Rockets turned down first-round pick offers for Eric Gordon

dont forget stretch the floor with gravity. dude hits some of the deepest 3s in the league and is a big (underrated) reason why Harden had so much room to operate.

 

Teams that failed this year that could use EG.

Phoenix (reunite him with CP3)
Milwaukee (Grayson Allen is trash, they need a backup to Middleton)

If those teams have firsts and some young players I am pulling the trigger.

 

Well, we already have Milwaukees first next year, so we are probably hoping they Brooklyn it... getting a future 1st from them might be nice?

 

I like the idea. For PHX, to make the salaries match with Gordon, we'd probably have to take back two of the following three:

Crowder (32) - one year left at $10.2M
Saric (28) - one year left at $9.2M
Shamet (25) - four year deal, but only first two are guaranteed at about $9.5M and $10.2M
Any of the three would be easier to flip given smaller salaries to match.

I doubt that PHX would throw in a pick or not, maybe they would throw us a 2nd in 2024 or a pick swap.
I seriously doubt we'd get their FRP. We should have traded him this past season while he was on fire from 3-point land.

Salary matches are tougher with Milwaukee, as are available draft picks.
I don't think anyone really wants Brook Lopez back or Grayson Allen to match salaries.

 

Why the hell would the rockets do this when Gordon is an expiring?

 

yeah I still think Gordon is worth a late first to a team like PHX that is legit contending, but certainly it’s easier to make the case for good compensation if you are getting 2yrs rather than 1yr from him. This was the debate at the deadline and I still struggle to understand why we didn’t get as much as possible for Gordon. No doubt his value is less now.

 

I return to my question: to receive the #1 what would the Rox have had to receive to get the deal approved?

 

why did everyone ignore the biggest obstacle for a contender to get Gordon? It is the 4th year becomes guaranteed if the contender does end up winning it all. This becomes an expensive contract. Does the contender want to win it all? If yes, two expensive years of contract. If not, why trade for him at the first place?

 

but in all likelihood, if a team won a championship with Gordon, they’d be okay bringing him back for an extra year, even with his significant salary.

 

Exactly - that's the point. If you have to take back $19M+ in salary to make the trade, you only have a few ways to match it. There aren't many teams under the cap that want a veteran player - and most are rebuilding. So you end up taking salary back.

We SHOULD have traded him when we had the chance at the trade deadline.
I readily conceded that we don't know the terms of the 'multiple offers' that Stone rejected...

 

If Gordon is starting, Silas and Stone need to go. If Gordon is even on the team they need to go.
Ego is a good player, great veteran presence but his PT should not get in the way of young talent developing at this point.

 

He should be traded at the February deadline to a contender for a low first round pick or two good second round picks. Eric looks ready for the season.

 

Yeah. I wouldn't go that far. I suspect the trade deadline is when he'll have most value (though they should have traded him last trade deadline). And he'll have to play to have that value.

I honestly don't even mind if they re-sign him, but it would obviously need to be at a MUCH lower price tag. I love E-Go and wouldn't be sad at all if retired a Rocket, as long as it doesn't get in the way of us bringing in significant free agents over the next couple years.

 

If he plays at the SF spot, it's okay. Josh Christopher is ready to take all his minutes at the backup 2 and hopefully some of KPJ's minutes at the 1.

 

4 months later and this is still amazing and embarrassing that we turned down 1st round offers for Gordon becuase they weren't in the right year, allegedly.

Think of that if/when you hear about how the Rockets tried and failed to move up from 17.

Does 17 and 27 move you up to, say 13? Don't know, but it probably helps a lot more than 17 and the rights to pay $20-40 million to Eric Gordon.

 

It is unreal that we are still holding on to an injury prone 33 year old 6'3" guard - Get what you can for him, and it is not all that great that he is SATISFIED playing for a rebuilding team, doesn't exactly scream "WINNER"....if you are ok just playing does it?

DD

 

If he plays the SF spot, that eats into Paolo, Tate, KJM and Sengun minutes. Depending on what happens with Wood

 

Sure, he was worth a #1 pick from a contending team ... but those picks would have landed 25-30.

We have no use for that pick - Not with 60% of your roster, 9 players in years 1-3.

Give me a pick in 2022/23 or 23/24 instead. Teams balked at that idea and rather than give EG away for what would have ended up being moving up a couple spots in the draft, Stone can trade him between now and the trade deadline of the coming season for the pick he asked for instead of the pick teams were willing to give.

And teams like PHX and Milwaukee will be kicking themselves all summer for not making that deal last year ....

Stone will get his preferred pick from EG ..... just have a little patience.