[The Athletic] Apparantley Rockets Had A Good Offseason, David Aldridge Ranks Houston Rockets #1

Simply put.

Wood, while good, brings unneeded risk.

1.) We don't have control over Wood in the long term. He makes that choice and in two years he could be gone leaving you with nothing.
2.) We risk sabotaging our drafting position by having him on the team in the short term.
3.) We risk messing up cap management, if he is on a bigger deal and becomes injured.
4.) There is fitment risk. We don't know what our young guys will become and how they fit with Wood. Including potential guys new draftees next year.

If any of that occurs, the Rockets would have failed to "manage an asset" they had in their rebuild. That is a misstep and a potentially big one.

The far less risky, and more pragmatic approach, is too move him now for a more flexible asset (Draft Capital), which is better suited for a young developing team with many unknowns.

And the best part? If you love Christian Wood, he stays healthy, he wants to be here, and he fits. OUTSTANDING. Trade him now and sign him back in two years, when this team is ready to start being good.

This is how a proper rebuild works. Its all about managing and preserving assets, while controlling when and how you take your big swings.

 

That's not how a proper rebuild works. Actually there is no one way to nail it. You need a little luck.

1, But you do in the next 2 seasons to make the correct decisions. If he walks, it's because the Rockets have no interest in keeping him due to injuries.

2, Playing god with the 'tank' rarely works too. OKC? Getting the 10th-13th pick in this upcoming draft wouldn't be bad. Like Sengun, one of those top draft prospects can fall to you. They always do.

3, plain to see. That's every team with the guaranteed contract misery which is why you have these 2 seasons to evaluate durability.

4, we keep repeating steps one through three. It's for Silas to find fit with his coaching style that's where his work will be done.

5, I can't make you fall in love with Wood. Some of you already had a predetermined opinion before we were ever introduced. I'm going to start back at one.

 

Trading Wood brings the risk that the Rockets don't have Wood, and it adds the risk that he doesn't want to sign in two years. There is a fitment risk that Wood would work incredibly well with Green, and that never happens if he isn't a Rocket.

 

And that risk is mitigated by the asset you picked up in the Wood trade, and the cap space you still have to sign a comparable player, and the better drafting position you obtain.

This really is a no brainer.

 

I'm willing to bet neither Morey nor Harden have thought negatively about the Rockets since they left the organization. Pretty certain they couldn't care less that the Rockets had the best offseason, according to one person.

Meanwhile, bitter Rockets fans think negatively about Morey and Harden every single day since. It's sad.

 

The only thing that would have made this off-season better, imo, is resigning K.O. If we had him I’d have very high hopes for playoff contention this year. Still think there’s a decent chance we surprise, much to the chagrin of ‘tank and hope’ crowd.

 

detroit or whoever thought middleton cant be a winning player or player on a championship team and they gave up on him and he won the chip as a second banana being paid max money...
I see wood as a player close to middleton or at least a potential to be a middleton level player

wood shows flashes of elite play i dont think it was his fault that rockets detroit or pelicans were losing games...its not his fault for playing alongsid selfish ballhoggs such as john wall or bricktor olabricko who doesnt even know how to throw a lob pass!(my goodness)...lolololol

hes a positive player even if you pay him max money....great on offense ....decent on defense....
if you have to sign such a player long term you do it...theres never a guarantee it will 100% work...and contrary to popular belief he does fit the timeline...

 

wood is an allstar caliber player with a unique skillset appreciated and highly sought after in this era... probability that any pick you get for giving up on wood will develop into a player of his caliber is low and not worth the risk

 

The common denominator for a lot of guys who put up numbers but don’t win and people tend to overrate is that it’s everyone else fault. He had a losing record when wall and dipo weren’t playing so they can stop being the scapegoat .

Nah he doesn’t fit the timeline of for now a 19 year old being your future

 

Why? Morey left a great legacy behind. It was morey who promoted him from General Counsel to Exec VP of Basketball Operations - not Tilman. It was Morey who included him in the think tank on building the team. So why is it some surprise that Morey's protege would do a good job???

 

Trading Wood is not a no-brainer. Not even close. I am not against trading him if someone knocks your socks off with an offer, but there is no hurry. We can trade him with his bird rights next year or at this year’s deadline if Stone sees the re-build taking several more years and doesn’t want to pay Wood to be a part of it. It’s not like he is 33. He is in his prime and will be for 5 years. If they could free up the cap, I wouldn’t mind seeing them extend him another 3 years if you could get him at 20m/5.

 

…the only way he gets 20m/5 is if he continues to be injured or his play slips. The Jarrett Allen’s of the world make that just based on promise and inconsistent production. Capella makes around that much and I would argue he has a more limited skill set than Wood.

It will be interesting to see what the rising cap will mean for Wood’s big pay day in 2 years. I don’t think he is max contract worthy at this point but players like him generally get close to max contract from somewhere.

 

I like David Aldridge. Dude should get a freakin show. People are stupid.