that’s more on Stone than Ime this past year, but he did the same last year. He is just terrible with rotations.
Varun Shankar: • An informed prediction on the average annual salary for forward Tari Eason’s next contract: $22 million. • Fred VanVleet has a $25 million player option for next season. The Athletic reported that the 32-year-old could decline it and “negotiate a new deal with Houston to provide some short-term cap flexibility in exchange for a few additional years of security.” To do so, VanVleet would probably need an offer with a total value somewhere around $50 million over three years, with the last perhaps a player option. • Do not expect Amen Thompson to get a max contract extension. Such a contract would pay him a quarter of the salary cap over the next few seasons, but the impressive guard/forward still faces enough questions about his shot and eventual offensive profile. That, combined with the Rocket' precedent of getting relatively team-friendly extensions (see Şengün, Alperen, above) should keep him in the ballpark of 20-23% of the salary cap.
It's disconcerting to think about having to watch the Rockets' dreck style of basketball and faux championship aspirations with their misfit toys team in the dim confines of the Toyota Center... ...after months of watching generational talents/elite teams like NYC, OKC , SAS, Brunson, SGA, Wemby, Harper, OG others... ...play compelling, ultra high quality basketball on the biggest possible stages in front of insane crowds
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...ers-lakers-thunder-nets-bulls-knicks-30-teams Houston Rockets Below the tax: $14 million Below the first apron: $21.5 million Below the second apron: $34.5 million A new contract for restricted free agent Tari Eason will put Houston over the luxury tax and close to the first apron. The Rockets will likely exceed the first apron once their roster is filled out in free agency. Eason will get tendered a one-year, $8 million qualifying offer by June 29, and that will then allow Houston to match any offer sheet this summer. Team needs: A healthy Fred VanVleet is a starting point, but other needs include shooting development from Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun. The Rockets could also use a 3-and-D wing -- unless Dorian Finney-Smith can fill that role -- and a reserve point guard who can facilitate and play off the ball. Houston has five open roster spots. Free agents who fit: Tari Eason, Josh Okogie, Gabe Vincent, Keaton Wallace, Ochai Agbaji, Antonio Reeves, Collin Sexton, Anfernee Simons, Keon Ellis, Dean Wade, Brandon Williams, Tim Hardaway Jr., Javonte Green, Pat Spencer, Simone Fontecchio, Mike Conley, Amir Coffey, Harrison Barnes, Lindy Waters III Key free agent: Tari Eason (Restricted) Other free agents: Fred VanVleet (Player), Jeff Green, Aaron Holiday, Josh Okogie, Jae'sean Tate, Isaiah Crawford (Restricted), JD Davison (Team)
$22M AAV is way too much for Tari unless only the first year or maybe two years are guaranteed. He yet again missed significant time due to injuries, and his big slump (he was probably playing through injury) kind of tanked his season overall. He should barely clear the MLE if it's guaranteed money. He's a good player but he's just too limited offensively and his injury history is kind of putting him in that Time Lord category where you only really want to play him bench minutes, and even then assume he will miss time.
Plus/Minus stats are so silly. How did the 5 with Tari shooting over 50% from 3 do compared to what we saw at the end of the year? There is probably a hundred different things that make these stats so useless.
Common denominator is 2 bad defenders do not work well together. When only one or the other is on the floor we are a lot better
No matter what the doomers post I am happy with the offseason so far. Coming into the season biggest needs: 1. Playmaking (tos were ugly and KD shouldnt be handling the ball) 2. Bench upgrade 3. Shooting What happened: 1. FVV and Smart for ball handling 2. Adams, Smart, Thornton, Tari and Bogdan in the bench 3. FVV, Thornton and Bogdan coming in as shooters The team is much improved from last year, not only are the injured guys coming back we added reinforcement in Smart, Thornton and BB. Even DFS was retained so if last year was just a fluke season we just got another 3nD. The only remaining things are retaining Tari and Okogie and it will be a slamdunk offseason already. Again a lot of doomer posts, a lot of crying about old players (who will be gone in 2 yrs), a lot of hand wringing that Stone didnt do anything. Look man lets just see how the season plays out. You keep this same energy when the season starts alright?
I don't know about "slamdunk." With luck, as constituted, a healthy Rockets squad might make it into the second round. But in the West? Might.
Those are your franchise cornerstones. It’s up to Amen and Sengun to get better. They have to be better next season. It’s on them.
An eye test should notice that Sengun was horrible for a good portion of last season despite starting the season amazingly. It wasn't that Adams or Capela were great. It was that the rotation players typically destroyed other teams when Sengun wasn't in the game. The starting lineups were usually good with Sengun, but the team fell apart with Sengun when it wasn't Durant, JSJ, Amen and either Okogie or Eason with Sengun.
