[WaPo] NBA free agency winners and losers: Rockets going big; Bucks going nowhere

Of course Ime cares about offense, but the question is does he have the acumen for it. I am hopeful because of his experimentation with Fred off the ball for a bit last year which was successful. I also think he sees Amen’s trajectory accurately. I am guardingly optimistic that Durant’s arrival will give Ime the impetus to be more flexible.

With health, we are definitely in the top 4 title contenders on paper. The buck stops with Stone and Ime. They do need another top level guard if Reed fails. I think they will pull that trigger at the deadline if he can’t be a reliable rotation piece by then.

 

A simply "good" defender who can be trusted and is versatile enough to defend every position in a pinch is definitely a very sought after commodity in todays league, there were very few FA's who fit that bill. That being said from what I've read DFS is most at home defending PF's, and even small ball C as opposed to athletic wings or guards.

On the shooting bit, obviously KD is a tremendous shooter, but fans know he's going to be 37 and shouldn't be relied upon as a one man savior. Basketball is a team sport, and as a team we were unreasonably awful at shooting for a playoff team, a home court one at that.

This free agency was loaded with high volume, high percentage shooters. Guys like Kennard, Jerome, Trent Jr, Robinson, Hardaway, Beasley* were available and all went for mostly very affordable contracts.

Not only did we pass on all of these guys for DFS (who shot 41% last season, but BELOW 35% from 3 the two previous seasons), but we doubled down and went into the LT to pass on most of them again for Capela as a 3rd string C.

It really seems like 3rd string center would have been an easy fill for vet minimum? With Sengun/Adams, and then KD/Jabari/DFS/Jeff all being capable of playing small ball 5.

At face value this makes it seem like the FO is very unserious at fixing the shooting problem. Even bringing back guys like Tate and Jeff Green who are beyond redundant now instead of vet min sharp shooters (Burks/Mathews/Lyles/Shamet/Seth/McDermott/McVeigh) also seems like an egregious mistake. AND we are planning to throw away Cam, who while streaky shoots over 35% on high volume.

We missed a ton of 3's and FT's last season and aside from KD, simply brought in and brought back too many guys who are not natural shooters.

 

To be clear - I am not saying FDS isn't a big contributor to winning, especially on the defensive side. He can guard multiple positions, he switches well, communicates well and seldom blows assignments. He isn't a lock down defender like Amen or Artest though - not even like Ariza (who wasn't lock down either), he is more of a very well rounded defender that can be exploited without help.

As far as the Rockets being unserious about fixing the shooting - I wouldn't go that far. They added arguably the best all around shooter ever in Durant, and DFS did not shoot as well with the Nets, but overall has been a good shooter. He is replacing Brooks, who was good last year but was up and down in his career.

As far as guards that are or not natural shooters - a lot of it will depend on Sheppard and Jabari shooting the ball, there are natural shooters in the team, but they have to actually do it.

 

Finney Smith is a 36-37% career shooter, his last year was definitely a career high.

I did not remember him as a lights out shooter in Dallas....overall versatile and Dallas made the Finals when he was long gone.

 

He shoots well when he has space.

He shot:38%, 40%, 39% and 36% in his 3.5 years in Dallas, so overall he shot it well..... he then struggled shooting it in Brooklyn, and then was back to 40% last season. He is certainly capable of shooting 35% from 3 next year, but with KD and Amen around him, I think he is going to be closer to 38-39%. Nothing is certain though, Eric Gordon was someone I thought would shoot over 40% from three with the Rockets and at timers he struggled, same with that big white guy that had a girl friend commit suicide, I thought he would be a very good shooter for the Rockets and he wasn't.

 

Uh, "Ryan Anderson" (would be more delicate than these words).

 

Am I the only one who thinks the Bucks may be able to make some noise in the decimated East next season?

 

Yes. The Bucks are trash outside of Giannis.

 

Myles Turner is far from trash. He’s a major upgrade for them.

Underrate them all you want — they were 16-8 without Dame last season, and the East will be much weaker this season.

 

Agreed. The Rockets suffered a lot last season when the play broke and the shot clock was winding down, and someone had to force a shot. It was often either Green or FVV and mostly bricks. Happened a ton in the playoffs.

Durant can park and let Sengun and Amen break down the defense and be that bailout option.

Adding Durant to the great defense with modest improvements from Amen and Sheppard? Not to mention Bari, Tari, and Cam could take big leaps too. If the roster stays healthy this is a 60 win team.

 

EC teams better than the Bucks:
Knicks
Cavs
Pistons
Magic
Hawks

If you think being ~6th best team in the EC is making noise, you have very sensitive ears.

 

1) Obviously the Rockets weren't going to be able to solve all their issues this offseason.

2). It's clear this FO and coaching staff feel that defense is the basis for winning with this particular group. I don't think that means they don't care or have the acumen for offense though. I think many posters underestimate how

3) The FO and coaching staff believe there is room for internal offensive growth and shooting improvement. Not to mention folks forget that FVV shot 39% on 8 3PA his first season here.

4) Seems the consensus is we are top 3 in the West behind OKC and Denver. That's only 3 years after the worst 3 seasons in rocket's history.....

 

We will likely have less wins without Jalen but will ultimately be a better team. Jalen will get you meaningless weekday wins against Utah, Washington, New Orleans, etc where battered players can take a rest day...so lower floor, but significantly higher ceiling.

 

No. They have made a lot of underrated moves topped off by Turner. Giannis is their new PG. Harris, Prince, and Trent are all positive contributors. As weak as the East is they could be a top 4 team easily. All the guys they signed can get up and go and with Giannis running the show and Turner can also play really good in transition.

 

Ryno was the guy that shot well on the road, and then he found a new love.

 

You never know what a 7th seed can do, right? Weren’t the Rockets a 6th seed when we won a championship. The addition of Turner, re-signing Trent, Gary Harris, Teshaun Prince puts them in the playoffs. Having a superstar PG (Giannis) can go a long way in the playoffs. The Magic and Hawks look to have gotten a lot better on paper, but Banchero is no Giannis.Cavs and Pistons are strong. Don’t ever underestimate the Knicks pension for screwing it all up.

 

Sure, you can make that argument, but I don't see their squad adding up to much. Turner is fine in the frontcourt and Portis is good enough off the bench, but they don't have nearly enough dynamic perimeter play to scare anybody.

IMO, the Bucks probably have a better chance of finishing 8th than 4th. But you gotta play the games and see.

 

Yes they could finish anywhere in the top 8, but these guys saying the rest of the team is trash don’t have a clue.

 

Yeah. Instead of using all caps, some posters on CF regularly use excessively harsh words, thinking it somehow strengthens their point.

 

Now that is comparing a house kitten to a full grown wild panthera.

OKC's superstar is 26 and not 36-37 and their whole core is young save for their oldest Caruso who is only 31 and Hartenstein is only 27. Their oldest is only 31 much younger than Durant and less mileage because he started out as 23 yr old.

OKC is the favorite, Rockets and Denver can only count as Candidates. They lost their status as Dark horse which would make them even more dangerous, younger teams are going to come after all 3 of them.

I get that the NBA with their new Aprons have this Window Open and Shut business but only the OKC have everything in place to at least make the WCF every year barring real big injuries as you can see Jalen Williams played thru a tear in the wrist.