All this and Wood would still be trying to pump his stats for is contract next season. All the while giving dog sh*t effort on defense.
As long as he's hitting 40% from 3 it's ok. Trade deadline bait. Smith/Porter patrol the perimeter, Jalen tries to play safety intercepting passing lanes, Sengun at the rim. All Wood has to do is help on defense and box out for boards. And hit 40% from 3 on pick n pops cuz we ain't letting his stupid ass dribble anymore. Honestly I can't stand him but also realize nobody is trading for him after last season.
Wall / Christopher / Nix Green / Queen Shaedon Sharpe (Blazer’s pick) / Kendall Brown (Net’s pick) Jabari Smith (our pick) / Garuba Sengun / Garuba trades: Wood / Tate / Porter & Martin …for… Sharpe Trail Blazers retool around Damian Lillard one last time. Send Bledsoe to make money work —we wave him. ———— We are looking for ANYTHING positive to develop. Gordon —> 2 SRP —> Vipers Mathews —> SRP —> Vipers Nwaba —> SRP —> Vipers Wall has a career season moved at deadline yielding a net positive return.
Even better and I think it's possible. Lakers cave on Westbrook/Wall deal and then we flip Westbrook to Charlotte or something else for Hayward, 13, 15. Find some way to offload Westbrook where we are not as picky as Lakers. I would want to get Jalen Johnson and max out the picks gained from Wood, Gordon, and Tate. Find a way to meld all of that crap into trades.
KPJ/Nix/Kemba Walker Green/Christopher/EG Martin/Eason/Nwaba Smith/Thaddeus Young Sengun/Garuba/Plumlee Moves: Hou-Char-NYK trade: Hou out: Wood, Tate, Mathews and pick 17 Hou in: Plumlee, Kemba, pick 13 & Dallas' 2023 FRP via NY Char out: Plumlee, PJ Washington & pick 13 Char in: Wood, Mathews & pick 11 NY out: Kemba, pick 11 and Dallas' 2023 frp NY in: Washington, Tate & pick 17 Draft: Jabari Smith (1) & Tari Eason (13) Sign Thaddeus Young to a 1 year deal with a player option.
Unmentioned here was a buyout for Wall. This team is filled with talented young players but has a solid core of vets to help nurture the young guys and bring them along. Of note is Gordon who is obviously taking a mentor role with the guys already but also Thad Young is a guy who is renowned for his professionalism and desire to help develop young guys. Walker, Nwaba and Plumlee are all guys who have spent more than a minute in the league and could help instill the habits the young guys need all the while being content to play sparingly in the twilight of their respective careers. And to boot, the Rockets would have 3 picks to parlay into a top pick in next year's draft too.
This was among my favorites in the thread. It's hard to think more than a year out, but any offseason that nets the Rockets Smith or Chet with the first pick and one of the best wing defenders (Daniels, Eason, Sochan) with the second pick while also moving Wood and Tate is a win. I like the idea of bringing in veterans like Blumlee and Young, too, to fill out the minutes in the front court while not taking away a ton of playing time from the young guys. Beyond that, I think we need another season of the KPJ and Green backcourt to see if it can actually work on a team trying to win games. But if you've got multiple creators and a playmaking big like Sengun who can help initiate the offense, I don't mind KPJ being an unofficial PG. If the offense doesn't work, though, and they have to scrap it, I think KPJ might be better suited for a sixth man type who can hit shots and initiate off the bench. And maybe you look to add that true point next summer.
I think it'll be easier to answer after tomorrow evening. But, I still want maximum flexibility. My dream lineup is more a list of priorities than personnel because our bigger vision is still accumulating high end assets and next draft is the last draft we have to do it within somewhat our control. I doubt we get more than 1 additional foundational piece this year. Also, Victor and Scoot would be consensus #1 this year, so it's worth one more year of bottoming out. After next draft we'll start having a great idea of what "needs" we have. Trying to do that now is like picking out the furniture before we even know which house we're buying Realistic priorities Priority 1: Continue to develop Green Find low hanging fruit: Ex: Get top picks from teams desperate to win now (Kings/Portland/etc) Develop our top 5 pick Priority 2: Give Sengun and our other 2022 FRP(s) all the room to develop as needed Priority 3: Give Josh Christopher more playing time Get what we can for Wood/Gordon Develop Garuba Priority 4: Have a strong opinion on KPJs future here. If we do not have him in our long term plans get what we can before the deadline Priority 5: Find a guy like Luka in the 2nd round (this is a joke)
We shuffle the roster and package a combination of 2022 #17, 2023 FRP top ten protected, CWood, EG, Nwaba, and Tate to move up from #17 to #12 and get Ayton. We end up with 3 "top 3 draft picks" in Green, Jabari, and Ayton that fit relatively well in the team construct. Hopefully Dyson Daniels can be an oversized point guard that plays defense. 9 man rotation: Dyson Daniels Jalen Green Kyle Anderson Jabari Smith Ayton Josh Christopher KPJ KMJ Sengun
I’d love to draft a wing and sign Ayton. Green/Rookie/Sengun/Ayton seems really fun on the surface with a ton of potential to grow.
Current roster under contract for 2022 - 2023 Guards: (8) Kevin Porter Jr Jalen Green Josh Christopher Daishen Nix Garrison Mathews John Wall Eric Gordon David Nwaba Forwards: (4) Kenyon Martin Jr. Jae'Sean Tate Christian Wood Usman Garuba Centers: (2) Alperen Sengun Total Players under Contract: 14 2022 Draft Picks #1-5 and #17 Total players after draft: 16 Players I definitely want to see on the roster: Guards: (3) Jalen Green Josh Christopher Garrison Mathews Forwards: (2) Kenyon Martin Jr. Jae'Sean Tate Centers: (1) Alperen Sengun The two picks. Total roster spots filled: 8 Ideal scenario: Rockets get 1st Pick in Draft and take Chet Holmgren Christian Wood traded for mid 2022 1st Rd Pick or Young player with potential (Draft F Jeremy Sochan) Rockets use the 17th Pick to select (C - Mark Williams) Eric Gordon traded for mid - late 2022 1st Rd Pick (Draft G Christian Braun) Kevin Porter Jr. Packaged with Nwaba in sign & trade with Memphis for (G Tyus Jones) John Wall gets bought out. Projected roster 2022 - 2023 Guards: (6) Jalen Green Josh Christopher Daishen Nix Garrison Mathews Tyus Jones Christian Braun Forwards: (5) Kenyon Martin Jr. Jae'Sean Tate Usman Garuba Jeremy Sochan Chet Holmgren Centers: (2) Alperen Sengun Mark Willliams Total Roster spots filled: 13
Realistic 12-man roster, not dream roster: Sengun Paolo/Garuba KJ Martin/17th pick Green/Christopher/Gary Bird KPJ/Wall/Nix Tate, Gordon, Wood, and Nwaba all traded for picks and a significant player Queen on a two-way unfortunately that’s probably a lotto next season, but at least we still have two 2023 picks
