How would you guys allocate the 240 minutes? This is tough. But I think I’d go with: 32 — Wood and Oladipo 30 — Wall and Tucker 28 — Gordon 18 — House and Tate 16 — Brown, Nwaba, and Cousins 4 — Mason Jones Which sucks because Mason Jones definitely deserves more playing time. And idk how we’re gonna fit KPJ in.
there is definately a trade coming...house is gone IMO. probably oladipo too. probably ben mac too. as soon as we can find a good enough trade for all three.
What makes you think Benny? Unless we can find a knock down shooter with some decent defense, I think he stays. House however, looked like a deer in headlights yesterday. Super team-friendly contract though.
I think injuries will take care of this at some point too. It's not realistic to expect that this group will stay healthy all year.
I imagine this is by design and Stone is probably taking calls on just about everyone. We have a lot of okay players who make sense for playoff teams - this is probably an exercise in Stone stringing along potential suitors and seeing how high he can get the trade value of all these players before the trade deadline. Maybe a contender like lets say the Heat see a key injury between now and then and are willing to offer a little more to get Tucker for the playoff stretch or maybe a team like the Kings convince themselves that Christian Wood would be a young piece they want to build around Fox with - I think these are probably the types of conversations we are hoping to have in our front office right now. As much as I have enjoyed the narrative of players re-establishing their value in Houston this year, there isn't anyone on this roster today who isn't tradeable for the right piece and Houston has A LOT of flexibility to trade for the right All Star should one come available and if the opportunity doesn't exist in the short term, most of these pieces can be swapped for future assets. All that said, assuming John Wall's health holds up and he continues to improve, I wouldn't mind holding on to him as a leader if we can find the right running mate with him. In a lot of ways, this team reminds me of the 2011/12 Houston Team - Dragic, Lowry, Kmart, Lee, Hill, Parsons, Patterson, Scola, one of the Morris brothers - a lot of decent guys who had decent NBA careers mixed with promising upside guys who didnt quite pan out like Cbud, Flynn, Dalembert, T-Will, Thabeet. We have put ourselves in a situation to be able to take advantage of opportunity should it arise - we just need to be lucky enough to be standing there with the right assets if a top 10 guy (or a future top 10 guy) happens to become available. Until then, I'm watching what happens to guys like Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Jaylen Brown, Brandon Ingram, Tatum, etc over the next few years to see if they get fed up with their current teams...
Oladipo + House for Aaron Gordon & Birch New rotation Wood Cousins Tucker Gordon Tate Gordon Nwaba Wall Exum 36 minutes Wood Gordon Wall 32 minutes Tucker Gordon 22 minutes Tate Nwaba 12 minutes Cousins + Exum Backups if injuries C Birch PF Kurucs SF Martin Jr SG Brown PG Jones
I would love to see more Jones, but don't see where he fits in the current lineup. However since we aren't realistically chasing a championship this season, we should really be finding minutes for the youngers guys to get some burn. Especially since his numbers are off the chart currently, he's performing better than what some others are putting out! I guess a trade for Gordo or Dipo for a PF will open up minutes for him.
Wall is important, but Brown should take up some of his minutes. KJ Martin and Tate/ Nwaba should get Tucker's minutes. I think PJ is playing hurt. Gordon's minutes are okay, Mason should get at least 10 minutes from Oladipo. KP Jr should continue to play hard in practice with Silas/ Lucas. @ApacheWarrior @D-rock @Deckard Edit: Kurucs needs as much help as KP Jr. He should be allowed to play to his strengths instead of just trying to convert him just into a jump shooter. He might have a future here, if he recovers physical/mental strength.
No BMac mins at all? For guy shooting +40% from 3P? Mase is shooting almost 60% from 3P. Rockets need to make some more trades soon methinks.
Do we want to showcase Jones? I know we want him to develop, but if he does very well would it be difficult to re-sign him. It would be nice if we could get him on a cheap multi-year deal like we had hoped House would sign.
I would focus on first building chemistry with main units, then any time we have the opportunity, you rest Wall, Dipo, Cousins, Tucker, Gordon. Save their legs for the post season. edit: I don’t mean full game load management. I mean if we have a 15 point lead and Wall is on the bench, don’t bring him back in if the bench isn’t losing that cushion. Harden would always come back in with us up big and though he has no injury issues, it was unnecessary and I think contributed to our “other guys” never having the confidence to get it done in the playoffs.
Crazy, I feel like we are in “Tank Mode” meaning Wall, House and now Wood, take your time getting healthy and let’s rotate Dipo, Wall EGo a game off every other game. Winning while trying to lose, accidentally. Tucker frustrates me. I can’t tell if his age has caught up to him or has he been sabotaging earlier games of the season? Wall: Rockets would like to trade him and his $44M salary of next year; but need a vet ball handler to attract FA’s. Kept if it looks like Dipo is gone in offseason, conversations with Dipo and management. Oladipo: Rockets would like to keep Dipo long term.....convince him to stay......room to offer him $25M salary (avg). That vet ball handling presence that can attract FA’s. Wall the better distributor, Dipo the better attacker/scorer. Probably gets traded at deadline because of fondness for Miami. Eric Gordon: we’ve talked about this one many times. Eric Gordon salary of $16.8M needed to be traded because that salary can’t be justified for a bench player during the Harden/ CP3-Westbrook-Wall window. Have to play the 6’3”EG as SF.......ok vs 6’5” D Mitchell but gets his A handed to him vs the 6’8” Kuzma/LeBron/MMorris/AD switching. So fast forward to today.....no more Harden....now EG can play starting SG as long as he is scoring 17 points or more a game. Not sure Rockets need to trade him? Can the Rockets move him and replace his production through free agency? At what cost? @D-rock mentioned Magic the other day, Would Magic prefer Oladipo rental (Houston paying most of his salary by trade deadline) or Eric Gordon with the belief Eric Gordon might be a scoring SG with experience; might be better option than getting in a bidding war for free agent this summer. T Ross/EGo platooning the SG position next season is probably good. Oladipo is a clean cut if chemistry doesn’t work or re-sign in offseason if both parties like the situation. EG is under contract, so if chemistry is good, they have him. If chemistry is bad.....they have to move that contract with Gordon approaching 34 years of age. Which is more risky? Tate: Keeper that needs more seasoning. House: needs more time in Silas scheme. Ben McLemore: willl he re-sign with Houston? Will he seek bigger payday than Houston will pay him? Probably being shelved to allow others to build up trade value. Will get traded as well if Rockets are not on pace to make the playoffs and Rockets think he wants more than what he is currently making, much like Austin Rivers. Sterling Brown-Nwaba: both are auditioning for next season. Rockets might want to re-sign one or the other at much the same low price. I doubt the Rockets re-sign both and wouldn’t be surprised if the Rockets let both walk. Possibly trade bait or sweetener with a trade at deadline. Mason Jones: definitely a keeper for next season. On dual player contract, means 45 days with Rockets and 45 days with Vipers.....Rockets will make his contract guaranteed soon. Just add water (needs playing time). Tucker: gets 4.7 points a game with over 30 minutes; defense may have fallen off the cliff? Not exactly what a contender wants. Can his past reputation net us a decent return? Traded at deadline for little to nothing unless his defense gets better. Cousins: wants to be starter to build up his value. Earn bigger contract for next team pursuing him in the offseason. C Wood: keeper, foundation to build around. Can’t be just Wood with House/Tate/Mason Jones/EG. Rockets need an experienced facilitator of Dipo or Wall to start next season to attract free agents this offseason. EG is not a good enough lob guy to make Wood/EG PnR a threat. K Martin: would have him in G-league. He is not ready for the big league. Let him develop while actually playing for the Vipers. Just my opinion.
Trade Oladipo, Tucker, Exum, House for the best young talent + picks you can get. Wall’s contract and Gordon are nice if Rockets wanna make the money work in a year or two for a top 10 guy if it becomes available.
Only thing I care about is where are the minutes for Gerald MFN Green!!????? Edit: Chase beat me to it
