Dorian Finney Smith (DFS) + 3 SRP TRADED TO CHARLOTTE HORNETS FOR…

Also, is there an actual report anywhere that Mobley's dad didn't want his son to work out with the Rockets because of KPJ? I've Googled it several times, including earlier today, and found nothing. As far as I can tell, it's one of those urban legends that gets brought up on social media and message boards because conspiracy theories always sell, and gets accepted (in some corners) as fact simply through repetition.

I know it's popular to **** on the media in all walks of life, but I don't think it's reasonable to ask reporters to dig into a years-old topic if it's just a random conspiracy theory that someone came up with online. To say the least, that's a slippery slope in terms of everyone's time and resources.

From what I know, and I've done plenty of digging on the topic, the Rockets simply thought Green had more high-end upside. Looks like that upside isn't gonna entirely pan out, it is what it is. (I don't want to rule out the possibility of him being good, but I do think we have enough of a sample to say the super-high-end outcomes probably aren't gonna hit, at this point.)

I was actually Team Mobley, myself, because I thought he had a super high floor based on the diversity of his game and potential for elite defense. And at the start of the rebuild, I wanted to minimize any chance of a bust. But the Rockets went with the higher ceiling argument. I understand it, even if I disagreed. There's not an exact science to this, even high in the draft.

To their credit, they did mitigate the damage some with the Sengun trade later in that round and eventually using Jalen in the KD trade. But in the end, it is a miss, and I think that's the best way to sum it up. I don't think there was anything nefarious. They just picked the lesser player. Not the first team to do it, won't be the last.

@Clutch and I have talked about it a few times, it's why this iteration of the Rockets has so much riding on Reed Sheppard. If Jalen is the one miss and the other premium FRPs hit (75%), you can shrug your shoulders and say no one is perfect. But if Castle ends up being way better than Reed, and that's two of your four premium picks (50%) where you took the wrong guy... that's a pretty big indictment. They need Reed to hit on so many levels.

 

Waiting with bated breath.

 

Also, on the TPE, my understanding is this:

In a perfect world, they're a good enough team as is and can dodge the tax this year. The repeater tax is very punitive, so if you can push back that clock, there are real benefits from down the road. (I know, hang the LTS 27 banner.) You don't want to get in a situation a few years down the road where maybe you have a legit contender but can't justify spending the MLE for that final piece because it costs several times more than the salary.

With that said, they do want the option to go back above the tax, if they need it. What they don't want is a repeat of last year, where you had both season-ending injuries (Fred/Steven) and a guy returning from injury who was never the same (DFS). And yet, because of the combination of Fred's implied no-trade clause and the first-apron hard cap, their hands were tied (yes, they're the ones who tied them, I get it).

This year, if one of those scenarios happens, the $13M TPE is big enough to get a starting or at least rotation-caliber player. And they structured the Smart deal the way they did so that they would be hardcapped at the second apron, not the first. In short, the idea is to learn from their obvious mistakes of a year ago and make sure there's a Plan B.


P.S. Again, everything with Fred is exactly the same as it was a week ago, a month ago, six months ago, etc. The usual ACL recovery timeline is 9-12 months for NBA players, and that's what it will be in this case. Training camp will open just past the 12-month mark, and every expectation is that he'll be fully cleared and ready to go. The partial meniscus tear was minor and repaired in the same procedure last September, it doesn't change the timeline or prognosis in any way. Very common with ACLs. And obviously the team knew it, since it was their doctor doing the evaluation and surgery.

Now, am I telling you that FVV is gonna be exactly who he was before? Nope, sure not. ACL injuries are very serious, especially for small guards in their 30s. So, there's definitely risk that he doesn't make it all the way back. If you're concerned, that's completely reasonable. But it is absolutely not "more serious." It is exactly what everyone has known for almost 10 months now.

 

I lied, one more point:

They do still have the ability to aggregate Fred, Capela, and the JD Davison non-guaranteed deal to make bigger trades work for players like Kyrie, Jrue, etc.

I'm not saying I'm expecting that, but just want to clarify, there are still very viable paths without the DFS filler. Just comes down to the harder part, which is both sides agreeing on appropriate value/asset compensation.

 

In your opinion if you had to take a guess, is the team set for opening night? Or you expect a small add still? Okogie/Tate don’t count

 

If I had to guess, yes — simply because the odds of status quo are always inherently higher. Big trades are hard. And as mentioned above, they want the $13M TPE to be a Plan B for during the season, i.e. if somebody gets a bad injury.

But I don't think they're done talking. I do think some of these teams like Dallas are likely to lower their asking prices the closer they get to camp. Similar to the Towns/Randle deal a couple years ago, the Carmelo-to-OKC deal a few years before that, etc.

IMO, the best way to frame it is that the "deadline pressure points" of this window were draft night and the first wave of FA, and now those have mostly passed. The next deadline pressure point is when camp starts. As far as big names, my guess is fairly quiet until maybe the week or two leading up to that.

 

Add in Adams and you can trade for any contract in the NBA outside of Steph Curry with a package of players that wasn't in our rotation for the majority of last season

I like Adams, but he's a 33 year old very large big who's averaged 33 games played over the last 4 seasons. He isn't someone who should be off the table for a significant upgrade.

Not to mention, is the DFS already official? We could theoretically add to it still if there was something else on the table right now.

 

Minor point, but hopefully the UDFA Purdue center (Oscar Cluff) looks good at summer league. In a perfect world, if you want the ability to use Capela in that DFS "trade filler" slot, ideally you'll find a competent young big this offseason for one of your two-way slots.

 

Fair point, nothing that happened this week can be official until at least Monday due to the moratorium. Always possible, as with the KD trade a year ago that eventually became a seven-team deal, that it could become something more.

 

Paid three SRPs to sell low. Solidifies this as one of the worst bench player signings in franchise history. Obviously there have been worse deals but I can't think of many worse players that we paid a higher percentage of the cap to acquire. He didn't even look like an NBA caliber player last season. Making one bad mistake on a bench player level signing shouldn't cost a GM his job but I would definitely consider it a move in that direction.

 

This will balance out eventually by the way, since these guys can't play past being seniors. It's just a temporary thinning of the second round ranks. What will happen eventually is the second round is where you go to get polished low ceiling guys

 

I wonder if we could turn the smart deal into a SNT and offer Rui Hachamura the full NT MLE… I guess Lakers wouldn’t help us do that lol

 

Tilman wasn’t MIA on this move!

 

I wouldn’t mind getting Grant Williams for DFS
Another Dillon Brooks type
Has 1 more year of salary
And another Udoka type of player

 

If it’s true that we gave up next year’s Memphis pick to do this I have to change my vote to no and drop my grade of Stone to a C- so far.

 

It is amazing isn’t it?

It isn’t coincidence that Stone dropped the DFS trade the Friday before the 250th anniversary of the USA and a day after signing Eason.

LOL.

No

 

Any offseason with FVV still on this team is a massive failure.

 

At the very max I would only give 2 1st round picks and not the best ones for Jrue or Kyrie

 

The criticism of Stone is more than justified at this point. Having said that I expect this to be the best post Harden season.

It has been what - 5 or 6 years, but the Evan Mobley stuff was discussed on the radio. I don’t remember if it was Giovany or someone similar. They said that Evan Mobley’s father coached KPJ at USC for an entire year and that Mobley’s camp doesn’t want the Rockets to pick him… or something to that effect.

Regardless - Green was a miss and it hurts because Mobley and Barnes are at least borderline all stars. There were a lot of people pushing Green at the time. His G-League coach, I believe it was Shaw- said that he was a natural and got that this was a profession etc. He spoke very highly of him. My issue was more than the organization was not ready to rebuild with 18-20 year olds. The culture was poor, the communication between the rookie head coach and the GM was bad - players were going to Stone and not telling Silas. The player development was poor and the situation with KPJ and Wood was just toxic. It isn’t a surprise Green failed to develop— even Sam Vecenie said that the Rockets had a problem with young players being held accountable.

So I am more concerned with the judgment exercised in bringing in KPJ, protecting him and bringing in Wood… and thinking that Lucas was enough for discipline and player accountability… it shows poor judgement and a lack of vision… that is more troubling to me than drafting Green and him never developing a counter move or consistent 3 point shot.

I suppose we can argue that Stone learned from his mistakes about chemistry etc. Udoka has flaws but I haven’t heard from anyone that he doesn’t hold players accountable.