If Booker becomes available, I think there will be other teams bidding for his services. And some of them have more assets than we do.
Suns won't trade Booker unless one of two things happens. (1) They get another franchise level player in return, or (2) they want to blow it up and rebuild. #1 is unlikely. Most of the times teams are willing to swap stars because the stars are unhappy. For rebuild, getting their own picks back will be the most valuable assets for them. And we own their picks. I think that's why there are rumors of Booker to Houston. BTW, if they want to blow it up, they probably will want to get rid of Durant too.
Sound thinking. But their own picks wont be the ONLY assets they may deem valuable. My point is, even if they decide to rebuild, it doesn't automatically mean Booker is Houston bound. And also, if the Suns are going to be bad for years to come, we may want to hold on to those picks
. Do you think there’s nothing to the rumors that the Rockets have included Jalen in trade discussions? Asking respectfully of course!! Assuming that they did include him in those discussion, I’m not sure you can put a whole lot into whatever Ime said in a press conference one way or the other. He can hide behind just being the coach (“aw shucks, they traded way my favorite player!”), but you and I both know there’s no way this organization risks losing Ime by offering up a guy he thinks should absolutely be on the roster. Also, always have to be clear in this thread because holy crap wow…I’m not suggesting the Rockets must trade Jalen immediately. I’m not in that camp…but I’d damn sure listen.
If you trade Jalen Green for Lauri Markkanen straight up I will guarantee you that our offense will get worse next year.
I think prior to last seasons deadline, Udoka wanted to trade him and Stone begrudgingly put in a half-assed effort at trading his #2 pick. I even said at the time, Green has no one to blame but himself. Udoka has underperformed significantly in 2 out of 2 seasons offensively as a HC relative to his roster. He has not been good there, Silas didn't do worse relative to rosters, Stevens and Mazzula were flat out better than him. I think he did not know what was wrong with his offense (EVERYONE was struggling at driving to the rim at any significant volume). I think like many on the board, pre-deadline he thought pace and space would only have a marginal impact for Green and it may not result in winning basketball games. I believe wholeheartedly that if we had an offensive genius rather than defensive genius as coach, Green would have taken off sooner. Luckily, he saw it click with Green and he delivered 11 straight wins against opponents on average the same calibre as us (a .500 team minus its best player). I'm 100% sure Udoka didn't believe Green had that in him. In that brief post deadline period before the wins, the only thing he would say about Green was to keep working on his game. Nothing positive. Once the streak started, he was gushing in every post game. He described it as Jalen "clicked" and he only wishes it had clicked a bit sooner. I also think they are willing to include him in trades this summer but only for a top 10-15ish player. I don't think he's going out for Markkanen. I do not believe they will trade him AND 4-5 picks for Booker. I believe they would agree to something like Green and two picks. I don't think the Suns accept that. Proof is in the pudding: Green's contract is easy to trade, many mid-stars have been available and Green is still here. We haven't shored up the SG position at all. We've shored up the backup C, forward and PG positions. There are so many indications that the Rockets don't see him as "70% of the time he's an piece of ****" mindset we see here often. Their behavior screams "Jalen took a step up, we just have to figure out how to make it mesh with Alpi." That's why they have Alpi and Green working on the 3-ball (according to end of season Udoka interview). That's the key that unlocks this pairing. I'll ask you. If you're trying to market a player, why would you - unprompted - sit and fawn over a Sengun/Green dynamic duo in your exit interview when the team you're trading him to will not have a Sengun? Wouldn't you market him to sound like a fit with other teams? Why would you frequently repeat that the player has some of your favorite qualities - mental toughness and burning desire to improve - when you can just say generic things like he's so talented and you believe in him? I just can't see a world where the backup PG, starting PG, HC, multiple assistant coaches and the GM all say "this dude is insanely resilient, hard working and persistent in training" but the organization has given up. That's not the archetype anyone gives up on. I think Green has won Udoka over. Put yourself in Udoka's shoes. You implemented pace and space one time and Green demolished some teams. You know that if you can just replicate that more consistently, you have a great sidekick with Sengun AND you keep the picks you were going to attach to Green. Meaning you are the richest team in the NBA. 2 stars, 5 other elite prospects and enough picks to acquire a superstar. I'm not surprised they are invested in Green and believe in the development staff to stabilize a shaky jumper. I'd do what he's doing too: glue myself to Jalen this summer and ensure we are improving the jumper and discussing better shot selection. I can't imagine an easier thing to develop. Thank god it's not handles or motivation or selfishness we're dealing with. Trust me Max, Green is a good hardworking kid. I don't like obnoxious selfish players and I was worried about that initially. This is not that guy though. This guy's first words to Udoka were "anything to win". I think the way he kept getting punched down and getting back up made these two bond. I always bet on people like that even if they're a little rougher around the edges - they almost always catch up.
Really? Interesting. I was thinking you'd have to start Cam and that will tank our defense. Jabar a better defender than Lauri too I think.
A large part of our offense last season that actually worked was our pnr offense because of FVV and Jalen. Jalen was a large part of breaking down the offense last season. You lose that and replace it with essentially a dude with a role player shot diet. FVV is getting a year older. So you essentially just have Sengun as your only real self creation threat.
Makes sense. Sengun would be way overloaded. He would put up crazy big numbers but probably less efficient.
You miss the point of my post. Due to Jalen's Jekyll and Hyde routine in each of his first three seasons, he is forced to play near the top of his abilities this season to get paid the max by this team. The team cannot screw this up. Paying him the max if he continues to be inconsistent is way too risky. If had played like most people showing steady improvement each year instead of the pre ASB / post ASB splits we have seen have seen each year then he would have already gotten the max this offseason like others from his draft class (given his cap hold for his draft position unlike Sengun going 16th). As long as he is inconsistent he will not get paid by the Rockets. They have too much other talent that may be max worthy in the future to risk it on an inconsistent Jalen when Sengun has already earned it.
I think the organization thinks inconsistency is expected for a young scoring guard and that he deserves max level when he is consistent. It doesn't have to be March "top 5 player in the league" consistent for the organization to think he's worth the max. He just needs to be consistent. Low 20s low 60s ts, good assist to turnover ratio and being a plus defender is all that it would take for the organization to consider giving him a max with Sengun.
Also he would qualify for supermax if he extrapolated March for the entire season as he probably would make first or second all NBA.
Your point is accepted but also Green would not have to be that good on average. If he put up 24/5/5 next season with decent defense and TS%, we're good. He won't put up player of the month numbers every month.
The bolded is the most important, because that's what has made him such a bad player thus far in his career. It would be very difficult for someone like him to fix those things, but if he does, he'll save his career.
I think he gets extended regardless of how he does next season. Stone doesn’t strike me as someone who will admit he missed and would rather double down and pray
I could see that... but he's got an easy out saying that because he drafted so many amazing players, he can't afford to pay them all. Also he could say he was right about Jalen's talent but couldn't have known he lacked the work ethic and IQ to do anything with it. I think he wants to keep his job, so it'll mean moving on from Jalen if he has another failure of a season or even partial season.
