Rockets acquire Suns picks, return Nets picks to Brooklyn

How did they think that was a good move makes it sound like he is a problem. On him being tradeable, he's still 35% of the cap like he was. Rockets easily matched that same percentage for Durant without using a star. The Rockets in a season or 2 could match it easily without stars (FVV and JSJ will be ~30%) or flip Durant back to them if he's washed at the end of his extension.

I don't think building around him without assets is wise, but that is more everything else. That said, extending him is the only way to potentially keep his value for the team or for a trade (players have way too much power near the end of contracts as the Suns just got hosed not trading KD at the deadline).

 

I think you're misinterpreting why I don't think it's a good move. It's not that Booker isn't a good player, it's that they've got 3 people at his position 2 of whom need to somehow move and they've just DRASTICALLY reduced their roster flexibility by taking a lot of extra play around money away. When this blows up (and it will, because Beal has all the leverage and Jalen's not a superstar) Booker will be the piece they can use to move forward, but who the **** in their right mind is going to give them 74million in assets to pick up Devin ****ing Booker? It's a terrible move, sorry.

 

They have to keep Booker at all cost or else they'll be an irrelevant team like Washington and Utah. They can't rebuild through draft because they spent their picks in the Durant trade.

The only other option for them is trade Booker for picks and hope one the picks can somehow turn into a star player on Booker's level in a not too far future.

 

Beal is going to kill their cap sheet for 5 years now.

 

Can we please stop with this line of thinking.

There is no way the Rockets trade up to draft Sengun and then draft Jabari the following year after drafting Mobley.

 

They wouldn't have been able to draft Jabari or Amen if they drafted properly.

They could have had Mobley, Sengun, and Quentin Grimes and that would have made them way too good to remain a bottom feeder for several more seasons.

 

Amen has turned out to be the right player for the team.

 

A lot of Amen is still theoretical, but it looks like Sengun and Amen should be all star caliber players moving forward.

If those two keep improving, it'll silence the "what if" conversations.

 

This. Though, I think Suns need to be thinking long term instead of the not to distant future. Trading too many picks for a star is a pyramid scheme. Maybe it works for some team, but the team on the bottom gets crushed.

The Suns KD trades netted them Jalen Green, Brooks, 3 SRPs in exchange for 9 FRPs (including picks Nets got for Bridges and Cam) and 1 FRP swap (net).

 

On the BBS?

 

Mobley has played as PF next to Allen his whole career. I remember being very invested in that draft and he definitely wasn't thought of as a center-only prospect. Especially if you bought his shooting. Furthermore, the Rockets invested further into bigs after drafting Sengun, even as late as 2 years ago when they were about to sign Brook Lopez. There's nothing in Stone's history to suggest drafting one big would prevent him from chasing a second one.

 

So sick of coulda, woulda, shoulda stuff. The GARM would be way more fun if we talked about the team and future directions than all the lamenting about the past. Cam is history get over it. Harden is history get over it. The only reason to pay attention to Jalen is hoping he stinks for Phoenix, because we have a vested interest in the Suns demise. On paper we look to be one of the best teams in the NBA, maybe talking about how the Rockets make it a fact would be more fun.

 

If our 2022 pick fell below Jabari's range it wouldn't have been so bad. We could have ended up with Jalen Williams or Dyson Daniels which would be an upgrade, although more likely we might have ended up with AJ Griffin considering how much the team liked him pre-draft and eventually traded for him.

But there's no Amen on this team for sure if we drafted Mobley. There was no one available after Amen that would have made me happy with that scenario. Outside of Wemby, he is head and shoulders above the rest of the class.

 

I feel a chuck of your analysis is based on how they both have played in the NBA, not how they were considered on draft day. Sure given today's information, they would work very well on the court together. Though, I disagree that would was a highly accepted consideration at the time of the draft.

With all the Mobley hype going into that draft, it would have meant you are putting the ball in his hands in the post instead of Sengun. Trading back into that draft to take Sengun basically impedes Mobley's development. Both were considered tweener PF/C's who were considered undersized from a strength standpoint and still major projections towards developing 3 point shots. Even if one thought that Mobley/Sengun could play together, no franchise was staking their year 1 rebuilding team philosophical statement around the concept of dual bigs who had yet to prove they could stretch the floor.

Part of the decision for the Rockets trading back into the draft to get Sengun was a consideration that he would pair well with the "star guard" they had just drafted. I just don't think that trade happens if Mobley is drafted instead of Green.

And then all the subsequent historical aftershocks also change with the Rockets likely not drafting Jabari or Amen.

 

For reference, Hollinger's scouting report on Mobley and Sengun. These are clearly players with complementary skillsets rather than ones that impede each other.

 

The Rockets need one more quality player in their backcourt, in order to become a contender imo.

 

Great for the 2029 draft pick

 

I think we are still contenders, but I do think we would be very firmly entrenched as a contender if we had more depth at guard than Reed and Holiday. It’s not big knock on Reed. How many 2nd year players that hardly played in their first year will produce at the level the Rockets need this year out of him. Holiday is nothing more than an emergency journeyman. They’ll give Reed a long leash, but they will make a move at the deadline or sooner, if Reed is struggling. They won’t waste a year of KD playing FVV 40mpg.

 

Amen still exists. KD, Amen, and Sengun are a better offensive trio than FVV, Green, and Sengun. Worst-case PG scenario is that Amen has to slide over to PG, and the Rockets play a huge 1-4. Additionally, I believe Holiday's main issue with PT for the Rockets has been Jalen Green, as they both lack sufficient on-ball presence as creators for others while struggling to guard up effectively. I think Holiday can play SG if Amen is the PG and Amen handles the bigger/better guard.

I think replacing 26 minutes of Jalen Green in the backcourt with Amen has made the Rockets' backcourt much stronger than replacing 8-9 minutes of Green with Reed or Holiday (or a wing if Amen has to play PG more) has weakened it.