The Ringer just released an article https://theringer.com/nba-free-agency-chris-paul-houston-5cecc069ad2c NBA Rumors: Could Chris Paul Play for the Rockets Next Season? Piecing together a few stray clues suggests something big could happen with CP3 and the Rox. Does this deserve its own thread?!?
Have mixed feelings about CP3 here. First, he's a top 10 player and even though he's on the decline, he'd still vastly upgrade our talent overall. However, it's going to take some good coaching to maximize the fit with Harden here. I wouldn't be opposed to Harden reverting back to 2015 mode where he just was in attack mode all the time, with CP3 facilitating. CP3 is a bit better ball handler and less turnover prone than Harden so I think executing that to perfection would certainly make our team better. That being said, when we got Ty we really didn't use him like that, even for stretches. Most of that was just Ty being a bum, but it was also a shitty job by McHale and co. incorporating him into the offense. It seemed like Harden handled the ball more in 2016 than 2015, which is not what we expected going into the season. The difference with CP3 though is that he's obviously better than Ty was before he turned into a bum, a legit top 10 player and just as good a defender as Beverley, albeit on the decline as I mentioned earlier.
Not really, they would've to lose a couple of players to have enough room to sign him, one of them being Parker which shouldn't be that hard to trade, they had literally zero problems trading Splitter to sign LMA, and Splitter is/was a way worse player than Parker, had a worse contract too. Mills is 100% gone if they can get Paul, but they have Murray on a cheap deal and he's looking pretty good so...that's not a problem. In fact i'm not even sure they should pay Mills regardless of Paul. Maybe they can also rework a new deal with Gasol to pay him less next season but for one/two more years...or they can trade Green and resign Simmons, even though i don't see this happening...i mean, i don't think they would trade Green. Overall yeah, they have a lot of parts involved in the process eventually, but i don't think it would be that hard for them to sign him if he wants to go there. It's basically about dumping Parker, let go a couple of marginal bench guys...i'm not even sure keeping Pau with his current contract would be a problem. In fact it could be harder for us since we would've to dump Anderson and maybe Lou or Ariza (but that would leave us without a starting 3...aside for a starting 4).
While the though of adding CP3 is interesting, I do NOT like what we would have to part ways with in order to offer him the contract he will be looking for. Why essentially max out a guy who everyone knows is declining and getting up there in age? I don't see the benefit of losing Nene, Williams and Anderson.... Does CP3 bring that much to the table that we can afford to get rid of a great shooter in Anderson, a prolific scorer in Williams or Gordon and our most aggressive big man on the team? Just doesn't make sense to me honestly. I hope we make a move but I would suggest going after someone who is young and can be around with Harden for along time. Also, makes no sense to take Harden off of PG duties when he played the way he did this year. Don't do it Morey. Go get a big man, we have shooters and the leagues best PG.
Couple of my thoughts.. 1. Chris Paul is a perfect fit for this offense. 2. Harden would be able to make it work. He hasn't played next to an elite guard since OKC. Stop thinking about this as people filling traditional positions. In modern NBA you need just need to collect good to great "perimeter" players to surround a big. D'antoni is creative. Harden wants to win and Paul is good and proven enough he would trust him. 3. Chris Paul would bring much needed leadership to this team, something Harden really can't provide a sufficient amount of. 4. Chris Paul is a BIG star in this league. Actual skill aside, from a PR perspective this would attract cheap role players looking for a chance at a ring. 5. Honestly GS is going to be a dominant force in this league for at least the next 5 years. Options are to blow it up and try and re-peak when they begin to hopefully decline, continue to be as we are and be playoff fodder for all of Harden's prime, or make crazy aggressive moves that maybe work but run the risk of blowing up in drastic fashion.
Further info on Chris Paul fit with Houston. https://theringer.com/nba-best-point-guards-steph-curry-russell-westbrook-james-harden-b79c6c5bf2eb
Apparently we can come close to Paul's supermax if we renounce our holds and get rid of Ryno and Lou Will. Renouncing our cap holds on Bobby Brown and Troy Williams, getting rid of Ryno and Lou without getting any salary back, and adding the $4 mil we are under the cap... We can free up $33,807,213. Chris Paul's max salary is worth $35 mil or he can take a little less so we can resign Nene and not have to dump our rookies. CP3/Harden/Ariza/Montrezl/Capela Bev/Gordon/Dekker/Nene We would 100% have to go shopping at vet min. for a starting power forward. Derrick Williams, Donatas Motiejunas come to mind.
Hmm. I will get blasted I'm sure but Rodney Hood is pretty good from the Jazz games I saw last season. Good length, only 24 years old, good shooter. Obviously he can't play next to Harden. Keep Beverly there but as backup 2 guard, Hood could develop nicely and contribute well next season. Not a Chris Paul replacement obviously but my whole point is that I'm not sure going all in with Chris Paul at his current age and wear and tear is a good idea.
Rodney Hood isn't a FA this summer, and when he does become a FA he'll be restricted so that's not that realistic of an alternative if Chris Paul wants to come here then the Rockets have to make it happen
That's not true though, they need to dump Parker (who would be replaced by Paul anyway), renounce Mills (who would be replaced by Murray, and in fact it's likely they let Mills go anyway since Murray looks pretty good) and dump Gasol or rework his contract. Maybe losing a couple of bench guys like Lee and Dedmon would be enough without even involving Gasol in the process. As for the Rockets, we would've to trade Anderson (which is our starting 4) and Lou (which is basically our Mills)...or to keep Anderson, we would've to trade Lou, Gordon and Ariza (which would leave us without scoring off the bench and a starting SF).
Nikola Jokic is pretty close to a superstar, and is 21. Plus, CP3 can actually control the Nuggets both on court and FO.
I've read analysis suggesting that they'd need to dump Gasol and Aldridge. Getting rid of Aldridge's contract would be crucial. Parker isn't too important because many people expect the Spurs to bring him back at a much lower cost.
I guess those were wrong then. It is possible that they would need to trade Gasol, but it's not necessary, they have more ways to make it happen...like rework his contract, renounce a couple of marginal bench guys, trade Green... Simmons has also only 1.6M in cap holds which is very low and won't affect their cap space much, if at all.
Not going to be easy to dump a declining, below-average 35-year-old PG making over $15 million who won't even be medically able to play for most of the season. You'd have to attach some sort of real value to dump that, and I don't know that they have it -- particularly considering that their future 1sts would be trash in this scenario. And no, Gasol isn't going to "rework" his contract to take significantly less than the value of his player option. When Gasol opts in, which he's already said he will do, the Spurs are going to be close to $100 million in salary. That includes cap holds for empty roster spots and the $1.6M on Simmons. They'd have to shed more than $25 million in salary from a group including Gasol ($16+ million), Parker (15+ million), and Danny Green ($10 million) AND renounce the rights to Mills, Dedmon, Lee, Ginobili, etc. They might could keep Simmons with the Arenas rule, but the extremely backloaded offer sheet he's sure to get will complicate that as well. And that's actually with a conservative estimate of CP3 being willing to take a Year 1 salary of ~$30 million. If CP3 needs closer to ~$36 million -- i.e. the true max, and that's what you seem to be implying with your assertion that the Rockets would have to move Ryan AND Lou -- then the Spurs would have to move virtually that entire group. You can still make a case that even after all that, the trio of Kawhi, CP3, and LMA plus Popovich and the Spurs' culture still makes for a compelling argument. But if the Rockets are able to move Ryan Anderson, and it seems most around the league think they can, then I don't think it's even debatable that the Spurs would have to gut their roster significantly more than the Rockets would to get in the range of $30 million or more in cap space.
By the way, Parker has already said he plans on playing 3 more seasons after next year. Just putting that out there before anyone mentions Parker "retiring" as a possibility. Here's a good breakdown of it from a Spurs writer. A few select quotes:
Parker is one of their own. I don't believe for a second that they'll salary dump him. I could be wrong.
