I don't see Jeff Teague fitting Morays' plans. He has a significant contract and doesn't look that "third star." He is super quick but not exactly super effective. Not a good range shooter, middling shooting efficiency and turns the ball over a lot. Hasn't exactly carried his team anywhere and the Hawks seem willing to give his job to Dennis Schroeder. Instead of getting Teague, Morey could have just signed someone like Aaron Brooks to fill the same role for much cheaper. Morey has been very carefully carving out and preserving cap flexibility, blowing it on Jeff Teague would be a panic move.
Would be genuinely sad to see Pat Bev go, if true. Jeff Teague is solid though. Doubt it happens, but interesting deal, if true.
Frankly, Beverley is a better player on a better contract than Teague. Why would HOU have to throw in a 1st round pick?
Holy ****. Beverley better than Jeff Teague? Are you insane? Sure, he's on a better contract, but Chandler Parsons was on a better contract than Lebron James or Kevin Durant the last couple of seasons. Look guys, Teague is better than Beverley at about everything except three point shooting & defense. You take Teague over Beverley almost every time. When Harden & Dwight can't get a bucket who do we have to score for us? Jeff Teague would be able to solve that problem being our third option. Not even like Teague is a terrible defensive player. Don't act like Teague has some cancer-esque contract which would completely ruin everything either. Teague is owed 24 million for the next three years. That's a really, really nice contract. I love Patrick, but when you can trade a back up for a starter you do it. To be fair, Patrick has been playing well for us. His durability worries me at the same time though. This trade wouldn't sense for the Hawks. It would be an absolute steal if Morey pulled it off.
Well lets not focus on the Beverley part, because the offer is third hand at best. Lets just speculate for the moment of what adding Jeff Teague to this roster means. Teague is earning an Ariza-esque contract at three years 24 million, and I would go so far as too say he is on Ariza's level in terms of caliber of player. He provides a need in that we sure could use another creator, specifically when Harden is on the bench. The unknown of Beverley's next deal could be another factor, especially considering what happened with Parsons. I will confess that I don't much about Teague and really can only look at his numbers on paper. I crunched the numbers of just adding Teague's deal, without subtracting anyone else. Lets just assume, for discussion we took him on for the Lin TPE and the NOP pick (not pushing for that, but just as an example). If the cap smoothing occurs, up to 75 million, and we give away the young PF duo, we still have ~15 million in cap space which is enough to add a fairly significant piece. That is more than enough for a Dragic, Rondo, or Milsap. Alternatively, we could obtain a guy like Illyasova and push off the free agency till the Durant sweepstakes one year later. Bottom line is, assuming cap smoothing and minor manuevering like we did with Patterson/Morris, adding Teague would not really hinder flexibility. EDIT: With Doc Rockets tweet, another scenario comes to mind. Perhaps Phoenix has concerns with Dragic's impending free agency, however doesn't want to sell him off for our pieces. Perhaps replacing him with Teague who has a very manageable deal is more desirable. That would make sense with Bledsoe and Thomas's deals.
Regarding the Doc Rocket tweet, I can understand why Phoenix would want to flip Dragic in exchange for Teague's contract certainty, but perhaps they are talking about Millsap/Horford? There is a huge hole in the PHX frontcourt that would make more sense to address than continuing the three-PG experiment (failure). If we were to trade for him, it would also make sense from our perspective...
PHX would be wrong though to trade Dragic. Dragic sets the tone for the PHX system. Thomas was probably leverage for Bledsoe.
So... Jeff Teague eh?... -8 million per for each of the next 3 years. (If TPE used, locks Rockets out of potential FA cap space) -15PPG/ 5APG / 45% FG%/ 2 TOV per/ 35% 3Pt% is the best you can expect statistically from Teague. If you compare PER 36 with other PG's such as Aaron Brooks, & DJ Augustin its pretty clear that while Teague might do some things better & might get slightly more assists, he's very much NOT a superior PG. Guys... the Rockets could do much, much better than this. If Atlanta wants to pay the Rockets by giving them draft picks to take on Teague so they can play the German kid more than the Rockets should definitely look into it. I mean Teague is good so to speak, and the Rockets do need a quality PG who can play better offense than Beverley, and defend better than 75 year old JET. However in 2 years, I would be willing to bet that given the opportunity, Canaan will be almost just as effective as Teague IMO. Might not be the assisting PG that Teague is, but he will be a better shooter & scorer & he's proven in his short time on the floor that he is a capable defender. The Rockets need to see what they have in Canaan first before they explore trades like this. Yes, it might throw McHale out of his damn comfort zone, and maybe cost them a game of two, but I hate the idea of making a bone headed trade like this when you might have a PG of equal talent that your coach just doesn't trust for whatever stupid reason.
And what does this team need? 3PT shooting and Defense. Sure, 1 on 1 Teague may be better, but Bev is a better fit for this team. A playmaker such as Teague as the 6th man would be huge, but if you swapped Bev and Teague, our team would be worse off, and you expect us to throw in a 1st on top of it?
Yes, but so is Aaron Brooks, DJ Augustin, and Darren Collison. All making a small portion of what Teague is making. JT is an upgrade from Bev & Terry, but its besides the point. The Rockets can do just as good with less with another PG, and upgrade other roles on the team. JT is not a Morey type of move. I'm not buying this "Insider" report. I'm sure Morey is talking to Atlanta as much as possible though, but I'm sure he's probably looking to make a "Bait and Switch" type of proposal. Show intrigue in Teague to get them talking, then turn the tables to try and get Horford or if he's lucky, Millsap. That sounds much more like Morey to me.
They better throw in Korver if we're getting Teague. There's a reason why Danny Ferry has been trying to trade him ever since he became the GM there and that's because Teague isn't a top flight point guard.
The poster above made a good point with Rockets possibly not wanting to pay Beverley. If we want to go after lets say Durant is 2016, we can't have Beverley who is injury prone on a overpriced contract (which he will likely get). Teague is on a value contract much like Ariza and would be quite easy to move. So in that light, the trade does make sense. If the hawks can dump Teague, Korver, Sefelosha and Scott for expiring and contracts and picks, they would be set to have up to 40+ million in cap this next free agency with the current projected cap. And with all the centers, and PG's in this upcoming free agency (Rondo, Dragic, Asik, Jordan etc) They would have plenty of room to sign up to 2 major plays while being able to resign Milsap. Or if they want to let Milsap walk, they could sign 3 new major players. So, to me it makes plenty of sense for both teams. Rockets would just need to do a second trade to net us a starting PF.
From what I've been hearing, DM likea Teague, Korver and Payne. 2 of those 3 would be coming here in a deal with the Hawks. Tjones, Bev and Capella out. No Millsap or Hortford.
I would help Jones and Bev pack their bags if we get Teague AND Korver. I'll drive them to ATL myself. Korver is not just an all-time 3 point shooter but also a good player in his own right as well. Grantland Article on Korver
why does everyone keep saying this? the rockets were #1 defensively without Beverley for a majority of the season thus far... the rockets need a secondary ballhandler BADLY. Right now it is James Harden or bust... nobody else can create their own shot efficiently or create anything for each other. Teague is a major upgrade over Canaan/Terry and if we could somehow get them to give up Teague + (Horford or Millsap) we would be so much better than we are now and both are on team friendly deals!
