I didn't even think we picked him up to play starting center. I expected he was going to be a back up and perhaps situational starter against the bigger guys who over-powered Wood last year. I'm not unhappy with him - but I am unhappy with him being a starter. As to the question at hand, I really don't think I can answer it because I don't know how other general managers view him. I suspect he's an analytics darling. And literally every team in the league has an analytics department now. I definitely hope he can be moved the year that Wall and Gordon come off our books though. The good news is his salary is small enough that I suspect you can unload him to a tanking team with cap room if you're willing to include a 2nd rounder.
I’m hoping his starter days are over. Even Sengun doesn’t start, Wood needs to play center on offense. Wood becomes disengaged when he is not a focal point of the offense. If not starting Sengun should still be getting 25-30 minutes a game at Theis’ expense.
Signing him past 2023 was a fireable error. No ifs, no buts, no further discussion. Significant risk, zero upside. Frankly, it was idiotic. Like, if one of my employees did something like that, I’d either think they are incompetent or corrupt.
I have a bit of a problem saying 9mil annually isn't a lot. He's the 5th highest paid on the Rockets, he's 153rd in the league which puts his contract over something like 350+ other players. He makes more than the 7ish million average which is heavily skewed by the 10 or so guys making supermax money. 32 players make over 30m annually https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/players.html that is astronomical to be sure but that doesn't mean Theis' 9 million dollar tag isn't a lot. It's a lot. Daniel Theis makes a lot of money. He makes the same as PJ Tucker did here who was one of the reasons we were a championship contender. You can say Theis has played ok and I can't argue against that much but he isn't pushing any team into contention... so why would a "contender" be looking to add Theis??? For 3.5 more years at what is inarguably a lot of money, particularly for a role player/rotation level player who may or may not really be getting you closer to the top? 54th of 57 qualifying centers in PER. http://insider.espn.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/position/c/page/2 21st highest paid center. https://www.spotrac.com/nba/contracts/center/ It's going to be about as hard to move Theis as it is to move Wall or Gordon. That is to say, we are saddled with another bad contract.
His contract is not unmovable. It is a bench player contract for a decent backup center. We can move him whenever we want.
Good perspective. At the time of his signing I didn't pay attention to the amount. It's surprising that we are signing any guys above the minimum, much less B-level role players.
Matching salaries with Denver looks close to impossible for Theis. It would take 3 or 4 of their bench and we don’t have the roster spots.
Yes, I think it is, a low cost serviceable marginal starter, or backup big for 9m is not too bad, and easily moved as a contract. Not to mention if we ARE going to make a splash ala James Harden we need some decent numbers on contracts to string together to get a star player. I know with Harden he was on his rookie deal, but flexibility is key, and 9m as a tradeable asset is pretty good in a lot of ways. DD
Also the cap will go up making his contract less as time goes on. Also the Rockets/Theis won't be this bad indefinitely, which I think is influencing a lot of opinion. At Theis's best he is an offensive cog and a serviceable rebounder and defender. [/QUOTE]
its sure is a positive to coach silas, 10%, 20 %, or whatever % hes getting of it is definitely a positive asset....
9pts/5reb on 50/33/78.. I don't think he's having a horrible year, it's just that I think he fits in better as a role player in an already good team, like the Boston team he was on few years back. If shopped right now, I don't think it's a super attractive asset, but not a horrible Wall/Westbrook type one. If a contending team suddenly has a hole at center, they might have some interest at the right price, but definitely not a bargain type of contract that we're used to under Morey
I'm quite confident that Theis on 8mil is positive Value close to the trade deadline. I think most contenders that are looking for pieces, are aware that some role players look worse than they are when they're playing on horrific teams like the Rockets. I think if we are trying to deal him, we will get a good enough offer.
"Who were they competing against to sign Theis?" is definitely a fair question but do you think Rockets had to pay a premium to get him to come play for a terrible team in his prime years? i.e. would Theis have signed for less for a better team that's looking to win this year?
Not this year maybe if the team looks better next year and his 3 goes up . Could look like he’s having a hot season and contributing to wins
5 starters x 30 teams = 150 starters. Daniel Theis is the 153rd highest paid player in the league. 5th highest paid Rocket. Calling it a "bench player contract" with nothing to back that up, while the reality kind of says otherwise... he starts, he's paid like a starter, he was given a significant upgrade in pay bidding against who? Better yet, just how many guys do you all think get traded with more than 1.5 years left on their current deals? I invite you to do your own investigation into the question. Come back with facts or don't come back.
