Yeah but KPJ was in a very unique situation. An extremely talented guy who is/was a head case. He would have went higher in the draft if not for his emotional issues. He would have stayed in Cleveland if not for his emotional issues. He came here and had a halftime outburst. I don't think you will find many more of these types of contracts. This is a decent prove it deal for the team and KPJ.
It's kind of amazing he got a rookie contract extension at all Suspended by college team for 20+ games over off-court conduct freshman season 1 and done drafted 30th overall Arrested for wreckless wild / gun and weed in car Throws fit in lockerroom throws food, yells at GM that he's doing modern slavery Gets traded for a fake 2nd, was about to be waived First full season with new team has a breakdown at half time, hotdogs Lucas in the face, drives off mid game Has lots of potential but didn't effected winning 3rd year in, never had 1 league average efficiency season .... gets a rookie contract extension worth potentially 80+ mill? This situation will not be copied any time soon.
Did you not see him skewl pops in the preseason? Coach Steve is a future HOF coach in the making. The Steve Curry of coaches.
The best we have looked was against San Antonio, with Jabari and Sengun starting. BUT, it is preseason, which makes that extrapolation meaningless. Over-analyzing Sengun’s minutes without Jabari in the preseason is a rookie move. The synergy between KPJ/JG/Sengun in Indiana, was in fact the most exciting takeaway from the preseason, IMO. “Sengun fans love that the Rockets destroyed the Spurs with Sengun starting…” “Sengun fans love that the Rockets lost when Sengun did not touch the ball, but won all the games where he was used as an offensive hub…” This is fun!
My position was that anything above the cap hold which was $9.65m should be done in the offseason AFTER spending the cap space since they can exceed the cap to retain their own FA's. If it was $9.65m or lower .... doing it now made sense. I don't think it's a terrible deal for either side .... if he earns the 2nd and 3rd years it'll be a bargain.
I think KPJ had a bit more leverage. 35/3 year or 40/3 year is a easy deal probably for half a dozen team. I guess he wanted to gamble on himself and earn that full 80m by playing well for at least 3 years (year 1 of contract guaranteeing year 2 + 3, year 2 of contract guaranteeing year 4)
I think Stone's greatest strength is he seems transparent and brutally honest. That won't work with every personality but that's okay because at least he's honest in his position or assessment. Doesn't mean it's right but it's transparent and I think certain agents, players, and teams could prefer dealing with someone like that instead of duplicitous types.
This is actually a pretty good post and point. I don't know if Morey ever played competitive sports and as a quantitative person, he was purely data-driven without fully understanding things like chemistry, mentality, and other intangibles that can really drive those numbers. Those are things you can't put into data when evaluating, and some data types ignore it because they can't quantify it. He may still have the last laugh and might be finally starting to understand that, we'll see what his Philly teams do. Jerry West played the game at the highest levels and although most great players struggle to understand lesser ones, Jerry's Jordanesqe obsessiveness helped him overcome any of that to win and move the needle at almost every stop he's had as an exec. It's a tough comparison as West may have an argument as the GOAT NBA executive.
I've been very weary on Silas, especially last year not making adjustments late in games but damn this destroyed ever negative feeling I've had on his coaching.
Only first year is fully guaranteed. That's really good deal for the Rockets. I hope it works out at the end and they pick up rest of his contract.
Yes sir....I'm undercutting it for sure. It was preseason but the Raps were playing to win. Trapping at half court with Scottie Barnes picking up Green like he did last year. The entire season will be about development: KPj: quarterback, with greater efficiency Green: become the star I projected on draft day Jabari: learn speed of the game, travel, grind of the schedule Tari: learn speed of the game, travel, grind of the schedule Tate (improved 3): Kenyon (improved 3 and excel defensively) JC: improve mid range pull up to set up passing Sengun in the post.....more importantly shoot the 3 well, because that helps set up everyone with spacing and efficiently. Post Ups are still the least efficient play type. Slows PACE and usually ends up as a fade away mid range. One of the least efficient to worst efficient shots. Garuba, Nix, TyTy can learn in the G-league. With PnR, dribble handoffs, weave, 4 good 3-pt shooters, fast pace without Sengun, all switching defense without needing a Sengun or Boban playing drop coverage, Dunker Spot from Bruno or a more mobile Tari-Jabari: the Rockets could go toe-to-toe with many of these playoff contenders....and win too. Wembanyama is probably not in the picture; but training up the players in one-in-4-out or with the Dunker Spot.....it will drag us undoubtedly closer to 30 wins than to 40 wins. Imo.
Agree totally on the Sengun part. If he doesn't become a high volume 40% 3 point shooter, he has no chance to be a long term starting center. 40 wins isn't a concern, 30 also is very unlikely with how young we are. I'd like solid development and 22-25 wins
This was the way I saw it as well. I was fine with them giving him a higher deal next year if he earned it, but I did not want to disrupt our cap space by signing him higher than his cap hold right now. Especially since Stone and Tilman seemed to indicate that they were trying to preserve it to make moves. I haven't been through the entire thread, but I haven't seen the possibility of things changing with the Rockets' future plans that may have helped facilitate this deal. I think it is very likely that Andrew Wiggins was going to be the Rockets top free agent target next year. Once he was off the board, it likely opened up available cash that the Rockets would have at their disposal. For example, let's say that the Rockets top three free agent targets were Andrew Wiggins, D'Angelo Russell and Myles Turner. Their plan was to pursue all three knowing that they can only afford two of them. They have to go into the offseason prepared to sign two of them to a max contract. Max contracts for those three player would start at (approximately) the following figures: Wiggins: $36M/yr Russell: $35M/yr Turner: $24M/yr If Wiggins and Russell were to agree to their offer right out of the gate, they needed to have $71M available. Once Wiggins was off the table, the next highest amount they would need to clear would be $59M for the combination of Russell and Turner. This opens up $12M more for them to work with in negotiating with KPJ. Obviously, I know nothing of their interest in any of the players above, but I'm just saying that these negotiations do not occur in a vacuum. You have to see how they affect any number of other possible moves, and I would not be surprised if the Rockets were locked into the $10M range for an extension until Wiggins was extended by GSW and it gave them more flexibility.
Its more about knowing basketball and the trend the NBA is going. It was brought out that Jabari killed the Spurs but the Spurs played Orlando well a few days later and they held Banchero to 9 points. Spurs are bad.....and yes if Jabari had played....the Rockets would have kicked the Raps in the n#+'s and a good chance of us beating the Heat. Heat sat out Lowrey, Butler, Herro, BamBam to highlight Duncan Robinson. Just like we tried to showcase some Eric Gordon to the Pacers....they were showing us Myles Turner. But if you know basketball.....many of the things in this preseason will transfer over to the regular season. Play against true starters; but we weed out the clutter such as Nix, Mathews, TyTy, Boban, Hudgins which elevates our efficiency. Rockets faced Pops, Nick Nurse (trapping at half court), Spoelstra (full court press) and then Carlisle. They all tested us in different ways. It's amazing how these kids are learning and the pace they are learning. One doesn't see the forrest when one focuses on only the trees in front of them.
