This. I can see why posters are frustrated but all those trades that happened are for players who will be free agents in the offseason....free agents we can't afford to keep. Dosunmu? Free Agent. Coby White? Free agent. Keon Ellis? Free agent. The only pg who wasnt a free agent was Dennis Schroder, and he isnt gonna move the needle for this team. I would rather have this 2nd part of the season be a learning opportunity for Amen, Reed and Ime Udoka. Udoka isnt going anywhere, he just signed a 6 yr extension. Its up to him to figure out this offense. Are Amen and Reed our pg long term? If they arent then we need to find one and get rid of these 2.
I won't say anyone at 21 or 22 is done, or where they will be.....but we aren't that far away from agreement. DD
That move was a "replace the minutes of this inefficient player who is not in our future plans with the minutes of a far more efficient player". It wasn't a trade for superstar KD, it was a trade for a guy who is going to do more with the ball in his hands than what Jalen was going to do with it. Similarly, Brooks wasn't a guy we "needed" with a future team of Amen, Tari, DFS, Okogie on the court. A win now move is one where you mortgage significant future flexibility/assets for immediate gains. Houston got better with KD, but the reality is neither Brooks nor Green were in the future plans for Houston so you weren't going to be able to flip of those guys for that much value anyway.
About b) ... They can always just match Tari and then fix things later. The tax isn't due until the end of 2027 - you don't have to be under the tax line/aprons at the start of the season. I agree that it does make it tough to aggregate salaries because then you hard cap yourself (again) if you are already into the tax. I say let the offseason fix itself. The price to get off FVV, Adams, or DFS goes down with time not up, so the price will be less in the offseason than now and less next trade deadline than the offseason.
We can't win title this season because of Fred injury. We can't win title next season because KD 38 years old. ...
The point isn't at all about paying the tax. The point is that being deep into the tax / over an apron before the offseason starts makes it really really hard to do deals (although not impossible) AND it makes it much more likely Tari signs a predatory RFA offer sheet - which means, even if we keep him, he's going to be on a far worse contract for us than otherwise. It's just poor strategic cap management, because Stone preferred hurting ourselves strategically to taking the L on DFS's contract and making himself look bad by dumping a contract 8 months after he offered it.
I think that was always the plan. KD was brought in to help get buckets when the offense bogged down. That was it. Last season the Rockets over-achieved, which gave everyone around here heightened expectations. This season, the Rockets have under-achieved ...probably mostly due to a string of untimely injuries and a general lack of maturity/growth of younger guys. I think we all assumed all the young players would take the next step this season, which they haven't.
If anything, I had faith at least in Stone’s fiscal management skills as he learned under Morey. After that contract of DFS and now not even trading players to be a player in the buyout market is just mismanagement at its worst. Fertitta I am sure is fuming over paying Ime and being in the luxury tax.
Houston Professional Sports. Same song, verse........... The millionaires who run these organizations don't deserve the fan loyalty that they have.
I disagree. We just need 3 pt shooting. Rox lost cuz they shot 11/30. Thats not gonna get it done when opponent makes 19 threes lol. We need volume 3 pt shooting if DFS can provide that he is what we need.
