[Spanish Radio] Sergio Llull close to deciding to join the Rockets?

How can you can not hire a guy with 4 Ls in his name? That's SO many Ls.

 

DM and mcHale are clearly high on him enough to keep pursuing him. They've juged talent fairly well so though I don't know his game at all I do trust them to evaluate what's best for the team.

What are our other options? using the MLE on llull takes away the ability to aggressively retain smith and KJ. That's really the decision because we'd still have our picks and trade pieces to upgrade this roster elsewhere.

So the question is do you think Llull is more valuable to this roster than making sure you can keep Smith and KJ? Remember there's still the possibility you can retain both if either decides to take less or is offered less.

 

His last name is 80% L's.

 

I don't want Smith back if it takes the MLE anyway. Not consistent enough.

I like him as a low cost bench option that has to earn his playing time every night.

 

You are a quality poster and I respect your views but I feel the situation with Lawson has changed significantly. He's had a massive falling out with denver and he's stated he doesn't want to be part of the rebuilding effort, I don't the Nuggets wanting to hold onto him if he's not invested, he can be had. If Harden wants him here I think it will get done.

 

Yes thats what i wanted to say with my post. Its not between lawson and llull. And people are watching a free donkey and dont like its teeth as we say here (probably doesnt make sense in english lmao)

 

Haha that is a great expression!

 

We don't need him to be a star. We do need him to be consistent and decent. We'll see if he is or not I hope. I'll wish for the best. Not much else to do right now.

 

We have a similar expression: don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

Thank you for your kind words. Please do argue thats what forums are for to argue
The Denver trainwreck has been going on all season not only now. At the start of this year most thought they would make the playoffs. Lawson himself went to reddit and said the goal was a high seed.( hes a notorious nba reddit poster).
thrn shaw proved how out of touch he was with reality. They have been fighting with Lawson an Faried. B
ut people have to understand that the Denver front office is not competent. They dont know the cba even. But in contrast with other cases that makes them even tougher to make deals with. They are delusional. They wont trade until they get what they want otherwise they will keep and trade later. They have him for the next 2 years. They have many trading seasons to wait.
I hope d'antoni is not hired because that lessens the chance of Lawson traded. He is the perfect fit for his system.

 

Keeping expectations low, I think at worst he's a decent backup PG (upgrade over Prigs) and at best he's a solid 6th man.

 

All he does is win, though. Sergio Wwuww

 

Downside is Jeremy Lin.
Upside is Goran Dragic.

 

The only players Morey will go all in for is a "third star". Llull is just filling in for a position of need. How do we know how he will handle Curry, CP3, or Westbrook? All three of those dudes are likely to be Hall of Famers and will score 30 on pretty much anyone. I don't think anyone here thinks he's the second coming of Steph Curry, or Steve Nash, and he doesn't need to be. This kid looks like he can handle the ball, shoot the 3, and play a little defense. Parsons was that 15-20 point player but he forgot how to play defense and costs a lot more. This kid's 3pt fg% is about the same as Parsons and he can slash to the basket.

 

Didn't read the whole thread.

He's rumored to be coming... as in strong rumor with a lot of teeth... or as in some random dudes on twitter suspect it might happen?

I think I like Llull... and I think I like him even more for the MLE, since he theoretically should outperform that contract... but i have no clue.

I certainly hope if the opportunity to trade for a Lowry/Lawson pops up that DM doesn't pass on it because they prefer Llull. And to the extent there might have been something better pop up to use the MLE on, that'd be disappointing... but its hard to imagine what that'd be

 

Ok but the Rockets better get Lawson as well.
Llull hasn't plYed 1 NBA game.

We need Lawson ,a gut that can create for others and get his own shot.

 

Watched this a few days ago, and it's what convinced me he can play in the NBA. It's 4-5 years old, but you can see the athleticism and skill in his game.

Skill is what this team lacks. We have all the athleticism in the world between Harden, Brewer, Dwight, TJones, etc. What we lack is multiple guys that can see the right play a second before it happens. Papanikolaou has some of that, but the ankle injury really set him back.

I tend to feel that "Plan A" is to sign Llull to almost the full MLE (leave a little room to sign the NYK 2nd rounder pick) and bring back Beverley. It costs us almost no assets, and gives us a significant upgrade to what we had in the playoffs (Llull/Beverley vs Terry/Prigioni).

All of our other assets need to be saved for a bigger move, bringing in other complimentary pieces, and/or bringing in more young talent.

Trading significant assets for a point guard is the anti-Morey way unless that point guard is named CP3/Curry/Westbrook/etc. He hasn't done it, and I doubt he will this time.

 

*played
*guy

 

This.

Signing Llull gives the Rockets the flexibility to either bring back the whole gang plus add the extra playmaker we've been missing OR trade/let walk Bev, Terry, Johnson, etc for other point guard prospects. If he does sign, it's hard to read anything into it other than "the rockets think this guy is an asset."

It wouldn't surprise me if they then resigned Beverley, had Llull come off the bench behind him with Terry as the third guard.

It also wouldn't surprise me if they let Bev walk, traded for Lawson and had a Lawson/Llull platoon.

But then again, who would really be surprised if we ended up with Llull penciled in as our starting guard with Jason Terry and Tyus Jones backing him up?

Or Llull, Nick Johnson, and Ish Smith (again?!?)

Or Bev, Llull, Jerian Grant, and Jeremy Lin to a cheap and wacky contract (and Nick Johnson gets traded to the Knicks, where he blows up)?


We know from experience that Morey isn't afraid to start a season with lopsided rosters and contracts that are basically signed just to trade. Even in a contending year. Llull just gives us more flexibility to jump on whatever opportunity comes our way.

 

Huh?

You do know that Llull is considered a vastly superior player than Papa in Europe, correct?

Papa was considered a good role player in Europe and Llull is viewed as a franchise player.

Nothing special? He has exceptional body control and exceptional handles.