Guards Jeremy Lin, Patrick Beverly, Isaiah Canaan James Harden, Aaron Brooks Forwards Chandler Parsons, Francisco Garcia, Robert Covington Omri Casspi, Donatas Motiejunas, Terrence Jones Centers Dwight Howard, Omer Asik, Marcus Camby, Greg Smith The guys I'd cut: Ronnie Brewer, Reggie Williams, Troy Daniels
Reggie Williams is a whole lot better than people think. It is a shame that we haven't seen him healthy yet. Guy can play...
Cuts- Right now 1. Daniels, of course, is waived and resigned in RGV. 2. Right now id have to say that things haven't changed much other than Williams hasn't been given or taken a chance to show he belongs. I think he gets waived here in the next couple days so another team can pick him up. 3. With the last cut, I am actually starting to wonder if the best idea might be to actually waive Greg Smith if they cannot find any trade partners for him. I know Greg Smith is worth a draft pick at least in trade, but I just don't see the Rockets having much leverage right now. Of all the people on the bubble right now, I don't see a need for both Smith and Williams. My thinking is that actually as bad as D-Mo has looked as a spacing big at the 4 spot, he's looked oppositely as good as a Center in the minutes he's played. I've always thought that D-Mo would eventually be a 5 man, but I didn't know that it would be this obvious this quick. He looks much better as a big who can stay at home on defense and help take up space in the paint & clog driving lanes. I like him as the 3rd string center right now until Camby comes back & can challenge him for minutes. You could cut Covington instead of Smith, but I would think that Morey would like to still develop players that he could see being a bigger part of the future down the road and could help keep RGV relevant. Brooks and Brewer I believe are keepers. There will be moments this season where they earn their keep, and make a big difference maker play. Brooks might be the 3rd best attacking guard on the roster, and Brewer might be the best one-on-one perimeter defender on the roster. Def. worth keeping around for a rainy day.
Williams and Camby, it seems pretty obvious by now (and Daniels obviously.) with Williams it's unfortunate but the guys he were competing with (Brooks/ Casspi / Garcia) all came out of the gate firing on all cylinder, if the team is giving him a shot he should be playing 15 min + to see what he can do by now, not the last guy off the bench. With Camby, it's the simple fact that your not carrying a guy who's not going to contribute anything now or in the future, he obviously have no future past this year as a player, and he hasn't even step on the court to practice so far, why are we giving away a perfectly good young player in Smith to keep a 39 year old injured player who was horrendous last year?
camby likely isn't going to play much in the first half of the season. yet, he can become a important piece once asik gets traded. the only way that i see camby will be cut is that his injury will hold him back longer than a year. well smith is good for average team, but to be honest, he is no where close to a solid contender team backup... i'm not saying that he will never get there, but it will probably take him 4 more years solid development...
I agree that if no trades are made between today (Wed Oct 23) and Mon Oct 28 @ 5:00 EST (final fifteen man rosters are due at this time) then the final three cuts will be Reggie Williams, Marcus Camby, and the undrafted rookie out of VCU. However! Please remember that Daryl Morey traded for James Harden last year right before final roster cuts were due. That trade happened on Oct 27, 2012. So we have very recent precedent of Morey making an asset consolidation ("quantity for quality") trade right at the end of October, and right before final roster cuts must be made. Morey has for sure been gauging the interest in Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin, Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas, and Greg Smith for weeks. My guess is that he has discovered that he is unable to receive what he considers equal (or better) value for either Lin (largely because of Lin's $15 mil salary in 2014-15) or Smith (because other teams don't recognize how productive he is, also because he becomes an unrestricted free agent in less than twelve months, making him a one year rental). Thus, both Lin and Smith are likely staying. That leaves Asik, Jones, and Motiejunas as the prime trade candidates over the next five days. What I think Morey would like in return: Asik: a very good backup C and at least one good (i.e., lottery) first round pick. Portland's Robin Lopez makes sense here, so does Boston's Kris Humphries. Both Lopez and Humphries come off the books at the end of the season, too. Jones: a protected first round pick. Even a first round pick from a championship contender (26-30 overall) would be acceptable. With Omri Casspi's emergence, there is clearly a logjam at PF. Motiejunas: same as Jones. If/when Asik is traded for, say, Robin Lopez and a first round pick, and either Jones or Motiejunas is traded for a late first round pick and filler (i.e., lousy players who will be immediately cut) then Houston can keep Camby, and will only need to cut Williams and the VCU kid. Note that these two first round picks can be used at a later time to acquire a player who can really put this roster over the top, either this February or, more likely, next summer (summer 2014).
I really want to keep asik because of his defense, but its just fustrating to see him still not able to catch the ball and finish rim, fans want lin to be 6th man (playmaker) that can score dish out assist at will but how can he be confident when its a 50% chance that the back up center will even catch the ball and if he does we still dont know if he will dunk it or lay it up and get blocked ??? even though smith fouls alot you know what you are getting with him down low he has great hands and will go up strong and dunk the ball.
If Camby is waived, he could actually get picked up off of waivers. I'd assume that Miami wouldn't mind taking bringing him in strictly to help them in the 2nd half of the season. If Camby wants to come back in Jan/Feb he would have to retire and then come back. Then I'm not sure that the NBA would allow that as they might view it as circumvention of the CBA. I think if the Rockets front office feels like they "might" need Camby (meaning there is a good probability Asik is traded at some point), I think you keep him, and try and move Smith if possible. Based on the little insider bits we got from Pacman yesterday, it def. looks like they are still going to be looking at trading Asik. I'd hate to cut Brewer but that would probably be the next to go unless Covington for some reason could be waived and resigned in RGV much like Greg Smith was a couple years ago. I love his defense and experience but I just dont see him getting minutes at any point in the season. Either way... the last cut is a tough one to make, and I'm sure the front office is beating their heads into the wall right now looking at every possible scenario of need and making the best decision. They know what is more likely for moves much more than us as well so I would assume that will factor into their decision making. -Main thing to note- If Camby if kept on the team.... the writing is on the wall for Asik's time in Houston.
Troy Daniels was cut already yesterday. He was never brought in to actually make the team. He was signed only to be cut and have his rights held. The Rockets have the ability to waive 3 players and retain their rights in the D-League. BJ Young, Henriquez, and now Daniels. The Rockets only need to cut two players (now that Daniels is cut).
I think we will see Asik and/or Motiejunas traded in the next 48 hours, and after this happens, I think we'll be down to 16 players. And Reggie Williams is pretty obviously the final cut. Motiejunas is extremely expendable.
