Sam Amick: Giannis probably on top of Rockets list

Well, is it known or not?

 

The price tag is bigger than anyone is willing to admit. I personally don't think it makes sense to half-a$$ it. If you get him, you blow up the roster and you get rid of a lot of kids who are under 25. Trying to stay in two systems or two timelines is not appealing to me at all. When you have a superstar like that, you go ALL IN and it STILL may not be enough. We've been there trying to tip toe around LT issues and having just enough to lose with Harden. Turns out, you need 2 Hardens AND depth. One superstar doesn't win it. You need two superstars in their prime if all you have is a 3-year window. Getting Giannis is not the end, it's the beginning of a whole new rebuild.

The idea that we're going to play Giannis and Amen and try to ride that to a championship is ridiculous. Giannis wants 2 x 20ppg scorers who are not useless when he has the ball. What on earth will Amen or Sengun be doing when Giannis has the ball? He doesn't need you in the dunker's spot or cutting or setting a screen or posting up or operating in the midrange. He needs you to hit open jumpers and also to create for yourself because he didn't like setting screens for Damian Lillard either. Just put yourself in his shoes for a second. Is he going to leave a city he loves to come battle in the paint and score the hardest points he's ever had to score in a crowded paint?

Playing ‘hard to get’ with Giannis ain't it lol If he comes, he's going to demand 4 shooters and a spaced out paint. He will want a serious sidekick who's capable of punishing teams on and off ball. I think if it comes out next week that he's open to being traded, we're in for a wild ride. The Rockets won't easily let a 30/12/6.5 guy join Wemby - the likely DPOY who can drain 3's - along with 1 high potential guard. If we go for Giannis, we'll trade a lot and after that we'll trade a lot to suit him and fire the coach too if we have to. He's not going to come here and be "sir yes sir" in Udoka's college atmosphere slow pace system. That's how big a name this is. People are seriously not getting it. This becomes his team and everything has to suit him - and he's not wrong for wanting that. If they don't give him that and hold on stubbornly to another player who can't shoot, it will ultimately result in losses and friction and a massive waste of assets.

It's either we're out or all in for Giannis title chase. The in between is not going to happen. A 31 year old former champion top 3 player is not waiting for someone's jumper to develop after forcing a trade. That's the real price of acquiring Giannis.

 

Rockets (The Leverage Team) for another Team to make a better offer.

The Rockets need to stay away from Giannis, gutting the roster and rebuilding it again without picks is impossible especially with 2 seasons left on Giannis contract before Giannis leaves to GSW Stephen Curry he always wants to play with, Giannis and Stephen Curry pick each other in NBA All Star Game Teammates.

 

Yep, I've been thinking the same thing for 20 years.

 

I look at it like you can deal with 2 guys in a lineup being bad shooters. I mostly mean that from a catch and shoot perspective.

So yea, it is more ideal for Green to be a core piece of the deal I dont know if any 2 players could make Giannis/Amen/Alpi work. if Milwaukee wants green and wants to build a deal around that OK but I don’t know.

Sengun has the higher trade value.

Im willing to go

Sengun
Eason
Cam
#10
Mavs 29 First

That leaves

Shooting center/Adams
Giannis/Smith
Amen
Green/Holiday
FVV/Reed

 

This clip is from a podcast that was posted in its entirety in another thread. This just sounds like Amick's opinion. I went ahead and added "probably" to the title since that's actually what he said. Still not sure this deserved its own thread with the other Giannis threads, but ... whatever.

 

Still leaning towards "Giannis will cost too much".

 

I would like to keep those players in the "leave" section but it will certainly cost more than 2 picks.

 

It’s happening!

 

I agree with most of your points.

- Yes, acquiring Giannis will be expensive. Those who think that we're going to trade Van Vleet and Brooks and a couple of picks are going to be disappointed. If we acquire Giannis, it's going to hurt.

- Because I believe that it's going to cost a lot, it means that it changes our timeline. Things move up. We're trying to win a title, not just be good over a long period of time. We would be trying to win a title sooner than later.

- If we give up a lot for Giannis, then you can bet that we're going to run the offense through him and he will have the ball a whole lot. If not, then you don't do the deal.

For me, it comes down to these questions:

- Can we win a title down the road with our current roster as the core of the team. In my opinion, no. There's just too many flaws in the current roster. If you think we can win with this core, then you don't give up a ton for Giannis or pretty much anyone.

What are the issues that we need to solve in order to become a true contender?

- We have to be much, much more efficient if we're going to make a title run. Everyone knows that we're one of the worst shooting teams in the league. We were a terrible shooting team this season and we got much worse in the playoffs. Our two leading scorers and the two guys who take the most shots both had a TS% under 50%. That's atrocious and you can't win with that kind of inefficiency.

- Create spacing to allow Sengun ( or whomever is our inside scorer) room to operate and open up lanes for Green, Thompson, Whitmore or whoever our wings are.

- We don't have a consistent scoring threat that we can count on each night.

- We don't have a closer to take over at the end of games.

- There's a ton of overlap in the skills and weaknesses on our roster. The same defense, specifically packing the paint, works against virtually everyone.


The first thing that you have to consider regarding a Giannis trade is what it will cost. None of us know for sure, but as I said, I believe that it will be expensive.

Next question is "Does Giannis solve our biggest issues?". The answer is yes to some, no to others.

- Giannis is extremely efficient and he would be taking a bunch of shots, so he would definitely help make the team more efficient overall.

- Giannis doesn't help create spacing. In fact, he may hurt it. Giannis is dominant driving to the hoop so teams counteract that by building a wall in the lane. That's likely more of what we've been seeing - a really crowed paint.

- Giannis is certainly a consistent scoring threat so he checks that box.

- As dominant as he is, Giannis isn't a closer. The reason for that is he's a bad free throw shooter. In most of his years with the Bucks, Middleton was the closer and the last few seasons it's been Lillard.

- Even with Giannis, we're still faced with the fact that packing the paint is effective against most everyone on the team. Now, Giannis is a load when he goes to the hoop, so he can physically power through defenders even if they are in the paint. But he doesn't help to open things up for anyone else.

It's not an open and shut case for acquiring Giannis. On one hand, he is a top 5 player and the chance to acquire those guys doesn't come around often. The issue is that it's not that easy to put the proper players around him. The flip side is that if you forego a trade for a star and stick with the current core, then we're going to have to make some tough decisions on salary down the road. First case would likely be what to offer Jabari and Tari in the way of extensions.

I don't see any way that Sengun is still here if we were to acquire Giannis. Even if he wasn't directly involved in any trade for Giannis, I still don't see him here. He just doesn't fit with Giannis. If we give up a ton for Giannis, then we are going to run the offense through him and he will have the ball a large amount of the time. We are also going to try to clear out and give him room to operate. That's how he's the most effective. If we do that, Sengun isn't going to be sitting in the post the majority of the game as he usually does. Sengun shoots 38.79% from outside of 5 feet, moving him away from the rim to open up space for Giannis negates his strengths.

If we acquired Giannis and Sengun wasn't involved in the trade, I still think that we would trade him for someone who fit better. Here's a hypothetical example. Certainly not suggesting this exact trade would happen, it's just an example of the type of move that I would expect. Let's say we trade Sengun in a deal for Sabonis. Sabonis is 28, considerably older than Sengun, but if we are building around a 30 year old Giannis, then he's well within our timeline. Right now Sabonis is a better player than Sengun, that can't really be argued. He's better in almost every single category. Equal scoring, much more efficient, better rebounder, better passer, better ast/to ratio and he's an elite 3 point shooter. If we go this route, it's about performance now and in the next couple of seasons. Having the NBA's leading rebounder who also dishes out 6 ast/gm and can hit 3's at 41.7% is a much more complementary fit for Giannis.

Now the point where I disagree with you is Amen's ability to play with Giannis. Amen doesn't operate in the paint except when he's driving or cutting. I know the comeback is going to be that the defenses would ignore him on the perimeter and his man would sit in the lane. I don't think that would happen, being a good shooter isn't the only reason that opponents don't leave you. Rodman couldn't shoot but nobody doubled off of him because if you did, then you were turning him loose on the offensive boards. Amen could do the same type of thing plus if you play off of him then you are letting him get up a head of steam on a drive to the hoop. Giannis passes the ball well and has pretty good court vision so there's no reason Amen can't get the same or more cuts as he does today. To me, the biggest factor with Amen is him improving his handles - even more so than his shooting. I fully expect that both his handles and shooting will improve, just how much is the question. If he get's his handles where he can go around people, then he's unguardable. He'd blow by bigs and jump over smaller players. The other factor with Amen is the versatility on both sides of the ball. Offensively, he can play the point or the wing or even PF. Defensively, he (and Brooks) allow us to cross-match so that we can keep lesser defenders off of the ball and out of pick and rolls.

I'm also not sure how FVV fits with Giannis. If the ball is mostly in Giannis' hands, I'm not sure that FVV has that much of a role.

That's a long winded way of saying, "I don't know". It would really come down to what Giannis' price tag turns out to be. As you stated, it will be expensive and there will likely be considerable change. Hard to turn down a chance at a top 5 guy but it would also be difficult to put all the required pieces around him. Finding a bunch of 40% 3pt shooters isn't easy but finding those guys who can also play defense is exponentially harder.

Of course, we really have no idea where Giannis wants to go so this may all be moot.

 

Obviously he's really good. Anyone who watches basketball knows he's really good. This is about winning a championship though, and I think it's very unlikely to work out for us. The team will definitely be better, though, I don't think anyone reasonable is disputing that.

 

The top 3 player/annual MVP candidate is probably at the top of the Rockets list?

 

Ask folks who can score 30 more than 3x a year on our current roster

 

This is a great post, and this response is primarily based on emotion and probably isn't adequate... however I need to say it. I just don't want Giannis as a Rocket. I'm too old to root for players I don't like, and I've loved the stability that Stone has created in place of Morey's chaotic culture.

• Because of personality, I never accepted Barkley as a Rocket, and I would never accept Giannis. I just can't imagine him as anything but a hired gun. The pleasure of watching the Rockets this year was based on two things for me - (1) watching the progression of our drafted players achieve great things, and (2) seeing veterans come in and integrate themselves into a team with a cohesive mission and character. Fred, Dillon, and Steven did amazing things for this squad, and were a joy to watch. I found myself rooting for them from the first minute they took the court for the Rockets. I would be rooting for the Rockets, but against Giannis.
• Losing makes everything look worse, and winning makes everything look better. I'm no future GM so my player assessments are often wrong... I would normally say that people don't change their colors, but Jalen went from being lost on defense, to being excellent on defense. I'm not sure he has the natural ability to do the same on offense, but I look at the quality of coaching the Rockets have and the intelligent young guys they have, and see a lot more roof for improvement. In particular, I think Amen, Sengun, Jabari, Cam, and Reed have a lot of room to improve. I don't think we know what the core of the team could achieve yet.
• The Rockets have so many options on defense that I think they could bring in offensive specialists to balance the team. They just need shooters and a closer. Reed and Jabari will likely fill shooter's roles as they improve. You mentioned Middleton was a closer - I would be shooting for a guy with that impact and role, then let everyone grow to fill in the gaps. If the right player isn't available yet... wait.

 

Really enjoyed your post. This one added a lot to think about, as did @Mathloom’s. I like what you said about Amen and his fit with Giannis, but it’s pretty obvious that trading for the Greek would have a huge impact on the makeup of the team, regardless. It would be go all in or go in a different direction. Not sure how I feel about it.

Getting Giannis would be a window for a serious run at a championship sooner than we have a reasonable chance of expecting with our current team (which I’ve gotten kind of fond of). That’s if Stone and company don’t blow building the necessary team around him. Winning a championship is always the ultimate goal, but as we all know, it ain’t easy. Hakeem spent years wandering through the wilderness of the Rockets being good enough to battle in the playoffs, but not good enough to reach the Finals. Finally, the stars aligned, but Giannis likely doesn’t have time for years of struggle to get there and he’d be unhappy if he had to.

Heck, someone else probably will get him and all the angst here will have been futile.

 

^^^^

This price will probably be Alp/Jabbari plus 1-10 and future picks for Giannis and as much as I like Sengun I would do the deal.

 

@Mathloom 's post was excellent, that's why I chose it as the one to respond to.

I too am not sure how I feel about it.

Obviously, knowing what you'd have to give up would help.

On one hand, you don't get too many realistic chances to acquire a true superstar, so it's difficult to pass up. You may not get another chance. But, Giannis isn't a really great fit with our current roster or whatever would be left of it after a trade.

A trade for Giannis would change a lot of things for the Rockets but it would also require some follow up moves. It could result in a title but it certainly wouldn't be easy.

 

I get your feeling but the team has a grace period now because of how bad we we a few years ago. If we are still spinning our wheels in two years, people won't be so forgiving - that likely includes you too.

The problem is that other teams will acquire superstats and greatly improve. While competing with homegrown players may be more satisfying, it's usually more difficult.

I'm on the fence about a Giannis trade. Not because it's Giannis or that he's not homegrown. It's more the fact that I'm not sure that it would work. It would certainly give us a chance but a lot of things would have to work out for it to result in a championship.

You don't wan't to take the first opportunity that presents itself if it isnt a great fit but you also don't wan't be afraid to pull the trigger and ultimately end up doing nothing.

It's a tough call either way and staying with I current core would have it's own set of problems.

 

Anything is possible in the NBA, Anthony Edwards could want out if the Wolves get Eliminated again.

Anthony Edwards trade to Rockets, Fits the Timeline way better.

Rockets Fans really need to keep an eye on that OKC Wolves series.

 

The answer is two.
Green ( 12 times) and Sengun ( 5 times).

How many players on OKC can score 30 more that 3x?

Two. SGA and Williams.