Thank the heavens! Stone's going to have to pull a miracle to unload most or all of his salary onto some sucker team. Either way, I am so elated that his ass will be gone.
They are ridding themselves of a selfish, moody and unproductive player. The fact that Stephen Silas considers him a leader or mentor is really an indictment of Silas as much as anything. First it was Oladipo and then Wall. At least Silas won't be able to play Wall 35 minutes a game now and will be forced to play the younger guys. What will Green and Porter miss out on? Being wide open while Wall dominates the ball and bricks threes and screams at Green for not getting the rebound?
...if only there was another team with a disgruntled PG who is also trying to force his way off of a team after the fans, coach, and co-star threw him under the bus last season and who the GM has been actively trying to trade for at least the last year. On Nov 5th you can trade Danny Green and Simmons for Wall and House(or trade Curry and Simmons today but I imagine the Sixers prefer keeping Curry to Green). I'm not saying I want this or Daryl wants this, or Stone wants this but there are scenarios out there if people are being realistic about value. In a lot of ways, Wall is competing directly with Simmons to be some unnamed team's future PG. Houston is likely willing to give Wall away (and probably doesn't care about House either as trade filler) so anyone looking for a PG to get better immediately who is interested in Simmons is probably going to be looking hard at what Wall can give for the next two seasons for little to no compensation vs what Darryl wants for Simmons which in turn further limits Morey's market for trading Simmons. At some point "what you want" pivots to "what is available" and it's going to be harder for Morey to justify holding out for value for Simmons when a win now PG is available and the team shopping him is looking for young talent. Morey is just going to have to get over that no one wants to build around Simmons as "the guy" which is what most teams are signing up for by trading $35mil in assets. At least in Houston we can bring him in and decidedly say - you aren't "the guy", but rather one of several guys and maybe that's a great place for Simmons to be.
So, you've got 0 possibilities for a trade and now 0 possibility that Wall will help in any way. You could of at least had a $91 million dollar coach. But why would he even bother to show up?
IMO the Rockets best bet is a trade with the Clippers.... the Rockets take on longer contracts with Morris, Kennard and Ibaka/Jackson.... and the Rockets deal Wall and likely another valuable asset (draft pick or players on the roster) and then the Rockets try to move Morris and Kennard in separate deals down the road. The downside for the Rockets is that it ties up cap space longer than just Wall, and the upside is Wall is gone and Morris and Kennard can likely be moved down the line..... it could cost the Rockets some decent but not back breaking assets..... assuming that the Clippers even have any interest at all..... John Wall was a bad player last year and I am not sure he helps the Clippers at all.
I don’t like it because of the pick, but this is probably what will happen. Love and Rubio can come off the bench, or buy out Love if he is willing (cheaper than Wall). Wall 2023 Mil pick For Rubio Love
Same PR bullshit..... Wall looks great ....... he is a GREAT teammate and leader ..... the Rockets aren't in a HURRY to move him...... if they don't move him this season, he will be a lot easier to move next season..... the Rockets love and respect John Wall........ and.... John Wall doesn't want to stay??? Didn't the other reporter say that it was the ROCKETS that didn't want to keep him because he isn't in their plans?? I think the Rockets need to work more closely with their reporters to make sure the stories are consistent. I choose to just look at the positives..... at least Wall won't be taking minutes away from the younger players.
Yes, I’ve been saying for awhile now that Wall would probably be willing to give up some money in order to play for a contender. He’s made A LOT of money in his career. He can afford to sacrifice some cash in order to play for a ring. I’m dead set against the Rockets giving up significant assets in order to move him. I’m fine just letting him sit until the end of his contract if need be.
If Stone can trade Wall without giving up picks and getting back mostly cap neutral salary, it'd be a huge win. I just don't see the team out there who is excited to pick up Wall, even before you take into account salary. There aren't even many teams out there who could trade us their problem contract in exchange. I guess Kevin Love, maybe Tobias Harris (he has 3 years and is very overpaid), CJ McCollum (same as Harris), but I still don't see why any of those teams would think trading for Wall was the answer. As far as buyouts, I think Blake Griffin and Kemba Walker set the market: Griffin gave back $13.3 million of $75 million owed (about 18%) Walker gave back $20 million of $73.7 million owed (about 27%) I'm sure Rockets would shoot for that Kemba number, which would be about $25 million of $91.7M given back. However, Kemba managed to recoup a lot of it with his deal with the Knicks, and I don't think many teams that Wall would want to go to have the money to give him more than the minimum, so he might balk at that amount.
