Dakota good to see you are starting to come down from your Trade Deadline blues. I too am glad it is over and looking forward to seeing some games. I really have less fear about the future with these moves then if we had done something like DMo NOP and Capela for Dragic who wants the maximum. Either way I don't think we are winning it all this year and with Capela and McDaniels we have two of the very top prospects for last year's draft from a physical talent perspective.
I think people biggest issue is they can see the writing on the wall. Harden will get worn out by the playoffs and come playoff time teams will be double and triple teaming him. We have no oother pplaymaker. This is a recipe for playoff didisaster. Just lool at what we need Harden to do to beat medocure to average teams.. I didn't want to trade the farm but we desperately needed a playmaker.
Actually yes there can be a pretty big upside if you all would calm down. Trevor Ariza can get more rest with a decent defensive SF behind him.
This seems like a big ol' strikeout, but I'm not even mad. If you take big hacks at the plate, you will strike out a bunch. That's just the odds. As long as you hit it over the fence every once in a while, you're good. Brewer and Josh Smith were both big hits earlier this year. If you sum all moves since the start of the regular season, the Rockets have improved as much as anybody in their moves.
Don't forget Brewer. Shved was just a throw-in on that trade with the outside hope that he could play.
I will reserve judgement on today's moves until the end of the season. If KJ comes in and rides the pine for the rest of the season then that move makes no sense but if he comes in and becomes a rotation player and contributes then it may work out. If Prigioni (sp??) comes in and takes Canaans spot buried on the bench then I will be scratching my head on that move also.
Our rotation is now.... Beverley / Prigioni Harden / Terry Ariza / Brewer DMo / TJones Howard / Smith KJ McDaniels is going to get locked out, and we will offer him a decent salary in free agency.
Prigioni plays alot like Calderon, even though Calderon is better. I think that Prigioni will actually help this team. He can be a true PG and run a team and hit open 3s. Plus hes Argentinian, those boys are fearless. (delfino,ginobli,scola)
If Harden, Terry or Beverly got injured... I would rather an experienced Prigioni running the offense than Canaan. KJ will get some PT and his length on D will help come up big in the playoffs. IMO
sorry i guess it was a bit vague in my original post -- I meant that I wish Prigs was backing up a better starting PG than Bev
Prigioni was injured for most of the season. By the time he got healthy, the Knicks' season was already in the ****ter and they were opting to develop their young guys (Early, Galloway, etc.), which is why he hasn't seen rotation minutes in the few games where he wasn't unavailable due to injury.
Then maybe you should quit watching the team. I mean you already know how the their next 7 years are going to go.
Prigioni can sure shoot the basketball and he can handle the ball. I like it. I would of course rather have one of the other 5 traded today, but this IS an upgrade from Canaan rotting on the bench. I don't know why he was rotting, but he was, so yes, it's an upgrade. He will play. McDaniel feels like the Jordan Hamilton trade part deux (duex?).
But even with them, we were losing in the worst way to the best teams. We needed something to push us over the top. We zeroed in already what our top needs were--playmaker, 3pt specialist, back-up center. And we got nothing. Prig is maybe good for 10-12 pts, not for big numbers.
We're still struggling in the backup center department. Dorsey is not the answer and Capella needs more development, but he's showing promise. Small ball kind of works with Josh Smith as center or DMo for small stretches, but still we need a backup center better than Dorsey.
Prigioni a huge pickup. Tough cagey veteran Argentinian who's a low turnover good 3pt shooting, excellent free throw shooter and smart. Another under the radar pickup by Morey that should pay big dividends in playoffs.
If we take a step back looking at the season we've lost games (not counting Howard playing injured), when Harden/Beverly/Ariza go to the bench the "elite" teams run up the score on us then we end up loosing by 10 points..heck more than that when we play Golden State. Hopefully the new additions will help alleviate the 10-15 point negative margin swings that Harden and the rest of the starters gotta climb back from when they get back in the game from getting a few minutes of rest on the bench. If KJ and Prigioni become "difference makers" in this regard then Morey is a genius once again.
Yes Capella and KJ are bright young stars that will develop over time. However, developmental players don't push teams into contention and will not help us in the playoffs. We did not get better with this trade and we did not get worse either; we just stood pat. It doesn't make sense to me at all, but we will have to reserve judgment for the end of the season and playoff performance. What this really shows us is that we are trying to keep 2016 as "flexible as possible" which indicates management doesn't really expect to win this year. They will tell us that they do plan on advancing and cashing in during the playoffs, but behind closed doors I honestly feel they are banking on 2016. Which means we better not strikeout in 2016, because harden will surely leave if we strikeout in 2016.
