What does this post even mean? Who is talking about those guys? Anyway -- nice article, Clutch. Would love, love, love to see Millsap in a Rockets' jersey come October. Agree w/ all of your statements regarding our needs and hope they all come to fruition (especially a leap in maturity for Harden).
This would necessitate the star to be a PG, yes? Lin on his good games is the closest semblance we have to a high performance PG.
James Harden can flat out defend and we have seen that occasionally through out the season. The problem is him DEFENSIVE AWARENESS. It's a mental thing to most young players like Clutch mentioned. Defense is all about your awareness and your effort. He is the most talented player on the team and can only get better.
Like you, I do hope that if Lin and Asik are moved, that this happens before training camp. The new team needs time to bond and gel, and to wait after the trading deadline in February of 2015 would be a waste of time.
Very reasonable as long as Toronto accepts a Lin-Lowry S&T swap and Atlanta agrees to Asik for Millsap. With that being said, I'm not sure if Morey would be inclined to lock us up in a long term relationship with Lowry; Millsap, however is on an ideal contract that expires after next season.
Great write up, Clutch. Everything was on point. How much is Ariza expected to get, compared to Chandler? If he's getting less, then he could be a solid replacement. No guessing game there. He'd be a role player and we can try for a start at the 4. I know people see Ariza's good year as a contract performance, but it looks like he's steadily improved his shooting. Plus, we got him at 24. At 28, he's probably matured now and has better habits.
rondo also expires in 2015. rondo- harden- parsons- millsap- howard. doesn't sound bad either. still need a higher caliber vet wing. back up center as well.
Why would Toronto move Lowry? He is being hailed as a hero over there and rightly so. If you want to move Lin for Lowry you would really need to sweeten the pot.
The Wizards will overpay Ariza. The Rockets best hope is to go after other guys like PJ Tucker, AK47, & maybe Granger.
Excellent article, agree with everything except that I think it is more likely that Lin and Asik get moved during the season, rather than before the season, as other teams would have to pay a lot less then to acquire pretty decent players.
We have talked about the need to upgrade the pg and pf positions, but we also need to address the backup sg and sf positions. Parsons and Harden cannot be forced to continue to play 40+ minutes a game because their backups suck. Both got worned out by the end of the regular season, and I suspect, had something to do with their lackuster playoff peformances.
Woof. Defense is a cheap commodity in the NBA, and cheaper the younger the player you find. DJ Strawberry if you remember years back was this sort of guy, brought in only because he was long and had potential. If nothing else we could look to draft a defender in the second round.
Agree with the move this year mainly because of Parsons. Whether it's Melo, Bosh, Dirk,Lowry/Milsap, you've got to cap out this year to go over the cap to resign Parsons and then use the MLE on a vet.
