The Clippers have completely retooled their bench and made it much stronger... Wesley Johnson, Lance Stephenson, Josh Smith and Paul Pierce are great additions. Starters: CP3 DJ Griffin Reddick Smith Bench: Rivers Davis Johnson Pierce Stephenson That is much better than what we current have assembled...
Big loss, when you consider his cost. What is Josh thinking though? He just played in the CFs He was playing with his friend, Dwight What gives?
I actually concluded a while back that I would leave if I was Josh Smith. It just seems disrespectful to leave him in limbo while waiting on some nobody 4th string forward. I wish Josh the best.
From what I recall Smith was really struggling in that series even more so than Jones and we had a really weak bench coming in, I thought at the time that move was more to get Smith playing alongside Harden/Howard to take some attention off of him.
Dwight's not leaving. He just had a snake tank put in his Houston home that was featured on the show Tanked on Animal Planet. Well at least that's how the episode and meaning played out in my head. Today I'm just sad...sad because we got worse.
I'm freaked out because we have a team full of injury prone players with no depth. 3 Freaking starters that are bound to get hurt again. DH - Injury prone now PB - Gets injured every year DM - Who knows how good he is after last year's injury
One thing is for sure: Clippers won't let Josh play the way he wants to. He had freedom here in Houston. I wonder if the Clippers will get on him to practice three pointers if he wants to shoot threes in the game... I mean Rockets were the first team that embraced his silly style of play.
I watched every game man and he had about 4 good playoff games, he had some games when he was horrible. Again, if we are planning on relying on that then we were in trouble. My point is, he's replaceable. He's a good player coming off the bench, but his value to this team wasn't that to Ariza/Harden/Dwight or even a healthy Dmo. That's one thing we are forgetting, getting Dmo back healthy is the biggest thing we can hope for this year. The rest of the guys behind him can fill in, especially around Dwight and Harden.
That team is drama waiting to happen. Chris Paul is going to EXPLODE when Lance does Lance things and Josh does Josh things and it's going to be super awkward and this coming from a team that doesn't need any more internal strife. Essentially Doc Rivers went all in on his ability to pull together a team from malcontents and failed experiments elsewhere. Maybe he pulls it off, and I don't doubt that there will be nights where the Clippers look absolutely unbeatable....but I'm mostly skeptical that you can succeed adding headcases to a team that just came off of an epic collapse. Paul Pierce was a great signing for them - but I don't like Smith & Lance on that roster.
I will say this. Doc Rivers has his work cut out for him. DeAndre is probably expecting to get more touches next season. And Smith with a "more defined role" is probably thinking he's gonna be their point forward off the bench and be running the show whenever Paul isn't. The Clippers will have a good record barring injuries, but the chemistry could be toxic if everyone doesn't get what they're expecting.
Wesley Johnson and Lance Stephenson are terrible. Josh Smith isn't going to start at SF. Paul Pierce isn't really a SF either anymore. They did the best they could with what they had, but the bench is still very weak.
Either he just wants to be in LA or was offended at Morey's 2.5 Million offer when he had the MLE available. If that's the case goodbye Smoove. Not worth the MLE at this point in his career.
dwight bought a $20M house in LA right before coming to HOU. moving a snake tank or getting a new one or getting 25 new ones is not a big deal
I agree! I understand that Morey is planning for Durant. but to just let other opportunities to improve or keep our team at the top of the Western conference walk out the door is something that should put his job at risk. For this to happen I expect Durant to be a Rocket by the start of the season not next year! Josh Smith is not going to be replace by Chuck Hayes talentwise sorry folks. Let KJ walk before Josh Smith, if nothing else he is cementing in Houston Rocket history for the game 6 against the Clippers and to let that walk away for the minimum veteran salary is really making start to worry about where this franchise is going. If this is our team going into the season, I would not be shocked if Harden or Howard start to complain and request a trade to another team, maybe the Clippers!
Bro...They had JJ Reddick controling Harden on defense. Now Harden will see both Reddick and Stephenson. We have no other playmaker. We are significantly worse than the Clippers.
