Free agents available Tier 1 Gasol Ibaka Favors Thompson Howard Harrell Tier 2 Baynes Olynk Cauley-Stein Whiteside McGee Poetl Noel Tier 3 Leonard Plumlee Kanter Lopez Len Maker. OQuinn Hermangonez And that doesn't include all the flaneouts like Mahinni & Biyombo that will probably get contracts And PFs that will be see time at C. (Markieff. Green)
I think we wait because everyone’s trade value is down. Gordon is must move by the deadline if not before. I liked your thought of NYK & I think moving Tucker should be top priority. (I know it’s not a popular thought but paying him will set us back and we will be paying for the services we already received —> see Nene). His contract alone will not bring a difference maker back but paired with Gordon there is some value. Tucker is not the answer because of size, bubble productivity and age. Maybe adding Tucker to the Gordon offering will bring us something of substance back. House has value, too. He may have to be added to Gordon because his contract is to small. But, I did like the House for Bamba rumors, a lot. I would lessen to trades around Westbrook but would not just give him away. I would like to get similar picks back like we gave for him. I don’t want to see him or Harden retire as a Rocket. If we get a role player platter similar to what we gave for Paul I would be happy. (I don’t care what Harden thinks) A similar trade like the NOP / LAL for Harden. I would strongly consider, too. I also think we need a center Favors > Baynes > Olynk > Cauley-Stein. I also think the G league has a lot of answers if we get a coach that will play / grow them. Coaching by playing role players at the right time in the right situations will take a lot of pressure off the team as a whole. The Cam Oliver’s of the world have a place on our team, IMO. One of my favorite things Morey did was signing the undrafted. It help us and the players.
You dont need a big center when you have AD and Lebron. Lebron averaged 10 rebs a night in the playoffs, AD averaged 9 and both provided elite defense from perimeter to paint. Combined they are a lot better than any big out there. You are falling into the same trap as Rox when they tried to emulate GSW Hamptons 5...we dont have 4 all stars and Iggy we have just Harden and Russ. Miami got by with Bam Adebayo but again we dont have Bam we have Tucker and Covington. How do you expect similar results when you have inferior players? Just because you stick your tongue out like Jordan doesnt mean you will be as good as Jordan. I am not saying we need Mcgee or Dwight obviously with WB on the squad we need a stretch 5 so Harden and WB can do their thing. But whoever we get needs to be 6'10 or taller so he can grab some rebs and defend the paint cuz the switch all is extremely taxing to do for extended periods of time. 6'10 is not exactly a big center either, big centers are taller than 7'1. Rox switch all is great and amazing when the team is rested but the NBA is a grind, we saw extreme drops in team performance two times, one right before the season got cut short and the other the latter part of OKC series till the end vs Lakers. It just shows you the switch all is great on paper but irl it takes too much out of the team to do every single moment of every single game. You cant make mistakes or its a layup line for the enemy and they almost always get the reb advantage cuz we dont have anybody taller than 6'8. Do you know Murphy's law? The more complex a system is the more prone it is to breakdown and error, switch all D has so many things that can go wrong not surprised they bombed vs the Lakers after destroying them in the regular season.
You cant trade WB unless you are trading Harden, they are a package deal Harden will leave if you trade his bff (and he should). If you are trading both whats the point of the rest of your post just blow it all up for picks and projects. Why even talk about getting Favors or Baynes when you lose your superstar lol. If that happens we should be taking bad contracts for assets and rebuilding.
We disagree. If I had more 6’6” to 6”9” players that move like a SF to (mobile) PF, the Rockets could win the championship. No conventional center required. Instead I got a bunch of 6’3” players (Westbrook, Rivers, Gordon, McLemore) plus Clemons and Frazier. When you have a 12 man roster (+ 2-way players) that’s overkill on small-ish NBA players. I could eliminate 2 of those 6’3” players and add 2 SF’s and no conventional center and still get to the championships. This team is tired is bull crap. Myles Turner had the Pacers well rested enough that they got booted in the 1st rd. Marc Gasol had the Raptors so rested that they got booted by the small Celtics in the 1st rd. Steven Adams had the Thunder well rested and they got booted in the 1st rd....against the too tired to get out of bed, anemic, needed to be brought into the arena by stretcher before the game and needed to be taken away from the arena after the game in stretchers. Or was it wheelchairs?
I’m sold. Except for your view of centers. I don’t see big framed Centers getting teams to the finals. Adebayo is more PF than Center. It’s all in the footwork and turning the hips to recover. Not all 6’9” players and above are created equal. PnR just brings easy doubles to Harden. Silas is probably going to run screens and PnR’s. We’ve seen that movie before using Harden. Other players have to step up when Harden gets double team at half court and the other players will have to step up when they run PnR and Harden gets doubled. Draymond showed you can let both get deep in the paint and block the Harden shot while disrupting a lob to the roll-man (Capela). I’m for trading Harden to let him succeed elsewhere. 76ers wanted D’Antoni to lure Harden.....now they bring in Morey to lure Harden. Let’s go ahead a do it. Others want Embiid or Horford......I will just take the picks.
I don’t think we need a named player the offense plays through type the center. I do think we need a anchor on defense AT TIMES. The switch EVERYTHING doesn’t work all the time. IMO, we need a coach that can get the best out of 12 players and play that style or styles for that matter that fits the player’s skill set. I think we should play to our players strengths and not a system. I also think our style should change as the rotation changes through out the game. It’s good to play small but be able to do other things as needed, too. Like make stops and rebound. If we keep both Westbrook and Harden they along with Covington should be able play with anyone. Change our look with role players and make the other team constantly make adjustments to play us. The Jeff Green’s of the world become our stars for a night. A different player with the same result nightly. Our core of Westbrook, Harden & Covington makes it happen with coaching.
I’m checking out fattz, I don’t want to troll the Rockets. I don’t know who to blame. Morey made some questionable moves, not sure if it was Morey or D’Antoni that wanted to go so small. Morey had Chuck Hayes at center year one of his reign. Tilman can’t compete with the teams with deep pockets. Harden/Westbrook ......can’t trade Westbrook without Harden demanding trade. With both getting a total of $82.5 million the team can’t afford quality players around each of them. I could run it back while using Eric Gordon contract to get two slightly better than James Ennis SF’s and be right back in this. Westbrook working on shooting 3’s from a few spots. Gerald Green ready to join the team on vet minimal.....making McLemore expendable. But Silas is going to use too much of the Eric Gordon money/contract on a center; which will be run off the court by Draymond Green or AD as well, in the playoffs. 1st round exit is a step backwa not improvement. Like Morey, I’m checking out. Unlike Morey, I will watch the Rockets from the recliner at home. Silent. Rooting for new ownership.
I thought Next Years Team was going to be a thread about which team we're all rooting for next year? instead its about adding players to the rockets, and in many cases for more than the minimum? I'm very confused.
many are checking out. truth is why would we root for the team to win when the team isn't trying to win? they're trying to lower costs and increase profit margins. I'm not interested in rooting for tilman to get richer.
Good list...helpful to put it together. Combine this with the other list, showing teams interested, and I think you can see lots of suitors out there. Going to be competition for that top tier..and I think many might question whether those actually are all top tier. But in any case, lots of teams chasing those top players. I don't see any of them going for MLE. Probably not even the second tier. MLE is more for the OTHER Lopez on the Bucks...Robin. He got 2 years, $10M, and I suspect 90% of NBA fans don't know who he is, or that he played on the Bucks. Just as an example of what MLE gets you.
I think you're forgetting how little money there is out there atm Because of covid we're about to have a shortened season and a much smaller salary cap. Projected to be under 100 mill. MLE is 7 mill I think might change. But only teams with over 7 mill on cap space Atlanta have Capela Detroit in tank mode next season aren't looking for more bigs Charlotte Miami have Adebayo & not going to ruin their capspace for next year. Knicks have Richmond Pelicans Maybe make a play at Ibaka? But might be too old for their time line. Would think they're more likely to bring back Favors Phoenix Ayton Raptors Definitely the biggest threat to sign Ibaka
That sums it up with reality. It’s good to know there are fans like us that still have hope but already know... A miracle from the G League is our answer. PS there is no one to blame it cost money/assets to get us to this point & Arm chairs have the best points of view. Hope to talk soon.
Steven Adams and Myles Turner dont shoot 15 threes a night. Look at Rox's 3 pt percentage during games before you tell me they ain't tired lol. Or you think Harden and co are just really bad shooters? There's a reason why the team is full of midgets...cuz NBA is real life not NBA 2k. You dont got a bunch of nameless NBA ready 6'9 SFs just waiting to be called lol. Most of the good 3nD 6'8+ guys get a premium they are valued by teams thats why Ariza got overpaid and it took Capela to get Covington. You can make all the claims you want but since nobody has reached a championship with a bunch of 6'8 nameless wings yet then thats just empty claims right now.
12 man rotation is not a championship team. That's a team that handing out participation trophies and develop young players because the ring is a far away goal. I agree that Rockets defense needs to incorporate zone at times but switch everything should be the foundation. Rockets had the top defense for much of playoffs. Just because we did not win championship, foolish to throw baby out with the bathwater. The key is an innovative coaching staff that have ability to adjust. On defense as well as offense. And better players around Harden of course.
Your argument is weak. The Rockets shoot 40% from 3 in the first 4 games of the Lakers series. House did not play games 2-5. Our 6’3” players got gun shy and shot less attempts because they are a bunch of rec center players going against NBA height of 6’6” Danny Green, 6’8” LeBron, 6’8” Markieff, 6’8” Kuzma. We forced D12 / MeGee out of the series because their height was a liability vs us. Team was defeated emotionally because of the House incident and being down 3-1. Last game brought the 3-pt % down to .368 or 37%. Above average. Guess the IV’s before, during and after the game paid off. Stop with your too tired BS.
I agree with you. 12 player rotation is a bit much. The point was to have players that would work around our core to give us a lot of options that do not play ever night players. A player like Clemons would have broken the Harden 1/2 court double if given the playing time, IMO. Put Bruno man to man on AD or LJ would have been worth a try. He’s a beast m2m defender. Our core is solid but we lack the creativity to try other things when “plan A” is clearly not working. These are the G league players I am referring to. Your Boldmen and Anderson types. I don’t want them on the nightly but to pull them off the bench and just watch because they will win you more game than not. We need to stop hit our heads against the wall / glass ceiling and wondering why we have headaches. The core of our team is not rotten just over used and put into awkward situations for no reason, IMO.
I agree about expanding rotation but Clemons was not the answer to beat Lakers, sorry. Rockets still need better players, that is the truth. I have faith in Bruno but not players like Clemons. He is too inconsistent offensively and he is huge liability on defense. But so was BMac when he shot went cold. Like @ApacheWarrior I also believe in certain player types to complement Harden. Between 6'6 and 6'11 with 7'0 wingspan and ability to handle ball, pass, switch defend, rebound, disrupt (steals, deflections, blocks), move without ball, run baseline to baseline like the wind, super energy, play above the rim AND shoot at least 35% from 3. These guys are not as rare as we all think. And not all will be 100% at everything but #1 is energy and heart. That's why I love players like Simmons, AG, Sabonis, Oubre, Jerami, etc. Then run hard, fast and sky high with heart and attitude. But there are under the radar guys with much of the same desired skillset like Jonah Bolden, Justin Anderson, Ryan Broekhoff, Dragan Bender, Anthony Randolph, Jarrod Uthoff, etc.
