My point. I do not see Green as an Allround player yet or ever, and Harden was the SG that became a PG. He is a unicorn.
"Oh the humanity tilmans poor luxury tax!" While the warriors are paying over 100 million and were the worst record in the league 2 years ago
Again, you can’t just hand wave things away. We didn’t have and don’t have “plenty of deadweight contracts to move”.
So then we got time to find another center that can play defense, rebound, and score around the rim. Probably should figure out the point guard situation. SenGOAT probably still needs a couple of seasons.
For reference, Clint Capela was 24 years old and averaging 17 and 13 as the starter on a 53-win team, and he was locked into a contract that was paying him about 20% less than what Jarrett Allen was projected to make. Then he essentially became unplayable against Golden State in the playoffs, got injured, and couldn't share the court with Russell Westbrook, and the Rockets had to attach a first rounder the next year just to get a rental of Robert Covington. Additionally, the swap for Allen was predominantly done to dump the extra year of Taurean Prince ($15M this year). I would imagine that dumping that salary would cost at least one first round pick. The Jazz just dumped Derrick Favors' $20M deal this past summer using a 2024 first rounder. So Allen essentially returned two heavily protected future picks, pretty close to what it cost to acquire Sengun as a mid-round pick. Would you trade Sengun for Allen right now? Would you have done it last year during the draft? I think the answer for me is probably yes, considering how Allen fits on a rebuilding team. There's little doubt that most parts of the Harden sell-off have not paid off well so far, but I really do question how Allen would look in Houston right now if he were playing next to Christian Wood instead of Evan Mobley. We're talking about a guy with even less range than Theis, and we already know how bad those lineups have looked this year. I could easily see an alternate timeline where the Rockets hold onto Allen, extend him, and then they've got to figure out a way to dump him or Wood, and have to attach draft assets just to clear the contracts. Fundamentally, one of the biggest weaknesses that the Tilman ownership group has shown is always trying to limit the downside, and trying to sell off any declining assets before they became liabilities, even if it means taking back less value in a transaction. To me, this would be the fundamental disagreement that would cause Morey to leave the organization. Morey turned a bag of paperclips into a Ferrari simply by being patient and accumulating value over time. Sam Hinkie sold "the Process" by showing the "James Harden Flowchart" in his interview. In contrast, everything from the CP3 under-the-table extension under Tilman has been about not getting stuck with bad contracts. Ryan Anderson + DeAnthony Melton + future first for the Dancing with the Stars Champion, just because they were worried about the last year of the deal. CP3 shipped out for Westbrook, then Westbrook shipped out for Wall, because of perceived injury/lost effectiveness. Not keeping Caris LeVert because of his perceived injury risk just falls into the same pattern. My hope is that now that Tilman has been stuck with John Wall for the next two years, he starts to understand that even if you try hard to avoid long term commitments that could turn sour, injuries and loss of skill just aren't things that can be mitigated like property values or underperforming restaurant franchises. The commitment to a patient rebuild so far would seem to show a better understanding of this. Now let's see what they end up doing at the deadline and draft, and if they can start accumulating assets again so they can start being buyers again, rather than liquidation experts.
This point is moot. What does that have to do with Allen? Even still there's no way to tell if he'll stick around by the time they are contending and if they even can. What does that have to do with them being further along in the rebuild than us? We are talking about Allen and how his age correlates with their/core. The age may be the same but the experience is different. Especially with Garland not being a rookie and all.
We're not done liquidating though. We still have remnants of when we were buyers. Hard to judge now when we haven't really even begun. Last season was a good start. The point of not getting locked in is so one can stay flexible with moves, contending or not. We haven't been total sellers though, KPJ for example. High risk high reward. Morey knew he couldn't draft that's why he would rather wait for a proven talent. We don't have that problem anymore. Morey and Les wanted to stay competitive because Les is cheap and wanted to sale the team. No one wants a losing franchise. As soon as Morey was able to fleece Harden. What did Les do? Sale the team. I'm not sure Morey's actions were vindicative of a skill but more of a mandate, to be competitive.
yea interesting points. Its not really about jarrett allen but the philosophy of the team, if you can even call it that. We are just cheap. I think the end goal should always be to try to achieve one of these ridiculously loaded "homegrown" super teams like the spurs, thunder, warriors. Every move since tilman has been either a reckless attempt to sell low or for flat out nothing. This is probably NOT the way to go about it
You are thinking short term and not long term. They need to be closer in age. Why have Green hitting his prime as Allen declines when you can have both prospects playing longer together at the same age? Cash out when they both past their prime or it doesn't work out. Good luck finding something of value to contend with Green for a declining Allen. Also attached with a huge contract. Not a good look except for the first few seasons. Beyond that unnecessary.
JA is not comparable to Theis. JA is better rebounder. JA is better finisher. JA better rim protector. JA is in running for MIP and has won player of month honors. JA is head and shoulders the younger, more talented, more superior player. Comparing JA to Theis is disingenuous.
At the end of the day though, do you think that Allen and Wood can play effectively together? 92% of Jarrett Allen's shots come within 10 feet of the rim. He's a classic rim runner and finisher, but he's absolutely in the same vein as Capela, Gobert, Steven Adams, Dwight Howard, Andre Drummond. You want to argue he's the best of this archetype, I'm willing to hear that. You want to say that Wood could actually share the court with any of these guys and the offense doesn't get bogged down, I'm a lot more suspicious of that statement. Maybe there's enough talent there to make it all work. I'm probably underrating how well Allen is able to adapt to playing with another big man, or giving Mobley too much credit for making Cleveland's super big lineup work so well. I just feel like an Allen/Wood pairing ends up with one of them being benched or traded for relatively little; basically the same situation as we have now with Theis, except that he's taken his benching relatively well, and his contract is priced to move for a role player.
Where's the joke? He's been real off and on without his #1 cheerleader MDA reassuring he is a PG. Lol Literally all of Harden butt hugger believe he is a point guard. Don't you have to be successful to claim to be something. I'm not talking individual success either. HOF pont guards are not that selfish. CP3 is often hurt and aging. Harden's not even a better PG than him. Lol A better player overall? Possibly. Not a better point guard. Even CP3 was able to get his team to the Finals.
With Rockets luck...what if he got hurt before we could trade him???? People don't think. They treat the NBA like it's 2k where you can force trade until you get something you like. Lol
I like our team as is. Allen would just give Wood more reason to be selfish on offense. Sengun so skillfull he keeps Wood honest. Because he is replaceable.
