https://www.theringer.com/nba/2024/10/9/24265810/houston-rockets-trade-rumors-preview The Houston Rockets Are the NBA’s Most Fascinating Trade Team Will the abundance of impressive prospects in Houston become the foundation of the next great Rockets team? Or will they form the currency for a franchise-altering trade? Either way, the Rockets are hurtling toward some intriguing, high-stakes choices.
There isn't an available superstar that is worth consolidating our talent for. There are very few actual superstars in this league that I would consider in a trade anyway. There may be some overlap in terms of touches but there isn't overlap in redundancy. Jalen offers something no one else on the team does. As does Sengun. As does Jabari. As does Tari. As does Cam. As does Amen. As does Reed. The question is sitting them all down and asking how important it will be to them to keep them together. Because there will need to be some financial concessions out of the players in order to make that happen. I would 100% be on board with figuring out a way to keep all 7 of these guys together and filling in the gaps with the Jock Landales and Jeff Greens of the world.
It's kind of a lame article that these external media and external fanbases are saying the Rockets are fascinating for how it can benefit them. The Rockets are fascinating for thier young talent and taking the next leap, with potential future all-stars. Not interested in any trade, sorry. Looking forward to the season, winning as a team, and fascinated watching our young talent come together to hit another level.
The gripe is that the last group of All Time superstars are nearing their 40s. Representatives: Bron, Durant, Steph Curry [Harden, CP3] The current generation is not as great but still good enough for some noise, and highly internationally represented. Reps: Jokic, Luka, Giannis, Embiid, Shai GA, Tatum... And the newest ones Reps: Ant, Wemby, Flagg, Chet, etc
Yeah that’s all any article and fanbases pay attention to us for . They down talk our youth assets. It the. Want to to trade for them. Miami with Butler, Chicago with Lavine, even saw GSW forum talking about trading Kuminga for Cam because he has higher ceiling, and they need to prep for the retirement departure of Steph
So, for fun, I plugged the following scenario into the cap calculator, assuming we shed salary where we can and decline FVV's option. Basically, in 2027 - 2028, these numbers only include our core seven plus our upcoming draft picks (as well as three minor minimum roster charges). Max contracts: Green, Sengun, Thompson Five years, $130 mil (Jaden McDaniels' contract): Smith Four years, $80 mil: Whitmore, Eason
I like the young talent on this team and pray they don't trade it away for an older star on the decline. I REALLY really hope they don't do that, but I kinda expect it might happen.
Yeah it's a bad omen. Every year they drag some teams' chemistry through the mud just to generate headlines. Hope it's not us, these guys are young and minutes are scarce.
Well said and I agree. It just feels like we're on the precipice of something truly special. Can we work out the financial mechanics is the question.
I don't think so, seems history shows they will try to get as much for their clients as possible thus making it impossible to keep more than 3 or 4 at the most. DD
To be fair some external groups have us as NBA League Pass darlings as thier favorite young team to watch after thier own fanbase. I think we have a lot of great omens this year, growth from the players, a deep pool of young talent, year 2 in an excellent coach's system that improved 20 games last year, the most in the NBA, a new state-of-the-art practice facility and two of our potential all stars in contract years. I think it will be exciting to watch. Here are other writers and external media/fanbases: Houston Rockets 2024-25 Season Preview: Alperen Şengün, Jalen Green Look to Take Next Step SCOUTING THE ROCKETS Anonymous takes from league insiders: “I think they did the wise thing by just staying the course this summer. ... Ime Udoka really got them to another level. I’d give them the edge over the Warriors for a play-in spot this season. ... Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks proved to be even better than a lot of people assumed they’d be. They helped with the improvement of guys like Jalen Green, Jabari Smith and especially Alperen Şengün. ... They could ascend rapidly if Reed Sheppard proves to be an immediate contributor, Amen Thompson improves and Steven Adams gets close to back to his old self.”
Seems reasonable, but I might throw in a bit of inflation on the future contracts. Still, it does seem manageable.
I would build in significant inflation into your projections and proposed contracts. To get to an equivalent value deal for Jaden McDaniels, which was 16.4% of the cap in 2024, you're looking at a starting salary of $27.8M in 2026. Keep in mind, that's a starting salary equivalent relative to the cap than we paid Dillon Brooks in FA in 2023, coming off a pretty terrible contract year. I just think that Jabari is going to want a lot more on his first contract, or he'll have stalled out in development and the Rockets will let him walk. For Tari Eason, the MLE is going to be four years, $67M in 2026. Getting him signed for only $3M more per year than the MLE seems like a low number. That would be less relative to the cap than what the Rockets paid Christian Wood coming off of a single good year with Detroit in 2020. For Cam Whitmore, the math makes even less sense, the MLE in 2027 is going to be four years, $73.3M. Just feels like he's either going to be worth a ton more in FA if he develops, or is going to be a "will not be brought back under any circumstances" chucker. As a rule of thumb, I find referring to %of the cap for contracts more helpful than the dollar numbers. I personally would put the 2nd apron as a functional hard cap; I don't think any team has found a way to be profitable while operating above it, and I would be shocked if the Rockets were willing to post a loss and endure the draft pick penalties, so I'd expect if they go above for one year, they'd look to dip under for the foreseeable future. With that being said, the 2nd apron is basically 135% of the salary cap. How are we divvying up that 135% to the players on the roster? Reed is the only one locked in at approximately 7% of cap for the next 4 years. An MLE addition is 9% of the cap. Standard Rookie Maxes are 25%. You can really see how the Rockets are in potentially a great spot when compared to Minnesota pre-Randle trade: Towns: 35% Gobert: 30% Edwards: 30% McDaniels: 16% Reed: 10% Rest of Roster: 14% A potential Rockets team could be: Max 1: 25% Max 2: 25% Max 3: 25% Reed Sheppard: 7% Rest of Roster: 53% That rest of roster can be split up however you want, or you could replace a rookie max with a veteran supermax like Booker and increase it to 35%.
The vultures are circling They think they have a chance to get Tari or Cam. Adams because contract year and a starter spot to entice him. Depending on rfa, maybe a swipe at Jalen. They are circling.
