Love or smith or even lma would be real nice.... That said, I'm plenty willing to play out this season as is and see how dmo, jones and Morris develop. Dmo has plenty upside to turn into a legitimate player.
Scottie Pippen led a Jordon-less Bulls to a conference finals by himself and averaged 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.9 steals that season. . 7x All-star, 3x All-NBA 1st team, 2x All-NBA 2nd team, 2x All-NBA 3rd team, and a crapload of All-defensive accolades. He was just not a shutdown defender. He is easily regarded as top 5,6 SF of all time and was obviously a star.
We ain't getting that real superstar - just not gonna happen. They usually don't leave their team and f they do, they go to a big market team. Ad they hardly ever get traded and we don't really have that many pieces left - or we'd have to give up most of our core. Now we can either sit back and be pissed at the situation or go for the next best thing - and that's a second tier star or a player with star potential. So either a Josh Smith player (probably attainable, a little underrated due to his bad shot selection and a great defender - remember what this team is missing is defense first - a second shot creator might be nice, but we already might have that on our team) or a Cousins player (young guy, huge potential that for one reason or another hasn't reached it yet - and that has some tension with his team). Does that make us a contender? Probably not... But it gives us the best realistic shot at ever becoming one. Love, Dwight, Paul and probably also Aldridge aren't gonna be attainable for us. Harden was the perfect storm and even then some guys here thought we gave up too much and he isn't worth the max, because he was nowhere near superstar level when we got him ( it was all potential and some real good but not exceptional play on the field).
People on this board act like finding a star in your bench or in D-league is something that happens often in the NBA...
I would like to get as many 1st round picks for 2014 draft as possible. Up our odds at landing one of these guys: (1) ANDREW WIGGINS sf / 6'7'' 205 (2) JABARI PARKER sf / 6'8'' 225
Would love to see JSmoove Smith in a Houston Uniform. This would be a ridiculous team if Houston picks him up. Fast, high percentage shooter, rebounds, assists, and blocks.
Derrick Favors. Not this year but next...that is after our play for Paul Geroge and Greg Monroe fail. Utah keeps Millsap, Jefferson and Kanter. Morey swoops in and offers more than the Jazz want to pay. He's young and plays off the bench. I think he could blossom on this team.
I predict we get Danny Granger. He'll play as a 'combo forward' next to Parsons and we'll roll without a genuine PF in the starting lineup. He can play positions 2-4, so it kind of fits the 'interchangeable pieces' model of the current team. If it happens it'd be a "Morey kind of move" since Granger would be an expiring next season anyway. Low risk high reward kind of move, if it pans out great. If not, shop Granger at the deadline for something else, or let him expire and throw the max at something else.
I can see Granger, while he is one of these not-quite-elite guys I mentioned in an earlier post, he only has one more year left on his contract after this one so it's different than, for example, signing Al Jefferson to a 4 year, $60M deal after the season. More specifically, I can see Granger being a trade target in the summer of 2013 but not so much at the upcoming trade deadline. However small the chances are of the Rockets landing Chris Paul or Dwight Howard in free agency, they still have to take shot given the potential reward. After these two are off the board, though, I would prefer getting a guy whose contract is up in 2014 than signing a FA (which likely requires a long-term deal) so you can take a shot at 2014 FAs (Lebron James among them) or make a in-season trade using an expiring contract.
Sneaky answer but I think it could happen if Danny Ainge wants to really blow it up. Horford is a natural PF.
He'll be playing in Feb I think? But yeah, huge red flag, which is what would make him available in the first place. And since it's a 1 year deal only, how bad could it be??
Spot on. This sums up my view as well. You've got James Harden and his superstar tryout is going well. He's locked up for 5 more seasons beyond this one and he's young (as is the rest of the team). He's also unselfish (as is the rest of the team). You can afford to be patient because you're looking more and more attractive to top players by the day. Having said that, it's hard to see who the Rockets can sign with straight cap room. I know they will try for Dwight Howard first, but that's a very slim shot. I would think the value of the cap room will be seen in trades. And the Rockets will be in a good position for trades this summer. Even better position if they miss the playoffs (keeping their draft pick). Even better than that if they could somehow get Dwight Howard to sign (or Andrew Bynum, if they felt that was worth it), making Omer Asik a valuable trade asset.
