The only reason for the trade is to get that #11 pick and Chicago wont do it without #3 coming back. Maybe we get Caruso, #11 plus their 2nd round pick or a 2025 first rounder.
Melton, Bridges and Caruso are good offensive player that are also good defensively. Any one of them would be helpful to the Rockets offense. Are they huge game changers, probably not. Melton would be attractive, because he is a free agent.
Reminds of Cason Wallace. Will be a defensive stud from day one. He’s not a shot creator, he’ll be more of a spot up/ catch & drive guy in the League. More of an off ball player. But he’ll play a long time in the NBA.
For the life of me I do not understand the push to trade this pick in order to get Caruso, Brogdon, etc--30+ year old roleplayers who are in entering the twilights of their careers and are in ring chasing mode and don't fit our timeline at all. Don't we already have like four guys around that age? How much "veteran leadership" do we need and how much is too much and just cuts into playing time for the young core? Now if it were for Ayo Dosunmu, Cason Wallace, Collin Sexton, Immanuel Quickley, Austin Reaves--real dudes who are young enough to fit our timeline--that I would understand. Otherwise, just look for value in the draft.
Hard to say yet most of those veterans have contracts that can be disposed of...... I would prefer young veterans in the 24-26 year brackets......who can age well with the young ones. Some guy like Dalton Knecht is already half a veteran in the scene who will be drafted as a 22-23 year old rookie.
The short answer is; Rockets is trying to win. We overcheived this year. If team straight up ran it back as it is with same roster (+ Tari and Adams). It'd still be very very hard to get back to .500 Lastly, if I were to tier the above list. Caruso, Immanuel Quickley Brogdan, Collin Sexton, Austin Reaves Ayo Dosunmu, Cason Wallace, I know it was a hypothetical... but out of this list: Quickley is viewed by their org as part their young core, so he's generally not on the market. All the others can be had with a market price if Stone is serious about them. Ayo and Caruso are both on the Bulls, both can be had, but Caruso is better than Ayo. Lot of other teams are eyeing Caruso. He's not too old for them.
It is more about cost, availability, and Jalen insurance. I would rather have all those guys over Brogdon and Caruso, but at what cost and do those teams even want what we have to offer? The Rockets are hell bent on making the playoffs this year (and I’m glad they are). If March Jalen is Jalen going forward, they will make the playoffs. If he is rest of the year Jalen, they need a stopgap, thus Brogdon or Caruso.
Plus imo you can never have too many vets to help keep our young core on the straight and narrow. Having Carter (or whoever) come into the league with a good mix of veterans and young players is a perfect situation for success in the NBA period.
What is market price for Reaves for example? I do think there is a market price for those guys, but it is probably more than what we want to spend.
Lakers are in win-now mode. I don’t think they envision any rookie even Sarr worth an important rotation piece like Reeves. I do believe both Chicago guys are available, but think Caruso is in high demand for contenders. I like Ayo, but not sure he would be the best bargain for #3 for #11. If they would do something like Ayo plus top 3 protected 25 pick, it might be worth the gamble. It really just gets down to how confident they are that Sheppard can be a contributor this year.
BTW, Devin Carter, now at this time, is the best guard in the draft. Everything about his game says so.
