picks though. I think we are up to 13 (plus 4 swaps) over the next 7 years, with Dipo, House, Gordon and Wall as others that may eventually net us more picks. Even if we don’t get a top 4 protected pick this season, you’ve got KPJ, Wood, Tate and KJM developing, plus a lot of cap flexibility. If KPJ and Wood show out before next offseason, there is some potential that we become a big time free agency destination in 2022. I don’t see that in the cards for OKC.
