Eh wouldn't give him a max Solid player, but not max worthy And yes there are a lot of overpaid players who aren't worth the max on teams right now and those teams end up in cap trouble and trying to dump those players
Kyrie is interesting. He will sell tickets and is fun to watch, but I have never seen him lead a team to the playoffs that wasn't loaded with talent. He would get it though for other reasons
I think that you and I agree on the current state of the Rockets. However, you have a much less positive view of the future. The current state of things is bad because the Rockets lack an elite talent. Wood is totally a secondary player who needs to play off of an elite talent. If Harden were around Wood would look tremendously better I believe. KPJ could be that type of guy but he needs some seasoning to get there. Outside of those two the Rockets do have Tate, Martin and Brooks who each look like there is potential there to be solid role players. So that is 5 pieces that you can see as rotation players on a good team. You almost have half of a playoff rotation on the roster (all 25 or under) and the team has only been rebuilding for 6 months. Which brings me to the topic of a "quick rebuild". The fact is that he Rockets are much more fortunate* than most teams rebuilding their roster. Foremost is the facts that they were able start by liquidating a veteran roster for picks of various value in the coming 5 or so years. Most teams have to wait and mine the draft or free agency for slept upon player to flip for those picks. So, in that sense, I think we can agree the Rockets are ahead of the game compared to many rebuilds. The second thing working, in my mind, to hasten this rebuild is the fact that these next few drafts actually have franchise level talents in them. How many rebuilds were set back when there was no talent available at their pick? Assuming the Rockets get a top 4 in this draft, it seems quite possible they are going to get a franchise altering talent to add to the mix. 2022 seems to be similarly top heavy when the Rockets are quite likely to be back in lottery with multiple additional first round picks at their disposal to move up. If KPJ returns next season as a better shooter and facilitator then I see him as being a legit 20/6/6 type guy potentially. That in turn will likely result in Wood being able to better exploit his talents in the PnR. Adding a Cade Cunningham or Evan Mobley or Jalen Green to that creates a pretty good, ascending trio. Tate/Martin/Brooks should all have benefitted from another year of development. So that is 6 guys right there before we have even talked about the additional first rounders the Rockets have to play with this offseason. And then they have the chance to add another foundational piece (or two) in the 2022 draft. And then, hopefully, they will be in the position to score a free agent piece in the 2022/2023 season or in that offseason. TL;DR: Rockets are in position, with a little luck, to be good again sooner than later. *: after considering the Westbrook trade's impact on the draft, "much more fortunate" might not be quite right.
There's one way to a quick rebuild in the NBA, get a top 5 quality player and then there's no need for anything else. Once Mavs got Luka, it was over. Everything else they do from that point on is to build a contender. It's all luck. If you can't get a player like, Luka, or Curry or Giannis, you keep drafting until you get someone like that.
The rockets aren't guaranteed a lottery pick this year. They are the worst team in the league so they're giving themselves a shot sure at keeping that top 4 pick, but the being ahead of the game compared to many rebuilds doesn't exactly apply, especially when they don't own their pick. Having franchise changing talent in a draft is always going to be hit or miss. People tend to overrate it just based on whether you're actually one of those sorry teams in that draft. Aka, the rockets will need to hit on these next drafts so that translates to these next drafts are loaded. There's no sure fire thing here. Most of the folks around here don't even follow college and just base a bulk of their opinion on highlight vids off random games and media hype. Every draft has talent and much of the same conversations always take place. By the time wood's deal is done, his stage of his career will be at a much different point than a rockets team that's still not close to winning. The point is, the actual process of rebuilding a truly relevant team after losing a guy like Harden isn't something that's going to turn around sooner. You factor in having the worst ownership in the league, it makes it that much later
In my onion...Wood should focus on winning with his team and not always focus on the "me" stuff so much. Win games, make some deep playoff runs and the rest will fall in line. John Wall is a max player, puts up numbers but has never done s**t about making his team a winner. Go win and prove your value to a franchise.
Your timeline is similar to what I envision .... this year and next they are likely lotto teams but the 21/22 trade deadline OR 22/23 offseason is where they should turn the proverbial corner as Wall & EG come off the books. Those two make account for 62.8% of the salary currently on the books next for season ..... $62.5M of $99.5m
You have to spend 90% of the salary cap. For those voting no, if we don't max Wood what do you think we're going to spend our money on in 2024-2026, especially given the draft consideration we owe OKC then?
I think next season and the season after we will see lots of growing pains but by 23-24 we should be getting primed to be good for a while. If they draft well.
I think many go with the assumption that they will keep this years pick. They control next years pick out right and are very likely to be a lottery team again. How bad is yet to be determined and quite dependent upon their selection this year. The biggest detriment to this team being competitive right now is that they spend $69,048,199 or 56.1% of their total player salary on guys who aren't contributing anything. $10,924,003 of that comes off the books at seasons end. The rest comes off at the end of the 2022-23 season. I think Stone has earned the benefit of the doubt as a talent evaluator , at least for the time being. I think its safe to assume that if they keep that top 4 pick he will make a good choice .... and all 4 of those top players have franchise altering potential. If they don't keep the pick .....they'll have a lot of options with 3 picks. Honestly if they keep this years pick do you expect they are drafting top 4 again the following season? I wouldn't .... I'd think they are drafting 10-14 in the next draft. Now if they end up picking 16 this year , you probably expect they are picking very early next year .... but not picking early in both , unless they blow this years pick terribly or send it to OKC. The real key to rebuilding this roster is how they handle the 22/23 deadline. They will have two large expiring contracts - $19.5m and $47.3m. What they are able to get in return for those contracts and future draft assets is what will go a long way towards determining their fate. As to Wood and his career path , his contract ends at the same time as Wall / EG and will be eligible for something around $38m at that point. Whether you retain him at that time really depends upon all the other factors above - were you able to hit on a couple top picks ? were you able to leverage those two expiring contracts into quality players ? If the answer is yes to both , you likely pay Wood assuming he was healthy and productive , if the answer is no ..... your best bet was having traded him away at the last seasons trade deadline. There's a whole lot of IF's .... but IF things go right , they should be a really solid team in 23-24.
why won't he just shut up? Rockets are 30 in standings who cares about his delusional thoughts. Put in work, achieve something then bark. He has like 20 good games and nice looking play style and he wants to be max player now? Bro AD would make u a baby in playoff series and you are one injury away from being min player or back to gleague. Get your ****ing head straight and think only about winning next game first, you just signed contract too
I voted yes. Just because you're a max player does not mean you're a top 3 guy. All you have to do is score around 25 pts and grab 10 boards and the ridiculous nba contract set ups will take care of the rest.
