Rockets acquire Suns picks, return Nets picks to Brooklyn

but it doesn’t need to be proven… Because if he didn’t know that just makes it worse.

You’re telling me as a GM you know that there is a team offering six draft picks for Bridges and you buy that the nets won’t make that deal regardless?

And if that is the case, then what nook said is right you have all the leverage to get maximum value… make it hurt. Right now at best we theoretically got marginally better trade assets in a scenario where we had all the leverage for them getting their picks back and getting the haul of picks from the knicks

 

You and I both know that "High chance at a generational talent" is wishful thinking. Unless the Nets intentionally threw every game (which ticket sales $$$ would heavily discourage them from doing), it is impossible that they would finish any worse than 6th overall. Even then, that's a 9% shot at the #1 pick. Hitting would be amazing, but we don't control the roulette wheel.

The 2025 Nets swap is similar in many ways to the 2027 Suns swap. The main value comes from the leverage on the team, since whichever team's pick you hold can adjust their behavior depending on whether you trade it back to them.

 

Anyone remember @Nook ‘s meltdown about the Gordon trade, saying, as now, we should have gotten more? That trade landed us Cam Whitmore.

 

The question is:

Would the nets now trade their 25 pick to us for everything they gave in the trade?

If not, we lost that trade, period.

 

But some of you wanted Bridges lol

 

I think they could have certainly gotten some of the assets the Nets got from the Knicks at a minimum.

I would have personally held a line at giving up the 2026 Nets pick. I would have told the Nets I would deal the 2025 pick and 2027 swap in the right deal but would hold onto the 2026 pick. Why? The Nets will have already drafted a number of players by 2027, they will have drafted a high pick in 2025 and 2026, and they would have had another 2-3 more picks from 2025 to build their team and they have a lot of cap space. By 2027, the Nets will have already bottomed out been getting better, and likely out of the high lottery.

It isn't that I think Stone made some disaster of a trade, I just think it is "meh", he had leverage and should have gotten more.

Had the Rockets gotten the Suns picks and the something from the Knicks assets, it would be easier for me to say it was a good trade.

 

To me, giving up four unprotected assets for two does hurt.

 

we got the no 3 pick this year … and I believe they will be worse next year. There wasn’t a clear path to improvement.

The other thing is, we’re not just trading what we could’ve got but trading what the nets actually got. Which is basically a top five pick in one of the best drafts and recent memory. The Point I keep making is try to trade for that pick now or before nexts years draft lottery…what’s the cost? A lot!

 

The Nets will play worse if they have the pick than if they don’t. The pick in more valuable for them than for us

 

Nook gets too emotional when it comes to our owner and management team...thats been the case for a while...he needs to chill and let it go...

 

It's not a zero-sum game. I do agree the Rockets could have probably extracted more, but our goal should be to maximize our return, not to "win" the trade. What makes this transaction unusual is that the assets have differing values depending on who owns them. This is because the Nets can change their behavior depending on whether they own their draft picks.

 

No one is tagging you dude.

Speaking of fantasies - for someone that has the cognitive ability of a child, you sure have a high opinion of yourself.

Also - next time perhaps avoid personal attacks unless you can live with people giving them right back.

 

Why are CF posters just so confidently saying crap without any sources? Oh so The Knicks deal would have gone down regardless. Says who? You? Based on your belief?

I'll tell you why Nets wouldnt do the deal, its because it would give the Rockets 3 top 5 picks in the next 3 yrs. Even if they get 6 picks for Bridges whats the point of that if their top picks go to Rockets just for kicks? You think Joe Tsai would be ok with that? Like in 2025 Nets would have 4 picks, Mil, NYK, PHX and OKC. But they give us their own top 5 pick how does that make any sense for them?

Secondly we have no space for any rookie anymore. We gonna use a top 3 pick as a freaking bench warmer you realize how insane that is? So unless you think Nets would have given us Cooper Flagg sorry that rookie is gonna get wasted. This was a great trade regardless whether you thought Stone could have had more which tbh has no real basis other than poster gut feel.

 

Unless these picks are packaged for a trade this move seems like the team is abit ahead of themselves. Any trade the Rockets use these picks for now seems to only put them in contention for a 1st round exit at best. If the teams is standing pat then it makes sense to value picks in the future and not another young player that will need playing time in 2025. Give your team another year to see what is really here. But ... and its a big but .... it seems. booting on a possible (nothing is guaranteed) high 2025 draft pick and valuing talent and cap flexibility with rookies down the road is a move for a team that knows what it is and who its best player is. Is that these Houston Rockets?

 

We literally started this convo because you replied to my post. Or did that happen so long ago that you’ve forgotten? Makes sense, since you seem to be making the same dumb arguments you made about the Gordon trade that landed us one of our best assets in Whitmore.

 

It’s really bizarre.

 

True, those are good points.

 

Looking back at the trade I was surprised we had to include that 2026. If they knew that they wanted to tank anyway, I think everything we got was a fair exchange for their chance at a top pick in 2025. The 2026 being in there is completely unnecessary. It's exactly like you said. We had the Nets by the balls and the trade should have been an absolute heist but instead it was a fair trade that was mutually beneficial for both teams.

 

that doesn’t change the question I asked… Because we’re not just trading what we could have got but we’re trading what the nets actually got.

 

No - previous discussions don't matter, because conditions change and valuations change. Someone can be willing to do a trade one day at a certain cost, and if conditions change a month later - they will adjust what it takes to make that trade.

It is a solid value? I think it is okay. Did they get back more than they gave? Probably, but they should have gotten back more because of the circumstances.

Do I think Stone believes he "settled"? No - of course not, he believes he got the most he could get, that is his job.

I have said it is a 3 for 2 and not a 4 for 2 because I do not believe the 2025 pick swap with the Suns is worth very much and because it is not far away, there is less volatility. Could it end up being a huge piece? Yes, but far less value than the other pieces the Rockets got or gave up.

I don't think the trade is terrible - I just don't think it is good either... it is meh, which is consistent with the Rockets asset management under Stone.

Asset management is just one part of Stone's job duties, and some he appears to be very good at and others not so much.