<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>To transaction-hungry fans (like me), remind yourselves: Rockets have nice players/assets they get to KEEP if they don't make a trade today.</p>— David Weiner (@BimaThug) <a href="https://twitter.com/BimaThug/status/568419175460241408">February 19, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
for the 2nd season in a row morey has constructed a woefully unbalanced roster, this time with one lone reliable playmaker (harden). and likewise, without a trade this team is getting bumped 1st round for the 2nd season in a row.
Agreed. I feel like the West is wide open this year, but with Dwight out for a period of time it would be easy to see us fall down to 5th or worse without any trades, and then you go into the playoffs... Geez. The Harden/Howard window barely open enough to feel a breeze.
Sure , they do .... But a few things we have to consider: They cant do much this offseason to create cap space in order to improve. Many of those assets will expire on the last day of the season - Terry , Shved & possibly Brewer if he opts out. Smith will also be a free agent. Not only will those assets expire but they wont have many options to replace them. I could see them hanging onto Brewer via bird rights and maybe Smith with (all or part of) the taxpayer version of the MLE. If they want to get better now and for next season , they pretty much have to fire that bullet today.
+1. While I don't think its a major setback if no move is made since I have confidence in M0rey's ability to collect replacement players that would bring the team back to a comparable level next year, I am worried we will always just get to that "competing in the bottom half of the playoff seedings" level... always able to compete, but never getting beyond the first round. And as good GSW looks this season, I have to agree that this year more than any other appears to be an open shot at a title. Short of getting a Durant to play alongside Harden, I don't see that chance coming in the future.
I don't think it's all doom and gloom - but if we do get bounced out of the 1st round it will feel like the 20th season in a row.
The team is currently $12.9m over the cap. When Terry , Shved & Smith expire they are still $1.7m over the cap. If Brewer opts out you are $2.99m under the cap with 4 roster spots to fill. You have less than $3m in cap space , the taxpayer MLE & the bird rights to Terry & Brewer. How do you improve ? Sure , you still have the NO pick and two second rounder's (NYK & Denver).
I'm fine at this point with using a second rounder to grab someone like Luke Ridnour or Jarret Jack but we do need a second ballhandler to come in with the second unit. Relying on our open floor style to score without Harden is going to get ugly playoffs. I think our defense is good enough now to cover up a guy that isn't that isn't a good on ball defender.
For the 2nd season in a row, everyone is hating on the Rox and they have quietly achieved a top 4 team in the west. Maybe they get bumped in the first round again but at the same time Rox are playing in the West, and everyone seems to upgrading their roster. Not really sure why everyone's acting like a first round bump would be the end of the world, in the summer you get a nice lotto pick and can get juicer deals. In 2016 you get capspace to sign KD. When the season started out everyone had Rox dead in the water, the "experts" had the team fighting for the 8th spot to falling out of the playoffs. Now in midseason CF is indignant the Rox are "only" a top 4 team in the hypercompetitive West, nevermind that when everyone was healthy the Rox were destroying every team early in the season, funny how nobody was talking about how "unbalanced" the squad looked was then. Honestly I would be happy with a small move, a dude like Jarrett Jack for a 2nd rounder would be great thing to do in the playoffs, I think a secondary playmaker would eb good enough already for this season.
i would be happy with jarret jack as well. but this current roster with no upgrade on perimeter ballhandlers/facillitators is not going to beat a healthy LAC/POR/GSW/MEM/OKC or most likely even SAS in the playoffs. "top 4 team in the west" 1/2 way through the regular season is also not so comforting when you factor in that mchale's rocket teams have each floundered and collapsed in every april he has been here...
Less than 2 hours left. Damn, we might actually not make a trade. If not, then the following are sages: BigShotBob, Carl Herrera, FEAR THE BEARD, Fullcourt, gogispade, GotGame15, Hakeemtheking, Jontro, jzmagic, OlajuwonFan81, paunguye, robbie380, rocketsballin, RocketsFido, Sherlock31, vick, XxTCNxX, Ziggy
Neither is better than Cousins or Ant Davis. We have to go through the draft and have a Top 6 draft pick after the Dwight era.
how many teams contended and won the championships the last 5 years that they had made a trade at the deadline?
