Anything that makes me want and hoping the Jazz lose for a better unprotected pick in my book is an absolute win.
My wishlist for the deadline is pretty simple: 1) Draft capital (aside from maybe one additional first for a move up, I want picks beyond 2022) 2) An athletic 4 to pair with Sengun at the 5 (this guy need not be long for the Rockets as I am hoping the draft will provide that guy) 3) A veteran who is/was good enough that the kids will listen but who'd be content to play spot minutes (A Haslem type. Garrett Temple?)
There a reason why I want Jovic he could be the wing we need to replace Tate if we can't get a 2nd top 10 pick he can be in the teens.
thats good then . I want Masai to get more and then make it a 3 way with us for Gordon. I don’t particularly want an expiring and just a 1st (obv depends on quality ) for Gordon . I don’t care that he’s an injury risk . He’s been a good veteran leader for us and is responsible for many of the wins this year . He’s making all of have fun what does cap space (not even really cause we still have wall) do for us ? what good player will come here ? If you’re getting rid of Gordon you want a longe term payoff . I’d want and first now and a first later (can be protected ) or multiple protected 1sts down the road . Gordon is good AF ... if risky .. if no one wants to play ball then we can play this game again in the offseason . he’s taking good care of his body and we are managing his load .
Regarding your point 3, my hope is that Stone will give GG The Mayor a 1 year contract next season when he's eligible to play for us again.
Still shaking my head that Stone & Silas preferred Dipo, Exum + Bucks FRP over JA, Prince, LeVert + SRP (our own). And so many on CF were defending Stone after this. Insanity.
Dipo portion was nightmarish. Rockets could have flipped JA, Prince + Levert SEPARATELY for FRP for EACH instead of just the SRP for Dipo (which was a wash because Stone paid Pacers a SRP + LeVert for Dipo). That's at least THREE FRP not including the 3 players to cover salary for each.
And neither of those 1sts or players could have been parlayed into a top 4 pick in last years draft, or likely any draft.
Top 4 pick had nothing to do with the players portion of Harden trade. Cavs ended up picking 3rd and had both JA + Prince as well as more talented guards than LeVert in Sexton and Garland. Cannot have it both ways, either Cavs were much more talented than Rockets (only reason Mobley is successful and Green is not) or Mobley addition helped make Cavs a top playoff team.
You're having both ways that JA is great and the Rockets would have finished in the top 4 with him. It is at best 50-50 that Rockets got a top 4 pick if they kept Lavert and JA. The Rockets bumbling with Oladipo did end up getting the Rockets a Top 4 pick. Not keeping JA and Lavert don't bother me as much as signing Theis. Though, I'm not sure it is as much Theis's fault as just the team doesn't have enough talent to have someone primarily help on defense be on the court.
This. Pretty possible we could have kept JA and Lavert.... given a high draft pick to OKC and then maybe get a SRP for JA who was a RFA in the offseason. Would Tilman have signed JA for $100 million or slightly less? I have a hard time seeing it.
I always felt that the Oladipo/Exum part of the trade was primarily meant to clear salary. Prince, Levert, and Allen make a combined $50.5 MM this year, which would push us well past the luxury tax, even if we didn't sign Nwaba and Theis for a combined $13 MM this offseason. It's frustrating to throw away assets, but can you blame the FO front for not wanting to be a lux tax team for a non-contending team? (I still say yes to blaming them, because they tried blowing smoke up our "you know whats" by saying the Pacers/Cavs portions of the deal were win now moves)
In hindsight the trade turned out poorly for Houston and while I didn't love it, I also didn't hate the gamble at the time - the idea was that Dipo comes in and gets to work himself back to all star form with a contending roster around him and Houston likely ships him to the highest bidder to kick start the rebuild...but Dipo didn't want to play here and never was remotely able to regain the same physical place he was pre-injuries and ultimately he gave little value to the org relative to Lavert and Allen. It was just a "swing for the fences" move from Stone and while I understand the need to buy a lotto ticket as you are sending your franchise cornerstone out the door, I think realistically Dipo never really had that much upside because 1.) he was already heavily injured, 2.) was leaving his prime as a player while he was working himself back into shape and 3.) would be looking for a new contract soon....where Lavert and Allen at least had a little more youth upside built into their progression in a way that Dipo didn't have going for him. Shockingly as bad as the trade for Dipo was,expiring Kelly Olynk plus a 2nd was probably a better haul than Houston deserved - a year later Dipo has player 4 games with the Heat and is currently on a vet minimum deal so someone we managed to "win" the Dipo/Miami trade a year later when we were slammed at the time for it.
....the fact that expiring Olynk was part of the Dipo trade is another confirmation of the "shedding salary" strategy this was always intended to be. ESPECIALLY because we knew Wall wasn't going anywhere and likely Gordon too
We didn't have to hold them past deadline. Remember that the Harden trade happened really early in the season so we coulda taken JA and Levert, traded JA at the deadline for more than one pick after he dominates for a month, let Levert get his surgery and trade him at this deadline. We could still lose every game post deadline for the pick. Also, remember that post trade we went on that huge win streak with the WOW lineup so it's not like we'd get that many more wins.
Maybe a trade with Orlando for Gary Harris? Houston In: Garry Harris (expiring) and Robin Lopez(Rockets need a damn center), Minnesota 1st (top 5 protected), Orlando 2nd Rounder. Orlando In: Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt Minnesota in: Eric Gordon and Terrance Ross Add DJ Augustine to make numbers work.
