Rockets acquire Suns picks, return Nets picks to Brooklyn

Reed Sheppard is good, but is he really that good?

He has active hands, has a good shot form, and seems very coachable. So I would definitely want to keep him, but I figure it would take a whole lot more than Sheppard to move up to 3-5 in this draft.

 

He can't be a catch and shoot player. He's too small for that in this offense.
He needs to be a point guard. I think he has those skills.

 

Cooper is one of the five best prospects of the last 20 drafts. Dylan is a very high level southpaw prospect that can do it all. Probably a smidgen below Cade Cunningham as a prospect.

Everyone else is blah and I wouldn't trade Reed for any of them. If he were in this draft he'd be the best shooting prospect by a mile. Kon would be second. VJ Edgecomb is probably the 3rd best prospect but wouldn't trade Reed's shooting for another defensive specialist that might shoot well in a few years.

Im also just incredibly bullish on Reed's abilities as a shooter, decision maker and 3 level scorer.

 

I’m not as high on Reed as you. I would trade him for a top 5 pick. None may be as good as shooter, but if they are better shooters than our current starters and bring other things to the table that Reed cannot they are more valuable to this team. One of Tre, Ace, Edgecomb are going to make it to 5 and they are all immediate upgrades to Reed who is physically challenged at the NBA level. They are all better athletes with very good perimeter games.

 

I think he just needs to be a connector and do most things well (not necessarily great or elite aside from the 3pt shooting). I just see a lack of confidence, probably stemming from being overwhelmed with the speed and physicality of the NBA. Still a Reed optimist as I'm hoping he uses the offseason to work on his body and train with a quicker release.

 

We already did the Tre Johnson/Ace Bailey thing with Jalen Green. Not interested in a shooting guard/wing thats 2 years away from being 2 years away from having a healthy shot diet. VJ is a project on offense. None of those would be more impactful than Reed will be next year (IMO). The closest you can get in this draft is Kon Knueppel though his lateral fluidity scares me or Cedric Coward who I love but he's more of a 3 and D specialist than a floor general that Reed projects to be.

After Flagg and Harper this draft kinda turns into the 23-24 draft. A bunch of projects and glue guys.

 

Remember how a bunch of posters complained about this trade and said the swap this year was worthless? Good times.

 

I made the offhand remark that when the original Harden Brooklyn trade happened that it could be the catalyst to us getting Harden and Durant later. As much as I want it for basketball reasons I want it for the karma.

 

Dem picks gonna be good still!!

 

4 of those picks sit between 19 and 27... they should be thrilled if one hits, but they're more likely looking at some Josh Christophers.

 

lol

 

So the count on the Harden trade so far:
1) Eason
2) Reed
3) Durant
4) 2027 Phoenix pick
5) 2027 Nets pick
6) 2029 Best of Hou, Phoenix, and Dallas
7) 2029 2nd Best of Hou, Phoenix, and Dallas

 

I could be misremembering, but didn't the Rockets use at least one of those weird future protected firsts they got from the Harden trade to move up to get Sengun? I don't see Sengun mentioned in the "Harden haul" conversation, but if true, that's a really overlooked part of the return.

 

i'll eat the crow on this one happily

 

You can add Whitmore to the Harden haul.

 

Nope. This is turning into how people look at the watson trade, where if any part of the watson return is used it's counted (like will anderson, where most of the value used to get him was texans assets but it gets counted as "part of the watson trade")

 

Oversll the Nets/Suns swap is

Rockets trade #8 in 2025 and 2026 swap rights for

#10 in 2025 (used for Durant)
Unprotected Suns picks in 2027 and 2029
And Mavs pick in 2029

Correct?

 

Believe that's correct and we also retained the 2027 Nets #1 pick swap rights. Looks pretty brilliant at this point, but we have a few years to see how it turns out.