The organization used Freds injury as a crutch the whole season last year, the sole selling point for this upcoming season is "when we get Fred (and Adams) back, it's going to change everything" If we go from that to getting frustrated and trading him after a off-season contract dispute (probably us being upset he isn't willing to take a team friendly deal after us overpaying the **** out of him the last 3 years) , it's going to be hilarious. I doubt it, but hilarious if so.
For people who keep insisting Udoka isnt the strongest voice in the FO.... But you know what Im ok with this. Rather than get Kawhi, rather than get Jaylen Brown, Id rather Marcus Smart as Udoka's new player. Am I happy about getting yet another injury prone, old ass defense first non shooting player from the Lakers after we did just that last year? No. But it could be worse at least we aint giving up assets. And tbh Smart is indeed better than Tari (who is prob on the way out), mainly because he doesnt have r****ded bball IQ.
Considering he is a pg and we have no capable pg’s on this roster, he likely will fulfill that role as backup point. He could be in lineups as a combo guard with fred or maybe in 3 guard lineups. But likely main role is backup point to run PNR, lead the second unit.
washed up? Even though he performed well during the season and postseason? Hand picked by Doncic to sign with Lakers?
So Tari walks and we keep DFS + add Smart on a 2-4 year deal?! Jesus is this some financial and roster mismanagement. We still have Capela’s fat ass too. How smart of you Stoned Patrick.
“The expectation of a three-year offer at a higher annual number than Smart's $5.4 million player option for next season.” - stein/fischer @ThatBoyNick & @CantStopJG24 said it … why would he opt out to take less, to play less (some of you said the Holiday role lol) on a worse team? Get serious CF. If he was gonna play for the minimum, (he’d probably just opt in) he’d just re-sign in LA or with any other number of contenders. 2y/$90M to 37 year old 2y/$50M to 31 year old chubby boy 4y/$53M to 32 year old coming off major ankle/foot surgery 3y/$39M to 32 year old center 3y/$21M to 31 year old washed 3rd string center 3y to 32 year old guard Do we have the dumbest ****ing front office/coach or do we have the dumbest ****ing front office/coach?
This is absurd... He's the kind of guy that gets cut due to his age and a contender signs for a vet min. I can't believe 3 years would even be on the table. Years 2 and 3 better be mostly non-guaranteed.
Hey coach, why did you lose to Warriors & Lakers in b2b playoff series, struggling to score 75 points? “We dint hav enuf dawg in us. We wuz soft. Marcus Dumb & Dori Finna-Sht tha bed bring dat dawg we wuz missing.”
The 3rd year part is what gets me, that hard caps us at the first apron. The TP-MLE used to be 3 years, now it's two, so to offer him 3 years it has to be a NTP-MLE which is going to heavily restrict us for the season. Last year we hard capped ourselves and went into the LT for DFS and Capela. Now we are doing it for Smart, it's a rough look. Unless we make a trade dumping salary, it almost ensures we are losing Tari, likely for nothing or next to nothing with an inability to take back significant salary. That or 3 years for Smart is 15-20 mill, and we somehow get Tari to sign for an aav of 12-14 mill. In which case, no big deal I guess, but Rockets getting players on good contracts would be unusual. I views positions defensively. Smart will guard bigger players than Reed, so I slot Smart at SG or SF and Reed at PG. Also, Reed averaged 4.6 AST and 2.1 TO per 36 last year, Smarts career averages are 5.4 AST and 2.3 TO per 36, if we have "no capable PGs" on the roster I don't see how Smart changes that.
If we trade FVV I might be okay with getting Smart depending on the price and what's coming back in the FVV trade. The key for me is going to be whether our rotation gets younger overall. Smart by himself moves us in the wrong direction, but Smart as a veteran backup paired with another, bigger move to get younger... Yeah, okay. I'm not feeling optimistic but I'll wait to start flipping tables until everything is played out.
Could this at all signal that FVV is going to opt out? Would another team give Fred a multi year MLE at this point?
because one shouldn’t just look at the stat sheet. Smart is able to run PNR and handle the ball full court and in pressure situations with plenty of regular season and playoff experience. He’s a vocal leader on the floor on both ends as a pg. Sheppard or any of the other Rocket pg’s have not shown the ability to do these things. And besides the per 36 stat should never be used alone to assess player performance since it’s an estimate while ignoring possessions or fatigue etc.
