I agree with your assessment on why some of those players should be cut....but Morris? Morris has looked infinitely better than White has at the SF spot. Did you miss the first game? He did little wrong and drained a few shots and made some nice passes. Look back at his pre-season showings and you'll find a player that no longer looks lost and looks a lot more comfy out there. No way is Morris cut.
Man, jopatmc, I like most all your posts, but not this one. Don't think you put much thought into it, I'm sure. The point the JJJ supporters (incl. me) are making, I think, is that the team shouldn't be so shortsighted with JJ. Who cares if we are stacked at his position? He's a project. We've got enough spaces on the roster to no be so concerned with immediate needs. Give him some time to see how he turns out. It's not like the opportunity cost of keeping him is really that great.
The whole team is full of projects. Theres not a spot for him at the forward position. The team is stacked at the forward position and he is the forward with the smallest upside after Brockman and will never play because we have all these young talented forwards. 15 man roster Projection PG- Lin/Douglas SG- Martin/Lamb/Delfino SF- Parsons/White/Morris PF- Patterson/TJones C- Asik/Smith Practice Squad PG- Machado SG- Forbes PF- D-Mo
Yes, but PF is arguably the Rockets' weakest position and there is a chance that most or all of the prospects don't come close to reaching their potential and will not be rotation players.
Well you missed a couple of important words prior to what you underlined and bolded saying "and possibly even White" I didn't say that White HAS played better. Regardless, Morris has a lot of work to do to earn his spot in the rotation and I don't think that it is completely out of the possibility or Morris being sent off or even dropped if Morey thinks the other players have a much better chance of sticking in the league. Appreciate the comments though.
I'm not real excited about Morris. If he makes the team, he'll be sitting on the bench or off to the D-League again. He's Morey's pick and thats why he'll make the roster, but Mchale won't play him because his defense lags.
First of all, a quick question: Is a team required to carry twelve players on its active roster? Or can it carry less than twelve? It seems fairly obvious to me that at least three of the Rockets' first and second year players will be in the developmental league this season rather than rotting at the end of our bench, I'm just wondering if it's possible for the Rockets to send more than three guys to the d-league. It seems highly likely to me that Daryl Morey has been hoping to trade three of these remaining eighteen players on the current roster for the last few weeks, and that he has, thus far, been unsuccessful. The players below all very strongly figure to be on the active twelve-man roster on opening night: 1 Omer Asik 2 Jeremy Lin 3 Carlos Delfino 4 Patrick Patterson 5 Toney Douglas 6 Terrence Jones 7 Chandler Parsons And then there are the players who will either be on the opening night 12-man roster or in the developmental league: 8 Jeremy Lamb 9 Royce White 10 Donatas Motiejunas And then there is the player who will almost certainly be waived so as to save $2.5 mil: 11 Shaun Livingston That leaves three roster spots available for the following five players: 12 Kevin Martin 13 Marcus Morris 14 Gary Forbes 15 JaJuan Johnson 16 Jon Brockman 17 Greg Smith 18 Scott Machado My understanding is that it is not possible to trade either Forbes, Johnson, or Brockman at the moment, due to NBA trade rules (i.e., they were acquired too recently via trade by the Rockets). That means that the Rockets are presumably looking to trade Martin and Morris this afternoon, possibly together in one trade package, possibly separately. The team looking to acquire such a package would be interested in Martin's expiring contract (as well as any value he would provide as a player, and any value they might receive by flipping him to a contender at the February trade deadline), along with Morris' "upside." The Rockets would presumably acquire a relatively expensive player whose contract extends beyond this season. This player would presumably be undervalued by his current team. The Rockets might need to throw in a lottery-protected first round pick in order to sweeten the deal. Anderson Varejao of the Cavs comes to mind as a logical target. A trade of Varejao and Luke Walton (expiring contract) for Martin and Morris works. In this scenario, the team would immediately waive the useless Walton. Otherwise, it appears that Jon Brockman's head is the first head on the chopping block, followed by Gary Forbes' head. The third cut would be a player such as Walton (in the event that Martin and/or Morris gets traded today), JaJuan Johnson, Greg Smith, or Scott Machado. Since Houston presumably would like to hold on to Johnson, Smith, and Machado, the team's strong preference (in my opinion) is to make the sort of trade I suggested above. Another option would be to simply trade Marcus Morris for the best possible draft pick they can get for him (even if it's just a second round pick) along with filler (useless players on expiring or non-guaranteed contracts), and to then waive those players. The team would hold on to Martin (for the time being), keep Johnson, keep Smith, keep Machado, waive Brockman, waive Forbes, and waive the junk players received in the Morris trade.
Untrue. Exaggeration. There may be a lot of projects - more than on most teams. But isn't that what Morey said he wanted. He said he wanted to explore the possibility of growing a star from the current players. Irrelevant. JJJ wouldn't be filling an immediate need on the team but would be a project to develop for the future. I don't want to know if he has the smallest upside among the forwards. I want to know how he compares to the other players on the bubble. Why are we so concerned with position when we're talking about the 15th spot? It should be like the draft - take the best player available.
NBA team must have 12 players on its active roster, but it is allowed to drop to 11 for a maximum of two weeks at a time. Eight players must suit up for every game. Maximum amount active player is now 13 from 12. 15 is maximum amount for sign contracts.
That's good news, I wasn't sure if it was 13 just for lockout season. I figure, since I haven't seen many of the preseason here in NY, that Brockman, JJJ and either Livingston or Douglas get cut. I wonder how this would go, I know we save $2.5 million on Livingston, but isn't NY paying Douglas' salary to us, not on cap, but in Les' pocket? I'm sure K-Martin is on opening day roster, he seems good looking from the 2 games I watched. I would hope Motiejunas is either on 13 man or down in D-League, I hate to see him on bench or Inactives. How has Forbes looked, has he played much? Also Machado? I assume Greg Smith makes it since he is the only other true Center on roster behind Asik.
Over the last two games Smith seems to have played his way onto the team, so I am guessing Forbes of Livingston. Just looking at who McHale gives minutes to in preseason, Delfino is their guy for backup SG/SF so Forbes is probably the most likely one gone. Unless Morris is injured far worst then expected, I doubt he is cut. The guy literally hasn't even gotten a decent chance to touch the court, no way do you cut him at the start of his second season, especially since aside from Delfino, none of the back ups for the SF or PF position are any more proven then he is at this point.
I would think JJJ has upside based on what little I've seen. I get the impression that the Rockets don't agree with your and my eye ball assessment. If the Rockets viewed him as a good project, they would keep him. If they thought they could trade him, they would keep him. Morey wants to keep guys that have high upside to turn to valuable players as well as keep contracts that have high upside for trading for a great player.
I just realized that my math was off in my earlier post. I still think that Daryl Morey is attempting to make a deal involving Kevin Martin and/or Marcus Morris, but if he can't pull it off, then the three guys to go will be (in my opinion) Shaun Livingston, Jon Brockman, and Gary Forbes. Hopefully, some team will claim Brockman and Forbes, which means that Houston avoids having to pay their salaries. Some team might claim Livingston, as well. My projected final roster: Starting lineup PG Jeremy Lin SG Kevin Martin SF Chandler Parsons PF Patrick Patterson C Omer Asik Key reserves Carlos Delfino Terrence Jones Toney Douglas Greg Smith End of the bench Marcus Morris JaJuan Johnson Scott Machado Developmental League (at least for the first 2-3 months of the season) Jeremy Lamb Royce White Donatas Motiejunas Seems to me that your higher ceiling prospects (Lamb, White, Motiejunas) would benefit by getting regular playing time in the d-league more than by rotting at the end of the bench or getting garbage time.
