The Rockets have an interesting situation to deal with this season. The allotment of minutes. Unlike previous years with clear cut goals of winning (or last year tanking) this season will be a mixed bag. On the one had, we need to increase the value of John Wall and Eric Gordon. Both great players, both capable of propelling a playoff team into the contender status when healthy. The more they play and play well, the more they increase their trade value. I look at Wall as being a really solid trade piece at this year's deadline if he stays on the court and continues his comeback story. I know a lot has been said about his contract, but that was last year. He is now one year closer to being a massive expiring contract (positive asset). At the deadline he will only have 1.5 years left (assuming he opts in, which isn't a given after CP3's resurgence) so this is a very low risk move for a contender. If it doesn't pan out, they have a max contract that expires after one more season, easily tradeable. If it does, sky's the limit. Gordon has a different contract situation, much lower number (roughly a little less than half of walls) but for longer period of time. Given some of the contracts last off season, and probably in 2022 off season, Gordon's contract shouldn't be that bad moving forward. Eric Gordon is a mystery. When he is "having fun" and "healthy" he is a force. The right team/culture would really get the most out of him. So do the rockets play these two? Pump Value for trades at the deadline? We run into two problems. 1. We might win too many games. We are still on track to tank at least one more year, and if we play these two too much we could find ourselves out of the top 5 picks. 2. It will take time away from our younger guys who we need to develop. So what do you guys think is the correct move? Do we pump up trade value? Or do we allocate most minutes for development?
Win too many games? Wall and EG don’t have impact like that. Matter of fact, Wall actively lost us games last year. He’s not called the Tank Commander for nothing. EG’s been garbage for awhile now. u play them a lot, and all you’ll be doing is losing while taking touches, minutes, and shots away from younger players like KPJr and/or Green if John Wall really wants out, and we obviously don’t want him either, then let’s start a dialogue about a buyout EG can ride the bench for all I care
Play Wall and Gordon each 20 min or so off the bench. Limited minutes offers less chance to get hurt BUT if they play well then teams can/may project them playing well in 30 min. KPJ must start and play 34 min at pg.
Too many games as in, not be a top pick in the draft. Wall and Gordon's winshare stat is definitely enough to boost us up out of the top 5.
Last year before the deadline while EG was playing well, there were a lot of tradetalks. Of course, as always he went down with an injury (out for the season, for some reason) and wasnt traded. Would hate it if this happened this year too so need to make sure to not overplay him. Would open up more minutes for guys like jaygup aswell.
Yep, we gotta think post covid. We wanna be on top of the league by 2023. Let’s get some pics for these fools. We can’t sit on these guys for too long. I would take a winner role player/semi star vet who already won a ring or two to teach our kids. Not two guys who never won nothin.
Maybe they send KPJ, Green, JC, Garuba and Sengun to the G league for the first half of the season and let them develop down in the Valley. Wall/Augustin EG House/Tate Theis/KJ Wood Wall, EG, House and Augustin will either play well and lose a bunch or they’ll get injured from playing a bunch of minutes. Either way it will clear them out of the way for the young guys.
nah U do know we were the worst team in the entire league by 3 games, and worst in the West by 5 games right? Wall’s winshares has never been impressive, and neither has Gordon’s. Wall literally had negative WS/48 last year, and EG is just a garbage chucker.
I think it comes down to: playing Wall and EG to increase their value vs. how much this might decrease our pick next draft (you mentioned this). For me, I'm in the play them group. They need value to be traded at the deadline and they won't impact our wins much by themselves. The players that share their positions and need playing time to develop will get played enough (Green, KPJ). Other players won't see their time affected much as they are forwards or a center (Tate, KMJ, Garuba, Sengun). Some guys will lose playing time but that's not a big deal to me (Agustine, Christopher, Brooks, etc). Hm, I forgot House...he needs playing time too, IF WE THINK HE HAS VALUE. I think he's been good at times for the Rockets but I also think we overrate his value a lot. What is he worth, a second round pick? He's probably my top choice for reduced playing time of someone who might have value in a trade, maybe give him 20 minutes a game?
I know we're all trying to be happy positive Rockets fans but John Wall becoming a positive trade asset is too far into fantasy land. The guy sucks, just accept it already and move on.
Lol once again I'm skeptical of a team that was quite literally the record holder for the thinnest bench team m, playing the most guys in NBA history for the least wins,.... suddenly having a minutes logjam. Even 4 first round picks isn't enough. I mean i look at last year's roster and there's still guys i swear I never heard of. Cameron Reynolds? Daquan Jefferies? Who?
Why not both? Rookies don't need to play 48 minutes a game to develop. If anything, force feeding them too many minutes when they are not ready could be a detriment. Start them off slow, off the bench. Anthony Edwards, Lamelo Ball, Tyrese Haliburton all came off the bench last season in the beginning and they were the three best rookies and two top picks. No reason why Green can't come off the bench at the beginning of the season. He has a lot of potential but if you think he's going to come in and light the league on fire off the bat you have been watching too much highlights and never seen him play a full game. Currently he would be a net negative player on the court. In the second half of the season you can increase their load as vets get traded or injured. This is how its always done, don't freak out if we do it this year.
Chris Paul and John wall are two different scenerios. Chris Paul has always been point god efficient and can lead a team, he had a blip of a tough year and injuries but not as bad as Wall and then continued on back and matured his game, but his foundation and style of play, poise, pace efficiency were always there. John Wall is closer to westbrook. Inefficient, athletic guard whose gets injured and isn't half as playable even at 80 percent, an inconsistent shooter who likes to shoot, high turnovers...and more so hes next to lebron in money paid this year and played 40 games where he showed his athleticism but was also similarly inconsistent as he used to be, let alone that hes coming on 2 entire years of not playing as well. I agree that wall's contract is value of expiring. But I don't think showcasing him will really make the sell any more than thunder 'showcasing' Al horford. The league knows his situation. I don't mind playing or evne starting him. In someways you want to develop your players and give them a chance, while at the sametime setting a culture of earning more opportunities beyond that. So EG and Wall can still play if healthy, they will know since any pundit, vet, coach can tell them their value will increase if they are good vets. John wall isnt hte max star of DC and hell just lower his value if he acts like it and can be sent home like al horford until hes an expiring. So as far as winning too many games, did you see Wall on the court last year? I don't think we have to worry about that, our young guys may be the ones who will surpsie people and compete. Eric gordon may have some value to a vet team, but it comes down to them having a lot of options for a scorer of the bench and he may not be the best bet. The league is always moving, so he has more of a chance than wall.
More than likely it was us spreading those rumors, sort of how we had first round pick offers for oladpo last year.. The problem also is for a couple million more you can get buddy hield or someone more efficient, younger, maybe injury prone? His contract is not as bad with money being higher so maybe it happens... but they also both fit a rebuilding as they are not going to lead to wins
