Rockets acquire Suns picks, return Nets picks to Brooklyn

How does he match up to SGA and Jokic? These are the guys he should be compared to not FVV who will either have to take a massive salary downgrade or he is out of here.

 

If jokic is the standard, then nobody in the league is worthwhile, including SGA. As much as i've been vehemently against getting a fake star like fox because of having an albatross contract, Jokic can't be the standard.

 

I wouldn't give them Jabari. All they get are their picks back and it's ultimately a move to get Anthony Edwards. If Minnesota starts losing and their ownership won't want to tank trading them booker and change is better than Jalen and change.

 

....AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME!!!

25 games left for Phoenix and they have lost 8 of their last 10. To top that off they have the toughest schedule in the league over the next 25 games.

They are only 2.5 games up from the 9 pick. Portland has won 11 of the last 16 games and they have a shot at overtaking PHX.

ATL, SAC, ORL and MIA just need to keep play .500 ball to finish out the year and they should hold out over PHX.

SA looks dead in the water but who knows maybe they can pull something together.

 

I am not sure about that I think in a couple years Jalen will be better value than super maxxed 30 yr old Booker. Booker is already shooting a Jalenesque 34% from 3. At his age he can only get worse, not better yet he is making the super max. Jalen oth will only improve with time if Minny is to part ways with Ant they prob want someone younger not a 30 yr old to replace him with.

As for losing Jabari it is due to money. Look at Minny letting KaT go cuz of Gobert. And Wolves owner was willing to pay luxury tax, just not 2nd apron. If Fertita doesnt want to pay any tax we will need to cut even more than Jabari. Booker, Amen, Sengun and only space left for rookie contracts and vet mins.

 

The strength of schedule has nothing to do with their decline.....the pieces do not fit no more.

Doesn't mean they have to abandon everyone.

 

SGA and Jokic aren't available. He likely will be.

Using the Roslolian logic that Rockets or potential Rockets have to be MVP caliber to want them on the team, the Rockets should trade Jalen Green if he's not better than Jordan and LeBron in their primes.

 

Is the objective just have a super max contract of your own or is it to beat the other teams? If your best player is Booker and you have the exact same team structure as the team of SGA and Jokic how do you expect Rockets to win?

The bolded part of your statement doesnt make any sense, salary cap and player contracts are a thing I suggest you read up and educate yourself so you understand what the issue is.

 

More help from Memphis who wins their season series against the Suns. I guess we need to pull for Portland to win more games.

 

Solid loss from PHX tonight. Durant and Beal both logged 43 minutes.

Disappointing to see the Spurs couldn’t beat the Pelicans. We will beat them and knock them even lower.

 

If Jokic cant be the standard then maybe the right answer not get a subpar super max contract.

Rox for example had a winning record against the Nuggets. If they had a super max like Booker and no depth they might have lost the season matchup.

 

So what do you do if you have an all nba type guy? Trade them like Luka? Let them walk?

 

We can keep them if they are an all NBA type guy, but Booker is not an all NBA type guy this season, and his career stats arent that great either for s super max guy.

Paying super max to a guy markedly below SGA and Jokic just means you lose to those teams every time IMO. If we can get lower tier guys but also pay less than super max we can win with depth and value.

 

People joke about Bol Bol, but he was the #1 reason the Grizzlies struggled down the stretch. He blocked 1/2 shots, they tried to get it over his outstretched arms and made it a lot tougher, forced them into bad shots for sure.

 

We need to steal him away in the offseason. We will need a guy like him to slow Wemby down.

 

As much as I've complained about Jalen, I've also said many times that I wouldn't trade him for Booker - it's not much, if any upgrade.
They have shot a similar percentage for most of the season from three - with Jalen really picking it up over the last 30ish games over 39% as @Houston77 recently pointed out and almost 36% for the season - pretty astonishing considering he was below 30% earlier in the season.


People seem to believe that Booker is a great shooter, but the fact is that he's only had 2 seasons shooting over 36% & his career percentage is 35.6% .... essentially average. That's not a guy you pay 35% max.

I think Jalen is already "better value" for the money ..... and there's still so much room for improvement in his game.


As for Fertitta, I think he realized how bad he screwed up that last Harden team thinking he could cut the margins and still expect to win .... I'd like to think the guy has learned his lesson and he'll go into the tax - it's not really a whole lot of difference between tax and the first apron.
The luxury tax start sat ~121.5% of the total cap while the first apron is ~126.7% with the second apron at ~134.4%.

It's almost a certainty they are a 1st apron team next year which means a taxpayer.
If nothing changes with FVV they'll go into the season with 11 dudes on the roster at $188m with the tax line at $187,896,105 still 8m under the 1A with at least 3 roster spots to fill.

I'm sure they want to get FVV's number down .... and stay away from both the 1A and tax. But who knows if he's gonna play along.

 

Would definitely take a flyer on him for cheap.

 

FVV will def take a paycut, Rox can cut him and FVV wont get anywhere that amount lol.

We agree on Booker, people think he is still the guy who lead his team to the Finals when that was basically a one hit wonder performance.

 

Great Post, I didn't realize Green had climbed that high in his 3%. Tilman showing signs of spending at the deadline is a great sign, and I hope you're right about learning his lesson. FVV, hasn't earned his new contract with his play unfortunately, it's the Rockets play without him is what is soaring his value.

 

On question 1. The objective is to win.
On question 2. The Rockets already have a good team. Booker does not need to be the best player of the team. The Rockets structure is different than OKC and Denver (though I'd love to have SGA). The Rockets shouldn't stop trying just becasue they don't have SGA and Jokic. I'm betting on Amen and Sengun and getting the best player likely available to add to them.

The Rockets are an above the cap team and will likely remain one for the next 7 to 10 years unless something really really bad or something really really good hapens. As such, you indicating that I need to educate myself about the salary cap is a sign that it is you that needs to educate one's self. Booker only makes about $16M more than Green. Including Landale in the deal will keep the Rockets well under the 2nd apron even before renegotiating FVV. Booker's contract only becomes an issue (2nd apron, owner's wallet) if the Rockets become so good they don't need him 3 to 4 years down the road. In which case, they can trade him.

Of course the bolded part doesn't make sense. On whether to trade for Booker, the biggest question is whether he's a big upgrade at SG and whether one wants talent on the floor in the form of Booker now (if someone better is available that fits, I'd want them instead) or one wants to wait until about 2029 when the first of the picks traded aren't rookies.

I go for tit for tat. If Booker vs Green means Booker needs to be better than Jokic, Green needs to be better than prime Jordan. Maybe Green improves and becomes a Booker level player. The difference in their contracts (basically an MLE) is worth not taking the risk on Green.

Caveat: I'd probably slap Amen at SG at this point, but I doubt the Rockets do that. Amen looking better as a guard makes me a little more leery of trading for Booker as I don't think Booker is an upgrade over Amen.