Daryl Morey must acquire Jimmy Butler and Trevor Ariza at all cost, the NBA has so many All Star Forwards that are top contenders this season. The height advantage at 6'7 to 6'11 Small Forward is a huge problem. Rockets need a Power Forward, Center with Rebounding, Shot Blocking, Rockets are at the bottom in Defensive Rebounds. LeBron James, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Giannis Antetenkounmpo, Khris Middleton, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, Patrick McCaw, also the Rockets have trouble guarding is Luka Doncic If the Rockets want to win a Championship, the Rockets must upgrade in a bigger way, not journeyman lower talent.
I never liked Jeff Greens game. What’s his deal? Where was his best season? I can’t say I’ve ever seen him make a team better.
I hope they all have umbrellas! Kidding aside, player assimilation after a trade and making it work can be dicey. Then you have mid-season trades that work brilliantly. Example? Clyde in 1995, and Rivers recently. To be fair, Rivers was brought in while 2 key players he's covering for are out. What happens when Paul and Gordon return should be interesting.
he steps up in moments. more recently, he helped Cleveland advance when love went down against boston. he was someone who I thought hou should of gone after. much more of a fit than mcw. but for whatever reason there was never any reported interest.
*Convert House to standard contract. *3-team trade Houston get: Noah Vonleh/Hezonja/ Lance Thomas Kings get: Brandon Knight/ Melo Knicks get: Ben McLemore/ Chriss/ James Ennis http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y95uzhsm PG/SG: CP3/Harden........Eric Gordon/Austin Rivers/G Green Wings: Harden/House......G Green/Lance Thomas/Hezonja (not necessarily in that order) PF(SF-combo’s): Tucker.....Vonleh/Lance Thomas/Gary Clark Center: Capela.........Nene/Tucker/Hartenstein/ Vonleh (small-ball center) Vonleh: 8.6 pts......40.7%(3P%).....26.7 mins.....8.8 rebs.....6’9” Hezonja: 7.6 pts....29.2%(3P%)......17.8 mins.......................6’8” Lance Thomas: 3.5 pts....27.7%(3P%)....15.1 mins; but career 39.7%(3P%) and 40.1%(3P%) last season.....240 pounds ...........................shooting 60% from 3 ft or less this year. No room for Ben McLemore or Frank K since the Rockets are stacked at PG/SG. Chriss ($3.2M), Melo ($2.4M), Brandon Knight ($14.6M), = $20.2M (removal off the books) + Ennis for: Lance Thomas $7.1M (non guaranteed next season). Hezonja expiring contract this season. $6.5M Vonhel expiring contract this season. $1.6M Rockets would free up money to go after free agency Small Forwards: DeMarre Carroll (UFA....10.7 pts.....35%(3P%) Bogdanovic (UFA......16.2 pts........44.3%(3P%)......made 10.5M this year. Middleton (player option)...17.7 pts.....38%(3P%). Probably won’t leave the Bucks if successful playoff run. And/Or try to re-sign Vonleh Sign Bruno Caboclo (23 years old): 1st round, 20th pick by Toronto Raps in 2014. World of potential that fits well with the style Houston runs. Keep in-active if need be as the 15th player. My guess is the Rockets get a heads up if someone wants to sign Bruno......Rockets keeping an open roster spot to move him quickly to the team. 1) Harden 2) CP3 3) Capela 4)House 5) Tucker 6) Nene 7) Eric Gordon 8) G Green 9) Rivers 10) Vonleh 11) Hezonja 12) Lance Thomas 13) Gary Clark (13 active players) Hartenstein/Caboclo (2 in-actives) Vince Edwards + new player added (2-way players)......or stay at one 2-way player. 1 problem is BJ Armstrong is agent for Bruno Cabloco
had some decent showings in OKC and some pretty solid seasons in Boston. Outside of that though not much
only bc the recent drama news with his new team brings the speculation we might have another chance at him.
Cod mentioned yesterday that the KCP interest is still alive, although I wonder if the guy is our biggest need, as well as if a third team can be brought in for the expirings the Lakers would need (this is my speculation here). Other than that, all quiet on the Western Front.
Apparently Kings are trading Z-Bo + 2nd round pick for Kanter... Don't understand why we can't give them a better deal... unless Morey has confirmed a better trade for Knight's contract. If we pass the deadline without a better move, it's going to be disappointing. Even though Kanter sucks on defense but off the bench, he's a good scorer and rebounder. Would help a lot in the regular season since Nene has to sit so much.
Kings and Knicks are literally swapping two expirings here, the Kings are paying with a 2nd rounder cause Kanter is better than Z.Bo and he will help them more this season. The Knicks want cap space this summer, and the only contract we can move for Kanter is Knight which is a two year deal so, for them it's super negative, they won't take him even if we throw in a 1st rounder.
Kings are the lowest team payroll at $90.8 million. This is why I have them in the 3-team deal in post #65. One of the few teams that can absorb the Brandon Knight contract without having to give up much. Bulls are 29th in team payroll at $102 million Suns 27th at $106 million (won’t be taking back Knight) Mavs 26th at $106 million (division rival that probably doesn’t want to be handcuffed by the Knight contract) Hawks 23rd at $107 million Magic 22nd at $112 million Pels at 21st at $114 million *Kings are our best bet of moving Knight without taking too much trash back. Kings losing Ben McLemore doesn’t hurt them much since he is not in the rotation much. Knight could help their PG mentoring and play sparingly this playoffs. 8 mins could go a long way for them. Melo could give them a power post up game or they could cut him. *Knicks would get expiring contracts of McLemore, Chriss and may like Ennis next year on a reasonable contract. *Houston would shore up their wing/PF depth on expiring contracts. Vonleh shooting from 3 well right now while Lance Thomas has shot well from 3 in the recent past. I’m not a fan of Hezonja, but many CF’s are.
Edit: Responded to wrong post, but point still stands. I wish Clutch would ban everyone who has suggested we trade for JR Smith. I would lose a lot of faith in Morey if he did such a thing. JR Smith literally quit on his team this year, is a bad defender, and isnt even that great of a shooter right now. For the millionth time, J.R. Smith at the price he comes is GARBAGE.
i agree about the needs in rebounding 100%. kanter can be had for for cheap. the man is averaging 4 orb's and 7 drb's per game. not to mention he averages 14+ pts/gm in 26min. i dont see why he wouldnt be a main target to back up capela. i think hed be huge to have come playoffs.
Agreed. Also, with Clyde we had the advantage of the prior relationship between him and Hakeem. Butler scares me a tad, but if he came, one would think he would understand that this is Harden's team. (Not thinking he is coming.)
I just remember he could not stay on the floor with Harden. Other teams have skilled offensive players as well.