How many people here have actually seen Stevenson play the last couple years? Must not be too many. Stevenson is an athletic freak I mean like super athlete. He's also very strong. He can create his own shot and has a very good mid range j and game. I think Bogans is a decent player and I would be really mad if the Rockets let him go instead of using him to backup T-Mac versus just keeping Bowen with playing time........please re-sign Bogans JUST FOR THAT BUT I cannot believe anyone thinks Bogans is as good or better than Stevenson. Stevenson is a BIG UPGRADE over Bogans, just check out League Pass.
I don't think they have been watching him play. He's made huge improvements from the player he was in Utah. No one who has been watching him play would think he wasn't as good as Bogans, because clearly he is a superior player to Bogans. I really haven't seen anything wrong with his b-ball IQ, and he actually has a very good mid range shot. If the Rockets added him with Stevenson for the $4.2 million TE, drafted Redick or Carney, re-signed Bogans, and Sura is in fact coming back (as CD and JVG seem to say) the backcourt would be significantly better. In fact that would be a good backcourt even in the West. Stevenson is worth the $4.2 million TE, in actuality Morey WOULD be justified in using it because that's a good player for a very fair amount. If the Rockets traded the #8 (Carney) and the $4.2 million TE to Orlando for the #11 (Redick) and cash, they would be doing GREAT. Because they get the shooter and the athletic wing, and I would be amazed if Carney is as good as Stevenson is right now. Stevenson creates his own shot with ease.
Stevenson is intriguing but he has not proven to be that good of a shooter, but he would be a massive upgrade over Wesley & Bogans. If they use all the TE on Stevenson they would not be able to bring over V-span. DD
I don't deny he's better than Bogans. He's better than Ryan Bowen, too. You don't seem to understand basketball economics. As the 82games analysis showed, they had Stevenson coming off his best year being worth less than $1 mill. He's a career sub 43% FG% shooter with no range on his jumper. To set the bench mark, most people thought Raja Bell was overpaid by the Suns last year, when he was signed to a 4.25 mill contract. Bell was coming off a year in which he scored 12 points on 45% FG% and 40% 3P%. But he was signed primarily for perimeter defense. To put that in perspective: Bell scored more points on better percentages (better offense), and is a significantly better defensive player than Stevenson, yet was thought to be overpaid at 4.25 mill. Chew on this for Stevenson - among qualified 2 guards, he was 43rd out of 50 in assists per 48 minutes and 48th out of 50 in rebounds per 48 minutes. Even more, Stevenson's "skill" - scoring, ranked 41st out of 50 at 16.3 pts/48mins. A guy ranked in the bottom 10 productivity wise at his position in EVERY major statistical category is not going to do very well when your GM-to-be is a stat head. So, he can't shoot, can't pass, and can't rebound. Great. He's a decent "scorer" and has potential to be a decent defender. He might be a little bit better than Bogans in those capacities (and Bogans has the benefit of positional versatility), but he's not worth 4x the cost of what Bogan's likely to make. Further, your trade doesn't work. You don't just "trade" a trade exception, and as a free agent, Stevenson would have no impact in the dealings of draft picks.
Stevenson is worth that $4.2 million TE, he's worth something like 4 years 16 million or something like that definitely and could be worth much more. That kid is one of the underrated players in the league. Under JVG based on how his D would develop (and he has the tools to be lockk down) all he needs is more range (which he would have to develop on Houston) and he's easily one of the better 2 guards Houston could get. I find it ironic that there are so many mentions on this forum of how great Marquis Daniels is yet when Stevenson, someone who is much better than Daniels is mentioned as a potential Rocket, so many Rockets fans want nothing to do with him. All he needs is to keep improving his range which he has been steadily every year and a coach like JVG to push him on D and you would never ever have a care about Marquis Daniels or Jerry Stackhouse again.
You've done nothing to support this. I gave you the 82games "Fair Value" measure and a bench mark contract. Further, 4 years at the 4.2 mill TE is closer to 20 million than 16 million. Which brings me back to the idea you don't understand basketball economics. Underrated? He's bottom tier in every major statistical measure. Now, you're assuming his D to develop because he's coached by Van Gundy? It just doesn't work that way. See Stromile Swift. He's been in the league 6 years - odds are against him magically learning to shoot. I'll pass on Marquis Daniels as well. But the ONLY statistical measure in which Stevenson outperformed Daniels was in ppg, and that was by less than 1, and Daniels played less minutes (on a better team). You can't even make a good argument for Stevenson being better than Daniels, much less "much better".
