Trae Young’s defense is about as bad as Reeds. And in no way should we make a trade to make the hawks worse. The spurs own their pick this year. We need the Hawks to make the playoffs.
You want to bring Ja and his entourage to a gun-toting club-rat city like Houston? Survey says: Sheeeeeeeeeeyiiiiiit.
I say that we just be a little bit more patient than we are as a collective. We will have a lot of trade flexibility in a couple months and let’s figure out what we have specifically in Reed. Shepp should get the same grace that any other of our high draft picks have gotten. I think there is a point where he improves a little bit athletically, and the game slow down for him, and he will be very effective.
That exception doesn't change the fact that the Rockets are hard capped at the first apron - They cannot exceed it period.
The realistic thing that could happen is that CJ McCollum takes a buyout and we sign him for cheap. Waive Tate or Holiday. The wizards already have said that CJ won’t be in their long term plans. I’m just saying. A combo guard that can still play.
I agree. We gotta give Sheppard at least 2-3 seasons because what if we have a mini Steph Curry in our hands? Spoiler Stephen Curry became a "proper threat" in the NBA around his fourth to fifth season, which corresponds to approximately 200 to 400 career games, as he developed into a perennial All-Star and a foundational force for the Warriors.
... Be patient guys, reed is trajectting upward in front of our eyes steadily each week. He has the talent, skillset and basketball IQ. All he needs is a sufficient opportunity and experience to straighten out his rookie kinks. We will regret it if we are shortsighted and trading him for short term purpose.
I think EPM is pretty accurate. It lists the best PG defenders from last season as Jalen Suggs and FVV which I think is accurate. Lonzo Ball, Jrue Holiday and Davion Mitchell also ranked high. Trae Young, Jalen Brown and LaMelo Ball rank among the worst among high-profile players. I think that all looks right based on eye test as well. Coby White is also a poor defender on both Darko and LEBRON. There's a lot of reason to believe that he's been a poor defender. I don't think most coaches would call out their own star player for being lazy and ineffective on defense so I don't think Billy Donovan's encouragement means anything. Coby White has been a poor defender throughout his career but could probably become less bad as a Rocket. Jalen Green improved with experience and effort and great defensive coaching. Coby's offensive game would fit very well here and I'd endorse a trade to acquire him.
The reason to acquire him would be to bolster our roster this season. We would have this season to see how well he fits. We'd have to choose between Tari and Coby in the off-season as we probably couldn't afford to retain both. There's probably some scenario where we attach a pick to FVV's contract so maybe there would be a way. Anyway, yes, there are a lot of good reasons to acquire Coby White.
Why would we waive Holiday or Tate? We already have an empty roster spot and cutting guarenteed contracts doesn't create any additional cap space. Have you looked at McCollum's numbers recently? 31 minutes/gm, 36.4 fg%, 34.3 3pt%, 4.2 ast/gm. What problem is he solving for us?
Acquiring White without FVV going out is all but impossible just because of the math and the fact that the rules dictate teams carry no fewer than 14 players .... It would take Reed, Adams and Capela to match the incoming salary AND have enough cap space remaining to fill the two roster spots created in the process of the trade with minimum players. Reed, DFS & Capela don't leave you enough $$ to fill the roster spots. That trio would leave you $1,346,360 short of the required space to fill the two empty roster spots. Unless they can convince FVV to be part of the deal, I think we have to set our sights a little lower in terms of incoming salary, keeping that figure below $15m. The options are limited, and I think it would be hard for Stone to give up Reed (and draft assets?) after just one season for a rental. Honestly, I'd rather it be DFS going out, instead of Reed .... He has a player option in the 4th year of his deal, I thought there were team options on the final two years (really don't like the contract now). The only real reason you need DFS on this roster is if you plan to trade Tari and I'd just let him reach RFA and see what happens.
What good does waiving Tate or Holiday do when their contracts are guaranteed - you didn't create a single cent in cap space. You'd have to trade them to a team with cap space or into a trade exception (which would hard cap that team).
Sure. They will both be expensive but Coby will get a better contract because offense pays more than defense. It would be tough to afford them both is my point.
I dunno they might actually be better replacing a super ball dominant guy like Trae with more of a set shooter with Reed because they have other good creators in Daniels and Johnson. Whereas we have a ton of perimeter defense and a dearth of creation so someone like Trae would be perfect. Sounds like a win win to me and his weaknesses are a good reason we can get him for so little.
