We should retain Russ and play him until the trade deadline. His quad needs to heal some more. The season might start in around 4 weeks, Covid -19 cases pending. Once, he regains explosiveness, some team might increase their offer to an acceptable level. If he has persistent pulmonary damage, then he should be dumped for Batum/ Cody in order to get some future cap relief. I love Tuck, but I'm willing to package him with Russ, if the return is good. The chances of that are very slim. @ApacheWarrior
Rockets roster as is for 20/21: PG) Westbrook..........Clemons / Austin Rivers SG) Harden...............Eric Gordon / McLemore SF) Tucker................House / Nwaba PF) Covington........... So the Rockets currently stand at nine players with Rivers opting out. You asked BimaThug luxury tax / apron? Answer $139M (rounded up). Rockets stand at $132M.......but cap holds on Jeff Green / Sefolosha / D Carroll / Tyson Chandler / LMaM..I guess? Prevents spending that cap hold money. Like a retainer.....for what, I don’t know? Crazy rule if you ask me. So, my question to you, “can we stand pat?” This is why I wanted John Lucas. Run the same team back by trading McLemore/Eric Gordon for spare parts and slightly taller Tucker at center like Markieff to keep continuity the same with little change. Because we (Rockets) don’t have money to make whole sale changes of bigger Centers or people required to set good screens necessary for a Jeff Van Gundy- Silas Offense. (*offering McLemore as sweeter to EGo deal, knowing I have Gerald Green on standby for vet min). I don’t think it’s fair to Silas to ask him to cook the meal without the proper ingredients.....to steal a line from Parcels. Rivers, Westbrook, McLemore, Clemons setting picks or screens is a joke. They will get tossed around like rag dolls. I wanted Westbrook to do that in the playoffs because he was just freelancing.....but to ask several 6’3” players to do the dirty work is unrealistic. Same for getting rebounds or blocking shots or blocking out. We have players for 5-men out scheme.....bunch of catch and shoot guys.......not shot creators. House is probably the only one who can thrive as a slasher / backdoor cutter. Maybe RoCo as well. I think Westbrook changed his story because the Rockets lose all leverage if it’s him demanding a trade.....and Ballmer didn’t bite on Paul George pressure to trade for Westbro. Now Westbrook has to backtrack. I just read Knick’s are mulling it over. Does that mean Houston has their offer on the table of Westbrook to NY? Ball in NY’s court? If Rockets hold on to Westbro until trade deadline then I still think the Rockets have to clear out Eric Gordon to make any notable changes or upgrades for Silas-Harden. Center, PF......I can live with Tucker / House / Nwaba SF’s. Covington is terrible defender on the perimeter; at keeping his man in front of him, but good as help defender. So I am good with Covington as PF. But who else do we need to add to Harden/Tucker/GGreen/House/Covington/Nwaba/Westbrook?.....Clemons can go. 7 players and whoever EGo/McLemore bring back? Will one be a center? *side note: add Rivers money as cap hold / retainer to total money we can’t spend until he signs elsewhere. Well we can spend it and trade out of being over luxury tax later before end of season.
meh was good for more than a month. He was great for a month plus but good for a majority of the season. nobody is saying he’s Harden. Or a top 10 player. Or on a bargain contract. But I’m also not going to underestimate his capabilities either. Certainly not because he lost to Harden with a **** team (that gave up every lead he got them in the playoffs the second he went out of the game) or that PG and Melo were their typically meh selves while Eiss got outplayed by Damian Lillard which is nothing to be embarrassed about. is a Russell Westbrook team going to get you out of the first round?? No. but I’m not trading him for salary cap relief and scrubs lol. Just keep him in that case. personally I’m in no rush to trade him. There will be lots more opportunities to do so and it’s hard to imagine his value getting much worse. If I’m not getting back fair value - not all stars but fair value - then I’m only trading him in a blow up the team scenario in which case I’d still hope they get back value for him just a different kind of value.
With all that’s been said with his baggage and piss poor play, you’re also forgetting he doesn’t want to be here. That’s one of the absolute worst especially with a high profile player. And no it’s not everyone else’s fault his okc teams were eliminated. His piss poor play has been well documented during those times and mentioned on several occasions. People just ignored it because he now wears a houston jersey
Knicks fans are delusional about getting a superstar, but when you hear there delusional fans post on Twitter. There manangement are trying hard to low ball the heck out rox cause of the contract. Russ is a superstar. I would not even trade west there. 3 first, Robinson and rj is his true value.
cont’d from post #723 @saleem right now the best we might be able to afford would be Kevin Hervey or Tyler Cook at center Cook is an ok raw player.....but definitely a Tilman taco Tuesday special.
Haters gonna hate... Lovers gonna love... I don’t really want... None of the above! I want to pee on you! Yes I do, I wanna pee on you!
6'10 Ray Spalding is my dark horse to be next Christian Wood. Former Viper (should have been our 2 way contract player over Frazier IMO) has a 7'5 wingspan and is a steals and blocks machine. Loves to run, switchable defender and plays above the rim. Still only 23 and now he's developed a 3ball. And of course, 6'9 Jonah Bolden has 7'4 wingspan and is also a disruptor on defense with ability to guard 1-5. Shoots 3ball better than Spalding at 35%. Only 24.
I want to see how pre-covud Russ who was averaging near 30 ppg on 50% shooting would do with Harden in the playoffs. I think we can get one more season out of these two. Wasn't in 1992-1993, we thought the Hakeem era was going to be over for the Rockets and then Dream won back to back rings? Crazy **** happens.
I don’t know these players, thanks for sending me this. There’s no doubt that the extreme uncertainty with Russ and Harden will make it difficult to acquire good role players with upside or some experience. TF doesn’t want to use the MLE either. Noel, Giles, Vonleh, Broekhoff, Trey Burke may choose other teams. We’re stuck. A breakup seems inevitable, unless the ownership, management, coaches and our stars get on the same page very quickly. Even Harden is probably being low balled as we speak.
Your forgetting that Russ doesn't want to be here. Sure, if Russ hadn't made a trade demand, I wouldn't be looking to trade him. Not unless we got another star in return anyway. I too think they have a chance, perhaps their best chance of doing something in 2021 with Russ than anything thing they would get back in a trade for Russ.
Yeah, nobody knows these players making less than a million dollars; borderline NBA / G-leaguer. Houston has a history of bringing in vets toward the end of their careers for that role: Marcus Camby, Nene, Tyson Chandler. So Tyler Cook would be like Chinanu quality unknown. Judging by his highlight video he moves better than Markieff Morris. 6’8” with Charles Barkley hops. But how consistent, basketball IQ, 3-pt % I don’t know. He has a body to set screens and role to the basket like the Capela role....but my point is, do we really want to take a chance on an unknown because that’s what the Rockets money dictates? I see three options: 1) trade Westbrook for financial cap space, return players, draft picks. 2) trade Eric Gordon with McLemore (as sweetener) for same as option #1. Soon. 3) trade Westbrook and possibly others. In season. Rebuild while in mid stream. Many here would add House, Tucker, Clemons; more power to those doing this. I’m looking to limit the player turnaround to maintain consistency and continuity. Yes we can trade Westbrook at the trading deadline; but what if he gets hurt? Demands trade in January or February (keep in mind season starts Dec 22nd)? Trade value goes down because Harden wants to be the tip of the spear in our attack and does not like being spot up shooter to Westbrook PnR. Didn’t really take to it last season watching Westbrook-Capela PnR. Westbrook spot up shooter watching Harden PnR does not work because no team respects Russ shooting. Not from mid range and definitely not from 3-pt territory. So Russ defender clogs up the paint vs Harden/Center PnR action.....3 defenders guarding against that 2-man offensive play-type. This is why Westbrook needs to be the tip of the spear, point of attack on his own team. In other words Westbrook playing second fiddle to Harden will depreciate his trade value (while going back to running conventional plays). Harden has to take a bigger hit to usage time. Thing to keep in mind is Westbrook makes $41 million this season. In season, teams have filled out their rosters. Right now some teams have enough cap space to absorb a lot of Houstons salary without having to send us a bunch of filler contracts to match that $41M. Rockets may have to take back 5 players....tough to clear one roster spot (Westbrook) and bring in 5 or more. Rockets have to waive players to make room for all those players. Rare is the one superstar making $40M for one superstar making $40M trade.
