Al Horford Boston is going to refocus on the future after their playoff exit. If Kyrie is gone, they will look to stay young. Al is 32 and has a $30 million player option for next year. An opt in and trade would be difficult, if not impossible. Some combination of Clint, Nene & Tucker or Gordon would be necessary, and I don't see how that makes us better. A SIGN & Trade could work though. Something like Clint and Nene for Horford signed to a 4 year deal in the $80 to $100 million range. Al would likely be ok with this. While he would be giving up $30 million, he get's a long term significant deal. Boston would be ok with this. They get a younger, long term solution at center on a good contract. They currently have no other alternatives at the position. Houston should be ok with this. We get a player that can stay on the floor against GSW and adds more versatility to the offense and defense. He is older, and we won't be happy to the last few years of the deal...but who cares at this point? The other complicating factor is that with a sign and trade, we would become subject to the hard cap at the apron, or about $138 million. The Rockets roster for next year, less Capela and Nene, would be at about $101 million. If Al signed for a starting salary of about $20 million, that would give the Rockets about $17 million to play with. At the Rockets disposal would be the non-taxpayer MLE ($9 million) and bi-annual exception ($3.6). If Houston were to use both exceptions to their full extent, they would have $4-5 million left before they hit the hard cap. It's tight, and may require a little more sacrifice from Horford and some nifty moves from Morey, but it is possible, and we would be a better team.
We NEED a center who can make plays after Harden or Cp3 gets trapped and they slip the ball to the roller. How many times did Capela fail to finish or he just threw it out of bounds while trying to pass for a corner 3?? We lost game 6 in the end cause we couldn’t stop Curry & Draymond pick and roll. Trapped Curry and he slips it to Draymond but the difference is he knows what to do with the ball and make a decision when he gets the ball on the roll. Unlike Capela who can only catch lobs. Literally nothing else.
If we sign al horford to a long term contract, the benefit is that we will have amazing draft picks when horford and Chris Paul are 37 and getting paid 30-40 million each
I love Butler but unless we actually make CP3 our PG and move away from Harden’s slow, walk the ball up, ISO ball ... Jimmy will be nothing more than a spot up shooter for us. He’d basically be worthless on offense since that’s not his forte. Defensively he’d help but don’t expect the consistent 18-20 PPG Jimmy. If we refuse to change the root issue and continue with the same Harden dominant offense we might as well go after Tobias instead.
He's an understated star. No weaknesses in his game, and a rare 5 that can assist and hit the 3. If I'm Houston, I'd have him as my most realistic target this summer.
Agree with this, i absolutely love Horford, wanted him here badly three years ago, but at this point and with that salary eh, i'd still take him as a fourth option because he would fit perfectly (just like in any other enviroment btw, that's why i like him so much), but we need more, he's not a star anymore, more like an elite role player like CP3.
I'm not in love with giving 4 year deals to older guys on the decline. While I don't expect Al to fall off a cliff like CP3, I think this is a move that hurts us more than it helps.
guys like Al Horford and Paul Millsap are not stars, but they would help a lot Rockets will be scraping at the bottom of the barrel as usual tho...we are basically hoping for miracles, highly unlikely situations, etc in order to elevate this team I think Harden gives it 1 more year and then his agent will tell Morey to start fielding offers
One thing i would consider if we can't get a true all star, is to get Horford with Brown, but that's not happening, Ainge won't give up Brown if Irving is gone. Regardless, i just hope the Rockets know where is Clint in terms of development, cause if the guy can work on a outside shot we should keep him, that would be a game changer, personally i just don't see it, but you never know, Dedmon with his stone hands couldn't shoot a 5 feet shot to save his life and suddenely at 28 he started shooting 3s at 35/38%.
If we really are trying to jimmy that window open with old ass stars I'm about done paying for season tickets for a while.
Gonna be a long offseason if guys really think we're going to be in the market for high level players with no assets or cap space
Horford is not and has never been a “Star”. He’s a third/4th option at best and that’s not what we need rn. If we can’t pull a Jimmy Butler or another legit star. I’d try to at least steal away a young player with star potential like Jaylen Brown or Brandon Ingram. Someone to groom up as Paul continues to decline.