Just want to ask a question of all the armchair gms on this board. A lot of us have been imagining which power forward we will eventually sign/trade for before the deadline or in the offseason. Suppose I give you these three teams : Lin Harden Parsons Aldridge Asik Lin Harden Parsons Jefferson Asik Lin Harden Parsons Smith Asik Which out of these three teams do you think will go the furthest? Do you think any of them would be a contender ? By a contender here I mean a team that can actually get to the Western Conference Finals at the very least, not a top 5 or so team. I am asking because sometimes in between my fits of cursing at Patterson I think that he is actually a good player, especially with regards to offense. He has been scoring a decent amount of points at a good fg% (51) . This gets me to wonder if Aldridge would really improve this team that much. Sure he would give us around 5 more points on average every night but isn't his defense and rebounding only slightly better than Patterson's? This is a problem because this team right now is 29th in points allowed per game ! I know this is partly because of the high pace we are playing at, but it is also in part because we don't really defend well as a team. I don't think Morey would even consider Smith since he is probably looking for a power forward who can shoot the ball, and Smith's shot has been very poor this season. If we get Smith though our defense would improve quite a bit in my opinion and it might be enough to compensate for the worsening of the offense with him playing. Is power forward actually even the biggest concern for this team right now ? Parsons and Harden and Asik are all good. Lin has not been great but I think his performance will improve and he will start living up to his contract. I do no believe anyways in maxing out at the point guard positions. I just feel more comfortable if max money goes to bigs or wings. What would you do if you were Morey to make this team a contender by trades/free agency? Tanking for picks is off the table.
One thing you want to do here is see how well these teams would match up against the Thunder and the Lakers.
Really ? I have been thinking about Millsap too. Depends on how good he is defensively versus Aldridge. Problem is that he is undersized and we are right now being killed by tall power forwards/centers. Ibaka just had one of the best games of his season with 11/13 shooting. Would Millsap be able to defend Bosh, Gasol, Aldridge , Ibaka etc etc ?
depends on how Lin performs the one with Aldridge is super well rounded and has an edge offensively. Harden PicknRoll Aldridge would be quite hard to stop becuase Aldridge is money from mid range.
None of those "teams" would be a "contender." The PG situation for all those hypothetical starting 5s is too unpredictable and unreliable. That's the biggest weakness I see. You also have to factor in coaching and bench players since the title of your thread says how far would these teams go not how far would these starting lineups go. DeMarcus Cousins is the guy the Rockets should be targeting at the PF spot.
None of them is a guarantee to get to the conference finals. All of them scream "we are waiting to add a 3rd star". The best one is obviously the one with the best player, Aldridge. They'd be a Pacers-level contender. A chance to get into the conference finals, but you better stay healthy.
Aldridge (2015 free agency maybe), but a trade ain't happening unless they get back Harden. I think adding Milsap, Gasol, Smoove, or Jefferson, and adding more bench depth using cap would be good enough for a 2nd round exit. 4:30am...insomnia sucks
With a pick and roll tandem of Aldridge and Harden? This year, easily 2nd round, after that? Who knows, as they each have potential to be the best in their respective position.
Agreed. Millsap and Aldridge are the two best fits and they're pretty similar in quality IMO. I thought Aldridge was slightly above the others, but he's taken a step back this year and now I'm not so sure. So with that being the case, I say you go with the best fit, and that's Millsap. He does all the things the Rockets need most. Good roller to the basket, good defender at both the 3 and 4, good pick 'n pop guy, above average post game, all around athletic hustle and cleanup guy... high bball IQ. J-Smoove is more of a defense and offensive rebounding guy... already have Asik for that. Al Jefferson is a slow, strong guy who you give the ball in the post and let him work. Decent fit, but I don't think he's good enough in the PnR game to play as well with Lin/Harden. Aldridge has similar strengths to Paul Millsap but he seems much less attainable.
People need to understand - it is not about this year, and probably not about next year. To be anything close to a contender our guys need to develop. Harden needs to be a consistent superstar. Lin needs to develop into a 16 8 guy and be in control of the game at all time. Parsons needs to take the next step and be the ultimate role player (think 18 8 with 5 assists, 2 steals and a block). Asik needs to improve his low post moves and his free throws. And a couple of our young guys need to develop into true alternatives of the bench. Not very probable? Well it is our only real chance with the way the league is right now... So one thing is for certain: we need time. That leaves Jefferson out if you ask me. If Aldridge can stay healthy he is a real good choice - but I still doubt there is a chance we can get him. Him and Love would be our best options at PF that give us the best chance to be a contender. But both seem very unattainable to me. Josh Smith is a tricky one. All-Star talent, sure, but he takes too many stupid shots and thinks he is way better than he is. Still him and Asik would rule the paint and he should be able to get a good 20 ppg. So if he learns to be the second fiddle and shoot only high percentage shots, he might be the answer (remember, he is still only 26 years old). We can`t only go the route that makes us a contender - because it doesn`t exist. We need to continue to gamble and hope the dice roll our way. So sure, Patterson is playing well - but if you don`t see him becoming an elite player, good just isn`t good enough. We need an elite offensive low post player. And if Morey doesn`t think he is on our team, he sure will roll the dice again and maybe take a gamble on Josh Smith, since he is the closest thing of a star that actually seems to be available to us.
Aldridge or Smith. I really like Jsmoove around the basket defensively and maybe in a pick and roll on offense. Aldridge would give us an efficient scoring option, great size, and has a higher ceiling than Smith just because of what he's got between the ears. He doesn't chuck up bad shots like Smith and makes up for Smith's athleticism (which will eventually fade) with more size.
Yeah, I think Cousins has the potential to be a dominant force in the league for years to come. But after this whole Royce White dilemma I'm not sure Morey would take a chance on someone with attitude problems like him. He sure would give us a pair of balls though.
I wasn't a big fan of Smith at pf but the more when i look at the options the better smith seems. All 3 of them were born in 85 so age shouldn't be an issue. Now the main concern with smith is his propensity to settle for jumpers. At Rim 249/363 .686 3 to 9 ft 83/213 .390 10 to 15 ft 22/70 .314 16 ft to 3-pt 156/430 .363 3-pt 28/113 .248 His shoot % from mid range isn't horrendous but his 3 point attempts and % are pretty bad. But he can take less three pointers if properly motivated. In the 09-10 season, he played 81 games and took only 7 three point attempts the entire year (consequently this was the only season he shot above 50% from the field). If we can get him to buy into the system and not shoot 3s at such a high volume i think he could be a steal. Now what separates Smith from the others is his blocks, weak side defense and athleticism. We are currently ranked 26th in the entire league in bpg at about 4.07. Asik averages about 1 block a game so having smith will help a great deal in that regard. Now with guys like Lebron play pf in the league, it would be nice having an agile Smith playing lebron (although lebron would still win in this exchange). The other great thing about smith is his ability to run fast break. Now his back to the basket game is not great but i don't think thats the type of system the rockets intend to run. If we want a pure back to basket player then Jefferson would be ideal but i think our strategy as a team is to run the fast break and make plays in the pick and roll which would be ideal with Smith because he can finish above the rim. So smith is my choice for PF!
