Rockets acquire Suns picks, return Nets picks to Brooklyn

The swap is at least something. We're not swapping with Phoenix directly. OKC gets to swap with our pick first, then we get to swap OKC's pick for Phoenix's. OKC had the second best record in the league last season, so any swap besides Boston's would be advantageous. I followed Brooklyn's fan boards because we had their picks and their fans were not advocating a rebuild at all. Many more advocated trying to compete. You'd be surprised how many wanted to go after Murray or Mitchell, even at the cost of some of their picks. Their fans would have never forgiven them? They've mortgaged the future twice in the past decade, their fans are used to this. While a swap with Brooklyn would be more valuable than Phoenix's, I'm fine with taking the pick diversification and deferring the picks to a better timeline for us. I get to root for three teams to be bad (Brooklyn, Phoenix, Dallas) rather than just Brooklyn.

Also, while I think Phoenix will be a good team next season let's not write off any possibility that their team blows up. Beal is a constant injury risk, KD is about to turn 36, and they have no depth. I wouldn't be completely blown away if they didn't make the playoffs. I'm not expecting that, but if it happens the same people saying this swap is worthless will be saying Stone just got lucky again.

 

This is where I am at, and I think it’s nicely put.

OKC likely will have a top four record in the league at worst. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Phoenix is not going to be good. Keep in mind that both Durant and Booker are also playing in the Olympics so they’re going to have some added mileage coming off of the summer.

Clearly, one would preferred to be able to swap with Brooklyn this year.. I still think we move up 10 or 12 spots off of this

 

Sounds like we are trading back their picks for Booker next season

We will have probably 80-100 million in cap space next off season. You think Suns will trade for picks only?

We won’t be pressured to trade any core members for salary matching. We can absorb anyone superstar contract

 

I feel like some people are more wrapped up in the idea “screwing Brooklyn” than logic. Who cares? They are an East team. We now control the future of a West team.

 

I guess the thinking is, Brooklyn was desperate. We were not. We held all the cards. We should be able to squeeze more from them.

But who knows what actually happened at the bargaining table. And you probably don't want to be too much of a prick since there will be times you will have to do business with them again.

 

And the West is much more competitive than the East. There is no margin for error in this conference. The Hawks finished 10th in the East with a .439 record. The Warriors were 10th in the West with a .561 record. It's insane. As terrible as Brooklyn looked last season they still almost made the play in.

Most importantly, we have the picks of a Western conference team with something we want. Brooklyn had nothing I wanted. Dangle Brooklyn's picks in front of them for Mikal? No thanks. Dangle Phoenix's picks in front of them for Booker? I'm praying they go that route.

 

I like the trade more and more that I think about it.

 

Zach Lowe said the alternative was mediocre Nets picks as the Nets were going to chase .500 again.

Nets only traded Bridges and committed to tanking because they previously got stone’s word that he’d do this deal.

Stone Age.

 

I have to disagree.

The real gamble here is that those PHX picks are ultimately better than late lottery picks from a mediocre Nets team and I think that's a fairly good bet.

I think Stone did well in this deal.

His options were

1) Say no and Brooklyn does all it can to finish as well as possible. It's not hard to finish 8th in the East when 4-5 teams start the season tanking, highly likely those picks are 10-14 range.

2) Double his assets while getting some of the highest valued picks in the league.


In keeping that 27 pick, he gives them a short window to do everything right - Or Else.
Historically the odds are in his favor of that pick being in the lottery. Rebuilds take more than 2 years.



I really think the fact that this year's pick moved into the early lottery skewed some perspectives - it was a 4% chance at each spot. One in 25 of moving up to each of 1-4. Otherwise, you pick #9 ....

 

Lowe's right, I had crunched the numbers on their cap a while back - they could have made moves to be mediocre, they had assets and could open up cap space and even get out from under Simmons contract.

They were likely in the play in range 7-10 in the East. It's not that hard to do when multiple teams are tanking from the start of the season.

 

Or he's going to leverage those picks to get another star.

 

Perhaps by 2027 the West and East will even out a bit (the east has mostly been weaker forever 20-25 years) and the Nets will still be a bottom 5 team.

 

actually i found a link https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/east_vs_west.html the west has had a positive winning % vs the East 22 of the last 25 years. One of the years was essentially tied as well (west with .499 % against the east)

 

The other thing that few take into consideration -

You already have 8 dudes taken in the first round in the last 3 drafts. You really don't have room for "more picks next year" - Hell Stone said that it was likely they would trade out of the draft entirely had they not been able to pick Sheppard.

Pushing those picks out several more years gives them time to develop the current young players and not be pressured or waste picks by leaving them on the bench or trade them at a loss. (we already complain about who gets what minutes and Brooks, Green, Tate & Landale should have been traded .... but lets add another draft pick).

 

We got Tari+Reed from Brooklyn.

Now let’s go pillage Phoenix.

Let this Harden trade last forever.

 

BREAKING: Rockets just converted their next 3 first round picks into one Everlasting Gobstopper

 

You kinda could if you wanted. Keep trading the picks for future ones. When one hits kinda high you trade that for 2. It's like infinite picks into the future.

 

This guy knows how to party!

 

I'm pretty confident that Phoenix is screwed. I don't even know if they're a second round team in the coming year.

Yeah, it wasn't like the Nets were bluffing here; they had no incentive to tank if they didn't have their pick. I do feel the tiniest pang hearing how stacked this class is. But I'd rather bet against the Suns than watch the Nets win their way into the back half of the lottery.

I think some of you might be underrating what a crap franchise the Suns are. Not only is 36 year old KD already injured, after a week of USA training camp, but Beal is now only a league avg starter, nobody on their team passes worth a damn, almost nobody on their team defends, and their roster mobility is the worst in the league. And maybe worst of all, their management is just terrible. I think they're the best bet in the league to give the Rockets a #1 in the '27 draft. Hell, it'll take another 70-game 35+ mpg season from KD just to get them into the playoffs next year. As for '29, well, James Jones will likely have lost his job by then. But their owner is still a jackass.

 

No. Just wrapped up in getting the best return we can. And I don’t think we did. It’s a fair point of view.