Through the end of January we'll have played 52 games, five more than CLE, four more than GSW and SAS. The schedule is just brutal right now. But in February we only play 9 games, with two stretches of three straight rest days plus the week-long all-star break. Just need to keep it together for 12 more games, then lick your wounds.
Frankly I think there are greater benefits to sitting both Bev and Gordon for the next game than actually winning that game. We know how good we are now, one loss is not going to matter in the grand scheme of things and we may lose more than 1 if we let both of these injuries linger. I would pull a Popovich and sit Nene as well. Fuggit. The Spurs haven't ever regretted doing that.
I think you acknowledged the reason why he isn't going to 'suck it up'. He has obviously been advised to sit out for mandatory rest - just like Nene. We have much bigger aspirations that Gordon is an integral part of, than a regular season game against Minnesota (even though we are chasing that 2nd seed)
Even with this month's brutal schedule, after today I believe they only have 2 more B2Bs in January. I think they have an away at Miami and then back home for Milwaukee. And then the truly murderous one where they play at home vs Golden State and then travel to Memphis. Otherwise, they get a day off between games which will help them recharge. And one of their B2Bs next month is another home-and-home. Odd that we went years without those and this season we've got 2.
The 1st thing we need at the trade deadline (or before) is a rim protecting center to backup CC. The second thing we need to get is a scoring guard as insurance in case of an injury to Ego. Proposal (add whatever picks you think are fair): Brewer, KJ, and Ennis for Chandler and Barbosa... then with the open roster spot, sign Norris Cole. Not only do they give us what we need, but the suns don't need these old guys which makes it an easier trade. They all have **championship experience**, Barbosa knows MDA's system already and has inside info of the Warriors. Final roster: CC-chandler-nene ryno-trez-nanu aria-dekker-wilt beverley-ego-brown harden-barbosa-cole
I would prefer keeping heat on San Antonio and love the opportunity to steal the #2 seed. Giving us home court advantage until the WCF if GS makes it.
This would be amazing. I honestly don't understand why ppl keep saying Morey is afraid of Chandlers contract. Chandler adds that toughness and length, Barbosa knows exactly how this system works.
It's just one game, and we've performed better against San Antonio away than at home. Think about it logically, the chances of homecourt coming down to one win/loss is slim. Let's assume it happens, since we're close in the standings. San Antonio generously rests its best players year in year out for like 10 years now and they are arguably the most succesful franchise in the NBA over those 10 years, definitely the most succesful in the last 15. If we go into the playoffs with a limping Bev/Gordon or both, that one game at home won't matter because San Antonio will be fresh and they will more easily steal a game on our court. Also, if getting homecourt requires us to drive key contributors into the ground in the regular season while San Antonio manages minutes, then we are likely not better than San Antonio, further eroding the utility of that one game. This is a moot point because MDA seems to be opposed to resting players this way and he is on a vengeance streak to prove that he was always right about his system while Harden wants to prove last season's doubters wrong and Morey wants to vindicate himself after he was alleged to be on the hot seat. Still, I think we have to be rational. We are one game behind San Antonio, and our remaining schedule is easier than theirs. They are going to rest players. We should be able to give Beverley and Gordon a one game rest and try for the win against an extremely mediocre Minnesota. We are currently playing 6 games in 8 nights, I am certain this rest will help us win more games rather than less in the long run.
Did you miss the 2014-15 season? San Antonio went from the 2nd to 6th seed on the final day of the season when they lost in New Orleans(and the Rockets beat Utah). That single loss cost them dearly as they were matched up with the Clippers in Round 1 without homecourt advantage.
As mentioned, Nene will not be traded. Morey is a dog but not that big of a dog. Nene came here for cheap. You can't trade him.
Yeah, I've seen enough to be convinced to operate above or close to the cap this summer. This trade only reduces our flexibility by $5m this summer, but for that $5m extra we are upgrading from Brewer to Chandler. I prefer to get Tucker (instead of Barbosa) even if it requires throwing in a 2nd rounder, but I'm not that fussed about the difference between Tucker and Barbosa. I also prefer to sign Chalmers or Jack over Cole, but again, not a big deal given it's our 4th guard in the rotation. I would need Chandler to make his final year partially guaranteed though. It's just too much for him to get $13.5m when he's 35, it will hamper us. If he agrees to $4-5m partial guarantee on that final year, that means he'll forgo $8.5m. Let's say he's able to play for a team at that age and signs for $2m somewhere, he's now forgone $6.5m. So the question for him becomes: do you want to make $39m total to spend your twilight years with the miserable Suns, or $32.5m to contend with the Rockets and have freedom of movement in the summer of 2018? I believe lower state taxes in Texas might also shrink that difference by a million or two. I think we might be able to convince him. Meanwhile, again, our cap space is reduced by just $5m this summer with no undesirable contracts on the roster. We have an elite C tandem who will give us incredible minutes and has played well in MDA's system before, will mentor Capela and Harrell, former NBA champion who will bring experience to the playoffs, and will be off the books by the time Capela gets big money and hits his prime. If a big time player becomes available this summer, our contracts are all valuable in trade and we can make most things happen. We can move our contracts because we will have retained our draft picks (26th and 35th probably) by not making a high risk trade right now. With those picks you can even move Anderson's $20m IF IT WAS NECESSARY. Honestly, this team has earned the chance to upset the Cavs and Warriors.
I could go to battle with that. (And Bobby Brown would survive again!) Its usually talk about needing 3 & D players, but "Lobs & Stops" is getting important too.
Did you seriously read all the factors I discussed and respond with one incident in 2014-2015? I will ignore the fact that your example is of a team that did not have the gas to win one out of its last 3 games to close out its very next series and came into the playoffs with limping stars. I said it is not likely, and it is not likely even if it has happened before on occasion + we could win more total games even if we lose one + we won't necessarily lose + we are not going to lose home court advantage just by losing one game tonight, we are 5 games ahead of 4th place, we would have to have a general drop in performance for that to happen. You are assuming that there is no impact on Beverley and Gordon's total contribution if you just keep playing them through injuries. In Bev's case, it REALLY has come back to bite us when he has insisted on playing through injuries. I'm saying, we could get more production out of them in the next 40 games by resting them one game. I'm also saying that playing them and winning this one game could result in reduced contributions (whether through injuries or productivity) in the next 40 games. IMO there is no scenario less likely than playing Bev and Gordon through injuries and that having less effect on the W/L column than POSSIBLY losing one game against Minny on the second night of a back to back in the midst of 6 games in 8 nights.
My point is the Rockets have had many seasons come down to a single regular season game determining their playoff positioning. If 2014-15 isn't enough of an example, go back just one year earlier to 2013-14 where the Rockets and Blazers both finished 54-28. It was that miracle comeback against Portland at home where Harden sent the game to OT that gave us homecourt advantage(which McFail promptly squandered with p-sspoor coaching). Maybe the most infamous example was 1992-93 where the Rockets could've had homecourt over Seattle had they simply won one of their final 2 games of the regular season including against the 11-71 Mavericks.
I get your point. I'm specifically saying we can win more and laying out reasons for why I believe that's the case.
i like all of your alternatives (tucker, jack, chalmers). the reason i'd want barbosa over tucker is in case we lose gordon to injury we would still have a guard who can create offense off the bench. if our offense stalls, we don't yet have the defense to fall back on. we have to have high powered offense at all times. gordon is our second best offensive player, but also injury prone. we need a similar type player as insurance. tucker i'd love as a 3rd player in the deal but i don't think we'd trade nene to get it done. after trading brewer and KJ i think we could use another wing defender like tucker or sefolosha which would be had for nene. but at some point we have to wonder about the balance of chemistry which nene adds to. i really like jack and chalmers as choices. the jury is out on if jack can regain his former level of play. if so, he'd be the best choice, but its doubtful. chalmers and cole both have championship experience. chalmers was the better 3-D player but cole was the better PnR player. i chose cole over chalmers because i think he's a better fit playing with barbosa (in case ego is out of the lineup). but they all work, great choices by you. i agree again. moving these contracts in case a major free agent were to decide to sign with us won't be a problem. even if chandler won't alter his contract, by next summer there's only 2 years remaining. hypothetically i'd sign him to a 2/yr contract of that value this summer if he were a FA and we struck out on a max contract guy. like moving ryno's 20M if needed, i think it would be just as easy to move chandler's 12M expiring contract in its final year, if he really became worthless. i'd try to pull the trigger on this trade ASAP. first, because we're without capela for a few more weeks. secondly, because it will give the team time to gel with the new additions before any other tweak is made at the deadline. as i said before, after this trade i think we could use a perimeter defender like sefolosha (finals experience) or tucker, but that would involve trading nene. making both moves at once could disrupt chemistry, and we might not need to move nene at all (prefer not to since he signed for cheap with us and has been a great vet presence) depending on how the team does over the next month after this trade. however, if its determined that we do in fact need to make such a move, we then can. all apologies to nene, but when you're this close, you gotta go all in.
This is why this squad is special: Ego saying things like this: Eric Gordon– Verified account @TheofficialEG10 I love this team!!!!! My boys were hoopin tonight. Corey brewer was the man tonight... #RocketsNation #RedNation 7:28 PM - 10 Jan 2017 541 RETWEETS1,482 LIKES
