These signings addressed one need only - shooting. There are other major needs that should be addressed before the season starts. -Upgrade playmaker at the 3 (moving Harden to the 3 I guess does this though) -another defensive big (thinking something between a Brandon Bass to trading for an Asik type. Signing Ezeli would be interesting) -adding a Pg (Sergio Llull should get a call but prob won't) I'd like to still keep Ariza but in the starting lineup at the 3 he's a huge liability to the offense as he cannot dribble the basketball. Brewer needs to go to free up more cap then they could heavily pursue Brandon Bass, Llull, and still match Donatas on a reasonable offer and have a pretty solid (although not a true contending) team.
Hopefully Brewer has some trade value. His contract is sensible given the salary cap and some team might need wing depth.
i don't know which team would agree to pay even $1M for a headless chicken whose main defensive strategy is gambling and overcommitting for steals, whilst missing 25 treys in a row over a month long span. even at 'just' $8M, brewer's still one of the worst contracts in the league :grin:
I agree. While Morey & co. are likely trying to sell teams that "look at what teams are playing for wings now.. what a cheap deal for you to get a wing player who has contributed to contending teams in the past", every organization will have at least one guy who either deals with stats, or scouting that had to watch a large majority of the Rockets games to scout. Or knows about just how awful he is as a scoring wing off the bench pretty much in every stat except for pace. Needless to say I'll be SHOCKED if the Rockets are able to unload him without parting with a pick of value. He's truly one of the worst players in the NBA. For years I've been saying that Corey Brewer isn't even a basketball player. He's a track star who has made a career in the NBA by sprinting down the court faster than anyone else. As the NBA continues to get faster and faster by all accounts, the niche tool that Brewer has been over his career becomes less and less useful to the NBA. If the Rockets need to move him for cap space, I think the waive and stretch option might be a reality they have to live with.
I like the stretch provision option if he has zero trade value. I want to turn over most of the roster from last year. But specifically I'd like to move Brew and Ariza off the roster and replace with a younger player with upside. We also need to replace dwights rim protection and rebounding. We need to make a deal for a big
I'm just praying that there's one sucker GM out there that overvalues intangibles and 'veteran leadership' and gives up a top 50 protected pick or something of low value for Brewer.
I agree about the big spot, but I don't necessarily think they need to blow a huge contract on a guy like Ezeli though. They might even want to address this through a 4 like Bass who can be signed much cheaper to help with the dirty work. I like Capela's future but they can't rely on him to be all they need in the paint. But I don't love stumping his growth by committing too much to a guy like Ezeli when its will force him as your starter for the forseable future. Also kind of agree with moving Ariza too, but if you keep him, he's gotta move to play more of the 4 spot off the bench. He's too much of a liability in the offense playing the 3 now where their offense ALWAYS finds the 3 when the ball needs to move and take pressure off of Harden. It finds Ariza, and the posession dies. He's a major liability when he's not on fire from 3.
Good thread. I think Morey will try to sign Tyler Johnson, if Riley is able to match him maybe we'll ask Llull if he wants to come over for the last time. After this we should still have the mini mle right? (not sure that's enough for a decent bench 5 though, maybe for Gentile)
