Leslie Alexander: Rockets plan 'to bring in a terrific free agent', will 'be a lot better' next seas

Trade would be amazing, as we'd still have our MLE.

 

Bosh would be perfect. And yet we would still need to fix our horrific perimeter D. And no real PG.....

Daryl, ya gots your work cut out for ya!

 

The Rockets can move Asik without giving up any assets.

The Rockets can move Lin by including draft picks and the max cash limit.

The real "hold up" is whether the Rockets will get a commitment from a star player....

 

Exactly. Same as last year. time to get Chandler out of the tanning bed and on the phone with Melo

 

Morey only said CP is safe.

Asik and Lin better pack.

 

We're going to need a lot of defensive players to make up for Harden. I'm down with Troy Daniels as our backup SG. Is Parsons defense elite? He seems tradable in my eyes especially when he is due for a raise.


For every position other than SG/C we basically need someone who can defend and knock down 3s. Examples: Lowry, Ariza, Klove (although not really know for D). Will also need a backup big to replace Asik although not as important since Dwight will be locking down that position anyways.

Lastly depending on who were going after, keep or fire McHale. (Lowry=Fire/Love=Keep)

 

Also said Daniels is safe.

 

It is unlikely Parsons is traded unless it is for Kevin Love. The reason is that the Rockets can sign a max free agent (Anthony), then use the full MLE (Tucker) and then sign Parsons.

The Rockets would essentially be finding a way to get around the cap rules and have 3 MAX players and another NEAR MAX player (Parsons) and the MLE.

Concerning defense, it is a lot harder to predict than offense. There is a wide fluctuation in defensive contribution and efforts from one year to the next. Yes, there are a select few players (Howard/Paul/Bogut) that are good from year to year, but more players see their defensive change depend on their offensive role (Affalalo, Parsons, Bryant) and quality of the system and familiarity the players have with one another.

 

This isn't possible. As soon as we get under the cap, we're no longer eligible for the MLE (hence 'Exception'). You can't have cap room and get a salary cap exception in the same summer. The only way we keep the MLE is if we stay above the cap by acquiring a Melo/whoever through trade or sign & trade.

Of course you should consult with Bima or some other cap expert, there's always the chance that I'm completely wrong

 

I think Parsons CAN be a great defender for us with the right Coach and system.


JVG said on a Zach Lowe podcast recently that he can get anyone to play defense, so 99 percent of Coaches always want an offensive player when getting players, because offense is always harder than defense to create.

 

I'll tell you one MLE target I am a fan of: Anthony Morrow



You get Harden, Daniels and Morrow on the court at the same time.....good god.

 

Ryan Bernardoni ‏@dangercart 18m
@dmorey @Houstonhogan7 but if you go under the cap you lose MLE and BAE and get RME instead... Can't have all three, right?


Daryl Morey ‏@dmorey 17m
@dangercart @Houstonhogan7 @BimaThug can't have all 3, yes



LOL at him tagging BimaThug when he wasn't even in the tweet. I guess he read BimeThug's blog post on this site.




Hi Morey!

 

Les would dump Lin and the Chinese ads for a FA? Go for it, Les. Get Lebron, not Melo. Lebron means championship ring and Melo means the miserable Knicks.

 

Seriously, we just need a better coach, perhaps a stretch 4, Les, and you don't have to spend that much more compared to a terrific FA.

 

If we lose Lin & a young player (TJ or DMO?), then we are still competitive. If we lose Asik, how are we going to play Portland next year? Melo can guard LMA? No chance.

 

That's awesome.

 

Why do some people not realize that we are going to lose Asik no matter what? We can trade him and get someone good in return or we can let him walk for nothing at the end of the season and then have to play the game all over again.

Asik is gone.

 

Lets put this to bed and look at the flipside.

LMA going to guard Melo? What happens when Melo takes LMA off the dribble and LMA collects fouls trying to guard him? How is the Rockets defense now with LMA on the bench in foul trouble?

Carmelo at the PF spot (with Dwight at center) is a matchup nightmare for most teams.

 

Quoted for truth.

And not only can the Rockets move Asik without giving any assets, I bet they can squeeze an asset out of the other team. Maybe a 2nd round pick, maybe even a 1st round pick. And then in turn that obtained asset could be attached to Lin.

 

I don't see how this is possible. If we have Melo ($22.46m), Howard ($21.44m), Harden ($14.73m), and just a cap-hold on 9 empty roster spots ($4.5m), that sums up to $63.1m, leaving us $100k under the cap.

That means to sign Melo as an FA for the max, we'd have to dump Lin, Asik, Jones, Motie, Garcia, Powell, Casspi, Parsons, Beverley, Canaan, Covington, Daniels, and our first round pick.

So, I think he's saying max as in the baby-max for players with 0-6 years experience, which is $15.8m. Dumping Lin, Asik, and Casspi (or Powell) would give you $16m. The mid-tier max is $19.0m. You'd have to also drop something like the first rounder + Motie + Garcia + the remaining of Casspi/Powell.

I don't really see any attractive free agents at these levels though. We could overpay an RFA so his team won't match, but that doesn't look like a good plan. Or get a sub-max guy like Luol Deng.

I think trades are more attractive. S&T for someone like Melo is possible with Lin/Asik, but who knows if Morey can pull that off. Trades for guys under contract seem the likeliest to me.