Trade Ariza and no run for the 'ship next season. There is no player in this draft that will come anywhere near Ariza's production next season. And that is not even taking into consideration Ariza's almost perfect fit in the Rockets offensive and defensive systems. Especially defensive.
Absolutely. Durant hanging out with harden and Dwight in Vegas isn't coincidence. I've also been seeing KDs brother has been hanging out in Houston a lot as well. Cyber has mentioned before rockets are going to push hard for KD. Whatever moves we make this off season have to leave open the possibility to be flexible enough to obtain KD.
IT, Bradley, Smart..... If a deal cant be swung for a toptier pg (Lowry, Lawson...) then I gotta believe one of the 3 has to be attainable.... at reasonable expense.... pair them up with PBev, give JT the min at 3rd pg and thats a reasonable trio... better than the Prigs/JT duo this post season...
Just thinking through this.....there is a way to get Love without trading Ariza. First, Love needs to decline his player option and forego 2015 free agency. I don't think this is likely, as his plan is probably to sign for the max this summer and get a player option for 2016-17. Then in July, trade KPap, Prigioni, DMo, TJones, and SnT Beverley to Cleveland for Love.
I figure that's always been the plan. I'm sure he'd leap at the chance to do a sign-and-trade for Love or Aldridge if the opportunity presents itself. But Durant is the ultimate prize for Morey. I do have a couple reservations about it though(aside from the obvious question of whether he even wants to come here). First, he's coming off of several foot surgeries. That's no minor injury, and no one knows that better than Rockets fans and management after Yao Ming. So maybe we should wait and see if Durant can fully recover and regain his MVP form before planning 2016 around him. Second, the Rockets made it all the way to the WCF and might've won it all(or at least would've come closer) had they been fully healthy. I sincerely hope Morey and Les don't downgrade the roster heading into 2015-16 just to preserve "flexibility" for next summer. We all saw how that blew up in their faces last offseason.
This. Tony's been in Houston numerous times. Actually exchanged numbers with the guy and he even invited me to a Thunder game which me and a couple of friends went to. I can give y'all proof of that too.
Someone (can't remember who) also mentioned that Harden has been skeptical of making certain moves because he wants room for Durant next summer. When you add in that Morey said the goal this offseason is to "keep this team intact", it seems that they are really more focused on 2016 than 2015.
Did anybody ever find a pic of Dwight in Vegas? People kept saying this, but he appeared to be in Houston the entire time.
I like this post. It covers a lot. "Flexibility" is great, but will only take you so far in the playoffs, and asks James Harden to do a hell of a lot. (Something LeBron was saying about himself last night.) I do hope "flexibility" includes the chance to seriously upgrade the roster now. If KD actually told Harden to relay to Morey, "Save a roster spot for me, no doubt, in 2016," then that's one thing. But even then, KD had that major issue with his foot last year, and if that doesn't resolve itself for the better....then what? Daryl likes to swing for the fences. We did dodge a bullet when Bosh and Parsons both came down with injuries during the season; even Melo was hobbled (another star we chased to no avail). If KD is The Prize, Morey will definitely get Dwight to opt out and sign a re-structured deal. I do wonder who'll be here this season and how much Morey will want to tie up with Beverly and/or Llull, etc.
The NBA used to be: PG, SG, SF, PF, C. The NBA Today is: PG, Swingman x3, Post guy. Time to stock up on your 3 & D guys!
I would imagine most of this roster will be brought back intact(barring Aldridge or Love becoming available via sign-and-trade) and I'm fine with that. In fact, I want that. Howard, Harden, D-Mo, Ariza, and Capela should all return. If Smith, Brewer, Terry, and Bev can be retained for the right price, I'd want them here too. Where I'm concerned is that I don't want Morey allowing some of our free agents to walk just because he's afraid they'll tie up too much capspace next summer. Don't sacrifice a shot at the title in 2015-16 just for a swing for the fences in the Durant sweepstakes. Besides, it's not like he can't dump some of those contracts if necessary. The Rockets were able to ditch Asik and Lin rather easily and even wound up with a higher first rounder in the process. And yes, I have no doubt Dwight will opt out and sign a new deal. I just hope he's not under the delusion that he's worth max money(i.e. 30 mil/yr) under the new cap. Hell, he won't even be worth max money under the current cap.
Its still confusing how so many people want to trade off Ariza. I think he's here to stay and after being traded once by this team he still signed a FA deal here and was easily the 3rd best player with a team friendly deal to boot.
I personally don't think Morey is worried about what I highlighted. Why should he be? With the Rockets roster limitations for resigning these guys (basically only Brewer is a threat to get a large contract offer and the MLE use), I find it hard for the Rockets to NOT have max cap space available next Summer regardless. Based on some rough math if all of these things come into fruition- -Dwight opts in next summer -Dwight, Harden, Ariza, Capela are retained -D-Mo and Jones' cap holds are on the books as they go into RFA -two rookies from this year are retained -Full MLE used & is multi-year (Llull, Kj, or Smith) -Brewer is resigned at 8 mil this next year and 2015/16 Than the Rockets would be somewhere around 75 million in salary against a salary cap of 89 million. That's basically worst case scenario with capspace. I wouldn't be shocked if Dwight opts out, and signs a long term deal that actually helps create some cap space in year 1 but is longer than he'd normally get at his age with his injury risk. I'd also be surprised if the full MLE used this year didn't have some type of team options on year two. Lasty I'd be floored if Brewer was both resigned at something crazy like 8 mil per, and didn't have a team option on year 2 or a significantly lower number. When Cyberx said that the Brewer retainment could impact Llull this is probably what his sources were referring to. Making sure both guys have the second year with team options or lower year 2 numbers is vital. I would think that Morey goes into this Summer having one thing in mind- -Team options for year 2 on these contracts if he can bring back Brewer, Smith, and use the MLE. The other silver bullet he needs to keep in his chamber is enough picks available to be able to move Ariza if Durant decides to come to Houston.
