If it's the Det pick and MIL 2021 pick, I wouldn't sweat too much. However, if it's one of ours or anything very far in the future I wouldn't be for it. However, if AG is dead set on not wanting to be part of the rebuild, then its best to let him go (sorry DRock).
I just don’t get why folks underestimate the value of late 1st rounders, especially in deep drafts. We got Capela late in a very bad draft. This year’s draft is supposed to be stacked. Why does it make sense for a rebuilding team to trade away 1st rounders? No disrespect but I just don’t get it.
Because you dont win anything with a team full of inexperienced players. Rockets already have Porter, Wood, KJ, Tate expected play key roles in the rebuild. Plus our top 4 pick (hopefully). How much roster room are you going to allocate to players at bottom of draft vs. experienced NBA vets who can play specific roles? Vet role players are critical for winning, a team made up 1-3 year players has never won anything.
We're likely going to have 3 1sts in 2021 (Our or MIA, POR and MIL), we could use them all or we could use them to acquire talent. Talent is in the eye of the beholder and most any draft picks have higher risk attached to them than a known commodity like AG. I'm willing to give late picks for someone like AG who's got the size and talent we need at 4 versus bet on late 1st round picks. Also, the more I watch this year's draft talent, the less I'm inclined to believe this is such a great draft.
bro we have the second worst record in the league. We are pretty far away from being a finished product. The more chances you take in the draft the better chance you have of finding foundational players. We don’t know what we have yet. KPJ might not pan out; maybe he can’t keep his head on straight. We just don’t know. I think we need to keep taking some chances on the draft. We haven’t even done that yet. Can we give it a try?
Im all fir trading draft picks to move up to get more of a sure fire talent but trading them for guys who can leave a year later in free agency or who we’ll have to overpay to keep in a year makes no sense to me.
Sure we can try. But we should try EVERY avenue to improve the team. Draft, trade, FA, UDFA, G League, overseas leagues, scouting, development, coaching, analytics - let's use ALL our resources. Putting ALL your eggs in ONE basket is the longest of long shots. FRP is currency. With that currency you have OPTIONS for purchase - including trades as well as the draft.
no one is saying we should put our eggs in one basket, but giving up picks to trade for an unproven guy who is either gonna leave us in free agency or who we’ll have to overpay to keep this early into the rebuilding process doesn’t seem like a smart move to me.
AG is far from unproven. But the concern with not signing extension is legitimate albeit overblown because AG can still be traded, those picks are not true sunk cost. In any event, Stone may have gotten played by Magic to get more from Celts, GSW or Nuggets.
just remember that there is a decent chance we won’t even have our pick this year so the Portland and Mil picks are important. I get that u believe in Gordon and maybe he’s a good player, but why not just try to sign him in free agency in 2022? At least that way we can get him on a longer term deal
Either scenario works, but my goal from the very beginning was to identify the best defenders for the system we run. AG would weaponize our switch defense, and give Wood another long physical explosive player to rebound, defend paint, rim protect as well as smother the perimeter. AG underrated defensive skill is to play smother defense 1-5 WITHOUT fouling.
Shark, earlier you mentioned you're fine with giving up the Detroit pick but nothing too far into the future. Have you seen the protections on that pick? Nobody has any clue when it will convey and if the Pistons stay as bad the next 6 years as they have been the last 6 years, then it will convey a 2nd rounder in 2027. That pick could be a solid late lotto if the Pistons can finally get a difference maker, just one. It's slightly worse than the Toronto pick we gave up for Harden. 3 1st round picks can be packaged, or used in future deals. 1st rounders get you a seat at the table. No GM says they want all lottery 1st rounders, they just say they want 1st rounders. Then it's up to them to decide which gambles might pay off the most. The Moe Williams for Kyrie was actually a good trade for the Clippers. They got unlucky on their gamble and got burned bad, but it's not front page news when the odds land where they are favored, like the Clippers hoped. I'm not on board with cashing in the chips yet because we are not ready to compete. Building through our players as we sneak towards contention takes a very long time. Nobody wants to play for Houston next season, unless they are looking to get paid more than every other team offered them. This couldn't be more clear with the reports of Aaron Gordon not wanting us. Remember Dwight? We almost gave up serious assets to get him 1/2 before he cam anyway. I'm not saying Gordon will come to us soon, I am saying if you build it they will come. Put a decent team together and people come to you. We lose the value of our rookies being on cheap contracts and the rookies we would have drafted by getting Gordon. If one of them does break out, great, but now we have to pay them. Aside from the very important tank implications, whats the point of paying someone near max money to watch John Wall chuck 30 shots? We can't compete now, and as long as Wall is on the team, we can't win a championship. There is just too much wasted cap space. Our best chance of getting an Aaron Gordon type player that wants to be in Houston is through the draft, or hope a new duo wants to team up in Houston. One last thing, look what the Rockets managed to do with 0 draft picks this year, we've gotten two of the top 10 rookies by most rankings in undrafted Tate, and we purchased a late 2nd rounder in Martin. I'm excited to see who we could hit on in this years draft with 3 picks in the top 25. I can't remember when the Rockets have such leverage and options on draft day. The only thing that would make it better is if the picks were in 23 or 24, when Wall is gone and we have a chance, How good do we think Aaron Gordon will be in 2024? He most likely will be beginning to decline.
Far more likely than us swapping picks with OKC in 2021 if we had to bet a year ago. I think it's just as unlikely that Pistons don't make the playoffs once in the next 6 years. If they got Cade, we might see that as early as 2023. I also think Russ and Beal could easily slide into the 8th seed next season. The games they have played 500., which is good enough in the East.
It's not surprising. His expiring contract is better than SRP'S. I assume we will have to take back a similar salary on a expiring contract. I don't know any team who can absorb his 21 M contract. @ApacheWarrior How much cap room can the Rockets save by letting him and Exum go at the end of this season?