Parsons is a good example…somebody brought up Tobias as well They were good players, but offering that level of player a max?
when you're in extreme desperation for some kind of acquisition of talent, you offer max to a player whose professional resume is literally blank. make that make any sort of sense
4 years, $90 million for Cam https://hoopshype.com/lists/nets-in...hnson-trade-talks-free-agency-damian-lillard/ Six NBA executives who spoke with HoopsHype project Cam Johnson to earn a deal in the neighborhood of four years, $90 million in free agency this summer. Several teams are expected to have interest in Johnson as a restricted free agent, including the Houston Rockets, league sources told HoopsHype. Despite getting swept by Philadelphia, the consensus from NBA executives was Johnson helped his stock by averaging 18.5 points and 5.8 rebounds on an efficient 50.9 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from downtown in the series. It’s also worth noting Johnson, who underwent knee surgery earlier this season in Phoenix, logged 38 minutes per game in the playoffs as Brooklyn’s second-leading scorer. “I know I came into the league a lot older than other people, but I think I still have a long way to go in terms of what I can be,” Johnson said of his potential upside, looking ahead.
this is the biggest no brainer move of the offseason. If it is possible to literally swipe him from Brooklyn without yielding assets, you do it, even if you have to overpay by a few extra mil. At least you are paying him for his best years and there are not a lot of other great free agents on the market. Shooting, size, defense. If we have $60 mil in cap space, as much as $20-$25 of that can reasonably be spent on Cam. I’m far more worried about our guard play though. I have zero qualms about giving Tari 36 minutes at the 3 next year considering how well his shooting improved through the year (finished shooting over 34% from 3). I will bet that he can get to 36% next season. We really need to add a starting pg more than anything.
You can do both I think he easily gets more, Anderson got 4/80 for the Rockets in 2017, larger cap, better player, he's getting around 110 I bet
Sure, but why would you? Harden will require a 4 year max and he's simply not worth that at this point AND Harden isn't exactly the kind of player you want influencing your young players. As to Cam, I'd do 4/100 easily.
I think it lines up pretty well for our timeline, by the time Green/Smith/Sengun/KPJ + 1-6 are in their prime the contract will be over. Harden is an elite playmaker still, would be a great development addition and period for the young IMO.
The issue is, do you really want players like Green and KPJ influenced by someone like Harden who was the cause of just an embarrassingly awful team culture while he was here? He'd show up out of shape focusing on everything but basketball, he'd prioritize the club to his own performance, he'd demand the team destroy itself or be traded....I think that's the last vet you'd want young players having anything to do with. Add to that his declining ability, the fact he'd require the max, AND how's he going to take being benched when it comes time for that? He's proven that he'll intentionally sabotage his team if he doesn't get his way on any given thing....you don't think he'd sabotage the team for relegating him to a 20 minutes per game off the bench Manu type role?
I think Harden would bring some benefit, but you cannot discount the things that you have lined out. You just don’t know what his mentality in coming home is. And honestly you are probably correct in that. He would want to come home to have it be easier and to have more freedoms. I have no problem with paying Johnson 25 million a year. BUT in that case 2 of Green, Sengun, Porter must go to the bench to build a competent defensive team. Johnson is not our perimeter stopper.
Maybe we'll draft Scoot and that will be (theoretically) a solved problem. If it's not Scoot or Amen, I'd also hit the Spurs with an offer sheet for Tre Jones. Jones/KPJ Green/KPJ Johnson/KJ Martin Jabari/Eason Wemby/Sengun or Sengun/Jarace Walker (Some combination of the above for the overall frontcourt, they're all pretty flexible positionally) I'm okay with overpaying for guys like Cam and Tre who still might have a little bit of upside left to unlock and are young enough to still be in their 20s in a few years when our core hits its prime. Less okay with overpaying for a guy like FVV who is already on the downslope of his career. I go back and forth about bringing Harden back... I think he's still a superstar, but I'm not sure for how long. Depends mainly on the contract length/structure moreso than the AAV.
this is of course a bad contract, but realistically Houston doesn’t have a better place to spend money the next two years. Houston should be front loading this contract as much as possible.
Well, let's face it, you aren't going to EVER have a competent defensive unit if you have Green, but I do think that maybe we could mitigate a bit of that by moving on from Sengun and going with a more mobile big man. In a perfect world the Rockets win the lottery and draft Wemby and maybe pick up Cam Johnson so you could go with Wemby Smith Cam Green KPJ in that scenario, you'd only have to hide Green and you'd have 3 quick big men that could switch while having the speed to recover and help. Also, maybe bringing in a strong defensive coach could turn Green into a halfway passable defender one day...maybe.
It isn’t a feasible thing because BOTH Green and Porter are not impactful or consistent on D. We need to be looking at Claxton if we don’t get the first pick.
Green is an absolute abomination defensively, KPJ is merely inconsistent....and a lot of it is having to over help due to how pathetic Jalen Green is. You really can't conflate the two. Almost certainly you are going to have those two out there together, and Green will still probably be one of the worst defensive players in the league. You just have to deal with that. The best you can do is surround them with shooters and defensive players. Teams don't like moving on from high draft picks or their best players, so Jalen will likely still be around due to being a high draft pick and KPJ will likely be around due to being one of the best players on the roster. IMO that's why it's fairly likely that they move on from Sengun so that they can find a guy who is a better fit.
To each his own. I give Jalen a D this year on Defense and KPJ a D+. Plus I expect Jalen’s 3rd year to be more impactful than KPJ was this last year or will ever be. I guess we can re-visit this in 10 months.
A lot of it is about circumstances, I expect. First, Johnson presents an opportunity to hurt a team whose draft pick we own. Second, the free agent class is relatively rich in forwards and relatively weak in point guards and true rim-protecting centers, so it's easier to get a deal on a forward. Third, positions aside, we really need more perimeter shooting and defense, and Cam Johnson provides both. Fourth, the front office can feel fairly confident they're not going to pick a combo forward in the draft--the only one they might pick who fits this profile is Brandon Miller, and we'd have to pick #3 and like him more than Amen to take him--low odds of that happening. Whereas they have a very high chance of picking either a point guard or a big man. (Wemby, Scoot, Amen, or Walker.) Lastly, we have up to $60M in cap space this offseason--getting Cam Johnson does not mean we won't get a point guard or rim protector or perhaps even both. All of that said, he does present a logjam problem if we land him. Makes it more likely either Tari or KJ Martin will be traded.
None of the metrics support those grades though.... Sounds like you are attempting to minimize just how terrible Jalen Green was defensively while having blind faith that he turns into a MUCH better player than you'd have any reason to think he could become overnight. It makes it kind of hard to take seriously. That said, I hope Jalen magically becomes even half the player you think he already is.
