Teams trading for superstars, Rockets draft for bench player

Yeah, he is risk-averse about everything except, oddly, injuries. I think there's this sense that he can blame the injuries on uncontrollable external factors but taking big upside swings is all on him as a GM. Feels very protective of his job. You can't be great by playing not to lose. You have to play to win.

That said, I'm glad we didn't trade for Giannis or LaMelo at the prices paid for those guys. And I don't want Brown either if the Giannis price is indicative of what we could expect to pay.

I think what I'd like to see him do is trade for more young players who have shown something but not necessarily shown everything. That's the big risk-taking that I'd like to see from him right now.

 

LaMelo may be immature and a shot chucker, but he has real impact as a floor general

Hornets had a 123.2 offensive rating and a +9.1 net rating overall with him on the court, and with him off the offense dropped to a 110.6 offensive rating and a +1.5 net rating overall

Wolves were starting Mike Conley in playoff games and giving minutes to guys like Bones Hyland to run the team

they were already comfortably better than the Rockets before this trade, and if they shore up the PF position, the gap will be even wider

if the Rockets run back this same team + obese, 32 y/o Mid VanVleet off an ACL I’m gonna be pissed…I won’t go to a single game at Toyota Center next season because this organization is just playing me atp

we got embarrassed by old ass Lebron with early Alzheimers and a bunch of nobodies

If we’re not looking to make meaningful improvements, then what are we doing? Wasting yet another year being 1st round fodder that no team in the West is worried about or takes seriously because our flaws are so severe and easy to exploit?

and I don’t want to hear sh*t about how we’re still evaluating this mediocre young core…most of these guys are settling into the stage where they basically are what they are, and what they are ain’t anything special

 

The Rockets need a young point guard more than anything. I honestly think people dont understand how much we need a real point guard given who our coach is. If we are gonna keep him as coach this team is going nowhere without a real point guard.

 

Lol, VanVleet is definitely spending too much time at Pappadeaux and all the soul food joints in Houston

 

We have a real PG, 2 of them even, we don't have a real head coach

 

Ayo and Coby White both resigned for low 20s. Both guys could've been had for spare parts but we were afraid of their extensions. I wouldn't be surprised if both guys are better than Fred this year. I really don't know why the FO is so obsessed with FVV. This might not even be Stone playing safe, it's almost like he actually thinks we don't need to upgrade cause FVV is the best PG in the league. This guy was pretty good when he got here but since then he's gotten older, fatter, slower, and more injured. We need to move on.

 

I’d see FVV at the games, and he looked like he had a basketball stuffed under his shirt

Idk what part of the rehab process involved two-a-days at the Golden Corral, but he was looking like he celebrated Thanksgiving every Friday

 

Knowing Ime and Stone, we will probably throw everything we can to Boston for Brown.

 

I think it's a problem we're definitely going to need to solve. I would love to get a guy like Ryan Rollins whose timeline fits perfectly with the rest of our core, and who is big enough (6'10" wingspan) and active enough defensively to potentially play alongside Reed some of the time.

 

Good Lord, can we stop posting nonsense like this? We traded for a star last year in what was one of the biggest trades last offseason. Are fans so impatient that they think massive trades happen every offseason for every team?

 

In the hours after this trade was agreed upon, there was elation running through the Wolves headquarters, team sources told The Athletic. They desperately needed a point guard and they went and got the one they believe fits them better than any other.

The Timberwolves have been pursuing Ball for the last two years, periodically checking in on his availability in hopes of pairing him with Edwards in a souped-up young backcourt. Finally, the Hornets started to show a willingness to move, and the Wolves went in aggressively to get a deal done.

President of basketball operations Tim Connelly and coach Chris Finch have long believed Ball is the perfect complement to Edwards, a superb passer and dynamic shooter who will open the floor for one of the best catch-and-shoot shooters in the league. They also believe that Ball will be much more helpful for Rudy Gobert on offense than any teammate he has had in Minnesota. The Wolves were woefully short of lob throwers, which is where Gobert does so much of his damage. Ball is one of the best in the league.

this is probably how Stone and Ime still talk about FVV

 

You think anyone who made a big move is done? You keep going till you have a cohesive team. The Rockets got KD and acted like we were contenders and then announced we were no longer developing players on a team filled with below 25 year olds. They had an opportunity this past trade deadline to get a young guard on the cheap they refused. Imagine if fred gets injured again. Thats another year with the only superstar in the league that has to have a good point guard to be successfull and he's going into the season 38. We should be getting rid of him and fred and going young. We have no chance of competing even with both of them healthy. Its fruitless.

 

The Rockets are categorically not interested in Giannis or Jaylen Brown type trades. Too much outlay for a 30+ year old. OK I personally agree with that.

We also were not interested in drafting in the first round last year or this year, in favor of extra future picks. I think that was a good trade, in a vacuum.

But we’re also not interested in trading for a 24yo elite offensive big guard creator who does exactly all the things we lack and has great impact metrics? Because it’s too risky?

Ok what are we interested in doing? I genuinely don’t understand.

Like I’m sorry Luka or Ant or Cade or Flagg types are never gonna be available to the highest bidder. This isn’t the 2010s, there’s no 25yo LeBron walking through that door. If you hold your nose up at LaMelo, you might as well assume you’re never making a big trade for any young star. There won’t be a better one on the open market. But then why did we trade out of these last two drafts for more tradable picks?

Some might see me as more pro Rockets front office than most, and I do think a lot of moves have been sharp. But they lose me completely on this. Outside of some surprise move in the next couple weeks that explains it… I think the “haters” are correct that we have a pathologically job protective front office.

 

Brown to me seems like your moving in the right direction. But you Need Durant Sengun and Amen still on the team for it to be an impact.

 

Of course not. But claiming that “other teams are trading for superstars” implies that we should be doing the same. That’s just shortsighted nonsense - we should make trades and do deals that make sense, not just for the sake of making deals. People like the OP would have absolutely loved the Paul George trade for the Clippers when it happened.