Waived Players for Rockets to Consider? (Earl Clark perhaps?)

I am still interested in Granger. Per Feigen the Rockets are, too. But for now I feel pretty good about the group that they have now. Not sure any of the buyout/waiver guys are going to be a likely difference maker.

Greg Smith is reportedly back in Houston getting more tests done. If his knee injuries are projected to linger into or even past April, it may be time to replace him with a live body for additional depth security.

The issue for this team is that it actually has a decent rotation with no glaring hole at a spot and (knock on wood) currently no big injuries. It's a good thing for the Rockets. But a quality vet on the buyout market is most likely going to look for a team where they can play as much as possible and have as little competition at their position as possible.

The Clippers, for example, got Glen Davis because their bench bigs suck (still out of shape Hedo and Ryan Hollins). They are also likely to be attractive to Danny Granger because their SFs are Matt Barnes and Jared Dudley, who can easily be displaced if Granger plays with any kind of competence. The JJ Reddick injury also opens up a bit more of the wing minutes.

 

Okay, we get it: every single verifiable statistic on the planet suggests he's complete garbage as a player, BUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTT he can shoot the 3 (kind of - career 34%). Boom!

By that minimal standard, I suppose in your mind we should be calling up the Earl Clark and Jamison types as well. Fortunately, none of them would be good enough to crack the rotation so the point is moot.

This is truly a bizarre argument you're making. You're taking a player that will be lucky to ever sign another NBA contract, dressing him up as a "slight upgrade" or whatever and then tossing the hyperbole MY way for questioning the credibility of such a dubious argument. You can't have it both ways. By suggesting he would be upgrade you're implying that he can and should play over these other guys. It's too late to try to pump the brakes.

"Checking the numbers" is not something you should be telling me to do with an argument like this.

Let's look at some RP48's from this year:

Jones 12.4
D-Mo 11.2
CV 8.4

...or over the course of his career

CV 10.6 average

87 players are posting a better RP48 rate than CV this year and 59 are better than his career average.

Let's look at some REBR's from this year:

Jones 14.4
DM 12.9
CV 9.2

156 players have posted a better Rebound Rate than 9.2!

Where are these "number" you are alluding to?

This data is so easy to find my 11-year-old cousin could do it.

Between D-Mo, Casspi and Asik they are a combined -10.1 defensively.

Casspi gets a lot of crap around here for trying to do too much offensively, but the fact of the matter is he's been a solid addition on both ends of the court. Asik is Asik and D-Mo has quietly been establishing himself as a difference-maker defensively.

He's not "crappy". He just has a lot to learn. Right now, he's getting by on talent and athleticism alone. The sheer fact that he is able to even do that in the first place is remarkable. He's an incredible talent with boatloads of upside. He just needs game experience to learn why trying to get by on those two factors alone isn't going to work. It's all a part of the maturing process.

It's simple: Casspi is a mimimum salary player that's been solid and has far exceeded expectations, but he's peaked as a role player. The opportunity to swap him for an All-Star level talent like Granger is a complete no-brainer and would improve our bench by default. Not a knock on Casspi at all (I've been a huge supporter and defender of his), but Granger could easily come in here and do the same things that he does.

I mean, Granger is a career 38% shooter from distance and can play minutes at the 4. Shouldn't you be doing backflips?

 

Unless Hamilton evolves into a legitimate contributor I think we do have a glaring hole at the backup 2/3. I'd like a guy we can count on, to go out there and help reduce Harden & Parsons' minutes down the stretch.

Harden is a physical player. The wear and tear adds up. Parsons is only a few weeks removed from ongoing back issues. A player that can spell those two during the regular season would be nice. And McHale has been vocal about looking for a defensive oriented wing.

We haven't replaced Delfino or playoff Garcia yet. We have deadly, consistent long distance shooter. And I also still think Camby is a possibility although you'd think the Thunder would want him.

 

I'd be surprised if Camby was still a possibility with Asik back.

 

I think Hamilton will be ok, but we have give him a couple of games to adjust.

But I agree on the glaring Hole at the 2/3.

T_Man