If I'm the Rockets, I'd be seeing if Boston has any interest in trading Sam Hauser into our NT-MLE. Hauser is an elite shooter who isn't horrible on defense. He's just starting a very reasonable long-term contract, and his salary is just low enough for the team to dodge the tax with another small move before the February trade deadline.
Several CF posters - myself included - have argued this very point. Good to see a cap savvy poster as yourself advocates it. That being said, wouldn't trading Landale (+ other... like Nate) been an option to acquiring Hauser? Or offering a couple of SRPs?
The allure to Boston would be shedding as much salary/tax as possible. They'd have to mostly guarantee Landale's contract to make the money work on a salary-matching trade. Boston would not want that unless real picks are included.
Yeah - yeah - totally that guy is all about paying the tax to contend. He said that in July, in the off-season after we topped the Western Conference. Then went in to the following year and traded players, first and second round picks to duck the tax.
Give Cam to Philly for nominal considerations for them not to match a full MLE offer to Grimes. If we still wanted to stay under the tax, I believe we would have to fill the roster with several 2nd round picks (their impact on the cap is smaller than vet min guys)
If Boston is wanting to give him up for just cap space or minimal value then this is definitely the move.
I love the idea, but my only qualm is if we are going to trade for a guy on an 8-figure AAV for 4 years, I’d want to be 100% sure that he’s in our playoff rotation. The role we are trying to fill is at best the 9th man in the rotation and hopefully 10th because Whitmore develops, that’s why I’m big on the 1 year aspect of this
Love this idea. He'd be the perfect addition to our roster as a wing! For the Celts, what would they need to ditch $ wise before February? Something like $4-5M? I imagine they could potentially flip Simons on for a lower paid player
You want to avoid the repeater tax issue and if you can offset that by an additional year, I think it would be wise than going over. The new CBA is really started to leave its footprint and we are seeing teams operate very differently.
So 1) 2 SRPs (2026, 2027) for Hauser. 2) Waive Landale + Holiday? 3) Sign some ring-chasing vets (VM) FVV - Shep - VM Amen - Hauser - Nate KD - Cam - VM Bari - Tari - Uncle Jeff (VM) Alpe - Aquaman - VM Rox 94 lineup: FVV - Hauser - KD - Bari - Alpe Run & Fun lineup: Shep - Amen - Cam - Tari - Aquaman 4) Ship
All signs point to Cam getting zero playtime next season if we sign another wing and will ask to be traded soon lol.
I tend to agree. I don't see where Cam earned playing time this next year with Udoka. Logic would say that since Green is gone Cam now has a shot to make a name for himself but I think that ship has probably sailed. I think the Rockets will be looking for a vet SG to come in and man the spot or get like 25 mpg to steady the ship when the starters are out.
Especially because Boston is so adamant in telling everyone White is untouchable. After saving $180M on Jrue and Kristaps they are not so desperate for cap savings. Hauser is the obvious, and smarter, alternative move. Also helps with size.
I think they want to give Cam playing time next season. I think if they didn't want him he'd be gone by now. They could have easily traded him for a pick in this draft or a future pick and gone with a developmental rookie which would have set the clock back. I could be way off, but I think Reed and Cam will be on the team and in the rotation next season.
Suddenly the board seems extremely aware how bad our shooting is huh?? lol and this is after we acquired one of the best shooters in basketball. Why what's the issue guys? Can't we just grab our own misses? haha Doesn't really matter, Amen is going to guard the best backcourt player. In halfcourt offense, we're going to be: Sengun (PnR or dunker's spot) Amen as SF/PF (corner 3's, cuts, rebounds) Jabari as SF/PF (corner 3's) Durant as SG (mostly iso) FVV (pass to Durant and stay off ball or set up a PnR with Sengun) Off the bench, the backup PG is going to likely be Amen. In which case the guard next to him can easily be Holiday or Sheppard or Whitmore since they're all shooters who are bad at guarding either guard spot. Getting a shooter who's not a good defender is totally pointless. We have those, Ime doesn't like them, doesn't play them. We'll probably get someone like a Reggie Bullock, someone who doesn't expect to get minutes except in emergency situations and they're at a point in their career where they don't mind that. Frankly we need to pray for Amen or Sengun to be able to shoot because if not, no matter how many shooters you put around them you're not making a dent in the fact that 40% of our starting lineup can't make jumpers from anywhere outside 10-12 feet. Teams are only going to leave one of these 2 guys open and they will stay glued to the other 3 shooters.
Hauser is good but he's more of a forward which we have plenty of. This team needs more of a playmaking guard. A SG that can be a passable backup PG in case of injuries, underperformers, etc. That's one of the reasons this team relied so heavily on Jalen through all of his struggles. The team desperately needed a guard to provide the basics of bringing the ball up the court under duress and paint penetration. Fortunately, it should be fairly easy to get a Jalen Green level replacement with the MLE.
