It's not up to Morey, in the end, Leslie will probably push him to get Dwight, so I fear. Any other owner and GM would think this is a great group of rookies to work with and rebuild properly. It's not even tanking, it's developing the young guys, hoping you get a nice pick next year and hope to get some nice free agents around them on the road to a championship in 4-5 years. I would love to have a line-up of: Machado - Lamb - Parsons - Jones/White - D-Mo all year long.
Lets get Lin, Asik and run with our young boys. Parsons is developing nicely, Lamb is a scorer and I really like what Royce brings to the game. I'm actually excited about the team we have now.
Fact: Houston needs a superstar. Fact: None of these rookies are even CLOSE to being All-stars. Fact: We are hosting an All-star game this year. I'd rather take my chances with Howard and Lin. At least they will be more exciting to watch and people will actually go to the games. The Rookies will not attract people to games. If Dwight leaves you'll get a better draft pick regardless. A top 3 pick.
I really like the rookies as well, they've shown a lot so far. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves. They're all really nice players, but their effectiveness is diminished if they don't have a superstar or two playing with them. Just like with the others (Scola, Martin, etc). In order to get that superstar, we're going to have to sacrifice some of them. It's just the price we have to pay. If they go the route you suggest, guess where we'll be? There might be growing pains, but that team will like be built into a Jazz/Nuggets/Grizzlies type team that goes into the playoffs as a minor threat, and just gets bounced in the first or second round. They want something that can get all the way, and you can't do that without a superstar in today's NBA.
Book it. None of these players will ever make an all-star game, and all 5 can be included for all I care.
I suspect we have a lot of folks here that would choose the easy money. Good thing Morey thinks bigger.
Are you really going to say that after watching three summer league games. any one of these guys could be a star. I don't want to root for a team who's star has a big head. Howard is scum
Well if we sign Lin and D12 it's surely a play-off team. And I would easily say, the team that Howard is on surely is a contenders team. We won't give up D-Mo because he cannot be traded and Lamb, well Lamb will have to go in that case. Atm he is the best rookie in the summer league. Since Lamb stock is increasing that means after the summer league is over we would have to give less and let's not be naive, if we want Howard we will ahve to give up Lamb. Either way, I'm happy, because if we don't trade we save bunch of players, draft picks, we could even tank this season letting young players play more and trying to get our C from draft. But, if we do trade for Howard, I see no problem. We would be straight a play-off team. We would still Have D-Mo( since he cannot be traded) and few others, we would also have Lin, we would have less rookies, but they would become better way faster playing alongside D12. The Question is can we keep Dwight doesn't bother me, we give him maximum contract, we give him Olajuwon's training and if he doesn't appreciate that, well we will sign an all star or few really good players from next years agency. All in all, I think Houston's future looks bright and this franchise should be succesful in a few years, doesn't matter which rote we go.
I wouldn't mine if we get Howard (even for rental) for Martin, 2Pat, Parson (dont want him to go), Morris, White, 2 -1st Rounder, 2- 2nd Rounder. and with Lin signing with us. PG: Lin / SG: Lamb / Richardson SF: Jones / Turk PF: Donuts / C: Howard / if this happens who do you think will be our Bench lineup?
The word "GREAT" is tossed around to easily now a days. Out of three not pre-season games but summer league games you saw "GREAT" in rookies? we don't know how they are going to pan out. I'm not a fan of either trade or rebuilding scenarios. But w/ever move can not be that bad as to w/ever side you stand on. We're screwed either way it goes w/ or w/o Dwight. W/ or w/o our rookies. We pick these young dudes @ 12, 16, & 18. If they were "GREAT" they would have been regarded higher in their respected draft class. Just b/c you're balling in a few Summer league games does not mean your future is any brighter for yrs to come. SEE: Dan Langhi ex Rocket.
I love the rookies and I've been high on jeremy lamb since he was a freshman, but you guys are really going overboard beause of their summer league play. There are players that kill it in the summer league that don't see a minute of pt when the season starts. All of this rebuilding talk is cool but d12 is a superstar, you don't win championships with out a superstar, period. If we want to compete we have to get one, people didn't want to trade donte greene after his summer league performance. How's his NBA career been?? Don't get me wrong I think white and lamb will be starters but will they ever be the #1 player at their position and the most dominant defensive player in the league, no sir!
I've seen many players dominate the Summer League that never amount to anything but a role player in the NBA. I'm not excited until I see them do it in the pros.
According to the trading history of morey, he would never over value a player, so if there is a d12 trade, it will only be a good trade. Remember his profession is lowballing.
No one is saying trade the farm for dwight. Id trade, white, martin, parsons, raptor pick , and fillers for Howard and Hedo and duhon at the most. Hedo and duhon is buyout options in 2013.
The only player's I want to give up are Martin, Patterson, Morris, D-Mo, Lamb, White, Jones, and Parsons. Lowry, Dragic and Scola are untouchable.
I just hate this line of thinking. We need a superstar. We are faced with a strong possibility of having a superstar (top 5 player in the game at least). Instead of getting excited about suddenly being relevant and not being stuck in the middle of the ladder once again with a team full of middle-late first round pick type players... a lot of us here on ClutchFans (the place where people are meant to be fans of the Houston Rockets)... don't want to get a top 5 player in the position of our greatest need for 3 years now... because of the players APPARANT (none of us know him personally and please don't pretend you do) personality traits. Yes, Parsons could be a solid starter in the NBA for years. A great glue guy you need on your championship roster. Yes, Lamb will be a great scorer and with his extra length and size could become a great SG that plays defense too. Yes,DMo (my favourite rocket at the moment) looks like he can be a good big man that will score, run and rebound well. Maybe he can become an All-Star at his peak. But let's not think that our young players have any concrete potential. If we had young guys like Demarcus Cousins, Evan Turner, John Wall, Enes Kanter or Kyrie Irving I might understand that line of thinking that "our young guys are a better way to go", because theres a bit more to their 'potential' than fans wet dreams. Our players are getting drafted in the mid first round and lower for a reason! And no I don't really believe that Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris, Royce White and whoever else was placed in the top 5 on the mysterious "Rockets draft board".
What he said. I'm going to repost something I posted earlier about how there is not much difference between the Dwightmare scenario and the "Play the Kids" scenario. Either way, we are going young. It's just that Clutchfans fall in love with the newest rookies every summer. Remember last year when we drafted Paul Pierce, I mean Marcus Morris? --- This isn't exactly high level/complex game theory folks, but consider two scenarios: Dwightmare vs. Keep and Play the Kids. Is there really a difference? Dwightmare Let's say the "Dwightmare" scenario that everyone is afraid of happens -- 2012-2013 is a drama filled season where Howard whines and b****es, fakes injury, and then ultimately leaves, and we're stuck with three crappy contracts. Well, Johnny, let's see what the Rockets have won... 1. we get a lotto pick in the 2013 draft b/c we failed to make the playoffs. 2. we will suck even more in 2013-2014 -- we can't land a star w/o a star and our cap situation is ugly. We finish with a bottom 5 record and get a high lotto pick in the 2014 draft. 3. Even with that 2014 high lotto pick, we will basically still suck in 2014-2015, finish with a bottom 6 record, and have another good lotto pick in the 2015 draft. Conclusion for the Dwightmare scenario: By the start of the 2015-2016 season (two seasons post Dwightmare), we would have two high lotto picks on the team, and a couple of pieces that might have grown (whoever is left over from Lamb/White/Donuts/Jones/Morris). That would be a team that's 1-2 years from pushing into contention through development of the lotto picks and addition of FA pieces. Keep and Play the Kids The alternative is to avoid this "Dwightmare", keep and play our kids. Well, Johnny, let's see what we get this strategy..... 1. we get a lotto pick in the 2013 draft b/c we failed to make the playoffs. The pick is probably better than in the Dwightmare scenario, and we have the benefit of enjoying the kids grow. So, let's say we have a shot at a top 5 pick in this scenario. 2. We still aren't really that good in the 2013-2014 season b/c the kids are still growing. We can't seem to land that star player b/c we don't have a star, and we're not close to contending yet. So, we improve a good bit as the core is growing, and pick in the mid/late lotto in the 2014 draft. 3. By the 2014-2015 season, the core has grown and we're threatening for a playoff position, but can't quite get there. We get a late lotto pick in the 2015 draft. Conclusion for the Keep the Kids scenario: By the start of the 2015-2016 season , we would have one high lotto pick on the team, development from the Lamb/White/Jones/Donuts contingent, another mid lotto pick, and pushing into playoff contention. So, The Keep the Kids squad would be about 1 year further along in development as compared to the Dwightmare fallout team. Is pushing back our development 1 year worth the potential of getting and keeping Dwight Howard, and building a contender around the best center in the league. Cmon people. [note, someone pointed out correctly that I didn't include losing the toronto pick in the keep the kids scenario, which is a material issue. But the overall premise remains the same. Rolling the dice on getting/keeping dwight doesn't set us back so much that we shouldn't do it. Even if Dwight leaves, we're rebuilding].
