A very reasonable take. But D-Mo would be just salary filler in a trade. He perhaps currently occupies the ninth position in the rotation. And the top eight are pretty much set. At some point Morey will shift to player development following the SAS model. Potential is something that has to be developed. The next trade Morey makes will probably occur around the trade deadline. More data will be available by then.
Dmo is a talented athlete in search of a position. He can't rebound or defend well enough to play c, and he can't shoot the 3 well enough to play the 4. The result is that he's going to play spot minutes, esp. against weaker teams for the foreseeable future.
Please settle down. He was the 22(?) pick in a draft. He costs almost nothing for a billionaire like Les. He just finished up his rookie season. He occupies the ninth rotational position on a roster replete with talent. And he has two easily defined routes to relevance in the NBA. And both possible roles he might play (starting PF and backup center) are very important to the Rockets future. There will never be a late first round draft choice with as much promise or relevance to the Rockets future as D-Mo.
Then you have surely noticed that the Spurs were drafting NBA ready rookies like Leonard. Or they were signing guys like Splitter, Oberto who have been a tons of years abroad. Parker is the only guy I remember that was 19 at the time but San Antonio was already a Champion not long ago. San Antonio rarely signed unknown projects. Another thing you will notice that most of San Antonio's championships came after Kobe and Shaq separated. San Antonio can compete with the best but they would rarely get the best of super teams and teams with two Top 20 players of all time. Because there is Miami Heat we should get adequate resources to compete with them. Lebron and Howard are about the same age. If you want Howard to win a championship while he is with the Rockets, then I would say better be ready spend some bucks. It's the safer path. A guy like Millsap only costs 9 million which is about the same paid to Lin or Asik. Consider that.
I would like to point out that there may not be shots available for the power forward to do "heavy damage". Howard, Harden, Lin, Parsons, Casspi, Garcia and Bev all require shots to be effective. There are only 90 or so shots available in a NBA game. Who would you propose taking shot away from?
Spurs could have won the Championship but neither Wade nor Bosh was in their best shape that playoffs. We need to get ready to pound them(Heat) where it hurts them and that is inside. Asik is offensively challenged. Bummer. So we need a good PF or at least one that is above average ASAP and not in one or two seasons.
That is all fine by me in the regular season or when not matched up with Heat or Bulls. You can give all the shots to Lin, Beverley, Parsons and Casspi. IF we play the Elite: Heat, OKC with Westbrook and Ibaka, Bulls, maybe Indiana We need good enough execution from the 4 spot and perfect one from the 5. In case we play those teams, get 10 or more to PF spot IF NEEDED. Or at least elite floor spacing (including midrange) and good defense at the 4. I want to see more midrange from the PF spot. Everyone else can continue hit their 3s.
A valid opinion. But a player like Millsap costs Asik. Would that be an improvement for the Rockets. With a starting 5 of Harden, Lin, Parsons, Millsap and Howard how could there ever be enough shots to go around? You do not think the SAS developed Splitter? Here is his NBA career: And I personally cringed when the Rockets did not draft Leonard.
Not really. All you have to do is to pay more money. Over the cap. Into Luxury territory for a few years and see how that works. Alexander was always quoted to be ready but it has yet to happen with the 'right players'. Who are the right players?! It's not like this team has a small market like OKC or SA that has to let go of players. Also an indicator would be the games against the Heat. We couldn't beat them year in and year out. Again, you can really see how the team responds because at one point you cannot really go down the Tmac and Yao route again. 2 Superstars and a bunch of one way players. Or Steve Francis and Mobley and Yao. You have to pay for quality 3rd options, role players and backups. Unless of course management has a lot of time on their hands to develop. I remind you.... The Class of 2009 all but Harden and maybe Casspi failed. A lot of mediocre talents. This was a major waste of time.
Maybe another time we can talk about Splitter. Houston is not a small place like San Antonio after all. And San Antonio's system cannot copied 1 to 1 to bigger markets. I am trying to think a way out if the Dmo/Jones project won't work, Asik is not getting comfortable. But the easier path would be spending reasonable money for the supporting cast. For now I can't think of another.
And I am totally good with that. We both have high hopes for this season. Maybe we can hoist a beer to the ship.
So I ask you a question. Would you rather be the Heat or San Antonio? Rather be a perennial finalist or the No.2 team most of the time, falling short. I would rather copy the Heat right now than San Antonio's development model. In order to beat them, I would say Harden and Howard are not enough. That's all. You can argue about Lin, Parsons...... A reliable Power Forward would help a lot.
A lot of you like to to overrate other team players, and underrate ours. Heres some comparison per 36 Dmo vs Millsap. Is it really worth trading Asik for him????
I don't understand how this thread has turned into a "should we trade DMo?" post. First off, this is hardly the time to be talking trades. Frankly any trade talk at this point in time is downright sickening and makes my stomach turn. Secondly, trading DMo doesn't make much sense anyway. If he exceeds expectations and continues to improve then he will have a place in the Rox rotation and the Rox will play the waiting game on his improvement; if he doesn't live up to expectations than, well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. In other words, if the Rox (a team desperate for a 4) don't think that he's good enough, than who the freak else will? His trade value will be worth little.
You do not trade away guys with unique skillsets and advantages, you nurture them and develop them - especially when they are on rookie contracts. DD
No Way! None of the trades that you may call "likely" for Asik is a good trade for Rockets: Milsap, Ryan Anderson, Jeff Green, etc. Those are not worth one of the best rebounding and defensive centers in the league. None of these guys have been major contributors on a contender, and are mediocre or slightly above mediocre. Now, there are a few top-tier PF who are somewhat lose in their sockets and may become available for the right price. Monroe? Pistons are not paying him now, so they may be far apart on the money. He is a close to max player, but if they are not ready to pay him, they may decide to trade him. D-Mo+Beverley for Monroe would be a good trade. D-Mo is a better fit next to Drumond and Josh than Monroe, and Beverley is a starter-quality guard who can play next to Jennings. Most importantly, these guys come in cheap. It will be hard to find equal value for Monroe now without taking additional salary, so D-Mo + Beverley may be the winning package. Horford? That's the ATL PF that you want, not the undersized Milsap. It would take Asik+D-Mo and maybe more, but you're in Finals-city with Horford... LMA, Love, Bosh may also get shaken lose, but are long shots for us. But those are the type of PFs that I would trade Asik and/or DMo for. Not the Milsaps and the Ryan Andersons and the Jeff greens...
So you believe we should keep DMo, TJones, and GSmith because they all have unique skillsets and advantages...on rookie contracts.
I think Dmo has a lot of growth ahead of him, but he has shown improvement. Working with someone who has a scorer's mentality (Hakeem) will help his confidence.
Greg Smith isn't all that unique, he's a guy that's good for fouling people and making open dunks and nothing else but he's young and cheap which is why they kept him. Jones might be the odd man out because he can't stay healthy and the Rockets might not have a position for him because he's clearly behind Howard, DMo and whatever SF they want to pretend is a PF at the 4.
