Ime is sh*t at rotations. Always has been. Hopefully, DFS coming back and Okogie outplaying Reed will help him with his defensive obsession. Those guys will give him some guys to rotate in and quit playing Durant and Adams way too many minutes.
Right idea, wrong players. I think they need to trade Reed. Tari is a good player, he was good last yr. His problem is mental, due to the contract. Reed's problem is physical. Once they agree on a contract at some point, Tari would be fine. Reed has serious issues. He has not shown he can be effective at this level. No handles, inconsistent shot, and no defense. Those are serious concerns. As bad as some say Jalen was, at least he lead the team in scoring while he was here. For a #3 pick, I just don’t see anything near that elk in Reed.
In fact, we could actually use the $8.25 millions under first apron in many other ways instead of Capela's $7million and $1.25mil. under 1A, if Rafael managed differently/precisely: 1. Take back a different player in the same KD-JG trade that worth up to $8.2 millions (Tyus Jones, Tre Jones, ...) 2. Take back a different player in the same KD-JG trade that worth up to $5.8 millions AND sign another minimum player (Al Horford + De'Anthony Melton / Paul Reed + Bruce Brown / Gary Trent jr. + Thomas Bryant / ...) 3. Sign 2 minimum players, preferably a 3rd string center + a guard: (Thomas Bryant + De'Anthony Melton / C.Boucher + THT / Larry Nance jr. + D.Exum / Plumee + Bruce Brown / Achiuwa + CP3 / ...) i'm not judging the Capela signing here, just saying there's indeed other ways to use the cap even hard-capped at 1A
Bro, D'Angelo Russell is a cancer for any team trying to win a ring. His name is listed just under Russell Westbrook in the dictionary as such.
oh~ 4. We could also take back a player with salary around $3-4 millions in the Whitmore trade, AND sign an extra minimum player mentioned above
I feel it was a hedge against a possible Adams injury, but at this point is Capella really $4.5M/year better than Landale?
CC got his 6 minutes playing time only because of FVV's injury and Ime choose to start Adams. had FVV/DFS not injured and Alpy starts at center Adams plays backup center minutes, CC would gotten 0 min.
I think it was definitely a hedge for Adams and our philosophy of playing big. It's also a tradable contract in itself or to combine with other contracts.
The signing absolutely makes sense once you understand the Rocket's philosophy of winning the possession battle. It took awhile for Adams to come back from a pretty bad leg injury (he was out for the season when we initially traded for him) so he is a Adams hedge. Plus it's a contract to be used or packaged for trades. Losing FVV for the year, before the season started is a pretty big deal.
Capela is very different rebounder than Steven, he is a defensive rebounder and not much of an offensive rebounder which can get you extra possessions. Capela is basically merely a lob threat......i don't recall him being such a great screener either. Don't see much else there. Lol......keep that in mind. 2 pair of shoes.
They do in Reed/ Holiday / JD plus a mid season deadline. Plus banking on the continued offensive playmaking growth of Amen and Sengun. That doesn't mean that it won't take time to adjust and/or ultimately a mid season trade happens.
Defensive rebounding limits your opponents possession. Did you not watch Harden and Capela PNR? I certainly don't expect that Capela but he can still screen. He definitely needs to get in better game shape.
I'm not doubting there were other possibilities- but those are only possible if teams agree to send those players. Had we known in advance Fred would miss the whole season, my guess is the Capela addition in the trade might have been handled differently. However it may have cost us further assets to get other players, and attaching those assets to Capela may yield the same return anyway... As it stands, you're using the magical "we could have had any player in the deal we wanted" argument, which isn't true. We could only sign vet min players who wanted to play here. Some of those you named had commitments to other teams contingent on other deals being resolved first. Bottom line: the Capela deal was a sign the double big thing was a priority. Whether it works or not we are yet to see...
Tihs. A lot of hindsight 20/20 w/the FVV injury. Missing a season and a couple of months are far different. The Rockets allowed themselves a lot of flexibility at the midseason deadline.
