The big constraint on who we trade with this summer is: which teams have a strategic desire for the type of assets the Rockets have available? The Rockets have a large number of tradeable assets, but they are all the same *type* — cheap and future oriented (I.e., young prospects and draft picks). If you look around the league, there’s not actually many teams who want future oriented assets at the moment. Another way of putting it: (this might sound harsh but if you watched the games you know it’s true) there are zero current Rockets who would’ve played competitive minutes in the Lakers/Warriors series or the Philly/Boston series. None of our players help contenders right now. IMO, these teams are definitely out as trade partners: LAL, GSW, PHI, BOS, DEN, MIL, PHX, MIA, LAC, DAL Super unlikely: MEM, CLE, SAC, NYK, MIN, NOP, ATL, OKC Possible: SAS, DET, ORL, POR, CHA, WSH, IND, UTA, CHI, TOR, BKN If we make a trade this summer, strong odds it’s with a team in that last group. Three-teamers are possible but always very unlikely. The wild card is whether the new CBA pushes contending teams to put undeveloped young players in their rotation more than before just because of their cheapness. Then maybe our guys have appeal to more of the league.
It is likely that contenders choose to go for people like Garuba, Eason before others because they are cheaper than high lotto picks and do not cry for minutes. They would choose high energy defensive guys as well. Those are the guys the Rockets also lack in spades.
Garuba is barely an NBA level player. He’s nowhere close to getting minutes on a contender. He lost minutes to Boban in games we weren’t trying to tank at the end of the year. Tari is a great prospect, but he’d get benched instantly in a playoff series with the kind of mental mistakes he makes consistenly. After a year or so he could maybe be relied on in a playoff game. He’s similar to Kuminga (not useful to a playoff team now, will be good in a couple years).
You do not have to use those players I mentioned but as I said the Rockets also lack fundamentally sound defensive players like the rest of those teams. The contenders have those but at greater cost, therefore they need to get cheaper players of the same mold most likely raw players. Garuba has improved, his corner 3 is at least reliable enough, I have not watched tons of him but I see him regularly on the box score.
Yeah, but the crazy thing is they still have 7.1% chance of landing #2 (to our 13.4%). The new lotto odds really evened things out. As generational of a prospect as Wemby is, SGA is now a top 10 player in the NBA. Wemby definitely won't be better than he is right away--he might be in the long run, he has MVP-type upside. But it's not guaranteed. A 1-for-1 Shai for Wemby trade would be pretty even right now, IMO.
If you lay it out like the follows you would see. 71 lotto balls vs 134 lotto balls.....it is a distinctive difference. But you have a point that Indy has a chance at least at the Top 4. Meaning of course one of the Top 3 would likely fall to the 5th spot including the Rockets.
I think teams like the Suns, or Warriors who have serious depth and luxury tax issues would love to use a team like the Rockets to offload one of their big contracts. Ayton, or Poole come to mind. I don’t know if the Rockets would be interested.
I don't remember if it was a direct quote, but I remember it being said that the Rockets will not be using their salary space to park other teams' bad contracts going forward. That's what acquiring Poole would be. We could give them KPJ and it would save them about $12M a year, but we would be getting the inferior player.
I should have specified that I’m talking about trades where the Rockets get back value. In trades where we take on a negative contract for assets from the other team, it doesn’t matter if they value our assets — they’re not getting any.
I think outside of signing Harden the next best move likely in our power to make is do a sign and trade with Brooklyn for Bridges, Cam Johnson, or Claxton. Of course it all depends on what the compensation is. Hard to see them trading Bridges of anything reasonable. I’m guessing two of our core players plus picks, but at least worth thinking about. There’s more leverage with Cam because he’s restricted. Can he be gotten on a reasonable contract for assets that don’t include our core? If the ransom is reasonable it’s a move we should strongly consider. Cam will play his best basketball over the next 4 years. The nets will match anything reasonable so we are u likely to be able to just sign him away without giving up something of value. I have no idea what their value on Claxton is, but that’s another player we should be exploring. I don’t understand folks who don’t see him as a perfect fit. He’s only 24, he’s 6’11”, he gives u defense, rim protection and he’s athletic enough to switch. Yes we have Sengun, but their skills sets are nothing alike. If Sengun can improve his shooting range, they can be on the court together for limited min. As long as both are playing 30 min it should work fine. realistically if we ended up signing Harden and getting Cam Johnson on a reasonable contract as well as Claxton, and only sacrificing picks and non-core players, that would be a home run. Sengun/Claxton Jabari/Tari Cam/Tari Green Harden Draft pick likey likey
The issue I have with Claxton is he's an unrestricted free agent next year, and we'll have to figure out in 1 season if he can co-exist with Sengun. I don't see Sengun developing that 3pt shot possibly at all, and certainly not in 1 season (I'm talking like 33%+ on 3+ attempts a game). I also don't know how they can both be getting 30 MPG if you're also giving Bari and maybe Tari 30+ MPG (and maybe a draft pick such as Miller/Whitmore/Hendricks/etc.). And in the playoffs, you'd probably want your starters going 35-40 minutes. If Claxton is still a bench guy in that situation, I don't know if that works. Now if BKN wants to give him away for like #20 and um Garuba or something like that, then sure. Let's just go with it and see what happens. If he leaves next year for nothing, oh well. But I'd have to imagine he'd fetch a good price, and I don't want to give up substantial pieces that amount to nothing in a year or so. I'm also not opposed to just going all in on Claxton *instead* of Sengun. I need to watch Claxton more, but if you want to go with him and flip Sengun for a decent haul (maybe an Immanuel Quickley-ish guy?), then I might prefer that over Sengun + Claxton together. I do like the idea of seeing if BKN would be willing to play along in a deal for Cam, but just depends on what all is involved.
#19+2025 and 2027 swaps+2026 frp+ Christopher, Garuba and KMJ should be enough for Bridges and Claxton. They concede a valuable pick to us 2024 value goes up drastically but regain control of their future. They get an additional frp in #19 amd 3 young players to develop and decide on.
I doubt it. They turned down 4 FRPs for Bridges, and that was before he blew up. We'd probably have to send them all their draft capital plus some to get Bridges, much less Claxton. And I'd do it. Hell, I'd send the 20th pick this season AND all their picks/swaps for Bridges and Claxton.
This is an unusual one, but what would you be interested in a package of Poole and Kuminga if we weren't sending much back, say the 20th pick? Kuminga is a great prospect, and Poole, while overpaid, is still playable. It also fixes the Warrior's salary cap issue.
I feel like there’s serious locker room risks with both players, especially on a young, unestablished team like ours. As you said Poole is overpaid and Kaminga is clashing with Kerr and other players. They say he doesn’t work hard and feels he’s entitled to playing time….and we are talking about the dynasty champion warriors. Sure I’d trade the 20th pick for Kaminga, but not sure how much more I’d give up than that.
Yeah, I don't know what Kuminga brings us that we don't already have except potential locker room problems. I can see issues coming up where he thinks he should be starting over Jabari, which I would have a problem with. Even Tari at this point might be more promising. I don't believe in Kuminga's three point shooting. That FT% is awful. Poole is a similar player to KPJ, and KPJ is getting paid a lot less. I don't know who is more of a locker room problem (probably KPJ though). The GSW player I'd be most interested in is probably Andrew Wiggins.
Tomorrow is the Day (draft positions get set) Been saying since October: #1 Pick) Portland Trail Blazers.......Wembanyama Rewards Lillard for staying with team when all big stars are bailing on their team. Allows D. Lillard to coast into retirement as Wembanyama and S. Sharpe develop. *secondary follow up NBA narrative push: #1 Pick) San Antonio Spurs........... Wembanyama Popovich gets a Unicorn gift in his final year(s) as he exits and Becky Hammons takes over. First female NBA coach gifted a generational talent as she begins her NBA coaching career.
